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USAT Big Boy Modifications


Chuck
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I decided to modify my USA Trains Big Boy to the later in service version. USAT did a really outstanding job detailing these things but they made them to the early "as built" design and not the later Union Pacific shop modified "in service" design.

 

What I'm getting at is the original UP & Alco design was solid...but some of the appliances along with where they were mounted didn't work out so well. But nobody knew that until these beasts of a locomotive were in service.

 

Here's the as delivered design pertaining to the air compressor air cooler coil mounting on the front deck. They're incorporated into the handrails.

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That cooler mounting didn't work out very well as they were prone to leakage because of vibration and freezing in the sever Wyoming winters.

 

Here they've been moved to behind the front panels below the headlight. Infact they changed cooler manufacturers. This modification was applied at the factory for the 2nd order of Big Boys.

 

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USA Trains went with the coolers on deck and I really don't care for that.

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So I stripped them off and fabricated up some new handrails out of brass. All that's left is to paint them.

 

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On 12/10/2017 at 4:15 PM, Rayman4449 said:

Factory original quality work as usual.  This is looking good! 

 

Were the old parts able to be removed without too much damage to them?

 

Yes they came off fairly easy. Parts were just bent over and epoxied on bottom. Old handrails were soldered to coolers as were the compressor lubricators.

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There is 2 holes left over from the old cooler piping that went down thru the deck. I was going to plug them but decided to enlarge them...now I have a place to fly flags like these American toothpick flags :Slightly_Smiling_Face_Emoji(24x24):

 

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  • 4 months later...

Well in the last 5 months all that I've gotten around to is painting the deck black again. I found a really close match to locomotive black is Krylons Colormaster flat black. I take a unshaken can and puncture a hole near the top to bleed off the pressure. Then enlarge the hole and cut away the top of can then pour paint into a resealable glass jar. Then I spray it with a airbrush.

 

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Here I fit the shield and can't hardly tell any difference in the shades of black. After I add the UP shield with number and headlight you'll never notice the thing was repainted :Slightly_Smiling_Face_Emoji(24x24):

 

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