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Category: Tools
Hits: 80

A-Line Bulls Eye Drilling Jig

A-Line sells this awesome Jig to drill a #50 hole in Athearn press fit coupler boxes.

This tool lets the buyer drill holes directly in the center of the coupler pin. This allows the modeler to add a screw down fix for the notoriously loose metal plates on older Athearn coupler boxes.

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Category: Diesel Projects
Hits: 191

Creating Custom Snow Plows

Article reposted by the generous authorization of Pat Durand's son Casey.

Yes, you too can build Alaska Railroad snow plows.  Do it just like the railroad did, one at a time.   You will notice that there are no two plows exactly alike except on the SD70MAC units.   A template and a few examples are included here to help you get started.

The template can be printed on your computer printer at whatever scale you want.  Just blow it up or shrink it down until the printer output matches your scale ruler when laid over the template ruler.

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Category: Diesel Projects
Hits: 99

Home Made Radiator Curtains

Article reposted by the generous authorization of Pat Durand's son Casey.

Keeping diesel engines warm in Alaska's severe winter weather was a constant battle. You will notice weather curtains mounted over most radiator intakes on early units, Alco S2, RS1, RSD1, 1070's, etc.

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Category: Painting Projects
Hits: 107

Pat Durand's Masking Tips

Article reposted by the generous authorization of Pat Durand's son Casey.

If you want Alaska Railroad engines someone will have to paint them. You may as well jump in.   Here are some proven tips that may save you some grief along the way.

Gather tools and resources needed in a well lighted, clean work area.  Sharp scissors, fresh razor blade, tweezers, Scotch Magic Mending tape, and a clean sheet of paper.  Photos of the prototype and a previous successful model if you have one are a must.

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Category: Steam Projects
Hits: 2221

Adding Extra Electrical Pickup

Enhancing HO scale model performance. Article reposted by the generous authorization of Pat Durand's son Casey.

Modern model diesel locomotives usually have all wheel pickup. Unfortunately state of the art Steam Locomotives seem to overlook the advantages of all wheel pickup and rely on split frames and often ignore the tender as a source of power pickup. On other occasions the electrical pickup is from only one side of the tender.

Simple solution is at hand. Phosphor bronze (PB) sheet is available from Walthers in various thicknesses. The thin stuff works best. You may find a local source of Phosphor bronze wire which can be made to work as well.

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Category: Diesel Projects
Hits: 97

FP7 Steam Generator Housing

Article reposted by the generous authorization of Pat Durand's son Casey.

The Alaska Railroad's three FP7 locomotives, 1510, 1512 and 1514 were fitted at the factory with a unique stack assembly over the steam generator. I believe these were a cold weather adaptation that may appear on some NP, GN and Canadian FP units as well. I have not found any drawings of the housing. With all three locomotives gone, we modelers were left with lousy photographs from which to imagineer these devices.

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Category: Vintage Model Trains
Hits: 914

Vintage Model Trains: Aristo Craft Brass 0-6-6-0

Brass models were once the only option for a quality steam locomotive model. While a small amount of Brass model importers still exist, they are few and far between with plastic model manufacturers making the vast majority of locomotives in the US market. This model (while we're unsure of the date made) represents what we consider the height of Brass steam models.

According to the Western Division of the TCA, Aristo Craft HO Brass was produced in the 1950's and 60's (source: http://www.tcawestern.org/aristo.htm).

Our model came in as a donation to the museum I manage, and was unfortunately without the orginal box. However if memory serves me right, the foam in those old Brass boxes was unfavorable to the model, as it decomposed and stuck to the models.

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