I finished installing the decoder, and wired up the front headlight. The headlight dish got a coat of Testors Metallic Silver enamel. I installed the light bulb as far forward as I thought prudent, them marked the wires inside the shell with a red Sharpie. I put a small piece of 1/16" heat shrink tubing on the wires at the mark, and a piece of 3/32" heat shrink tubing over that, ensuring that the light bulb will not come out any farther. I used a piece of electrical tape to hold the wires to the shell. This is a 1.5V bulb, so a resistor was used on the blue wire from the decoder.
Before doing all of that, though, I used some gray and white chalks to dirty up the locomotive. After an application of chalk, I gave the model a light coat of flat clear. Naturally, this reduced the effect, so I repeated the process until I got the look I wanted. I think it came out pretty well. I used some acrylic paint to give it some rust spots and water scale stains.
I use Testors Model Master Flat Earth for the dirt effects. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty satisfied with it, especially considering this is the first time I have ever tried to weather a steam locomotive. Yepper, this is my first time, so be gentle with me!
The right (engineers) side:
The front:
The left (fireman's) side:
I had a little trouble with this side. When I tried to reassemble this after getting all the wiring finished, the gray wire from the motor broke
at the motor!
So I pulled the shell off and began to explore how to get the motor out of the frame. This locomotive is constructed like a lot of N-scale locomotives are: a split frame with the motor sandwiched between the halves. So I had to pull the frame sides apart. The frame is held together by three screws, two of which are easily accessible. The third, however, is located behind the left side steam chest, so the steam chest had to come off. The plastic piece, of which the steam chest is part, actually comprises the plastic portion of the valve gear as well. That goes back to between the first and second drivers, where a plastic rod connects to the frame. Bachmann obviously never intended that piece to be removed. While trying to remove it, I broke the plastic rod off the frame, and the steam chest off the front of the frame. The piece is held onto the frame by two small plastic nubs that go into holes in the frame. They broke off flush with the frame!
I went ahead and fixed the wire at the motor, then thought about "How am I going to fix
THIS?" In the end, what I did was to use a .030" drill bit in a pin vise and drill a hole in the center of the plastic nub, and also through the center of the plastic rod on the valve gear piece. You don't think THAT was fun! I also did the same with the steam chest. I then CA'd a piece of steel wire into the plastic nubs, and test fit the valve gear in place. The steam chest wouldn't line up right. Turns out I had drilled the hole in the wrong spot! I re-drilled it in the right location, and everything lined up correctly. I then CA'd the plastic rod and the steam chest into place. I need to find my flush cutting nippers, and clip off the end of the wire. I need to seal up the other hole as well. I'll probably drill it out to 1/16" and use a bit of styrene rod to plug it up. So that's why it looks like that.
The rear:
I need to fix the handrails on top of the tender, and eventually the foot-plate and front step. The whistle and bell were installed after everything else was done, so that's why they look shiny. I tried to find info on whether the bell was rung by the engineer or the fireman. It seems it depended on the railroad. I figured the engineer had enough to do, so I gave the job to the fireman.
There are a few little things left to do, but basically this one's done!
I don't have a camera I can use for videos, but it runs very nicely forward and backwards. I set CV2 to 040, and it runs nice and slow on speed step one. The headlight functions correctly, also. I did not install the rear light. I try not to let the micro-connector come undone, because it a PIA to reattach it!
All in all, I'm happy with it!