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@@masonthealabamarailfan hi there, do you mean the front near the pilot/front coupler or the walkway next to the boiler?

@@yardsounds90yes that the part I’m talking about.

@@masonthealabamarailfan hmm I'm not sure how I could explain more than what I mention in the video, it's just cutting styrene with a metal ruler and using a gel super glue to hold everything in place, making it look as close to photos of the prototype as I could. Sometimes you just have to eyeball it so it looks right without exact measurements.

They are my absolute favorite, thank you very much for watching!

Brass are usually short runs of unusual or road specific prototypes that likely would never be mass manufactured. Brass also isn't that expensive these days as the market has been flooded the last few years.

Thank you Kindly! I do love the nines and hope to come out to RailGiants some point in the near future to see it. Those volumes are so incredibly packed with details, I feel fortunate to have them.

I'm not sure I have the patience for handrails so I'm very grateful that the Athearn parts were so readily available!

Eh I was more excited about getting a new model than going over the three-cylinder aspect of the nines lol, but you're right I should have mentioned it. Shame it doesn't move on this model. I'll put it on the rollers to run in, I'm not sure it was ever run in the first place (or at least, it's been a long time from what I can tell).

I disagree, get hearing aids

Thank you! It really is nice and I find that brass requires a lot of patience, but can be very rewarding. I'll be going over it a bit more thoroughly off camera to see if I can get everything tuned, otherwise it may be off to someone with a greater knowledge (and a resistance soldering setup). Thanks for watching!

I'd like to get the MTH one of these days, I really like the sound on them!

@@ApproachDiverging013 that'll be swell, hopefully it goes smoothly with the cab forward!

They certainly have a good selection and prices were decent overall IMO. I'll definitely buy from them again if I'm in the market!

@@Cloud_Shire_82 indeed, that became more apparent when I was editing

About $520 in Australian dollars I think, although I'm not sure how that compares to native Australian model trains...

@@yardsounds90 thank you for replying.

@@barkonious thank you for the heads up! I have a WMC 2-10-2 that I may try my hand at painting but this sunset model will go to a professional, I think. It seems much more daunting than I'm willing to do myself and I'll make sure to ask whoever paints it to mind the solder joints (I'd hope they would know!)

@@yardsounds90 the Japanese engine are the best engines to learn how to paint due to their very robust build quality.

@@tulyar1043 It did indeed come with extra flanged wheels. It looks like the model was purchased and, if ran at all, was run very little. Considering the grease put into the gearbox in 1978 isn't the same as the light grease I'm using, and I'll actually be running this model, a little grease on meshing gears is needed. Bearings get oil, gears, worm or otherwise get a light application of grease.

@@admiralfeistier I think those 2-10-10-2s are a little more hard to find, but they are really impressive.160 is quite a steal for a BLI nine! My BLI models with smoke don't keep it for long, I usually put a speaker in its place. Hopefully it runs well at the very least.

@@yardsounds90 yeah if I remember correctly only 1000 where imported, Westside models is one of 2 company’s that had 2-10-10-2s for sale (until Broadway limited releases there’s hopefully….) thing was unplanted so yeah, and I had to EXTENSIVELY modify it to work on my 26 radius curves but all in all, worth it, also the BLI nine, works flawlessly, possibly one of my best purchases

@@gregoirewolff ha I did not even notice! Thank you for pointing that out. Those guide rails are indeed very loose in the cylinder. Hopefully it doesn't take much to tighten those up

@@yardsounds90superglue - strong enough to hold, soft enough to allow for later alterations :)

came here to say the same thing

@@oakvillerailfan553 the laser cut windows are a bit fiddly but I agree, it definitely a major improvement. I don't quite understand the question about the brass wire, where specifically?

@@yardsounds90 the under frame piping, maybe traction motor cables? I see the DW? Parts on one side but wasn’t sure how you did the other

@@oakvillerailfan553 ah yes! The traction motor cable set from DW comes with a few short lengths, cast with their brackets already in place and mounting pins. Sorry, I totally failed to show that in the video, but their installation was pretty straightforward. Details West has a site with some photos showing how those are installed on an AC44, I mainly followed those photos. The other side with the brass wire is also a DW kit that comes with cast metal brackets that the brass wire slides into and has to be cut at certain sections if you want to be able to take the shell off. Kind of fiddly, but I was mostly following the photos from DW and the instructions, with some modifications (mainly the extra shelf I needed to put under the converter box behind the cab for the brackets and filter to sit on)

@@yardsounds90 ah didn’t know the kit came with the wires, just assumed it was cables on both sides

@@oakvillerailfan553 yeah the fireman's side has the traction motor cable bundles, the part number from DW is TC-239. The driver side has the air piping and brackets, DW part PB-259 and it comes with a few lengths of brass.

