Made a Forney out of a LGB Stainz, has new boiler, steam dome, sand dome, smoke stack, all made from PVC fittins and pipe. Front where the orginal smoke stack screwed in now has a 1/4" 1/4 x 20 bolt going up into the boiler and secured to the lead weight. The smoke stack is screwed to the boiler via electric lamp fitting which is 1/8"MPT x 1/4"MPT and holds the unit together very well, and you can pick up the engine by it ,nice handle. The cab is held on with 2/56 machine screws one one each side and 2 from under neath, although strong I still use the stack for pick up. The rear trailing trucks are from a Kalamazoo/HLW (tender) using them alowed to keep the low profile they have electrical pickups and extra fishing weights to help hold them down to the track. The cab is a cut down 2020 along with roof but extra extenion to cover back to the tender part. Water tender part is a cut down Kalamazoo/HLW and houses small speaker with simple chuff system. Made the front pilot from evergreen styrene. Couplers are both Kadee G scale. Bell rope is twisted 20 gauge wire strands, and sand dome dump rod is from piano wire. Painted the cab to look like wood (orange wood of course). Lettering is from a silhoutte cameo. The smoke stack uses a 5vdc seuthe unit, headlight is lit with a LED both powered of a very small voltage reducer I got from gfhappyboy on Ebay, it also powers 2 flickering LED's in the rear of the firebox. Forney measures out at only 13 3/4" and works great on 4' radius curves. Fun build, Bill
This is really cool! A bit beyond my skill level, but inspiration enough to get a means to power that LGB 2075 shell I have. I really appreciate you taking the time to explain what came from a hobby shop (non-existent here) and what came from a hardware store. It really expands the realm of what is possible!
Aloha,
Eric
Have fun with your trains
[quote user="PVT Kanaka"]
Eric found this on ebay, pretty go price for all the stuff envolved, good place to start kit bashing
Fabulous job! Thanks for the share. It is postings like this that motivate others. Now all I need to do is finish the "fill job" for my off the knees GRR. Brick work is complete, just need another 5 cubic yards of decomposed granite fill.
Tom Trigg
Bill,
Mahalo (thanks!). I missed this post, so I probably missed the opportunity to swing on this. The big thing for me:
1. Expand my search beyond LGB and BACHMANN.
2. An approximate parts to shipping ration.
This could be very bad for my VISA!
PVT Kanaka 1. Expand my search beyond LGB and BACHMANN.
When you start mixing and matching different manufacturers you begin mixing 'true scales'. Remember the "G" in G-Scale not only means 'Garden' but it also stands for "Gummi" (the german word for rubber as in stretchey rubber ruler). Some manufacturers base their trains on US standard scale 4' 8 1/2", some on eurpoean 1.5 meters, some assume 3 ft narrow guage, others 1 meter narrow guage, still others 2' 6" narrow guage. Case in point, I have two D&RGW coaches, identical cars, except that one is half inch taller and 1 1/2 inches longer that the other. Do your homework since you are not able to walk into the store and hold the item in hand.
I like it! It's got good proportions. The new boiler looks great.
Later,
K
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