benshell

Ray, as for adhesives I'll share my experiences with JB Weld soon. In short, it does work if there's enough contact area; not so much with little contact area. Thanks for your comments about my photos! My camera is a Nikon D7000. The important thing isn't the camera though, it's the flash. Mine is a Nikon SB700 which I often use off camera. Quick frankly the lighting is terrible where I'm working on the Big Boy, but I use various work lights and the camera flash helps a lot for photos. My main work bench has much better lighting, but due to the weight and size of the Big Boy I'm working on it on another bench. I think I'll be able to get it running before my June event. I'm more concerned about getting my mainline completed, so that's been my top priority! I am also a little concerned about whether or not the Big Boy will run reliably on my mainline. My track work is pretty good, but 100% perfect is hard and I've heard a lot of concerns about the suspension of the USAT Big Boy.

Here's a quick update on a simple cosmetic issue. The front platform railings were badly bent on arrival. They seem quite heavy duty, but they turned out to be easy to bend. However the fireman's side railing is broken (not just bent) in two places and I don't know of any way to fix that. You really have to look closely to notice the issues though. One issue is that one post doesn't go into the platform floor. The other broken part is more easily seen in my photos, but if I paint the broken area black I doubt you'd see it, even in photos. But if it ends up bothering me I'll probably go ahead and order a replacement from Charles Ro; otherwise I don't think I'm going to worry about it. Before: After:

California is a big state... it's probably 7 or 8 hours. My thought is that I'll spend a night in San Bernardino, chase the 4014 for a day, and drive home late the same night.

Mark, It came with motors and lights, but no electronics boards, speakers, or smoke units. Ray, I have a theory about the rear axle. I don't think it could have been bent in shipping. Now that I've replaced it I've taken the old one and tried abusing it. It's very tough! I haven't bent it further at all yet. How the axle was bent I can't imagine, but my theory is that USA Trains sold it to me this way. It wasn't something that anyone would have noticed on display at the ECLSTS. And this locomotive was likely sold to be a shelf queen since it didn't have electronics, so I think they assumed no one would ever notice. By the way, to futher back up my theory when I disassembled the rear trailing truck some of the screws were partially stripped. I don't think that would have happened during assembly in China. Someone opened up the trailing truck at a later time for some reason, like to get rid of a bent wheelset! Anyway, I need to go take some more photos; I'll share another project update shortly. (Progress is slow, partly because I'm constantly blocked on something, and partly because my top priority is building my 20' diameter mainline to run it on. My goal for both is to be running the Big Boy in June during the West Coast Regional Meet.) In the meantime, here are all the photos I originally took to document the arrival and damage of the locomotive last year: http://flickr.com/gp/benjaminshell/635by9

Looks great, thanks for sharing all these high quality and up close photos! As I'm working through fixing mine some of these photos are going to be helpful.

I'm still anxious to hear the date of the next move. I'm considering driving down and chasing it over Cajon Pass (along with a million other railfans, I'm sure. :S). I just have a lot going on over the next few months though as I'm prepping for the West Coast Regional Meet in Sacramento in June, as well as some other short trips planned, so it will depend on the actual date of the Big Boy move.

Chuck, yeah it's been a mess. I've also heard other Charles Ro customer service horror stories. If they'd have said "we made a mistake the price is really $1600" I would have been disappointed but I'd understand. That's really where the customer service went wrong. It was not what happened, but the way they treated me when there was a disagreement. I prefer not to speak negatively about any company, especially not the one that makes my favorite products. Still, my story wouldn't be complete without this disappointing chapter. I encourage everyone to buy USA Trains products, just be cautious in dealing with Charles Ro direct. Fortunately as you can see the damage is mostly little stuff you don't see at a glance, although there are some important little things I need to fix. The first major thing I tackled was the trailing truck axle. The original was bent (and I have no idea how that could have happened!). I bought a 72" of 7/32" stainless rod from Amazon.com (of all places!). I thought it'd be an easy operation on my lathe, since I just needed to turn the rod down to .196 diameter. However being a press fit it needed to be very precise, and I hadn't used my lathe enough to realize I didn't know how to do such precise work. I found out in my first try that I was getting a taper. I finally figured out how to align my lathe headstock and tailstock more precisely, and made a new axle that worked. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos while actually making the new axle, but I've included the photo I took when I originally discovered the bent axle, and another of the trailing truck reinstalled with the new axle, and the one old (and my mistake piece) next to it.

