Kitbashing a Pacific Electric Ry. derrick
“open” position, I planned to use bits of .005” clear styrene flush-glued to the backsides of the doors since the glazing method wouldn’t be visible. I cut eight new roof panels from .010″ styrene sheet. They measured three feet wide and about 11′-3″ in length. Each was cut into rectangles and curved with my fingertips, then cemented in place separately to make distinct roof seams. This was easier than scoring seams into one full roof sheet which would have been hard to glue into place without making a mess. Using the tried-and- true method of sparely-applied glue and capillary action, the Tenax cement neat- ly pulled into each joint. I used the same method for applying the new cab side walls fore and aft. The forward cab section was cement- ed to the stock kit’s left and right side walkway assemblies, which I narrowed longitudinally by about four inches. This part of the cab had to remain sep- arate until the very last, hence I took my sweet time in its construction, cut- ting and fitting the components as the project advanced. While the forward cab assembly dried, I made up the PE’s very distinctive shield housing cover- ing the forward end of the boom as an insulator (sheet metal? wood?) be- tween the boom and high voltage trol- ley wires. This, too, was eyeballed and made up from .010″ scrap styrene. Next, I made up a four-board wide trolley pole base from a bit of .030″ scribed siding scrap as a sub-assembly, roughed it up with a wire brush and hobby knife tip to look more like wood, and glued four scale 3″×3″’s for sad- dles underneath it. When the saddles had fully dried I used a half-round jew- eler’s file to contour their bottoms into a uniformly-concave shape that matched the convex form of the roof at its centerline,
then affixed this
arrangement to the roof. I already had an older Kemtron- made (now made by Precision Scale) functional brass trolley pole and mounting base, so that was installed after I drilled a mounting hole through the “wooden” base and roof. I made the hole just snug enough to secure the pole assembly with a press fit. A left- over Details Associates re-railing frog hanger was used as the trolley pole hook and mounted at the roof rear at dead-center. Just behind the hook I ap- plied a PSC locomotive back-up lamp, centered above the rear wall’s broad access door. Next, I cut and fit two boom-cover doors designed to be glued in place in the wide-open position. Be- fore I glued them in place, I bent a pair of doors support frames from .005″ steel piano wire since that would be stronger than brass wire. The supports
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The cab required a lot of improvisation since the model was converted from one represent- ing a steam-powered crane. New curved roof panels were made and attached to it along with the trolley pole. Added interest is provided by the open hatches at the front of the roof. These would be closed in transit, but they allow viewers to see the details in the cab interior.
were cemented into .079″ holes with cyanoacrylate. To finish off the roof, I made a small electrical service box and representa- tions of PE’s universally-applied air whistle and clapper gong (with protec- tive cage) from scrap wire and styrene bits. I also added four rooftop grab irons and nut-bolt-washer castings in .079″ holes. Two more grab irons were arranged like an “X” across the top of the gong. This replicated PE’s some- time practice of keeping the gong from being snagged by the trolley pole when it was being rotated over the roof from front to back.
Now it was time to paint the various assemblies. Because I wanted some eye-catching color that made sense, I chose to paint most of the cab interior in a light industrial green color, a blend of white, gray and green, using an air- brush. I then hand-brushed a little red and silver on the winding engine’s con- trols and brushed black over the wind- ing drums. Figuring a boom operator might hit his head on the hoist’s truss- rod stiffeners, I painted these bright yellow–which also grabs the viewer’s eye and pulls interest into the other- wise shady interior.
Once these colors had fully dried, a OCTOBER 2012
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