Union Pacific BIG BOY 4-8-8-4 1/25 Scale (Engine)

[uhu02]

Originally Posted by cdavenport

I, too, am ready to pony up the US dollars to buy your kit, Kooklik. I've got your Type VIIC. Your work is beyond compare. Even Uhu02 cannot compete with you.

I think so, too

[DEATH ANGELS]

Originally Posted by kooklik

Hello Rixtoys
I sent vector files to have a laser shop in Bangkok cut it.
----kooklik----

I am not even going to work today!!! Celebrating the one step closer to a part 1 kit release!!!

[kooklik]

Hello Death Angels
Another one step closer to the release date. Still have more thousand steps. Colored the ash pans and trail truck. Suspension and its links were rather difficult to put to their positions. Some of painting were taken out during assembly in the narrow spaces. I will repaint in later.
----kooklik----

[cdavenport]

Between you and BClemens, the two of you are rewriting the book on what a paper model should be! Looking forward to release date!

[rixtoys]

Here are some photos of the trailing tuck from the book "Big Boy" by William Kratville 1972. Two show men cleaning the ash grates. It shows how big the trailing truck really is. Great Job Kooklik. I am really looking forward to when this model is released.

[kooklik]

Great those pictures. Thank you Rixtoy. I saved to my source pictures database.
The cleaning/maintenance job for steam locomotive was very hard and taken long time. That's a reason for ending of steam era.
----kooklik----

[cdavenport]

Originally Posted by kooklik

Great those pictures. Thank you Rixtoy. I saved to my source pictures database.
The cleaning/maintenance job for steam locomotive was very hard and taken long time. That's a reason for ending of steam era.
----kooklik----

You are partially correct, Kooklik. The maintenance/cost required to keep a steam locomotive running spurred development of an alternate power source. Actually, the steam era ended when diesel-electric locomotives developed into powerful drivers, beginning in 1939. By the mid-50s, d/e engines were developed with higher power-to-weight ratios than steam.

[rixtoys]

Maintainance was a huge factor. No ash pans to dump on a diesel. It took hundreds, if not thousands fewer people to maintain a diesel fleet. The giant roundhouse facilities became ghost towns after their arrival. Not to mention the elimination of coal and water stops between stations and all that associated maintenance. Also they can run just as well backwards so don't need to be turned at the end of a run, and they can be configured in multi unit set ups. They can run thousands of miles between required maintenance unlike steamers that needed work every few hundred miles. These are just a few of the reasons diesels were so much cheaper and easier to run. In the pre diesel days a long train was 5 thousand feet most were in the 3500 foot range. Now days average train length is over 7 thousand. The reduction in work force and increase in over the road efficiency saved millions of dollars for the railroads.

[Yale]

Originally Posted by cdavenport

... Actually, the steam era ended when diesel-electric locomotives developed into powerful drivers, beginning in 1939. By the mid-50s, d/e engines were developed with higher power-to-weight ratios than steam.

Exceptions to this general situation, Charles, were the few railroads at very high altitudes -- such as the one in Peru that tops out at something like 11,000 feet. The lower air pressure sapped the diesels' power so much that trains continued to rely on steam. It took ten or twenty additional years for the development of diesel locomotives that could handle that altitude.

[kooklik]

Hello all

I have a new update pictures of trail truck. There are many small parts. I used magnifying lenses for most assembly around the trail truck.

----kooklik----