Hi everyone, I'm starting a long overdue thread to chronicle my USA Trains Big Boy project. A few of you have read about the start of this story on the USAT G Scale Group. I've decided now to start from the beginning in a single thread, both here and on the USAT G Scale Group. My story begins last March with the ECLSTS. I wasn't at the show, but I was helping Shawn of the USAT G Scale Group provide live coverage of the event. When I heard that Charles Ro had two Big Boys for sale for $1800 each (without electronics) I asked if Shawn could help me buy one, and he graciously agreed. I provided my credit card number over the phone to Charles Ro, and then Shawn picked up the Big Boy and took it to a UPS Store where I again gave the store my credit card to ship it to myself, at an outrageous cost of about $300. Unfortunately, the UPS Store did a poor job packaging the Big Boy, and the UPS carriers decided to drop it a few times. It was supposed to be insured for $2000, but it turned out not to be. The UPS Store guy put down $1000 for the engine and $1000 for the tender, and the tender wasn't damaged. After months of dealing with UPS claims, the UPS Store, and Charles Ro (to get quotes for repairs), UPS finally accepted that the engine had more than $1000 worth of damage, so I eventually got $1200 from them (including the packing and shipping refund for the engine box). That's when Charles Ro changed their tune and decided not to honor the quote they'd given me in writing, which was a whole new chassis (including all wheels and motors) for $1000. The price was now $1600. I talked to Mike in parts, Charles Ro himself, and eventually Charlie's son Mike (known as the "bouncer" for problem customers) who treated me poorly and flat out lied to me about things they themselves said just weeks earlier in phone calls I documented, as well as an [admitted vague] email stating the $1000 chassis price. So I decided to not to spend anymore money with Charles Ro, and instead fix the Big Boy myself. The damage is very repairable, it's just a matter of figuring out how to fix each issue. For the record, although there is no excuse for the poor customer service I received from Charles Ro, they still make great products which I have continued to buy, but only used or through dealers instead of Charles Ro directly. In my next post I'll start documenting the various repairs I have made so far, and am continuing to work through.

This is great to know about Chuck, thanks for sharing and including such detailed photos and description! Since my Big Boy is in almost as many pieces right now (trying to fix a few issues caused when UPS dropped it in shipping!), do you think this is something I should take care of now? Or will I have a few years before the brushes wear down? Considering how heavy this locomotive is I can't imagine I'll be running it often. By the way, my design complaint is the little protrusions from the gearboxes. One broke off in shipping, and the other broke off when I took the locomotive apart. I glued them back on with JB Weld, but it didn't hold. The gearbox metal is really thick, and the little protrusion bracket is barely supported with any material. It's really a very weak design. I have an idea for a workaround, but do need to re-glue something over the hole left by the protrusion to keep the oil in. I've been meaning to start a thread about my own Big Boy adventures. I'll start gathering my pictures (some from my cell, some from my DSLR).

I'm not sure how it makes any difference what board (QSI or MTH) you're driving an MTH smoke unit from. The problem appears to be that my MTH smoke unit has a problem, like a short, that's causing it to require much more power than it should need.

If an MTH smoke unit should be about 8 ohms then there's something wrong with mine... the resistance seems to vary a lot depending on how much smoke fluid is in it and how hot the unit is, but I've made readings anywhere from 1-something ohms to 5 ohms! Maybe I should see if it's shorting; that's a great idea. The only variable I can control from the QSI is how much voltage to supply, and I've found that more than around 5 volts is unreliable and will likely cause the unit to draw over 6 amps! The smoke unit still puts out good smoke at 5 volts though, and next time I run I'll take a video (after buying more smoke fluid...!)

Chuck, I have a fair amount of experience with QSI Titans, having installed several; two with smoke. I really like QSI decoders. They sounds great and have a lot of features. Yes you can set the number of chuffs per driver revolution. I've pulsed USA Trains smoke units with no problem with a 6 amp decoder. However, I haven't had good luck with an MTH smoke unit... they seem to take a ridiculous amount of power. I did upgrade to a 10 amp decoder in my Aristo-Craft to power a MTH smoke unit (from a Hudson), and I'm still having trouble with resetting, but it might be that my DCC circuit breaker is set to 9 amps. It was working great on my workbench, but when I took it out and tried to pull a train it reset immediately. It's all a matter of the voltage you give it though. You can adjust the voltage of the QSI down as low as you want, and then the QSI won't reset but of course you get less smoke at a lower voltage. I'll have to adjust my circuit breaker to a full 10 amps, and adjust the QSI voltage down a little, and try again.

