[quote user="0-6-0"]
Hello Thanks for posting the photo. That is a nice looking loco. Is it is bad as they say they are? Was it any harder to build then the Bowser kits. I almost bought one of there kit last year at a show and the guy selling the kit said he had built one and it was junk. He had nothing good to say about it. Is it the kit or the builder that make it hard. Thanks for sharing Frank
This is old string I just noticed. I recently sold my last (had 3) Big Boy, a Challenger & a T-1 as my new home required a smaller layout. The BB had all super detsil & the new owner got a deal. I had it operating on min 24" using factory blind drivers in both center 2 & shaving "horizontal" piece that the boiler "rides on". They may take a while to build, but I feel they're worth the effort - I still have one or two of every other "prr style" + a 4-8-2 & a 4-8-4. Don't hesitate to call Bowser for assistance-they are great people.
Sounds like you need a better drawbar Greenway Products carry's several of the better ones
you got the super detail kit? I browsed their order site, and doing cross searching I found a lot of the cal scale parts are available, just not as a one time "kit". I will probably order the super detail parts separately, do the same for the challenger, my other challenger has brass detail parts on it.
Precision scale still has the centipede tender kit, I found mine at a train show. Pic of the 2-6-6-6 coming up a little later.
I may very -likely- change the loco-tender connection with the more conventional drawbars used on all the other steamers we know.
I won't change that till I get them. The 2-6-6-6 drawbar is quite unusual having a long screw on the rear with an opening for a drawbare plate to plop onto a nib on the tender. poor track level variances tend to lift the drawbar off the nib separating. I had some rubber tubing from motor shaft connections I clipped it just long enough to nudge the top plate and hit the nib keeping the drawbar in place. Not really a good deal tho. The "regular" drawbars are far more effective and will close the gap between the engine and tender.
Hello looks like you are off to a good start. I am working on one of these monster to. I need to get the right tender for it. Right now I am using a long haul tender. Looks funny but it works for now. I have a base coat of paint down and some detail parts on. After I read you post I though it would be a good idea to test run my be for I put on the boiler. Good thing to found 2 shots. Now the drive train runs fine. Time to finish the boiler. And get it together. Here is a photo.
I would like to see what that Arbour 2-6-6-6 looks like if you have time post a photo . Thanks Frank
My layout modules have been re-configured to work on some giant furnace air vent rehash so the layout has more room, so in the meantime, got a small loop to test so now I decided to do some smackdown on my bowser big boy.
Owned the engine for years picked up at train show. Been put together mechanically and tested, but I had the great idea to dual motor it with can motors, but well, I have scratched that idea. I have 2 challengers, one is built, not by me, the other in progress..by me. I think I pulled the DC-71 off the big boy and gave it to the challenger because of the dual motor job, but I found a broken up challenger parts at a recent train show and got an extra old motor, the challenger still has those brackets for it, but the big boy's were trashed, could only use the DC-71. The old motor ran its shaft parallel to the worm shafts, the DC-71 is tilted with one gear right on the motor on the back driver and a flex shaft goes to the front kinda like Athearnish. In building the BB I had broken some siderod parts and had to order new, those are brass now, not the soft pewterish metal.
Brought up the brass Centipede tender I found at a show attached it to the BB, but it would not stay on the track very well, well, fidgeting around, the front truck could not bear weight very well, it needed a pressure spring, I left it off, found some weights and laid it on the rear of the tender, and gave the BB a test run. My test track is far from perfect track, its going up down, and its 24" radius. Checking the Bowser site it mentions overhang on 18" radius..ha! wow. It ran my loop like a champ like that, my hand held DC throttle was getting a little warm tho, this BB sucks power (hot fire!). So I figgered I needed some kind of spring to use on the front truck, looked all over my parts stuff, and found one, slipped it on, took off the weights, and again, it ran like a champ.
I'm ready to pull the wall paper off walls now...
still lots to do, when it ran over a certain part of the test track it growled and stalls, I think the gear train is hitting the boiler underneath so I will grind away some metal. That won't happen on really good track but I like being safe.
The challenger will get the old motor for now but I will get new DC-71's for all the engines because Bowser has them in stock and the new ones are DCC friendly with skew wound armatures.
I just checked with bowser and they just said they still have MOST repair parts in stock but may not likely restock when sold out.
If you want a PRR T-1 it shows on their steam page in stock as well as some Bowser Bachmann mechanisms.
Time to tidy up the bowsers and fidget my Arbour 2-6-6-6, maybe I will get back on my work in progress Winton one and the Arbour kit also. fun fun.