Work In Progress (Well, More Like A Work In Regress)

[andrechapelon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BoRockhard

It's always good to see people modifying plastic steam to more closely match a prototype. You've given me some ideas. Very good.

[ginsu knife ad]

But wait, there's more. In addition to all this, you get a picture of a Spectrum unit done by Ted York: http://www.atsfrr.com/resources/2507%20Cl/3-4.htm

And this: [url]http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/gallery/album26/aaa[url]



[/ginsu knife ad]

Andre

[Anonymous]

It's always good to see people modifying plastic steam to more closely match a prototype. You've given me some ideas. Very good.

[andrechapelon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AggroJones

There is a guy here in Sacramento who modified a Spectrum 2-8-0 somthing like that. I don't think it was of any specific class, but it did have a much more Espee look to it than the original Spectrum version. The cab roof had the details cut off and sanded down, and replaced by a single hatch. It has the correct stack, number boards, the front end latters replaced. He didn't weather it though.

Well, Aggro, the hatch removal process is complete and the cinder deflector is gone. The roof looks much better now, even with the green Squadron putty where I had to fill a couple of gouges. I left the center hatch in place as it's correct.

As for the ladders, several ex El Paso and Southwestern 2-8-0's kept theirs after being incorporated into the SP and several classes are close to the Spectrum (except for the Spectrum's Baker valve gear). Classes C-26, 27, 28, 29 are relatively easy mods from the Spectrum. A C-31 (San Diego and Arizona Eastern's #s 101 and 102) are possible as well, but the ladders do have to be removed and the standard SP front end access installed.

I'd heard that someone converted a Spectrum to an SP C-9, but don't know who and don't know if he has pictures available on the Web. That's a bit more involved (to say the least). You'd have to use the cylinder saddle off a Bowser "Casey Jones" or the MDC "Harriman" 4-6-0/2-8-0, remove the valve gear altogether and make some faux linkage for Stephenson valve gear.

Incidentally, the stock tender is very close to some of the ex EP&SW tenders. If you remove the tender body and turn it over, you can see that the coal bunker snaps right out, making it easy to replace with a scratchbuilt oil bunker. