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Woody709acy

Visiting the Zephyr project

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Woody709acy
, 29th Jul 2022 at 06:03 PM (893 Views)
I had a small flurry of work I did to the Fine-N-Scale 9900 Zephyr back in November. This kit has been laying around for 19 years now, and for some reason today, I grabbed it again from the shelf and got a bit more work done.
The trucks were spread to accept the axles and then reshaped to try to retrue the squareness in the 3 planes, as well as space the wheels on the axles properly. Once that was good, I stuck it on the tracks (not easy since it is an articulated train) and applied forward voltage. I was astonished that it actually moved, and continued moving on it own. There is still very much to do, but I was thrilled with what was achieved. Reading reviews had given me the impression that it liked to just roll over and play dead. Maybe it will. For now, I'm good with it as is. It'll get a coat of clear over the nickel for decals, then further steps can be done.
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Thanks for looking, always appreciated!
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  1. Albey25's Avatar
    Thanks for posting this! I had no idea such a thing even existed. Please tell us more.
  2. Woody709acy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Albey25
    Thanks for posting this! I had no idea such a thing even existed. Please tell us more.
    [IMG][/IMG]

    The rest of the kit has been a series of win and losses. Handrails placement is great, window inserts in the cars so-so, as the strips must be cut into individuals and glued in separately. The trucks were decent, but the orientation of the insulated wheels was causing an intermittent short that was hard to find. The second largest issue was the the "rev. "C" printed circuit board floors DID NOT match the length of their intended cars. New mounting holes were drilled to match the mounting posts cast into car bulkheads. This soon revealed that the screws provided required countersinking to clear the truck flanges for curve interference and also another source of shorting. The new holes also are located in the live electrical traces, so yet another possible source of shorting found. This hasn't been addressed with a correction yet, pending further testing.

    Now, for the power car...
    First, the body casting was neither straight nor square. I worked with what I had, and haven't determined a permanent fix yet. The printed circuit floor/frame also didn't match the mounting posts in the body, so new holes were drilled and chamfered. The floor is not the full length of the car body, but instead inserts into slots under the motor and frame. On inspection, the contact strips weren't consistently with the split frame (possibly DCC ready, but I'd be very hesitant about that aspect), and a short contact path was detected and corrected here. The motor and drive were found to not always meshing. Literally, I had to twist and bend and file the metal nose section to stay in drive mode. Later it has been determined that 15" radius curves are the limit; further curves disengage the gears from the drive - even without mounting the truck side frames which would virtually eliminate any curves under 36". The front windshields were supposed to fit INSIDE the shell. Instead I found it possible to fit inside the window frames, with a small gap on the fireman's side. And, I almost forgot - the nose would sometimes drag on the rails, so as a desperate step I sanded the bottom of the pilot a bit to at least not snag. I fear I went just a little further than I desired. It's position above the rails was increased when the rear of the frame was fully screwed into the car body once the screw heads were countersunk.

    There are more small details to pass along, but not for now. Maybe I'll get some pictures to illustrate the problems and solutions. I will disassemble the power car again today, to see if I can why it only works when the body is not screwed onto the frame. It isn't a short this time, and not a connection issue, but simple a failure to drive. The paint and decals have suffered with all the handling (and man-handling) to correct steps along the way. I will give it one more try to prevent this model from becoming the "Hanger Queen".
  3. Albey25's Avatar
    Wow!! I have a new hero! I'm amazed that anyone would possess the skills to identify and rectify all those problems, AND be a model railroader! I have had a long standing fascination with this particular train as well as the Comet, New Haven's similar consist. I've never seen one in N scale! I truly hope you can work out the bugs.
  4. Woody709acy's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Albey25
    Wow!! I have a new hero! I'm amazed that anyone would possess the skills to identify and rectify all those problems, AND be a model railroader! I have had a long standing fascination with this particular train as well as the Comet, New Haven's similar consist. I've never seen one in N scale! I truly hope you can work out the bugs.
    From the experience, I've decided that the train will in fact be more for display than running the layout. When set up completely, seems it finds a short that I can't locate. But it will have a stable mate.
    [IMG][/IMG]

    I'd like to add that Con Cor once imported the Zephyr train set which was a superior runner compared to the Fine-N-Scale model I built. They are not cheap, but can be found once in a while on secondary markets. I've seen Comet bodies 3D printed, probably on Shapeways, and that would be a truly scratch builder's project.
    Steve