I know some modelers run from the very mention of IHC, but I've heard some good things about how the later models run and perform...especially the newer 2-10-2s. True, these locomotives have a generic look to them that steers many prototype modelers away, but what about for a freelancer? Finding locomotives for my future freelanced line has been a challenge, as it's hard to come up with something that doesn't look exactly like another railroad's. Seems to me the IHC models would be a good fit to start with and then add other detail parts to better fit my tastes. The 4-6-4, 4-8-2, and 2-10-2 all share a common look as well, which would be ideal for representing the "family" look of a railroad's fleet.
So my question is: has anyone ever done any kitbashing with the IHC models? Is there someone out there that has used them for freelancing projects? Ideally, I would like to make a 4-8-4 and 2-10-4 out of the Mountain and Santa Fe types by trading the two wheel trailing truck for a four wheel truck. Seems like just a simple swap at first glance. These models with large boilers and fireboxes look more like the "super power" types to me anyways.
Dakota
IHC steamers are indeed good for kitbashing. I kitbashed 2 IHC 2-10-2 engines and 1 Bachmann 2-10-2. Here is what I did:
An IHC Chesapeake & Ohio 2-10-2 with rectangular 6 wheel coal tender was turned into a Southern Pacific F-5 2-10-2 with Bachmann 6 wheel SP Hicken Style semi-vanderbilt oil tender by replacing the original pilot with a Precision Scale brass solid late steam era SP style pilot, replacing, adding Precision Scale brass numberboards, removing the ladders at the front and adding a self made platform on the pilot platform, making the cab rectangular with styrene, adding a visor to the headlight and by painting and lettering it with number 3744 on the cab. I´m totally satisfied with the model now as it looks enough SP to me. I chose it to pull my 12 car Southern Pacific El Costeno heavyweight passenger train, although the prototype never pulled that train. It´s because of 2 reasons: the 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 types that pulled the train are too weak to pull 12 cars (even the brass ones), and the IHC 2-10-2 just has enough traction force to pull such a train and runs well through my 20" curves. I wish it would have enough power to pull my 35 car freight train because I would also like to have it pull my freight train, but since it already has it´s train to pull, I can live with that. Here is a picture of the finished SP 2-10-2:
An IHC Western Maryland 2-10-2 with rectangular 6 wheel coal tender was turned into a 2-10-2 of the Bolivian State Railways ENFE by adding a PFM/United Western Pacific 4-8-2 brass 4 wheel oil tender, removing the original pilot and adding a Precision scale brass pilot, removing the laddders at the front and adding self made steps, adding a self made air tank on the pilot platform, removing the headlight from the smokebox door center to the top of the smokebox door, making the cab rectangular with styrene and painting and adding self made number plates on the cab and smokebox door center and handlettering the tender. I think it turned out quite well and resembles the Bolivian Baldwin built prototype very well. Here is a picture of the finished Bolivian 2-10-2 as well as 2 pictures of the real thing: An Bachmann unlettered black USRA 2-10-2 with rectangular 4 wheel coal tender was turned into 2-10-2 of the Argentinian State Railways FA (Ferrocarriles Argentinos) by adding the plastic tender shell of an unknown steamer I found on ebay and 6 wheel trucks of a Bachmann Cheaspeake & Ohio long vanderbilt tender and placing the shell onto and the trucks below the frame of the Bachmann 4 wheel coal tender. I turned the tender into an oil tender by building an oil tank on top of it with styrene. The engine was further modified by moving the headlight from the center of the smokebox door to the top of the smokebox door, adding number boards on the cab and center of the smokebox door and by painting it and adding a printed logo (on a piece of paper) to the tender. I´m also very satisfied with the result although I still would like it to have a Belpaire firebox like the prototype. Here are pictures of the model and the prototype: And here are 2 photos showing my Bolivian 2-10-2, Argentinian 2-10-2, Southern Pacific 2-10-2 and Southern Pacific 4-10-2. I sold the 4-10-2 as I wasn´t able to make it run through my 20" curves although it did not derail when pushing it through by hand. All 3 2-10-2´s have DCC with sound and smoke unit installed. Headlights are working too. The Bolivian and Argentinian engine even have working cab light installed. I thought about converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Nacionales de Mexico QR-1 Niagara 4-8-4 as well as converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Brazilian 4-8-4 that was later sold to Bolivia as well as converting an IHC 2-10-2 into a Brazilian 2-10-4, but I think there is simply not enough space for a 4 wheel truck with these 2-10-2 and 4-8-2 IHC models, so canceled these plans. It would be maybe possible by stretching the boiler or adding a larger firebox, but that would be really a lot of work and is definetly too difficult for me and my skills. I wish you good luck with your kitbashing projects. I would be very interested to see if and how you will manage to turn an IHC 4-8-2 into a 4-8-4 or an IHC 2-10-2 into a 2-10-4! Let me know!
