Modifying LGB Locos

[on30francisco]

With the impending changes with LGB and the supply of their American-style locos possibly becoming scarce, is it wise to modify and bash LGB locos and rolling stock? I'm not a collector but am hesitant to make modifications on both of my LGB Porters and my Forney due to the possibility they may become more valuable in their original condition. I got this strong urge to try and bash one of the Porters to 7/8 scale (I know I'm eccentric in that 7/8 scale and a studio apartment does not compute). I'd appreciate anybody's opinions on this matter.

[altterrain]

Neither of these locos is rare and if they were ones made in China, there is no collectors market for them. Both can still be found new in stores. Any well done bash is going to worth more than the original, anyway! So get that razor saw out.

-Brian 

[vsmith]

I've modified all three of my Porters plus a couple other LGBs. The drives are great, I might be inclined to bash a couple more Stainz if they fall into my lap.

Bashem up.

[on30francisco]

I've modified all three of my Porters plus a couple other LGBs. The drives are great, I might be inclined to bash a couple more Stainz if they fall into my lap.

Bashem up.

Those great drives and the indestructable construction are the main factors that influenced me to buy LGB although the Spectrum porter, while not as rugged as the LGB one, is also great. Since I'm plausibly freelancing (Malcolm Furlow style), I'm going to dive right in with that razor saw and create some unique but plausible bashes. I've been following a lot of your posts on this and the MLS forum and you bash excellent models.

[vsmith]

Thanks

While it might seam that my philosophy is "cut first - ask questions later" its actually quite the opposite, I always have an end product pretty well in mind before I start dissassembly or any cutting and usually have all the necessary parts on hand.

If you have an end product in mind and have all the major components, go for it. Start bashing, but if you think your going to have to wait awhile for parts or are in need of a component thats hard if not impossible to find, I'd hold. Better to have the engine in its stock form than an engine thats all cut up and unusable.

7/8"ing an LGB Porter sounds very interesting, cab and stack being the 2 minimum changes, of course adding all the backhead details in 7/8's could be really cool, also adding a trailing truck and bunker to make a 0-4-4 like the 20" gauge Porters the Arizona Copper Co. RR used would also be very cool. Finescale Railroader did a Mining Annual on the Ariz. Copper Co line a couple years ago, it was extremely well done and included line drawings of all the Porters.

Let us know what you have planned.

[kimbrit]

This is my cab forward. It has two of the original mallet drives, a stainz cab, a length of drain pipe for the boiler and loads of stuff from ozark. Oh, forgot to mention the new crew. The whole lot runs on track voltage, none of that fancy 5v stuff on this one, not yet anyway!!

[on30francisco]

Thanks

While it might seam that my philosophy is "cut first - ask questions later" its actually quite the opposite, I always have an end product pretty well in mind before I start dissassembly or any cutting and usually have all the necessary parts on hand.

If you have an end product in mind and have all the major components, go for it. Start bashing, but if you think your going to have to wait awhile for parts or are in need of a component thats hard if not impossible to find, I'd hold. Better to have the engine in its stock form than an engine thats all cut up and unusable.

7/8"ing an LGB Porter sounds very interesting, cab and stack being the 2 minimum changes, of course adding all the backhead details in 7/8's could be really cool, also adding a trailing truck and bunker to make a 0-4-4 like the 20" gauge Porters the Arizona Copper Co. RR used would also be very cool. Finescale Railroader did a Mining Annual on the Ariz. Copper Co line a couple years ago, it was extremely well done and included line drawings of all the Porters.

Let us know what you have planned.

I always plan out ahead before I make that first modification. I've learned the hard way that haste makes waste. Sometimes I plan too much and am hesitant to make that first cut lest it does not go according to plan. I recabbed a On30 porter with a scratch built wooden cab to convert it to Gn15. Making mistakes modifying On30 equipment are much easier to contend with due to the fact that On30 equipment is much less costly when compared to LGB.  I'm now looking for a smoke stack and firebox for my Gn15 conversion. I've seen some parts from Ozark and Phil's but it's hard to determine whether they're the right proportions since I have to order everything online. Our LHSs in this area leave a lot to be desired when it comes to Large Scale (or even small scale). Conversion of the LGB porter to 7/8 scale should be much easier due to the larger scale. Fiddling with the mechanics of Gn15 is like working in HO. Luckily there are MANY excellent running locos in HO and On30 that need no tweaking or rebuilding when converting to Gn15. I'm surprised more smaller scalers don't give Gn15 a try because it has all the advantages of large scale with HO convenience. It certainly is a LOT easier to work with and you can SEE the details without a microscope. True, structures are BIG but I'd rather have a few highly detailed unique big structures of small prototypes than a bunch of the ubiquitous structures seen on many smaller scale layouts. By the way I model indoors so space is limited.