I am planning on starting a Milwaukee Road FM h16 66 Build. Have ordered a used Athearn dummy h24-66 and will cut it down. I am not going for the perfect model but more of a close enough model. Not going to remove doors,ect... Will post photos when I start.
Sweet! Milwaukee Road works, theirs were the late build "baby Trainmaster" generation, so making it look right should be easy. You need to shorten the frame and long hood just almost 1 3/8th inches.
I got the frame cut down and rebuild The difference between the H 24-66 and the H16-66 is a little over 9 feet. I cut it down about 1 1/4 in to fit the door seems. Cutting the shell was the most difficult. I did not have a good razor saw to make square cuts. However I had my chop saw out to cut some boards for a project. So I used my chop saw with the wood blade on it. Not the right way , but it worked.
The project is coming along, it maybe a 5 foot model instead of a 3 foot model. But weathering covers many mistakes
Here are some photos of the finished model. ( for now at least) Did not change handrail height at back. Does the job. may try powering it later or use power trucks with gears removed for lighting.