I just picked up a Bowser Ho 4-6-6-4 Challenger. I have Kemtron and Cal-Scale brass add on's that I would like to add to my assembly. My problem is I do not know exactly where they go. this model is pretty basic without them. My question is. Where can I find reference materials? Photographs,books,line drawings would be "Sweet". Anybody have an idea?
There is a picture on the site that provides one side :
http://www.modelrailroader.net/holoco_upch.php
And more photos are linked further down on the page.
Simon
The Kalmbach "Steam Locomotive Cyclopedia for Model Railroaders" is a pretty decent, general reference that can be found on the used book circuit for reasonable prices:
https://www.abebooks.com/9780890240014/Model-Railroader-Cyclopedia-Vol-Steam-0890240019/plp
Shop around.
Good Luck, Ed
Which railroad's Challenger are you modeling or, will this be a generic, or free-lanced locomotive?
MR had a series of articles in 1962 that went into great detail on detailing a Big Boy or Challenger.
GDoug I just picked up a Bowser Ho 4-6-6-4 Challenger. I have Kemtron and Cal-Scale brass add on's that I would like to add to my assembly. My problem is I do not know exactly where they go. this model is pretty basic without them. My question is. Where can I find reference materials? Photographs,books,line drawings would be "Sweet". Anybody have an idea?
First, it's a UP locomotive.
For a start, there's about 12 bazillion photos of UP 3985 on the internet.
The UPHS has produced three picture books about their Challengers:
https://uphs-store.myshopify.com/collections/uphs-prototype-steam-locomotive-photo-books?page=2
They're pretty much just side shots, no detail stuff. But they show pictures of just about every locomotive in the class, and you can compare between them.
William Kratville wrote a book about them called "The Challenger Locomotives":
https://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Locomotives-William-W-Kratville/dp/B0006E9WN6/ref=sr_1_1?Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=0&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=0&keywords=the+challenger+locomotives&qid=1642296510&refinements=p_27%3Akratville&s=books&sr=1-1&unfiltered=1
I would think there must be other books on the locomotives, but I'm not a super fan of them, so this is the only one I have.
So, the above can tell you where to put things, but it's awful handy to know what they are and how they work.
I completely agree with an earlier comment that the first part of Kalmbach's "Steam Locomotives" is a great way to learn about this.
I also agree that Bob Darwin articles in the 1962 Model Railroader's can be very helpful. And inspiring. I think he worked on a Tenshodo brass Big Boy, but it's still useful. And inspiring.
These locomotives are about the best documented steamers ever. You should be able to find anything you need. If you want to go nuts and spend the big bucks, you can get lots of original Alco builder's photos from Alco Historic Photos. They're mostly prints from 8 x 10 negatives, so the detail is exquisite.
Sounds like fun!!!
Ed
Bowser's own website has some drawings, photos and information, since they sold their own after-market superdetail set to go with this locomotive.
Challenger (bowser-trains.com)
https://www.bowser-trains.com/docs/instructions/Challenger.pdf
Dave Nelson
This site is a gold mine. I've had it in my faves since 2005 when some other kind soul pointed it out to us here. Look up your road, find steam locomotives, look for the road number range in the long list of images that opens up, and then peruse to your heart's content. Don't forget to go up for dinner.
Fallen Flag Railroad Photos (rr-fallenflags.org)
Thank for the come back. Followed your suggestio. Came home with a complete set of instructions. I printed out both the assembly and the upgrade kit. Good deal more info than I started with. Found I was short a lot of pages. Took some of the mystery out.
thanks
Doug