Well Bob, I gotta hand it to ya, there's no quit in you. The models I'm working on (OMI) are being painted and detailed by Lee Turner. I should be interesting to see what he comes up with. Luckily, all my work will be concealed.
Jay
Wow Bob that’s beautiful 
Slowly making progress. Still looking for artwork for the cigar band. May have to do it myself - wouldn't be the first time. Callie Graphics will do it on chrome vinyl. Really surprised there are no decals available. Maybe I will check with Atlas.
Attachments
Images (1)
That's really sharp, Bob!
Thanks. I am now resigned to creating the artwork for the cigar band myself. I have a little help from a fellow forumite.
I have done a serious search for the proper cursive font for the "Olympian Hiawatha" legends on the sides, and have come up with pretty much zilch, even from previous decal makers. Streamstyle never got back to me, and I am not at all sure their version is accurate, anyway. I will share what I come up with.
Bob hope you can come to O scale west and show them off.
Bob2, are you talking about the band under the stainless steel around the headlight? I checked my box of O scale decals and found only F and E unit decals from Microscale but no FM decals. Don
Attachments
Images (5)
Of the three examples I can find in modeled form, none gets the nose artwork quite right.
The Overland HO models feature the wrong style script for the "Olympian Hiawatha" lettering. But they have the best rendition of the "T H E M I L W A U K E E R O A D" lettering, which differs from the stand MILW block lettering. Namely, the letters should be squarish and blocky, with rounded corners, when they curve. For letters like the "O", "U", or "D" in the standard font, the curved parts are fully round. Also, the "R" is noticeably top-heavy, unlike the standard font version.
The Streamstyle Graphics versions, both decal and etched applique, have very good renderings of the script lettering. However, the "THE MILWAUKEE ROAD" lettering that wraps around the nose is the standard font rather than the squarish version. The spacing is a bit too close as well. The rest of the artwork looks very nice though, with regard to colors and all of the metal panel detail.
Lastly, the Atlas models mirror the Streamstyle Graphics, with a nice rendition of the script but wrong font for the nose lettering.
Zoomed in clip from the prototype - Don Ross photo:
Zoomed in clip from the Streamstyle Graphics decal - from their website, I presume the copyright is with them:
Attachments
Images (2)
You nailed it! I had not noticed the block lettering.
For the cursive, there is a hobby store that has "Hiawatha" in its name, and it looks like the correct font. It matches Don's above. I will ask them Monday if I can use it, and if they have a matching "Olympian."
Jim, I can see now how far off I was with that initial cut. Not even close!
I really like the looks of the slit-window Erie-builts. I'm not too hot for the arch window version(s), though.
Nice work on your Erie-built fleet!
Andre
Jay, those are wild looking motors to me. Can I ask what they are?
Joe,
Sure, they are Faulhaber 2842 (28mm wide by 42mm long) gear head motors with a 14:1 ratio. A little too slow for what the end user wanted so I brought the overall ratio to around 10:1 using various sized MXL timing belts & pulleys. My gearboxes use ball bearings throughout with a 1:1 ratio. The gears are .7mod.
I still use Pittman gear head motors when I can but these Faulhabers are pretty amazing.
Jay
Thanks!
So awesome. Please keep posting. I can't wait to see the next step.
These are done and ready to be sent home. From there Lee Turner will work his magic. I think I installed one of the fuel tanks backwards...he needs to remove them anyway so he can fix it. Just attached for shipping. May redo the wire management upon their return. Luckily everything he does conceals everything I do. Early UP FMs. I call them B-17s because of their unique windshield (did you start this Turner?). The trailing unit (unpainted one in the photo) will have the shell swapped with one Lee has in hand. No photos of the lead or B unit. He has them already. Maybe we can talk Norm into a video when they're done.
Jay
Attachments
Images (2)
Bump: Callie Graphics has shipped the final iteration of the stick-on cugar band. I should have a photo soon - looking for a little light under the June Gloom. Next will be handrails and windows. Castings are drilled for handrails, so all I have to do is bend and plug. But windows I hate! I will give it a shot. But the next photos will have neither.
These stick-ons do not go around rivets quite like decals, so I may have to do an underlayment. Not looking forward to that, but it looks doable with thin plastic.
When the photos arrive, you may be able to see that Callie was able to reproduce the rivets! Really hard to see, but she did it!
I had help! This is what we are calling the final version - the all caps legend on the front could be slightly better, but it is ok. I will be sanding off some rivet detail so the sides fit better, and working on the door area with bits and pieces - but you can see we were successful!
Attachments
Images (1)
That looks great; must weigh a ton!
Mark in Oregon
It is heavy. Foundry needed to go 1/4" thick to get good flow.
The awesome talent found here certainly inspires guys like me to continue on refining our bench work skills. Not that anything I produce is comparable, but if one can appreciate exactly how to execute such a build then there is hope for us trying to strive towards better skills. Some day the MR bug will bite hard enough to bring my desires out of the steam era, and when it does I want something as close in quality to these Erie builds as possible. Bravo, JayC!
I have recently been swapping out old motors for Faulhaber's in a few 2R and 3R engines. All have comparably primitive 1940's type gearing and without mods produce pretty good performance out of the average doorstop. Rated 24V, they slow things down to a snails pace so they're better suited to" as is" switchers.
