Atlas HO GE U30Bs, Frisco

Discussion in 'General Electric (GE)' started by meteor910, Jul 2, 2011.

  1. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    I would encourage you to remove the shell and check the wire routing as mine had the motor wires rubbing against a flywheel. Also the front truck wirse were rubbing against the drive lines, easy fixes but may give you heartburn later if not checked now.
     
  2. FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018)

    FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018) Passed Away April 12, 2018 Frisco.org Supporter

    This may be a result of manufacturing issues that occurred in China. Having said that does anyone have a sound equipped one that they can compare side by side with a Tsunami. The sound ones are supposed to be equipped with the ne QSI Titan with 64 bit technology that gives them a stereo effect. I ordered both of mine without sound so Keith could do his magic even though it will end up costing more.
     
  3. Iantha_Branch

    Iantha_Branch Member

    I have a sound 846 coming in saturday. When I get it I will report on how I think it sounds. I'll also do a video comparison of this model with factory QSI titan to my SD40-2 with Tsunami and a speaker with custom speaker by Keith.

    I had the intention of drilling out the dual nose light and installing a Utah Pacific nose gyro light. After seeing the word shaving with the words nose light a lot in previous posts I will wait and see what Keith comes up with for a how to on it before starting. I will look at what I can do to figure out a roof beacon for it as far as getting around the light tube.

    Ethan
     
  4. DanHyde

    DanHyde Member

    Ya know, guys, it seems strange that since all this hub-bub on Frisco.org about the U30b, that the " bay" has come alive with U30b slides ALL OVER!! Karma or what??
    Dan
     
  5. William Jackson

    William Jackson Bill Jackson

    Ethan, I think you will like the sound, mine runs real nice around my pike and looks nice. I would like to think about a strobe on the roof. I have not tried to run my two together. I would suppose, I will just try to program both with the same address. It is certainly a welcome sound, reminds me of the U-boats on the Orin line, which were mostly ex-Frisco.
    Nothing like two or three of them in a consist, creeping up Logan hill or up through Kara about 10 MPH in throttle 8.
    William Jackson
     
  6. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Doing a little work to my U30B yesterday and today. First I tried to get the handrails off without breaking them, almost got it done. It is a good idea at this point to put some masking tape around the square nose piece, this will help to protect the factory finish on the nose, especially when sanding. I popped the factory lights out of the nose, then plugged the holes with styrene rod, I did this because I wanted the material to cut and sand the same, also the light piece was designed to conduct light and didnt want any surprises there either, probably not necessary but did it anyway. Then I took a sharp #11 blade and started trimming, the key here dont get in a hurry take very small cuts and try to keep it as level and square to the nose piece as you can, finish it with a small sanding board. Used a Detail Associates (DA) LT1001 cut most of the plastic away the used double back sticky tape and mounted the face to a pop-sickle stick and sanded it to the thickness I wanted. glued all together let it set overnight.
    Then I took the cab off and disassembled the thing windows and all. I wanted to run this loco with the side, front window open, so I cut those windows off and reinstalled the glazing, cut the number boards away from the light casting and reinstalled them into the cab as I am using individual LEDS to light the headlights, this also opened up the inside of the cab to mount the Strato-Beacon, DW 106. I mounted a Details West (DW) AF139 to a scrap piece of strip styrene, painted Black, also used DW PL130 pilot plows, and a AH191 horn was stuck to on double back sticky tape and painted it with MM Sunburst Orange. I will let it dry and report later on more progress. This is just my way of doing this I am sure people have better parts and processes lets see them all please.

    002.JPG 007.JPG
     
  7. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Is anybody going to do their U30b SLSF 846 with a five horn, all forward Leslie?

    Ken
     
  8. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Ken, can you point me in the direction of some photos that show the 5 chime FWD horn on this? Of the pics I have found on fallen flags site I cant make it out, always too far away or obscured to see for sure what it is. And are you talking about the Cal-Scale 316 horn?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 30, 2013
  9. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Tom - Will do, but it will take a few days. My pc got hit with the "FBI virus" and until it gets removed I can't boot it up, all I get is a white screen. Such fun!

    I have a couple of good shots of SLSF 846 that clearly show the five-forward Leslie. Yes, the Cal-Scale horn works, but there may be a better one. I'll check.

