Jan3 Written by:Joel D. Miller
1/3/2008 9:16 PM
In my last GG-1 Building log I mentioned that my next project would be a Pennsylvania P5-A (modified). This engine was the predecessor to the GG-1. Unfortunately, all of them were scraped and no examples of this loco exist today. It is also a locomotive that, to my know age, has not been modeled in large-scale 1:29. (If I am not correct, please let me know whom I can contact for help on this project.)
The process I am using to build this Loco is identical to that used to build the GG-1. That’s right folks; it’s going to be carved out of wood again.
The Block-O-Wood revolution continues!
The Drivers will be from an Aristocraft Pacific Locomotive (provide that they are still available) and the motor block or blocks will be standard Aristocraft egg liner/ FA-1 trucks. The distance between axels is about ¼ “ too close but once again, I will be using the 10 foot rule. (If it looks good from 10 feet away, it’s Ok.)
The drivers will have spokes cut out to make them appear more like the quill drive wheels on the Pennsy loco. Four of the wheels will form a ridged frame, but the last set of wheels may be built to pivot left or right for tight radius turns and may or may not be powered by a cut up aristo block. My plans change frequently so we will see what happens when I get to that part of the project.
Anyway, onto the builders log,
The boards have been glued together and all of the cutting lines have been drawn in.
The first cut is made to the roof to lower the hoods. This was done by making multiple passes with a table saw. If I had a dado blade, it would have gone much faster.
The second step was to round the nose with my skill saw. This was done by making several straight cuts, each a slightly different angle to achieve the rounded front end.
The sloping sides were then carved into the loco using a router.
The roof of the cab is then routed using a ¾” half round (concave) bit. To give it a nice rounded look. I also tried this technique with the hood but could not find a firm footing for the routers plate. As a result, I gouged my model. A little “Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty” and some Squadron Green quickly hid the mistake.
I then resorted to using a belt sander to round the corners. First a 45-degree anger was sanded into the edge and then 20-degree edges were sanded on both sides of the 45. The result is a relatively rounded edge. Finale shaping is done by hand sanding.
The corners near the cab are sanded using a drum sander on the end of a dremel motor tool. Again, all final sanding is done by hand.
Once the corners were rounded, I coated the whole thing with two coats of polyester fiberglass resin. Followed by repeated standings to remove any streaks or sags.
Finally, I gave the body a light coat of tan paint so I could start marking the locations for cab doors, windows and vents.
That’s it for now.
If you are interested in seeing other examples of wooden locomotives, check out Bryans EL-2B building log.
Good morning everyone,
I made a little more progress on the engine today before going to work.
On to the Photos:
The large rectangular opening on the hood had to be cut free hand using a dremel with a small rotary saw.
The windows were then marked
The windows are cut using a small saw with a wide 1/8” saw kerf.
A series of vertical cuts were made and the material between the cuts was removed.
Final work on the corners of the window openings were done using a very small rotary file.
Below are the finished openings.
The next step may be to make a rubber mold of this peace for possible duplication. It might be nice to run these as double headers.
Good morning all,
Well after weeks of waiting, the Pacific locomotive drivers that I ordered from Aristocraft showed up in a plain brown box last night. While it may not have been the customary “yellow box of happiness”, I was none the less pleased. These Items were the one critical component necessary for the continuation of this project. I had put the project on hold until I had a source for those drivers. Now that I have them, I’m back on track. THANK YOU ARISTOCRAFT! :)
Below are some photos of the drivers laid out on the P5-A’s drawing and a photo of the drivers under the carved wood body.
Well, after being side tracked by many other projects, I’m back to working on the P-5a again. Last week the UPS guy showed up at my door step with a pair of Aristocraft power blocks. They were instantly taken out of the box and the wheals were taken off of them in the same manner as I used on the GG-1 Project. I did have a problem with the man axle spinning on one wheel set when I tried to remove the screw holding it on. Naturally this had to be the axle with the separately contained gear box. Which required an hour to take apart, remove the wheel, and then put back together again. A bit of a hassle but well worth the opportunity to look inside the motor block and appreciate how well bade it is. (Aristocraft put ball bearings on every available rotating surface. Quite frankly I’m amazed that they showed some restraint and didn’t put ball bearings on the necks of the screws!!!)
Once the wheals were off the blocks, I tapered the Pacific drivers using a screw removing ream that I chucked in my drill press.
The drivers were installed on the new motor block.
I then laid it down on my semi-scale print of the P-5a
And finally took it outback to test it’s operation on the track and switches.
