Here is an old picture of an old kit bash. Still one of my favorites. This started out as a Con Cor/Kato streamlined Hudson. Now a T&NO Pacific that ran on the Sunbeam between Houston and Dallas. It has a kit bashed tender, Con Cor GS-4 skyline casing, Kato GS-4 pilot, scratch built fire box cover and skirting and a Trix trailing truck.
Athearn 2-8-0 with Model Power tender and Atlas motor in tender. It was a pain to make that motor fit. And the Athearn tender on a Bachmann 4-6-0
I did this one a number of years ago. It's basically a GHQ W-3 boiler casting on a Model Power pacific mech.
Heres a few of my many bashes. The MT-4 isnt spot on as i was bored one evening so i threw it together with some kato GS4 parts after using the mechanisms for Santa Fe and UP northern coversions. Its on a Bmann light mount mech and Bmann boiler. The 9000 Class UP 4-12-2 is my little pain in the arse. It wasnt easy to build and im not sure i want to build another! Its 2 Kato mike mechs spliced together with part of an CC S2 boiler and numerous other parts. The 2-10-2 is my try at a santa fe 3800 but with the oversized wheelbase, its not easy to hide the bad proportions. I still need to lower the boiler some more to get that low and mean look that this class possesed. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Drasko
That 4-12-2 is amazing to see - kudos to you on a very ambitious project. Just curious, what radius curve is it happy negotiating?
Its actually down at jasons (superturbine) right now getting a cast of the shell. I didnt get to tweaking it much but id say on the particular chassis, 21" would be the absolute minimum. Now that new things and locos are coming out, i bet i could get one to squeeze a little tighter radius. We will have to see when the next rendition comes out.
Not so much custom, more like whiz-bang. Since the video was created it's gotten new brains and voicebox. Working on a lighting now. [video=youtube_share;sOMKtwf37_8]http://youtu.be/sOMKtwf37_8[/video] Eventually it will be painted as NKP 759 which had found a home on WM rails, pulling the occasional freight. And the overall shot of the testgrounds... Link (large image) The S.
You could try removing the flangeways off of the first and last drive axles to better negotiate tighter turns.
No that would not work. The engine would either derail or short on turnouts. The only options is to bind center drivers or articulate the engine. If the real railroad did not do it it would not work in model railroading.
Here's a conceptual digitally-messed-with image of what I plan to do with an Atlas 2-8-2 and a 4-6-2 to make a decent 2-6-2 Prairie:
Years ago, before Kato released their USRA Mikado, I picked up a Japanese prototype 2-8-2 that they were selling. I put a Rivarossi boiler shell and tender on it and painted it up for the MKT. The Boxpok drivers were all wrong for it but it was a great running loco and when moving you did not notice the drivers.
Russell I really like that Pacific. If it weren't for the cone on front end I would make one also as I have the skyline casing to get started with. Would a Model Power, or whatever they are today, be appropriate for the bash ? Here is a bash I finished 2 years ago and just finished an upgrade, like replacing castings that had broken off. Some have seen it, some have not. Hope you enjoy. I got a great deal of satisfaction out of this project. Not too bad for a 74 year old pair on hands and fingers. Carl Could not resist the 2nd image as well.
I have never really looked at one of those closely. I assume the drivers are spoked type and not disk type, so would not be as close as the old Hudson.