I have been slowly pecking away on adding deck plates to my small fleet of Big Haulers/Annies (Ten Wheelers) and started wondering if any other people have had the same project. I would appreciate hearing how others have done it, to save me making mistakes that others have already found ways of solving.
Any suggestions would be very welcome.
One start would be; where to find diamond tread Styrene sheet, in 1:24 scale, or there-abouts.
Fred Mills
First of all, I probably would not worry about diamond plate detail. Bachmann didn’t on their Consolidation. I also don’t know if you are still using the stock draw bar, or have tightened it up. If the latter, the foot plate will need to be rather short to accommodate swing in curves.
Above being said; I have two Annies that are never run and have not had a footplate or working front coupler added. Not sure why I still have them except that being well used years ago they wouldn’t bring enough to bother selling. I keep in the back of my head that they are good bash fodder if I ever get my unfinished project plate cleared
I’ve done a couple different things depending on how much effort I wanted to put in to cleaning off top of pilot beam. And in working on adding pilot decks I discovered the smokebox to pilot braces distort the forward frame by pushing it down a bit, but, hey, it’s Bachmann, what does one expect.
(You should see the HO 0-6-0 I got in November, sheesh)
Also, am pretty sure smooth steel was employed before treadplate. When wanting treadplate I’ve used Plastruct’s treadplate sheet labeled 1/48 scale as 1/24 seemed far too large. Since it is .020 thick I lmainated it to plain sheet styrene of .015 or .020, I forget.
Also useful is hinged apron between cab and tender.
Something else which can be done is make the tender coupler cut lever actually work; even while taking train set curves.
Bell rope and whistle pull can be added.
Rain gutters/drip strips and window awnings can be added.
IMG_4249 by Forrest Wood, on Flickr
IMG_5285 by Forrest Wood, on Flickr
IMG_5284 by Forrest Wood, on Flickr
IMG_5286 by Forrest Wood, on Flickr
replacing molded coal load is something else to do.
or lengthening smokestack.
or if you have some kind of kinky overly bright headlight fetish.
Big Hauler 4-6-0 can be spiffed up quite nicely, and for me that’s a lot of why they are fun, I’m that kind of guy.
Still trying how to figure out how to make link to Photobucket album work. Let’s try again.
I give, guess it will have to be copy and paste the url.
Okay, right click “open link in new tab” is now working for me here in Firefox.
Thank you guys…I’m only interested in the deck plate, at this time. I have already body mounted the loop part of the coupler on the tender, moving it back 1/4", leaving the hook part as is, on the locomotive. I’ve made up one deck plate, and am using fine Styrene tube to create a hinge, mounted to the locomotive. Closer coupling still allows the locomotive to negotiate a 5 foot curve without problems.My deck plate is a bit shorter than the one you showed, but still seems to float nicely on the tender floor.
I have already moved and replaced the electrical connection, lower, and below the deck plate as you have done. The brake wheel on the tender will be relocated out of the way of the floating deck plate.
Before I go much farther; I’ll make up a few more deck plates, modeled after the first one, seeing as it seems to want to play well…
Thanks again…
Fred Mills
Success is good!
I thought “Any suggestions would be very welcome.” counted for suggestions for any other things to do.
My tube hinge has the inner rod able to be pushed out to remove the apron plate.
I initially thought deck plate meant the pilot deck and then thought maybe it is the apron, that could also be called a deck or plate.
There was an thread here on LSC about adding that plate a while back. But I forget who did it, or exactly when it was.
Forrest Scott Wood said:
Still trying how to figure out how to make link to Photobucket album work. Let’s try again.
I give, guess it will have to be copy and paste the url.
Okay, right click “open link in new tab” is now working for me here in Firefox.
Forrest, the software here at LSC doesn’t play well with spaces in file names. You will have to rename your files without spaces to post them.
Steve Featherkile said:
Forrest, the software here at LSC doesn’t play well with spaces in file names. You will have to rename your files without spaces to post them.
Since the file name is generated by the Photobucket website I expected altering it would make it not work.
Fred,
Here is how I redid my Annie at the last “shopping” the deck plate was one of the additions. The plate is .032 embossed aluminum, this type of aluminum sheeting is most commonly used for covering walk in freezers or cold boxes. To find some I would check with a refrigeration company or sheet metal shop.
If I remember correctly the back of this engine has been altered some from stock so your deck plate may not fit like this one does. The edge against the cab is rolled over a wire edge and the pin in the center anchors it so it floats up and down like a hinge.
Rick
Fred Mills, BSc, (Sd, ss) said:
One start would be; where to find diamond tread Styrene sheet, in 1:24 scale, or there-abouts.
Fred Mills
try this Fred
Fred,
You might check this out unless you’ve already done so.
https://plastruct.com/shop/plain-and-patterned-sheet/91687-ps-155/
Doc
Thank you, everyone…