I really like using SSS in all my projects! They sound great and the range of sizes is fantastic.

Ha that's awesome! It's neat to come across things like that

That was a 21mm diameter by 20mm length Boiler Barker. The Force-Full speaker in the tender was 15mm x 25mm x25mm. They make a nice pair, but even by itself the Boiler Barker is worth it IMO

@@yardsounds90 appreciate the response thank you!

Here's all the parts! Cal-Scale (CS) 621 Air Hoses CS 724 3 MU Hoses/Plastic CS 557 Wind Deflectors w/Mirrors CS 535 Sun Shades CS 190-727 Locomotive Cab Ground Light CS 190-635 Nathan K3 3-Chime air horn Details Associates (DA) 2317 Windshield Wipers DA 2808 Speed Recorders Details West (DW) 229 Ditch Lights DW 269 Loco detail kit Post-1995 GE AC4400CW DW 236 MU Cable with Double Receptacle DW 239 Traction Motor Cable DW 241 Sand Filler Hatches DW AF-248 GE Type Air Filter DW PB-259 Air Tank piping & brackets Athearn G63842 Motor Athearn AC4400 Handrails (SP Gray & White) Athearn ATHG69872 PTC Antenna GE Type Athearn 4355 AC4400 Locomotive Kit - Unnumbered Athearn Power Trucks for AC4400/C44-9W (Purchased from A-Line/PPW, PT494400-0) Walthers 910-250 ES44 GEVO Detail Kit Tichy Train Group 3015 18" Drop Grab Irons CMR Products HO Scale Spare Knuckle Couplers (set of 4) Microscale HO 87-1147 UP Dash 9-44CW & AC4400CW Diesel decals A-Line/PPW 12032 Universal Hex Drive Coupling Kit American Model Builders #238A HO Scale Window Set for Athearn Dash 9W, Low Boards KATO GE Wide Cab Interior (HO Scale) SKU: 951803 ModelU 1155 Seated Driver Hi-Vis figure ModelU 1156 Second Man in Polo Shirt figure NixTrainz Decoder Buddy V5 ESU 58429 Loksound 21MTC Decoder Scale Sound Systems Universal Micro Range U-FIT Speaker: 9mm x 18mm x 25mm Kadee #148 Coupler for the front pilot Kadee #147 Undershank coupler for the rear pilot Pre-wired 0603 Surface-Mount LEDs in golden white for lighting

It really depends on how 'all-out' you want to go. After adding everything up, all the detail parts, the locomotive itself, decoder/speaker, new motor and trucks, it was just over $400 but this was spread over 10 months. If I was able to use the original blue box trucks, that would have saved me $50, and if you don't care about sound or DCC you can take another $135 out for the ESU decoder and speaker and Decoder buddy if you are just wiring for DC. Unless you like the detailing and repowering aspect, which I really do (it's my favorite part of the hobby), it's probably better to buy the newer Genesis and ScaleTrains offerings. That being said, it might be worth trying your hand at detailing at least once. There's a lot of good blue box models out there that don't need half the amount of details I put into them to look and run great.

@@yardsounds90Appreciate the reply, your build looks fantastic! Definitely inspired me. Maybe I will take a crack at mine, would be nice to gain some modeling experience.

@@yardsounds90 He's uploaded it, so it's available now 🙂👍

@@DYLINGTONMODELRAILWAY awesome, I'll have to check it out once home from work, it will be something to watch as I do some wiring on the shelf layout 👍

@@yardsounds90 I hope you enjoy it, I think for his age, he's doing much better than I expected 🙂👍

lol he does look a lot more pale with the bright light shining into the cab!

Thank you very much! I love my blue box models as much as the latest Genesis and ScaleTrains offerings.

They were the best....this RTR junk is harder to deal with....

Or should I say paint stripping and redetailing is harder to deal with

@@ShawnCalay Certainly true, at this point I'd rather just paint over factory paint than try to strip it down if I had to.

@@yardsounds90 sadly I don't have that privilege unless it's a room grande SD40T-2 or Sp, maybe a cp SD40-2 being parted out as I'm a Brasilian modeler....detail specific RTR stuff is so much harder

Thank you, I'm glad people appreciate it!

Thank you! I plan on doing a full video on the ac4400 very soon, but it is essentially fully repowered and detailed with a Genesis motor, A-Line/PPW drive shafts, nickel silver wheels. Very sweet runner, if not just a little light. I saw Scott Rails and his poor zinc rot loco, thankfully it doesn't appear that mine is crumbling but I am keeping tabs on it!

@@ApproachDiverging013 I definitely need to do a video on 6867, that might be after the shelf layout update I think!