Mirai Zikasu wrote:I really want to hear how you've gone about making the Stemman pantograph.
I found that if you trade in most of your mental health, you can produce nearly anything. If being on the verge of insanity is a fair trade, i say go for it!
I'll have to check the sizes, but i think i have some 1/32 brass wire, and brass tube just small enough that the wire can slide into it. I used this to make my arms. I based the lengths off the Metro liner's pantograph arms. Right now, i'm using old GG1 pantographs i bought spare for the pantograph shoes, though that could be made with flat bar stock or brass sheet.
I'll have to take an updated picture. I have a REALLY old photo posted on here somewhere of when i first put the arms together, but now i've got most of a base built. As Mike Bartel of IHP told me one October train show "good luck with the equalizer bars". He is right, and that is the only major challenge for me to build these things. The parts are getting so small that its difficult to solder, and you need everything to link up just right. I've yet to get precise enough.
Also, springs are becoming a problem. I'm unwilling to "sacrafice" springs from existing pantographs, because they're just fine to. I've been stealing springs from worn out pump and blow seals before i throw them out at work. I've been harvesting some smaller ones, but they still aren't perfect.
I have a set of four Metroliner MUs back home that I've been wanting to refurbish and turn into a decent looking train as they all came to me in various states of imperfection and damage. I'd want to paint mine all back up in the Phase I Pointless Arrow as I like the style, and fortunately, I've found at least a cafe, a club, and a number of coaches which all got Amtrak Phase I paint, so the train could at least be made up of prototypes if not "too well coordinated" for early Amtrak.
I have a book, "Amtrak Annual 1978-1979" that lists which cars had the striping. Unfortunately, other than a supplement, the books were not continued.
anyways, these are the units that got the phase I striping:
76-seat metro-coach
806
807
822-830
60 Seat Snack Bar coach
861
34 seat Parlor/Gallery "Metroclub"
884
I concede that this book could be wrong, but from what i've seen, the Phase I metroliners were uncommon, and until they were rebuilt, there was almost never a 4 or 6 car train with more than two phase Is if any.
It's not a short term project though as I want to rebuild the cars from the shell up with new paint, new underbodies if IHP ever rereleases theirs, window inserts (which come up in conversation about once a year for old Bachmann Amfleets and Metroliners but somehow never get made), better interiors, and all that jazz, but it is something on my [long] list of things to do. At the very least, I have a lot of Phase I/II striping lying around from two decal sheets I had to buy for numbers for my twin E60MAs.
I'd like to see your E60MA builds. In any event, I wish IHP would release that stuff, but i don't think the interest was ever high. I remember WAY WAY back in 2006, he had some rebuilt
metroliner shells on the table, but they haven't been released yet. The last metoreliner related part i saw he had for sale (maybe he still does?) are those weird antennas on some of the coaches. He had them last Transit show a year ago, maybe he'll bring them again.
Elite Juice Jack Modeler.
