Making an ‘E’ – the Maybach Diesel Model Assembly thread

[jhb171achill]

6 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

I've been gradually working on the weathering on E410. It's so easy to overdo it and I fear I have ended up with something a bit more grubby than I was aiming for. It's not as bad as some of the prototypes though!

It has moved on a bit since I took these photos, I have taken some of the weathering off and added more in different shades and places. I can't quite settle on the right look. A black one would have been much easier! The green on the transfers looks too bright in this lighting, that may tone down with some weathering, but it looks better in sunlight.

Tomorrow I hope to fit the cab window glazing, then reassemble. That's about as much as I can do before the loco's trip to Cork and Fenit at the weekend. I think it looks a bit better now than in the photos above. If the weather stays sunny tomorrow I'll take the photo plank outside for some pictures.

In due course I may revisit and refine the weathering. I haven't got a driver figure yet but I will need one. I also think there's some fine-tuning needed on the DCC motor control as the loco seems to almost come to a stop and then lurch forward a little. But it feels like I'm very nearly there.

 

The instructions are almost complete too. Once I've finished them off I'll add them to this thread and then you can see what you're letting yourself in for if anyone wants to build one for themselves.

 

I still plan to build a second loco in black livery, and I have the parts to do so. But I have an embarassingly large queue of other things to make...

That is an absolute masterpiece.

[MD220]

A masterpiece, indeed. Top job!

[Mol_PMB]

1 minute ago, jhb171achill said:

That is an absolute masterpiece.

Thanks I look forward to showing it to you in person on Saturday!

[ttc0169]

A miniature modelling masterpiece -well done. 

[David Holman]

Finely crafted, from start to finish. Fantastic modelling.

[Mol_PMB]

Glazing added. It looks better on the photo plank in the spring sunshine!

A few pics with a short train of equally grubby silver trucks.

[jhb171achill]

That is absolutely the best scratchbuild I haqve seen in a VERY long time. And, there's some competition out there! A credit to you, sir! 

Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh. On Saturday I'll be getting on at Limerick Jct., going back to Caark.

The wagons are weathered very realistically too.

[raymurph]

An amazing model, beautiful work. Thanks so much for sharing the whole process, it has been an education from start to finish.

[jhb171achill]

I had the great pleasure of meeting MOL-pmb on the Cork to Galway railcar tour yesterday, and the masterpiece “E”!

The connection from Dublin was 220….

[Westcorkrailway]

Indeed. An absolulte wealth of knowledge I could only wish to obtain. It got the seal of approval by those who saw them in silver in the flesh!

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks - it was great to meet you all!

Today E410 has visited Fenit on a sunny but very windy day. Seen here on the causeway and in the station.

Now I am going to walk back to Tralee along the greenway.

[Mol_PMB]

Spa:

I’m nearly back in Tralee now, hopefully time for a beer before the train back to Cork. 

I can see why the GSRPS thought this would make a great tourist railway. As a Greenway it’s a lovely walk / cycle and there have been hundreds of people using it today. 

[popeye]

Looks great in the daylight and nice weathering. 

[Horsetan]

On 6/4/2025 at 3:43 PM, Mol_PMB said:

Spa:

...

That's some impressive corrosion!

[Mol_PMB]

7 hours ago, Horsetan said:

That's some impressive corrosion!

This was on the edge of the old loading bank - the rails were probably already worn out when they were put there! 
 

The only rails still in the ground are on the causeway and pier, and there are large sections missing there. 
 

At the Tralee end, the greenway route follows the North Kerry to about half a mile beyond the junction, then cuts across the fields to the Fenit line. Otherwise it follows the trackbed quite faithfully. 
 

I was surprised that it is very much a standalone route and there is no integration with other walking routes - indeed at many of the former level crossings there are signs forbidding you from leaving the greenway (for example to walk into a village to patronise the pub / restaurant). 

[Mol_PMB]

Now, if anyone would like to build an E401 themselves, here's some more information.

Firstly, I've attached the draft build instructions so you can see what you would be letting yourself in for. This document isn't complete yet - I need to spend another evening on it populating the last couple of sections with photos and tidying up the text. You'll see where it peters out! I'll finish this off in the next few weeks. This build thread is complete but not so detailed.

I had the etches made for me by 4Dmodelshop. A set of one body etch (0.25mm nickel silver) and one chassis etch (0.45mm brass) can be ordered direct from them and the total cost would be about £120 including UK postage and VAT. I expect postage to Ireland would be a bit more. If you're interested then I can provide details of what to order and how. I would rather you ordered direct from the supplier than for me to end up as an intermediary - that would cost more as well as taking up my time.

Note that this is no way a commercial venture - I'm making nothing out of it - my reward will hopefully be seeing a few more E401s built by others.

The instructions list the other bits you will need for the body, which should all be readily available.

Chassis construction is a very personal choice and I haven't finished the instructions for that yet, but you can see how it went together in the last couple of pages of this thread.

My loco also has DCC decoder, stay alive and working lights, but again that's a very personal choice and I'll leave that to the individual.

Please send me a personal message if you're interested.

 

Cheers,

Mol

 

E401 Build Instructions.pdf

[Mol_PMB]

Attached are the completed set of instructions, and the list of photo links, which can be sorted/filtered by loco number, livery, date, view etc.

E401 Build Instructions.pdf

E401_Photolist.xlsx

On the loco itself, I've removed it from its little travel case, and fitted the Kadee couplers (#58), which didn't come to Ireland because I was using their mounting holes to fasten the loco to the plinth. It's ready to start work - 'all' I need is a layout

Edited April 13 by Mol_PMB