With 2.5 inch drivers, that little motor block really moves!
The third set of drive wheals will be made by cutting down the second motor block that I purchased and mounting it to the one shown above. I’m not sure If I’m going to articulate it or not. I’ll have to fool around with it a bit and see how it handles 10’ diameter turns.
I made a little more progress the other day. After testing the motor block on the track, it was time to start erasing the drive wheel’s heritage. This is a little tougher than it was for the GG-1 witch used plastic centered wheels as opposed to Aristocraft’s zinc alloy wheels. At first I tried using my drill press as a mill but this did not provide satisfactory results. I finally ended up just using my good old dremmel motor tool to cut out all the extra spokes and re-shape the counter weight. This takes some time but not much more than carving plastic drivers with an exacto knife. Below are photos of the motor tool cutting and the final result.
Only five more to do!
The table saw is not a subtle tool however it can be quite effective at shortening motor blocks. The photos demonstrate this point quite well. The total time for the cut…about 3 seconds. I should mention that before the cut was made, I did remove the universal joint and the self contained gear box from one side of the block.
After making the cut I put the cut block and the uncut one together temporarily, and placed them on a section of 10 dia. Track. Sadly, the block will not negotiate this curve without articulation. Looks like I’m going to have to fabricate some kind of a hinge point for this thing. (and I though this was going to be an easy project!)
This weekend has been a very busy one for me and my model. Thanks to the photos supplied by Bryan of the quill drive, I was able to get some Ideas of how to represent them. I wound up going down to the local office supply store and buying three packages of inexpensive ball point pens.
These were broken open and the springs were extracted. Each spring was cut in half and glued between the spokes of the locomotive driver.
Even with the “10 foot rule”, I am not happy with their appearance, they are just too thin and there is too much air space between the coils. I think I may use pieces of threaded rod instead to represent coiled springs under compression. However, In the meantime, I will continue on with the project.
I spent a few hours routering out the bottom of the shell to accept the motor blocks. The shortened motor block was then installed using the simplest form of articulation I could think of.
This turned out to be nothing more complicated than running a screw through the block and into the bottom of the solid wood body. This is both simple and effective. Once the swiveling block was in place and shimmed up, the other motor block was screwed into place.
After fiddling with the wire harness for a wile, I discovered that I had some wires crossed. Once found, this situation was quickly remedied and the model was put on the track for testing. I happy to report that the P5-a glides down the track beautifully, successfully navigates Aristocraft wide radius switches and also does fine on 10 diameter turns.
There is one big drawback though; because of it’s solid wood upper body, it is very top heavy and topples off of the track on turns at high speed. This may be corrected by either hollowing out the body and adding some weight down low. I also am hoping that the addition to leading and trailing trucks will help ease the model into turns a little better.
Finally, thanks for the answer to the “why they have springs on the quill drive” question I didn’t have a clue. Video of the turnout testing should follow in a few days.
Joel
More progress has been made!
I spent the past few mornings building the front and rear trucks for the locomotive. This was done in the same fashion as the GG-1 trucks. A small rectangular box was made out of .060 styrene plastic. Holes were punched in the sides to allow the insertion of some inexpensive metal wheels, and a rectangular cap was glued on to provide some rigidity.
Initially, I had planed on mounting the trucks directly to the body of the P5-a. The side to side play in the trucks would be allowed through the use of a long narrow slit in the truck body. However, when tested this configuration, I found that it could not negotiate the 10 diameter curves or the Aristo switches. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
The solution that I cam up with was to mount the trucks on an extension arm with a pivot point closer to the drivers. This greatly increased the swing of the trucks and the mode now can negotiate both switches and 10 dia. curves.
The next step will be fabricating the side frames for the front and rear trucks as well as the drivers.
The first rains of the season have cut my outdoor playtime down today so I spent a little time fabricating some side frames for the P5-a’s pilot trucks. I also made some spacers out of some .06 styrene that I glued up into a rectangular tube. It seems to work well, but I also plan on running a small peace of styrene between the ends of the trucks for some added rigidity.
Joel
Good morning all,
I’ve made a little more progress on the frames today and was able to lay them in place to see how they looked. I had a lot of trouble cutting out portions of the frames because my old dremel jig saw only has two speeds; “Not moving “ and “plastic melting warp speed”! I also attempted to shave about 1/8” off of the tops of the frames on the table saw. This was a big mistake because it chipped the frames. (It has not been a very successful modeling week for me and I’m ready to just call it quits and go inside to read the latest issue of garden railways for the day.)
