[RichT]

Greetings guys….

Well I couldn’t let you have all the fun… so I picked up a 1681E on E-bay. This one is a bit of a basket case, but I do love a challenge… and at $25 I couldn’t pass it up. The only thing that’s missing is one brush spring, and one driver bar. The spring I already picked up. As well as replacement brushes, but they will have to be shaved a bit to fit. I also will be replacing the stock brass pickups. They were badly warn and the replacement is now tin plated and much heavier duty. The other thing is it looks like its been dropped a number of times… The cab is pushed in on one side, and the catcher is bent under a bit. Only one tab seems to be missing, but I think I can work without it. The E-unit, is a bit dirty, but not burned. And there is continuity in the field so I think I am good with the motor and electrical.

I know you guys love pictures and I took a few before I started the restore, but managed to lose them when my phone went strange and had to be restarted. But I do have the listing photos, but they are not the best quality. I’ll have more later once I finish stripping and doing the body work.

I managed to dig out my body hammers and dollies from my auto body days. It’s making quick work of restoring the original shape of the bent cab and overall boiler…. I may need a bit of putty but not very much.

Going with TJ’s color scheme… Black boiler and red base. But may modify it a bit and make the catcher black and the front platform… The tender is very scratched up and most of the lettering on one side is gone… I’ll take a good photo of what’s left… touch it up. And print a decal to replace it. Going with all gloss paint.

One question… how did you guys get the chrome off the accents without resorting to sand paper?

Here are the before photos… wish me luck

 

[Reckers]

Rich, congratulations! You just enrolled in the I-Love-Pain Society!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[T-Man]

Tj removed the chrome to show the copper.

 

[Reckers]

Nice job, T-man! Rich, you're gonna love working on this thing.

 

[tjcruiser]

Rich,

I'M THRILLED ... ANOTHER 1681 GUY ... YIPEE!!!

Quick comments here ... I'll write more later ...

1. Domes and smokestack are chromed copper. If you go at 'em with a felt pad bathed in Brasso spinning on a Dremel, they should polish nicely.

2. Be very, VERY careful when you remove and reinstall the sandpipes that run down from the dome to the bottom of the boiler. They are VERY brittle where they are bent 180-deg on the bottom.

I was actually watching that very 1681 on ebay. I had even sent the seller a question. The tender looks to be in very nice shape.

Congratulations! I look forward to having a 1681 buddy!

TJ

 

[RichT]

Rich,

I'M THRILLED ... ANOTHER 1681 GUY ... YIPEE!!!

Quick comments here ... I'll write more later ...

1. Domes and smokestack are chromed copper. If you go at 'em with a felt pad bathed in Brasso spinning on a Dremel, they should polish nicely.

Congratulations! I look forward to having a 1681 buddy!

TJ

Thanks looking forward to it myself....

Getting started.... I stripped down everything.... mostly using my big wire wheel, and a dremil. the hard to get at places I used the oven clean trick... It came off really easy... I noticed that the painted surfaces were all soft and wrinkled... I could push the paint off with my thumb... It must have been exposed to something chemical. so after getting off the paint and giving it a good wash off... I went over it again with my wire wheel and fine sandpaper....

Then got out the body hammer and dolly... and got to it.... after getting everything back in shape I went at it with some putty .. that didn't work entirely.. so I put a fine grinder on the dremil and used long strokes to smooth out some of the creases in the cab roof....

Then back at it with the fine paper to get out the grinder marks and feather it all in... then primer..... black on everything.... so that when I apply the red overcoat it will be rich and deep. speaking of color... going to go for a metallic black with candy apple red.... and gold pin stripes... thinking of going for gold lettering on the tender.... will have to see what the hobby store has.... or I can just print up a decal....

well that's it for tonight... maybe another coat of primer after a wet sand...

have a good week guys... will post more as I make progress

 

[Reckers]

Very nice work, Rich!

 

[Stillakid]

Rich, excellent work. You're a, "Natural!"

 

[tjcruiser]

Why am I having dejavu while looking at your photos???

Strip job looks great. Am I seeing that you were able to straighten / repair the bent front "V" pull ring on the tender? The revamped cab roof looks GREAT!

Two tips that worked nicely for me ...

1. Fashion a few prop-up struts out of coat hanger wire to raise the parts above your board during the spraying process. It helps to give you better spray-angle control, and avoids the dry-paint contact points.

2. For final topcoating, spray the inside of the shell parts first, let dry, then spray the outside. (Obvious, perhaps.)

And, just while it's on my mind ... for reassembly, make sure you install the front dome first (with bent tabs) BEFORE installing the sandpipes.

