Continuing the Diesel switcher project, I’ve kept pushing forward, mostly now on the SW-8.

Reworking a hood

As mentioned, the SW-8 came to me built up but it had some issues. Among the biggest related to the hood front and the tapers at the back.

I did the back end first. I built one of these kits a few years ago and had an idea how to make it even better this time around. Looking closely at the photo above, I bent a piece to fit inside the hood, added square brass reinforcements, and used lots of solder (and a torch) to fill it all in very solid.

This photo shows the inside after soldering. I also set up the front end carefully with reinforcements and lots of solder. After that I used large and small files to round the corners to match the prototype design. I don’t have any photos of that handy, but there are photos in the original SW-8 series.

Interlude: A Schorr sticker

I had never taken the NW-2 apart fully, which was another next step. Inside the frame was quite a surprise!

The model was built by Fred Schorr. If for his layout or as a custom build, I don’t know, but it was never painted and finished.

Also in the photo above you can see the end of the frame, how it drops down. It actually drops down too far, as did the frame of the SW-1. I cut both down to match what James Trout did on his NW-2 (and referencing prototype photos). I also fabricated new front and end steps for the SW-1, which I’ll return to in a future post.

Fixing the SW-8 frame

The final project of this installment involves the SW-8 frame. The end steps were only super-glued on, and besides being a bit flimsy there were several issues to fix.

First off, you can see above some of my setup for this work. I’m using the resistance soldering unit again, and a variety of clamps to hold things in place. This end had to be mostly rebuilt, the steps were not bent correctly. I squared out the angles better.

The next big thing was putting the end steps on again as well, this time not with super glue.

I’m actually using the cab jig seen earlier, but turned upside down and in the bench vice to give me a work surface at an angle. This makes it so I can set it up with solder and do the work much more efficiently. Gives me a third hand.

This last view shows a wider view of the setup, with the steps soldered on.

After that I did more work, adding square brass reinforcements to the frame, not visible but inside the frame sides. It’s all back together now. For all this work I’ve used an acid flux which washes off after I’m done.

Right now the project is resting briefly! But I think the next big thing will be the steps for the NW-2 and SW-1, the original steps look terrible! I’m hoping to work up something better. On to that soon.