An IHC Western Maryland 2-10-2 with rectangular 6 wheel coal tender was turned into a 2-10-2 of the Bolivian State Railways ENFE by adding a PFM/United Western Pacific 4-8-2 brass 4 wheel oil tender, removing the original pilot and adding a Precision scale brass pilot, removing the laddders at the front and adding self made steps, adding a self made air tank on the pilot platform, removing the headlight from the smokebox door center to the top of the smokebox door, making the cab rectangular with styrene and painting and adding self made number plates on the cab and smokebox door center and handlettering the tender. I think it turned out quite well and resembles the Bolivian Baldwin built prototype very well. Here is a picture of the finished Bolivian 2-10-2 as well as 2 pictures of the real thing:
An Bachmann unlettered black USRA 2-10-2 with rectangular 4 wheel coal tender was turned into 2-10-2 of the Argentinian State Railways FA (Ferrocarriles Argentinos) by adding the plastic tender shell of an unknown steamer I found on ebay and 6 wheel trucks of a Bachmann Cheaspeake & Ohio long vanderbilt tender and placing the shell onto and the trucks below the frame of the Bachmann 4 wheel coal tender. I turned the tender into an oil tender by building an oil tank on top of it with styrene. The engine was further modified by moving the headlight from the center of the smokebox door to the top of the smokebox door, adding number boards on the cab and center of the smokebox door and by painting it and adding a printed logo (on a piece of paper) to the tender. I´m also very satisfied with the result although I still would like it to have a Belpaire firebox like the prototype. Here are pictures of the model and the prototype: And here are 2 photos showing my Bolivian 2-10-2, Argentinian 2-10-2, Southern Pacific 2-10-2 and Southern Pacific 4-10-2. I sold the 4-10-2 as I wasn´t able to make it run through my 20" curves although it did not derail when pushing it through by hand. All 3 2-10-2´s have DCC with sound and smoke unit installed. Headlights are working too. The Bolivian and Argentinian engine even have working cab light installed. I thought about converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Nacionales de Mexico QR-1 Niagara 4-8-4 as well as converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Brazilian 4-8-4 that was later sold to Bolivia as well as converting an IHC 2-10-2 into a Brazilian 2-10-4, but I think there is simply not enough space for a 4 wheel truck with these 2-10-2 and 4-8-2 IHC models, so canceled these plans. It would be maybe possible by stretching the boiler or adding a larger firebox, but that would be really a lot of work and is definetly too difficult for me and my skills. I wish you good luck with your kitbashing projects. I would be very interested to see if and how you will manage to turn an IHC 4-8-2 into a 4-8-4 or an IHC 2-10-2 into a 2-10-4! Let me know!
