The Omnicon PRR L1 were made in about 1986 by Samhongsa. A few years ago my friend bought 1 from the son of deceased friend. The photos send before the sale showed the paint was not the best. But given the rarity of the L1 in S (45 total made) they are bought whenever they come up for sale which is not that often.
The model arrived. It was painted BLACK and badly at that - with silver where the graphite usually is. The paint had to go since the model is hopefully getting modernized anyway. What was not mentioned before the sale was the cab corner took a shot at some point. The roof wind deflector was missing and the roof was wavy. The roof wind deflector is a problematic area anyway. They pop off all the time because there is not enough solder on them. Ironically I have a an almost identical accident with a K4 2Oish years ago. I made a positive and negative form from black walnut and pressed the roof back in shape in my vise. But the brass was mangled and you could still see it if you knew where to look. With the L1 you want it back in good shape. Unfortunately the cabs are soldered on. Luckily we know where a small bin of brand new cabs are and got 1. The K4 cab and L1 are identical except for the heavy mounting plate below the deck. I have made truly thousands of repairs to brass models. But I felt a tinge of apprehension for the first time in many years. It IS a L1! No room for errors here! I settled in on taking as little off as possible. I removed the back wall first. Since the roof/walls wraparound was the only damage I basically unpeeled it. The L1 boiler was like I had never seen before. Everything else remained in place. Once I got the roof off the remaining cab floor/backhead area was dangling. The loco took quite a shot. I looked at converting it to a removable cab but that was not easily done. It is impossible to put windows (I use real glass ) in the very small front cab windows will the cab soldered on. I stripped the new cab down to just the roof/walls wraparound and back wall. All old remaining solder was removed. There is not an easily reusable cab left from the removed parts. I thought about reassembling it for a display prop. I test fit it about 10 times and soldered once! The cab area is good as new now. The rest of it still needs work.. Thank You, Bill Lane Modeling the Mighty Pennsy & PRSL in 1957 in S Scale since 1987 See my finished models at: <http://www.lanestrains.com/> http://www.lanestrains.com Look at what has been made in PRR in S Scale! See my layout progress at: <http://www.lanestrains.com/My_Layout.htm> http://www.lanestrains.com/My_Layout.htm Custom Train Parts Design <http://www.lanestrains.com/SolidWorks_Modeling.htm> http://www.lanestrains.com/SolidWorks_Modeling.htm PRR Builders Photos Bought, Sold & Traded (Trading is MUCH preferred) <http://www.lanestrains.com/PRRphotos.xls> http://www.lanestrains.com/PRRphotos.xls ***Join the PRR T&HS*** The other members are not ALL like me! <http://www.prrths.com/> http://www.prrths.com <http://www.lanestrains.com/PRRTHS_Application.pdf> http://www.lanestrains.com/PRRTHS_Application.pdf Join the Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines Historical Society It's FREE to join! <http://www.prslhs.com/> http://www.prslhs.com Preserving The Memory Of The PRSL