Very nice improvement Jerry! By the way, how difficult is it to take apart these cars? I don't yet have any passenger cars, and I'm torn between getting started in 1:32 and buying MTH cars, or sticking with 1:29 and buying USA Trains cars. One downside of the USA Trains cars is that I hear they are extremely difficult to open up, and yet if you don't convert to LED lighting they draw a lot of power. But on the upside they have more types of passenger cars than MTH. :S

Thanks for the details Jerry. That step down circuit isn't going to be able to handle the current of an MTH smoke unit, at least not from what I've seen. I have used a similar board (from eBay) in other circuits though, so it'll be great to have them on hand. As for the smoke, since I'm using a QSI decoder I can set the output voltage to be anything I want... I like the increased output of a higher voltage, but for reliable ongoing use without melting something I may have to step it down to more like 5 to 7 volts. I have a 10 amp QSI Titan on order, so once I get that I'll resume testing.

That's very cool, thanks for sharing! At that price point they are going to sell well! I'm almost even tempted, and I only collect Northern American trains. I will also be hoping to see some realistic true-to-scale American steam from them in the future.

That's awesome Jerry! Do you have any details about your install? I'm trying to do the same thing with my Aristo-Craft Mallet. I have the smoke unit mounted in the locomotive and hooked up to a QSI Titan, and it works great for about a minute until it draws too much current. I've seen the heating element alone draw up to 4 amps before the decoder resets! (at 8 volts for the heating element)

Let me know if you have one for sale, or come across one for sale. Now that the SP Daylight passenger cars are going to be back in production (which I'll also need) I'm ready to start seriously looking for a GS-4. Thanks!

Wow that looks really nice! UP streamliners sure look good. I really appreciate how even today for special runs they pull a matching set of cars.

I noticed that cab forward in the background of another photo (of the Dreyfuss Hudson). I don't see it on Accucraft's website though. I know they made an AC-12 cab forward in the past, but is this older AC-6 an upcoming release, or something from the past I must have missed?

I just posted a video in http://www.gscaletrainforum.com/index.php?/topic/67-eclsts/, but I guess I should cross-post here too:

Shawn from the USA Trains Yahoo Group, who took those pictures, also took a bunch of videos. Including one of the new Dreyfuss Hudson: http://www.youtube.com/user/USATrainsGScaleGroup (it looks really good to me! I was a little concerned about the blind center drivers, but I can't tell from the video, even in HD.)

I couldn't find a price for the electric version on Accucraft's site, so I figured it was coming later. But this evening I found both versions already listed at Silver State Trains. The electric version is "only" $3320, and scheduled for Winter 2013.

Thanks for the update! I've been wondering what's going on with this. Initially I heard they wanted to move it in February or March, but it sounds like they aren't that far along yet. I'm hoping to go see it if/when they move it, but Pomona is a day's drive away, and with work and family I'll need time to plan for that!

I thought I should be the first to follow up and admit my prediction was wrong! The Accucraft pre-order price is $3695: http://www.accucraftestore.com/index.php?categoryID=446 I'm surprised it's so much more than the AML K4, which was around $2200 before release, and has gone up to $2900 now. Has the market price for large scale locomotives really gone up that much recently? I haven't seen USA Trains raise prices so much. The Big Boy, for example, is $3700 and has already been right around that price. Their NYC Hudson has always been right around $2000.

I'm certainly excited about this news! I'd rather see a Southern Pacific locomotive, but this is a close second. I just need to figure out how to start saving the big bucks for an engine like this this. (Must...resist...buying... more... freight cars...). I'm going to make a prediction that it'll be around $3000. We'll see how close I am. I could see it being even more if prices continue to climb before it's released, but I'd rather not think about that. I'd also want matching passenger cars, from USA Trains, so add another $2000 or $3000 for a string of those and it'll definitely be over $5000. If I'm going save that much I'd better get off the train forums and go back to work!