BRC Cow and Calf set

Here's what I have been messing on with for the last couple of weeks.



They are an Athearn SW7 cow and calf with some modifications done to them. the motor and the decoder are both in the calf, which allowed me to model the floor in the cab. I intend to throw a couple of leads across the gap to get both headlights working.











Jon

 

Nice Job on the set, Jon. Makes me wanna go pick up a couple sets and re-work them.

 

Excellent work.

Love the open cab door.

If you're wiring them together, are you going to wire to the pickups on the cab unit as well, or just do the light?

 

Thanks guys.

Martin the cab unit is a dummy, although it has metal wheels in it, they do not pick up any juice - I simply replaced the plastics.

I did think about the option of removing the motor from another powered unit, but I need it for another project.

The wires for the light go to the decoder in the calf.

BTW, the cab is a Cannon replacement for the Athearn one - there was just too much work involved in getting the window profiles correct. Even then, I still had to blank out some of the Cannon windows.

Jon

 

Ah, I see.

Thought the windows looked very different. It gives a great look to it.

 

Excellent job as usual, Jon, great modeling! -

 

Jon,
Tell me how you did the mods to the calf, especially the covered over stair wells and revamped pilot on the short hood end.

2slim

 

2slim,

Sorry I forgot to take any in-progress shots of this one. The original pilots were carved away on the calf and rebuilt with some sheet plastic.

The steps - or what was left of them - were filled in with shaped plastic offcuts, and yet more plastic sheet was glued on, before being cut to shape. I used athearn handrail stanchions glued into pre-drilled holes to support the handrail wire.

The most bothersome bit was cutting the coupler bar to the right length - I used a bit of the Athearn motor clip, that connects the motor to the trucks.

Jon