Athearn UP rotary plow


flyboy2610

flyboy2610

Loveably weird
At the beginning of June, I bought an Athearn UP rotary plow at at train show in Omaha. I bought it at the same time I bought the Rivarossi UP greyhound observation car, which I recently finished upgrading.
Someone had "converted" this plow to run on battery power. There was a motor held to the chassis by a piece of wire, a battery box inside the car, and a switch mounted to the bottom of the chassis.
The plow is on top in this pic:
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These items have since been removed. The front truck was held onto the pin by a piece of silicon tubing!
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That is not the correct truck, anyway. A suitable replacement will be found for it. The prototype UP rotary plow #076 was built by Lima-Hamilton in January 1950. It was retired in June 1985. Here's a pic of it:
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As you can see, the first order of business is a repaint. But first the decals have to come off. I tried removing them with a Bright Boy, but that wasn't such a bright idea. Then I found a YouTube video on removing decals. Use some toilet paper (on the model, that is) and cover the decal. Use a cotton swab and saturate the area with MicroSol, the decal solvent in a red bottle.
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Wait 5 minutes for the solvent to work, the remove the tissue and use a dry cotton swab to clean the decal off the model.
Before:
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After:
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I used some Rustoleum plastic primer from a spray can and gave the model a coat of it. I washed the model thoroughly beforehand, though. Once that had dried, I used some Rustoleum Silver Metallic as the color coat. Here it is after one coat:
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Its since had a second coat. It came out very nicely I think. Now to fix the chassis..........
 
Thanks! I think it will be. I've figured out a place to put it in the yard. These plows were pushed ahead of a locomotive, they were not self propelled. The fuel tender behind the plow in the pic supplied fuel for the diesel engine inside the plow. The only function of the diesel was to turn the rotary fan. Well, that and provide heat and electricity for the crew! :)
 
Well, I finally got back around to this project. The electric motor has been removed, and the open area in the frame has been filled with a piece of .060" styrene. The plow fan has had the end of the metal shaft threaded with a 4-40 die, and the two metal bushings in the frame have been tapped with a 4-40 tap. The shaft will thread through the bushing in the front, then the one in the rear. At the front of the fan, immediately behind the blade, there are two washers to keep the fan the appropriate distance from the plow body. At the rear of the shaft will be two 4-40 nuts tightened against each other to keep the fan in place.
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As was mentioned earlier, the front truck was held in place with a small piece of rubber tubing over the metal truck pin. This pin is a press fit into the frame. I decided to try and use a screw with a different truck. I think the truck is a Model Power truck, and the screw passes through the center. So I tried to use a small drift punch and knock that pin out. In the process, I destroyed the entire center piece to which the truck was attached! :oops: :eek: :mad:
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Trucks do not generally function very well when attached to thin air, so I had to come up with something. I cut a piece of 4mm plywood a bit larger than the now open area in the frame, and sanded it to a decent fit.
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This piece needs to be flush with the bottom, and the frame drops down in the center. I used a couple of pieces of craft sticks and some small spring clamps to span the bottom of the open area. I also put a piece of waxed paper there to help keep epoxy off of places I don't want epoxy!
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A good application of 30 minute epoxy was applied to the plywood filler piece.
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I needed to keep the front off the table while the epoxy cures, so I put the frame on top of my can of white lithium grease. My faithful assistant, Wally (bless his little heart), kindly volunteered to stand on top of the frame all night long to support it! I may have to consider paying him one of these days. He says "HI!" to all of you!
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The original truck pin was centered in the frame in line with the raised plastic lines you can see midway across the open area in pic #1. My plan is to use some styrene tubing and rod to make a bolster for the front truck. I also plan to drill a hole from one side of the frame, through the plywood block, and out the other side of the frame, on each side of the bolster area. A pin, probably 1/8" steel, will be inserted and glued into place. This will provide a mechanical bond for the plywood block, and I will not be relying solely on the epoxy to carry the load. Besides, I already have some 1/8" steel rod! ;)
I need to get some 36" wheels next. I doubt something this heavy ran on 33's!
 
The reason the truck was held in place by a pice of tubing is because originally the "fan" was track-powered. That consisted of a pair of rubber bands going around the axles, up and over a shaft that was connected to the rotary blower. When you pushed the plow down the tracks, the axles were supposed to turn, in turn turning the rotary plow. The motor would have been a huge upgrade to its original configuration.
 
bnsf971 said:
The reason the truck was held in place by a pice of tubing is because originally the "fan" was track-powered. That consisted of a pair of rubber bands going around the axles, up and over a shaft that was connected to the rotary blower. When you pushed the plow down the tracks, the axles were supposed to turn, in turn turning the rotary plow. The motor would have been a huge upgrade to its original configuration.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see! I don't know what happened to the original truck, but this one sure wasn't it!
 
Homey is NOT a happy camper right now! :mad: :mad:
I got the plywood filler piece cut and installed. I used some Testors Contour Putty to fill in and smooth out any holes or irregularities. I gave the frame a coat of Rustoleum Professional gloss black. I plan to give everything a coat of matte acrylic finish when done. To paint the frame, I used some green painters tape I applied sticky side out to a paint stirrer. I stuck the stick to the inside rear of the frame and it made a great handle for holding it. The area the stick was stuck to will not be visible, so no big deal. I let it dry overnight, and this afternoon it still felt a bit tacky, but not enough to leave fingerprints. I set a 1x2 piece of scrap wood on edge and placed the frame on it with the inside to the wood.
Here's the bad part: I must have set it too close to the edge of the workbench. I accidentally bumped it and it went straight to the floor! :eek:
I can tell where it hit the floor because some chunks are missing! The damage is on the lower left side of the fan enclosure. I swept the floor and could only find two bits of black plastic. I know where the larger piece goes, but the smaller one just doesn't seem to fit properly anywhere. I know it came from the plow, though. I may try using a drop or two of CA to reattach the larger chunk. I'm afraid plastic cement would mar the model.
Fortunately, the damage is on the side of the plow facing away from the operator, but it's still on the front. I'm hoping once I get everything painted and put back together it won't be too noticeable.
Here's the damaged section, and the two bits of plastic I was able to find:
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Here's another pic of the damaged area:
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This is how it's supposed to look:
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Another pic of the damage:
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Homey needs a cold bottle of Pepsi right now!
 
Greg@mnrr said:
Should be repairable....cheer up!

Greg
Click to expand...
I found three plastic chips total. I glued them back on where they seemed to fit the best. I'll have to get a pic of the repair. For the rest, the back story is the plow hit something buried under a drift on the tracks. Management decided the plow is still functional as is, so the damage will be repaired when the maintenance shop gets a "round tuit".
 
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