Looks great ... have fun!

TJ

 

[RichT]

Thanks for the encouragement and tips... I plan on doing the hangers TG on the last primer coat. since I will be wet sanding, the contact points won't matter much.... still have some work to do with the boiler, there is one spot were you can see a dent... will put in some more bondo and feather it out and repaint.

Everything else looks good. You can't even see the damage on the cab, and am very happy that came out so good. Was a bit worried about it since it was badly crushed. Once the boiler is done I will assemble it back on to the cab before I start painting. I am thinking of masking off the 2 raised areas that run across the roof and then painting them red like the frame and the tender insets. may even do some gold on the "Tank" straps on the side of the boiler to add some color. Once that's done give the whole thing a nice clear coat.

I worked a little on the domes. TJ, how thick is that chrome coating? I can't seem to polish through it. beginning to wonder if it is brass... there was rust on it and chrome and brass don't rust. This may be a steel version... on the other hand the railings are chromed brass. so may be going with a steel look with brass railings.

Oh well time to earn a living... Then back at it tonight

 

[tjcruiser]

Once the boiler is done I will assemble it back on to the cab before I start painting.

Domes ... TJ, how thick is that chrome coating?

I painted my boiler top and cab tabbed together as one sub-assembly, as you suggest. No problems forseen.

As mentioned, I used Brasso and a felt Dremel disc (spinning, of course) to remove the chrome plate on my copper domes. I "hit" down to copper quite quickly, and from there, it was a matter of spending time to polish things up nicely. A few thoughts for yours ...

Try your detective work on the underside or tabs of the domes. That way, you don't run the risk of removing any chrome if ultimately you choose not too.

Give it the magnet test ... copper shouldn't grab a magnet ... steel should.

Hey -- UPDATE ...

I have two junker 1681 shells sitting on my desk. (Actually, one might be a 1681E ... not sure.) Both have chromed domes. However, on one shell, a magnet really grabs the domes; on the other shell, it doesn't. So, maybe SOME are chromed copper, others chromed steel ... as you suggest.

So tread carefully with yours.

TJ

 

[imatt88]

Rich,


Super strip job so far. Can't wait to see the end results:thumbsup:

 

[RichT]

progress is slower during the week... Everything is ready for paint now...

I First did 2 to 3 coats of Rust-Oleum black sand-able primer on everything, with a wet sand between each with 400 paper. I wanted my colors to be deep and rich, so a black undercoat will help that. once everything was baby bottom smooth I applied masking to those parts that I wanted to be a different color.

Here are all the parts that will have a Black base ready for painting. I got a bit of foam board with wire and nails to hold it all. I'll show that after everything is set up and ready.

My local auto parts store carries a compleat line of color match paints by Rust-Oleum. I did a paint test on a bit of scrap steal. I did a primer coat, then the three test colors.... Metallic black generic... Ford cherry red pearl.... and Toyota sunburst gold. then a clear topcoat.

I like the black and red... the Gold is OK, but I was hoping for a bit more pop out of it.

TJ, I did the magnet test on the domes and other bits. everything is steel except the rails. so now I decide, Polish or paint. Since I have never seen a good polished brass paint that looks real, I may go with polish the steel, and clear coat.

More pictures to follow as things move forward.

 

[tjcruiser]

Rich,

Nice progress. More of TJ's 2-cents ...

1. Try to remove the blue tape every so carefully as soon as you can after spraying your last black topcoat ... it'll help to reduce paint-edge tearout.

2. Sometimes, I use elecrical tape for super-fine-edge paint masking. Gotta be careful on if it might damage any underlying paint upon removal, though.

3. On all of my "shiny" parts (copper, chrome), I buff to a glossy luster, then clean with denatured alcohol, then ... topcoat with a layer of airplane dope, usually applied with a Q-tip. I've found that the dope dries very fast, super clear, hard, and does an excellent job of preventing tarnish down the road.

4. Too bad you didn't find a copper or brass core to the domes. Your "buff to shiny steel, then clearcoat" option could look quite nice, though. If you want to envision a painted look, look closely at the headlamp (on the boiler front) on my 1681 and my 259 ... both are PAINTED copper. (The headlamps are cast white metal or smililar.)

5. As another option to consider, you can likely track down replacement copper domes for the 1681. I bought repros (of real copper) for the 259, and I'm sure I've seen smaller 1681 domes on ebay.

Regards,

TJ

 

[tjcruiser]

RichT --

Are you around? Any updates on your 1681 loco restoration??? I'll be starting the restoration of my second one soon, and I was hoping to swap some tips / ideas / etc. with you.

Cheers,

TJ