so recently I was working on a mantua 4-6-2 and I thought about making a hudson I took one look at the engine and I said this is the perfect engine for the job. So I got to work I scourced the rear pilot truck from an AHM berkshire and the rest was simple... I removed the locomotives shell from it's body and removed features such as the bell and the handrails. After that was finished I scratched off the old paint scheme I gave it untill it was all raw metal. I gave the shell a spray coat of black as well as the tender and after then I upgraided the chassis by cutting the back short to fit the rear pilot. after then I used google docs to create custom decals for the locomotive I printed them using a regular printer and applaied them with an elmers glue stick. After that I put the rails and bell back on the locomotive and it was fully re assembled. The locomotive is N.Y.C. no.773 in honor of Joshua Lionel cowen due to the hudson being his favorite locomotive. it currently runs freight trains and runs a passenger train from time to time. This was a fun project and I will be posting a video about it on youtube soon. if you want to see my videos visit Zachary wilde 2.0 in youtube.
Hi there. I have a similar project sitting on a shelf. Can you post a picture? Mantua did produce a Hudson - I've been monitoring Ebay for months hoping for a spare rear truck to pop-up... I think I can just swap the truck from the Pacific for one from a Mantua Hudson. I may just do the same thing you did if I lose patience.
Simon
Yeah, the Mantua Pacific lends itself quite well to becoming a Hudson. A friend asked me to convert his, bought second-hand (at least). The original owner did a reasonably good job on detailing it, although there were a couple of non-prototypical mistakes....luckily, sorta, they mostly all fell off when I stripped the paint, which was a necessary step.My friend also wanted to try it as a "dead rail" loco, so I also had to install a decoder and battery pack. While the decoder is apparently properly installed (there were test points during set-up, which all check-out as done properly) I cannot get the darn thing to run at all. Makes me glad to have a DC layout.
Here's his Hudson, which won't get painted until I can make it run...
The tender is the "long" USRA tender, from Bachmann....just long enough for the decoder and battery pack.
Wayne
I have some recollection that the Hudson that Mantua offered used the Pacific's frame and drive train, but didn't they substitute the Mikado's bigger boiler? Or am I thinking of an individual modeler's kitbash?
Either way there would be a certain poetic justice to it, since I have read that the closest prototype some can find for the Mantua Mikado's boiler is that of the Wabash 4-6-4 (which however was semi streamlined).
I definitely do recall that Mantua offered the Pacific frame and drive train with the Mikado boiler (as well as the original boiler - it was a time when Mantua was trying to expand their offerings by exploiting their existing tooling). If they left it a 4-6-2 then perhaps the closest prototype would be the massive Chicago, St Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha (i.e. the C&NW's "Omaha Road" subsidiary) Pacific, which looked more like a Hudson than some Hudsons.
Dave Nelson
dknelson I have some recollection that the Hudson that Mantua offered used the Pacific's frame and drive train, but didn't they substitute the Mikado's bigger boiler? Or am I thinking of an individual modeler's kitbash? Either way there would be a certain poetic justice to it, since I have read that the closest prototype some can find for the Mantua Mikado's boiler is that of the Wabash 4-6-4 (which however was semi streamlined). I definitely do recall that Mantua offered the Pacific frame and drive train with the Mikado boiler (as well as the original boiler - it was a time when Mantua was trying to expand their offerings by exploiting their existing tooling). If they left it a 4-6-2 then perhaps the closest prototype would be the massive Chicago, St Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha (i.e. the C&NW's "Omaha Road" subsidiary) Pacific, which looked more like a Hudson than some Hudsons. Dave Nelson
https://hoseeker.net/mantuainstructions.html
scroll down to 4-6-4s
The picture is kinda gritty but I think thats the pacific boiler?
Charles
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/@trainman440
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
here is a full video
doctorwayne Yeah, the Mantua Pacific lends itself quite well to becoming a Hudson. A friend asked me to convert his, bought second-hand (at least). The original owner did a reasonably good job on detailing it, although there were a couple of non-prototypical mistakes....luckily, sorta, they mostly all fell off when I stripped the paint, which was a necessary step.My friend also wanted to try it as a "dead rail" loco, so I also had to install a decoder and battery pack. While the decoder is apparently properly installed (there were test points during set-up, which all check-out as done properly) I cannot get the darn thing to run at all. Makes me glad to have a DC layout. Here's his Hudson, which won't get painted until I can make it run... The tender is the "long" USRA tender, from Bachmann....just long enough for the decoder and battery pack. Wayne
it has no decoder I just have good sound editing skills, for my locomotive that is
rrebellDead rail I know about. What type of decoder?
The decoder is an Air Wire900 microMotion decoder.
I'm going to contact the equipment provider for more information about programming it. I did manage to program the starting-, running-, and maximum-speed voltage settings, (indicated by the loco moving slightly after each setting was entered) and the special effects for the headlight, but there seems to be nothing in the user's manual on how to get the darn thing moving. It's probably something I've seen in the manual, but the technical jargon is all Greek to me.
I've used DCC on another friend's layout, and it works fine, but personally, I wouldn't want it on my layout, even if it were free and somebody set it up properly.
Wayne (the Luddite)