When fellow Forumite @ryoung3 read about the 55ft McKeen set that I built up this past summer, he contacted me with a special project: to build up a 72ft McKeen Car based on the Nevada Railroad Museum's Virginia and Truckee #22. After a solid month of work, it's finally done!
This project started off with a donor frame. My 72ft McKeen car kit is designed to use the MTH Railking Doodlebug frame. This particular frame has MTH's early 5V Protosounds 2.0 system, which is a little taller than the ERR TMCC or Protosounds 1.0 boards that I used in my 72ft Cuyamaca build.
I typically make the truck and frame parts from black ABS filament, but since the prototype has most of the undercarriage parts painted in olive green, the first stop was the paint booth to fix the color.
With the new truck sideframes, underframe part and the pilot all painted and mounted, the next step was to test run the chassis before I started modifying it. The stock PS2 electronics were in perfect working order.
Unfortunately, the 5V PS2 boardstack is a little too tall to fit into the McKeen body! I proposed several modifications to improve clearance. The first step was to replace the big tall 9V rechargable battery with a compact BCR.
I could make a little more room by moving the speaker into the rear of the model. I cut up and extended the harness accordingly. This allowed me to lower the PS2 boards by carefully rebending the heatsink.
That just about did the job for vertical clearance!
To better mount the speaker, I redesigned the stern section of the kit to add a little shelf that would hold it in place. I also added mounting points for backup LEDs-- more on those later.
With the new kit section printed, it was time to begin assembly. I started by gluing in all the roof vents. The kit has little holes in the roof that need to be carefully resized with a drill so that the vent pieces can be slid in. I used the frame and some rubber bands to closely align each section while I glued them together.
Before gluing the body sections, I tapped all of the screw threads for #6-32 machine screws and did a test run with the body screwed in. I found that I had to trim the stems on a few of the roof vents that were touching the top of the motor flywheels, but after that minor adjustment, the fit was just right.
After gluing the model together, I began filling all of the body sections. To improve upon my previous McKeen build, I decided to try using Bondo Spot Filler. I was very pleased working with this material-- easy to apply, smooth and sand. It took three or four sections to smooth things properly.
I happened to have a Virginia and Truckee McKeen passenger trailer partially built from a project several years ago, which I had offered to throw in on the project. While I had the tube of Bondo out, I got to work redoing the passenger trailer as well.
With the body filler cured, I was ready to paint the dark brown primary coat.
I don't think there are many Virginia and Truckee decals out on the market, so I designed and made up my own waterslide decals. I did a test print on regular copy paper to make sure that the stripes and lettering were sized appropriately.
With the base coat applied, it was time to tape off the roofline.
Here's the roofline after painting.
I used the exact same process to paint the trailer also.
After paint it was time to start applying my homemade decals. Although I am fond of how pinstripes look on locomotives, I also remembered how much of a pain they are to apply! It was something of a trial and error process.
While the decals were drying, I got to work on adding a few more features to the chassis. I rigged up the headlight to the appropriate pins on the PS2 board.
I had been sent some of the parts scavenged from the donor Doodlebug, including a harness with the old marker lights. I added those in as a nifty set of backup lights. I did have to rewire them with a different resistor to get the brightness satisfactory.
After sealing the decals with some matte clear, I glued in handrails along the passenger and driver doors.
After glazing the windows with strips of clear plastic secured with foil tape, it was finally time for assembly. I very carefully tucked and bundled all of the wire harnesses in. I'm not a big fan of zip ties since they tend to pinch small gauge wires and are a PITA to remove if you ever need to move them. I save the little twist ties that I get off of rolls and pastries at my local bakery and use those instead. They don't damage the wires and are very easy to move or adjust where necessary.
Finally the set was ready for the track!
Here's a view from a sweeping O72 curve on my layout.
Here is the finished set undergoing trials before it goes on to its new home. I just received word that the set has safely arrived and will soon be the star of @ryoung3 's Christmas layout.
Thanks for reading along on my latest build adventure!
