Atlas RS3 conversion to a D&H RS3
To see the finished model click here
Cutting the opening for the dynamic brake housing requires some patience. It is very easy to open the hole too big and repairing this will be tricky at best. The best way I have found to do this is to place a strip of masking tape (I use the 1/16" wide plastic layout tape for this) along the outside edge of the front cut line. I then use a black permanent ink marker to draw a line where the cut should be made. I also do this for the rear cut line. I then use my fine tooth saw to make the cuts. I, however, do not cut on the line, but cut in from them a little to allow material to be filed off to get the size just right. I then scribe the two horizontal cuts with the back of an Exacto knife to complete the opening. There is a parting line ridge along the top of the sides where they start to form the curve for the roof that I use as a guide to cut along. Again, I stay inside of this line to leave material to file for fit.
I like to file the opening to have a snug fit for the housing. This way there is no gap to be filled later on. However, be sure you do not forget to glue the housing in. On the second unit I built the housing fit so well that I forgot to glue it in. Yes I did go back and repair it...6 months later when I found it. When It is finished it should look like this.
If you are using an Atlas shell you will also notice something at this time. The dynamic brake housing is just a bit wider than the hood. The sides are supposed to be flush with the sides of the body. This is due to the fact that the MDC body that this part is made to fit is different in size to the Atlas part. (I know that many people have stated that the Atlas model is not correct and that the MDC kit is better in this respect.)
The next part to work on is the headlight/number board assembly. The part is actually two pieces that have to be assembled. The parts are not cast to accept lighting when you receive them and I have never attempted to convert them for lighting before. This time I am going to try to light them. On the numberboard casting there are two dimples that can be used for guides when drilling.
I drilled both of the holes to accept some small "grain of wheat" type bulbs. I measured these bulbs to be .090" in size. This is just a bit smaller than a 3/32" drill bit. Once I drilled the holes, I cleaned up the burrs and glued the two parts together.
Now, this is where it pays to be thinking a little. After I drilled the holes I got to thinking "what if the bulbs get too hot?". Well the best way to find out is to test them before I ruined a perfectly ho-hum paint job. I inserted the two bulbs that I had planned to use, into the housing, and hooked them up to the track power to see how hot they would get. It was not too long before I determined that the bulbs would indeed get hot enough that I am going to look for some LED's to try.
As for the numberboards, I am not going to open them up this time. I have to think this through a little before I attempt that. I think I will make a couple copies of this part to experiment on.
Before the final assembly take place there is one more detail that has to be addressed. As I have stated in this article, the kit that I am using is made for the MDC model. The biggest problem when using this kit on an Atlas is the power truck clearance in the nose section, or should I say "lack of clearance". The atlas nose is actually a bit longer than the MDC nose. I think this is for clearance of the worm gear tower. The kit nose has extra material in it that needs to be removed.
As you can see in the above photo sequence I removed a substantial amount of material from this area that is marked in black in the center photo. I used a rasp type of cutter in my Dremel rotary tool. By cautious when doing this. These cutters not only throw a large amount of filings out, they also generate a lot of heat when doing so. This should give me enough clearance to clear the worm gear tower now. When reviewing my notes on the last couple that I built I noted that I sometimes had to remove some material from the front of the worm gear tower and also a little on the frames to clear this nose section. When we get to those parts I will address them.
Next time we will address final assembly and painting.