Bruce
Still working on it - removed a row of rivets and did some doorway cutting. I will do the final version next week, along with windows and grabirons,
Attachments
Images (1)
Nice write up in Gene's blog. Lee Turners magic really make them look good.
https://myp48.wordpress.com/20...moSopXBDvXm-jhshrb2M
Jay
Well, bump! Be nice if we had a search function; I had to go to page 15 for this.
So an original F-V Shops Erie-Built came up on eBay, and sold to a good friend for mucho dinero. I was bidding, but dropped out at the halfway point. Good thing; I dislike bidding against my buddies.
Best of all I have photos, and written permission to post them. That will happen momentito, with comments.
I am beyond delighted that this anachronism will be restored and saved from the recycling bin - by my buddies!
@bob2 posted:Well, bump! Be nice if we had a search function; I had to go to page 15 for this.
There is one at the VERY top left off of the Menu option.
Simon
Thanks. Still haven't found it.
Here are some photos:
Attachments
Images (3)
The B unit is a CLW cast PB, not an F-M. that's ok; the UP used PBs behind the Erie-Builts. Iam not sure what happens to the B yet, but the A will become a colorful KCS locomotive. I approve!
I found the search function on the top right of my big Dell computer, and on the left where you said on the iPad.
When the F-M is restored I will easily find this thread and post the results. Thanks, Simon.
@bob2 posted:I found the search function on the top right. When the F-M is restored I will easily find this thread and post the results. Thanks, Simon.
You could just bookmark it and save yourself some hassle.
Press the Ctrl and D keys at the same time to bookmark
Afraid that search on my screen is still on my left!
Simon
Rare, indeed! My friend Maroon just found another F-V nose. These things are as rare as hen's teeth. I note that several F-M B units (Max Gray) have been sold recently by Trainz, all powered, which I might have used for pushing my doorstop A unit. Alas, they sold for more than my target price.
I did try to search for this thread - finally got it by going advanced. I really should take Simon's advice - my first search was for "Erie-Built" and OGR said "nope." I found others on PAs and E7s. Still have not received any more castings from my foundry guy. I shall push a bit.
Would you ever consider making a Standard Gauge version of your exceptional Erie Built Olympian Hiawatha diesel to go with my Standard Gauge Olympian Hiawatha cars?
Bob Nelson
Attachments
Make you a deal - you find a foundry willing to do bronze castings in onesies and twosies for less than $100 a piece, and I will consider it. Is there a plastic Erie-Built in G scale that we can use for patterns?
I always remind potential custom builders - use your equivalent hourly salary as a baseline, and assume nothing custom can be built in less than 100 hours, and you have a ballpark cost. Don't forget overhead and coffee breaks. Usually materials are lost in the noise.
@bob2 posted:I found the search function on the top right of my big Dell computer, and on the left where you said on the iPad.
When the F-M is restored I will easily find this thread and post the results. Thanks, Simon.
Bob, We are both in the "CRS" crowd. Bookmark it with the Ctrl and D keys pressed simultaneously. That will pop up a dialogue box and you can name the file, say ERIEBUILT maybe and you can put all your junk there.
Simon
Now what the heck did I name that thing??? LOL
Bump again. My iPad doesn't seem to have a "control" key. A search for "Erie-Built" won't bring anything up.
I just did a quick and dirty B unit for this thing. I used a sand-cast PA with those neat fabricated trucks.
I would do a B unit to match, but my foundry search has yielded nothing. An outfit near Erie, Pa, did the sides I show on page 1, but they must have been in a good mood that day. Local foundries do commemorative bronze plaques, starting at $300 a pop. Not viable.
I had a question about assembly - I solder a lot of casting sets, including the CLW PA/PB, Ken Kraft, Adams, and Pearce casting sets. Roofs usually have ridges against which the sides rest, and I install internal jigs using window openings. To make sure the roof is held evenly for soldering I run 2-56 steel cap screws through each jig into threaded holes in the roof.
I use 1/4" square brass for truck mounts and for matching nose to sides. Rather than clamping them to the sides for solder, I use 2-56 brass screws. You can see them protruding out of the cast sides on page 1. They disappear after soldering.
My first attempts were oxy-acetylene, but now I just use Mapp gas and a pencil tip. Takes ten minutes to get a PA hot enough for 60/40 solder to flow. A buddy reports that a toaster oven gets hot enough, so maybe that is a good way to solder?
I wish I could help you, but all that is way over my skill set; hopefully someone will be able to assist you.
Mark in Oregon
Attachments
Images (1)
Bump. What I meant was, if I search this site for "Erie-Built Diesel" I get ten pages of threads with "Diesel" in them, but it cannot find this thread. I have to scroll down to page 11 of the 2-rail forum to see that our search engine cannot find my title.
But the real reason for the bump is that I have another Erie-Built coming together. Photos of my latest blasphemy (apologies to both Alco and Fairbanks Morse) will be forthcoming.
@bob2 posted:Bump. What I meant was, if I search this site for "Erie-Built Diesel" I get ten pages of threads with "Diesel" in them, but it cannot find this thread. I have to scroll down to page 11 of the 2-rail forum to see that our search engine cannot find my title.
If you search for Erie-Built Diesel using Exact Phrase Match, it pops right up.
How I wish Scott would offer these instead of that ugly EP-3 electric 
@bob2 this is just in case you need some additional motivation to complete the project...
