detailing/modifying old locos

[ShaunCN]

how many of you hav ever detailed or modified those "poor" runners in your fleet? I see some people have detailed old tyco and life-lik engines, also some have put better drives under the shell. Is this really worth it for somebody who can't afford those proto 2000 engines but i like to detail things as well. Also paying over $200 for a proto 2000 isn't cost efective for my small switching layout.
ps i'm not that poor i do own a few athearn engines that run well. [:)]

[bpickering]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ShaunCN

how many of you hav ever detailed or modified those "poor" runners in your fleet? I see some people have detailed old tyco and life-lik engines, also some have put better drives under the shell. Is this really worth it for somebody who can't afford those proto 2000 engines but i like to detail things as well. Also paying over $200 for a proto 2000 isn't cost efective for my small switching layout.
ps i'm not that poor i do own a few athearn engines that run well. [:)]

I'm considering some of this, although several of my old locos are going to just stay around as keepsakes. I just posted recently about the possibility of re-motoring a cute little Plymouth MDC, AHM IIRC. I've got an Athearn NW-2 (IIRC) that might fall into the detail-it category.

OTOH, the Cox F-3's motor won't work, and was two-axle drive anyway. With the level of detail of the shell, I'll just buy new eventually- a good Stewart drive/frame replacement is almost as much as a new Stewart loco. The two locos with the rubber-band-drive (F-7 & GP-9, IIRC) will stay as antiques/keepsakes, even if they aren't worth much dollar-wise.

One thing to consider- I'm seeing a fair number of Proto 2k listed on eBay for prices from $50 to $75. If you're considering detailing anyway, and can find one that is somewhat similar to the loco used by the road you're modelling, that might be another way to go. I picked up a Proto2K S-1 and H16-44, and two C-Liners (ok, Proto1K) for a total of around $170, after shipping. Planning on using the fabled "Modeller's License" to paint the latter in fictitious UP colors (UP never had the C-Liners; I've read they had problems with the earlier FM engines, esp. in some of the high passes, but I just LIKE them, and [within limits] I can do things my way! [:D])

Good luck,

Brian Pickering

[jdolan]

That is the part of modeling that's fun, because you are making something that is all yours. When you do things like that they are very relaxing.

[orsonroy]

Any superdetailing project should start with at least one major good element. If the engine has a horrible "blob O' plastic" shell and a poo-like drive train, there's no point in even starting the project. In the bad old days, Athearn's drive train was the best thing in town, so it was acceptable to, say, take a Model Power F3 shell, mate it to an Athearn F7 drive, and build yourself a decent F3 (the MP F3 used to be the only one on the market). Now, there's really no point in undertaking that project, since the P1K F3 can be bought for as little as $20, and looks and runs ten times better than the aforementioned cobble job (now, superdetailing the P1K F3 versus buying an Intermountain or Highliner F3 is a different subject, considering how relatively close the models are). And there's no point in me taking an AHM C-Liner and mating it to an Athearn GP9 chassis (and U-boat sideframes) when P1K has so nicely provided us with yet another better (and cheaper) alternative.

I'm rnning into this same issue with my steam fleet. Is it really worth my time and effort to build & superdetail a Bowser USRA light Mountain, when the Bachmann engine is cheaper, simpler to superdetail, runs better, and is DCC ready? Nope. How about the Bowser/Cary USRA heavy mike versus the BLI engine, which is more expensive? Again, nope, considering how silky smooth the BLI engine runs, and it comes with sound! I'm even planning a kitbash of a few BLI heavy mikes mated to the Cary USRA light boiler to create USRA light mikes. They're still better all around than the Bowser kit, not much more expensive, better than the BLI USRA light mike (it's WAY overpriced), and I need to start with a blank boiler anyway (I'm modeling the NKP, which was a pipefitter's nightmare)

I still love to build, but with a job, family and other interests, I have to pick & choose my battles. Creating a silk purse out of a sow's ear isn't much of an option to me, when I can grab the purse right away. I'll end up with fewer models overall (we're all on a budget!) but my models will be better all-around, and that's more important to me than just having "stuff". I'll save my building time for resin freight cars and scratchbuilt cabooses.

[mikebonellisr]

That's one of my favorite parts of the hobby.It's not about saving money because it ends up costing almost as much as a BLI,Bachmann Spectrum or a LL P2K.I've done it with my old AHMs,Rivarossi,Model Power,Mantua and Bowser kits.By the time you buy all the detail parts,repower it,install DCC with sound and lighting,paint and letter it you are up there in price.I'm now working on a IHC Pacific,just started and I'm up to about $130.But for the hours of enjoyment it's well worth it.

[twhite]

This has been around since HO scale finally decided to run without derailing every three inches. It's called 'kit-bashing', for one. I've re-motored more of my brass locos than I care to imagine, improved several with NWSL reduction gears/flywheels, kept Precision Scale and Cal-Scale solvent with purchase of new castings to replace old lumpy-looking things on some of my original AKANE's, replaced Worthington BL's with Elesco 'bundles', or vice-versa, switched cabs, boiler-fronts, numberboards, classification lamps--you name it, if I haven't done it, I probably thought about it. Heck, I've even turned an old PFM Santa Fe 2-10-2 junker I bought at a swap meet for $20 some years ago into a relatively reasonable facsimile of a Rio Grande F-81, and the prototypes weren't even manufactured by the same company. In other words, if it runs at all and I like it, I'll re-work it until it's satisfactory. I have LOTS of steam, and I run them all. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to buy them.
Tom