    I have the 846 and the 853, received a few days ago. I'm debating now if I want to keep both of them. I have three U25b's, now three U30b's, and one B30-7. That's a lot of U-Boats.

    Ken
     
  10. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Ah yes the FBI virus, been there done that!
     
  11. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Back up! FBI virus removed, thanks to help from a BestBuy "Geek" friend. Thanks "DCI"!

    I'm running through some checks now. Will, hopefully, be back on and fully restored later today or tonight.

    Ken
     
  12. Iantha_Branch

    Iantha_Branch Member

    Just got mine out of the box. Here are my initial thoughts:

    Pros - The new QSI titan sounds nice. I'll do a comparison of it to tsunami later. The handrails are painted correctly. The XR looks nice, and the rest of the decaling looks nice. The headlight and number boards have a nice glow to them, but there is a slight gap between the boards and the cab.

    Cons - No CV table for the decoder. So I guess they are relying on the purchaser to have internet to look up the manual online (Tsunami does the same thing.) Dual nose head light has a blue glow, not yellow and has incorrect flash rate. again no CV table to fix this. I will look up the numbers and post them here.
    The motor and drive train don't seem to be up to par with what they use to make. Still better than Athearn though.

    The paint has changed since there offerings of the B30-7, GP38AC and MP15DC. It is brighter now, and is a of orange higher. It's darker, and reder than the Athearn GP15-1. It's close to the paint on the Athearn SD45, but still a shade red deeper.

    I'll do some research on the CV numbers and I'll post the ones for major changes in this thread later.

    Ethan
     
  13. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    I am kinda disappointed they didnt put on the cab sunshades too, I mean all the other details and they missed that one, that with the top radiator section grills being cast instead of etched are a bit of a let down, but it is still a good model. I will enjoy it.
     
  14. Sirfoldalot

    Sirfoldalot Frisco.org Supporter Frisco.org Supporter

    Keep it up, Ken, and you will have enough to start a new German Navy!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 2, 2013
  15. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    A few shots of the cab inside and with the details added and painted, now to the weathering Laboratory:D

    002.JPG 014.JPG 019.JPG 021.JPG
     
  16. Jim James

    Jim James Staff Member Staff Member

    Very nice looking model. Modelers are funny people in that they create a beautiful shiny accurate replica and then put mud, grease, rust, dust and stains all over it. And Tom, you're one of the funniest. I always enjoy watching your projects unfold. Keeps me inspired to improve my own skills because you seem to raise the bar.
     
  17. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Jawohl Herr Kapitan!

    Although my other major hobby interest is the German Navies of WW1 & WW2, I'm more of a surface navy fan vs the U-boats. Their stories, in particular in WW2, were more compelling. Ten major surface ships, nine of them lost during the war, three of them lost on their very first mission. Yikes!

    Ken
     
  18. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Nice U-boat Tom. We'll turn you into a GE fan yet!

    We will all have to compare notes on the best way to blacken the top radiator exhaust grills on these U30b's. I'm going to try my dilute Polly-S technique when I get to this model, and will report on it. It looks like there is just enough depth in the casting to let it work.

    Attached is the best pic I have showing the top of 846 with the five-chime Leslie, plus a lot of the other top-side cab detail. I don't know whose pic this is or who took it, but I'm posting it anyway despite my usual policy because of the confirming information it provides. It's in the public interest, ya' know!

    I have another pic showing a string of new U-boats, with 846 in the lead, perhaps at Lindenwood, looking factory fresh. It might be a GE or SLSF company pic showing the first bunch of the XR-Series U30b's to be delivered. My point in mentioning this is that the five-chime forward Leslie is up on top of 846 with a fresh coat of orange paint, indicating that this was an as-built feature, at least on 846. I have pics of 846 later on, after a shopping and a repaint (the XR-Series logo had been painted over), that shows 846 carrying a "DW-191" five-chime Leslie, three forward and two to the rear.

    Ken

    slsf846u30b_xr cab roof.jpg
     
  19. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

  20. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Tom - I'll join you in that drink!

    Yep! As delivered, 846 had white cab window shades, a red/orange five chime forward horn, and an unpainted roof flashing beacon - the housing below the beacon yellow top looks to be silver, as in unpainted metal. Later on, still in "XR" colors, 846 had red/orange shades and flashing beacon base. Even later on, horn, shades and beacon all got dirty from the FDL's habit of creating a smoky exhaust.

    Ken
     

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