Here are the photos of the progress so far.
Joel
Good evening all,
I spent a little time yesterday working on the leaf springs for the engine and just got them mounted in the frames today.
Below are photos.
Joel
Good evening,
More progress has been made on the model! I spent part of last week hollowing out the inside of the cab so I could put an engineer in as well as a light in the cab. Once that was done, I started putting the grills on the sides of the engine. I then applied a liberal dose of squadron green putty. A little sanding and it will be ready for painting.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I did a little experimental paint mixing this morning and came up with what I consider to be the right color for the P5. This is lighter than Floquil’s Brunswick green which in my opinion is too dark. Below are the results after painting
Good evening,
I have just had my first experience with casting resin and boy is that stuff fun!
The resin was used to make some copies of marker lights that I wanted for the P5. I pushed the original into a peace of modeling clay and poured the resin in the depression. One half hour later, presto! Instant marker lights. That resin is great. 
Once I had the resin castings, I cut off the upper portion of the marker and glued it to a peace of styrene. I then cut a thin peace of rectangular tubing and glued it on behind the marker light. 
The space between the marker light and the number board was then filled with a drop of CA glue and sprayed with zip kicker. 
Finally, they were given a liberal coat of paint and are ready for mounting.
Good evening all,
After firing up the propane heater in the garage, I was able to get a little work done on my engine tonight.
I started by filing down some stainless steel screws to use on the pantographs. The pantographs were then mounted to the hood, power blocks and side frames re-installed and pilot trucks stuck back in place. More to come later.
Joel
Good afternoon all,
I finally was able to upload some low-resolution photos of the pinstripe work that I did the other day.
The pin striping came from the RC car and plane department at my local hobby town. I tired all of my local auto supply stores but they were out of yellow. Thanks to Bryan for posting the photos of the Block-O-Wood engines.
I can only wonder when madman is going to start gluing up some boards. Maybe something from New York Central? Come on, you know you want to…
Good evening all,
I was able to get a start on the coupler mounts and front and rear steps today.
I wound up using aristocraft couplers. They are larger then the Kayde couplers that I used on the GG-1 but there is a 6% grade on my fathers track. Normally, I have no problems , but as soon as I turn my back I hear the rush of accelerating cars racing down the grade. Naturally the grade ends in a 10 foot diameter turn, resulting in spectacular crashes and guaranteed business for my local hobby shop. As a mitigation measure, I have begun to equip all of my cars with aristocraft couplers to prevent separations .See photos below.
The next step will be figuring out how to make the cow catcher. I’m thinking of using brass strips for them and I’ll post photos as I figure out how to make them.
Good evening all,
I was able to finish the cow catchers and some hand rails tonight. See photos below.
Tomorrow it’s off to the train show to look for an engineer figure for the model as well as supplies for the next project.
Joel
Good evening all,
Well, I have finally finished the P5-a project!
Took it out on the track yesterday morning and shot the video that you will see at the end of this note. There are more details that could be added to it, but once again, I’m invoking the ten foot rule and will therefore sacrifice these details in order to move on to the next project. There are a couple of differences between the P5 and the last GG-1 that I made. Mainly, the P5 has an interior and also has more exterior details like had rails. I did make one very important discovery while shooting the video. This locomotive has almost no pulling ability. Even after some of the lead weights were removed from under the drivers, the engine started to strip gears going up our 6% grade. As a result, loads are limited to one aristocraft heavyweight or three freight cars with plastic wheals. The power problem is most likely due to the locomotives heavy weight combined with oversized drivers being turned by undersized gears that were meant to turn wheals lest than half the size of those currently on the engine. I plan to run it until the power train breaks and then consider replacing it with something more substantial. It is interesting to note that, just as the real P5 did not meet the Pennsylvania railroads hopes for a powerful replacement to the Pacific’s, the model I have made is clearly inferior to the GG-1 in terms of pulling power and tracking behavior.
As for my next project, I plan on building something using live steam as the power source. The loco will have the appearance of an old Lionel tinplate model but will hopefully be powered by a turbine. (if the turbine fails to work well, I will replace it with a 2 cylinder reciprocating engine that I built several years ago.)
Any way, below are links to the final photos of the engine as well as the video. It’s a little cheesy but hopefully you have come to expect that from me after seeing my Madam Zorra post last year.
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Finally, I would like to thank everyone who followed this post and gave me advice and encouragement Especially Bryan.
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