An Bachmann unlettered black USRA 2-10-2 with rectangular 4 wheel coal tender was turned into 2-10-2 of the Argentinian State Railways FA (Ferrocarriles Argentinos) by adding the plastic tender shell of an unknown steamer I found on ebay and 6 wheel trucks of a Bachmann Cheaspeake & Ohio long vanderbilt tender and placing the shell onto and the trucks below the frame of the Bachmann 4 wheel coal tender. I turned the tender into an oil tender by building an oil tank on top of it with styrene. The engine was further modified by moving the headlight from the center of the smokebox door to the top of the smokebox door, adding number boards on the cab and center of the smokebox door and by painting it and adding a printed logo (on a piece of paper) to the tender. I´m also very satisfied with the result although I still would like it to have a Belpaire firebox like the prototype. Here are pictures of the model and the prototype:
And here are 2 photos showing my Bolivian 2-10-2, Argentinian 2-10-2, Southern Pacific 2-10-2 and Southern Pacific 4-10-2. I sold the 4-10-2 as I wasn´t able to make it run through my 20" curves although it did not derail when pushing it through by hand. All 3 2-10-2´s have DCC with sound and smoke unit installed. Headlights are working too. The Bolivian and Argentinian engine even have working cab light installed. I thought about converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Nacionales de Mexico QR-1 Niagara 4-8-4 as well as converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Brazilian 4-8-4 that was later sold to Bolivia as well as converting an IHC 2-10-2 into a Brazilian 2-10-4, but I think there is simply not enough space for a 4 wheel truck with these 2-10-2 and 4-8-2 IHC models, so canceled these plans. It would be maybe possible by stretching the boiler or adding a larger firebox, but that would be really a lot of work and is definetly too difficult for me and my skills. I wish you good luck with your kitbashing projects. I would be very interested to see if and how you will manage to turn an IHC 4-8-2 into a 4-8-4 or an IHC 2-10-2 into a 2-10-4! Let me know!
And here are 2 photos showing my Bolivian 2-10-2, Argentinian 2-10-2, Southern Pacific 2-10-2 and Southern Pacific 4-10-2. I sold the 4-10-2 as I wasn´t able to make it run through my 20" curves although it did not derail when pushing it through by hand. All 3 2-10-2´s have DCC with sound and smoke unit installed. Headlights are working too. The Bolivian and Argentinian engine even have working cab light installed.
I thought about converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Nacionales de Mexico QR-1 Niagara 4-8-4 as well as converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Brazilian 4-8-4 that was later sold to Bolivia as well as converting an IHC 2-10-2 into a Brazilian 2-10-4, but I think there is simply not enough space for a 4 wheel truck with these 2-10-2 and 4-8-2 IHC models, so canceled these plans. It would be maybe possible by stretching the boiler or adding a larger firebox, but that would be really a lot of work and is definetly too difficult for me and my skills. I wish you good luck with your kitbashing projects. I would be very interested to see if and how you will manage to turn an IHC 4-8-2 into a 4-8-4 or an IHC 2-10-2 into a 2-10-4! Let me know!
I thought about converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Nacionales de Mexico QR-1 Niagara 4-8-4 as well as converting an IHC 4-8-2 into a Brazilian 4-8-4 that was later sold to Bolivia as well as converting an IHC 2-10-2 into a Brazilian 2-10-4, but I think there is simply not enough space for a 4 wheel truck with these 2-10-2 and 4-8-2 IHC models, so canceled these plans. It would be maybe possible by stretching the boiler or adding a larger firebox, but that would be really a lot of work and is definetly too difficult for me and my skills.
I wish you good luck with your kitbashing projects. I would be very interested to see if and how you will manage to turn an IHC 4-8-2 into a 4-8-4 or an IHC 2-10-2 into a 2-10-4! Let me know!
I have used 3 so far in projects, a 2-10-2 and 2, 2-8-0s. In all the projects I added wieght where I could for better pulling power. At this point though, all don't really have any identifiable markers showing origin. All are stripped down to the frame, drivers and siderods then rebuilt from there.
The 2-10-2
and both 2-8-0s
These are rather extreme exaples of rebuilding but it shows it's only limited to your imagination.
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/60361449@N02/
Anthracite Modeler - YouTube
Thanks for the replies and photos guys. Especially like the Southern Pacific and the Reading locomotives. I'm never done any kitbashing but this inspires me to try some. Great stuff!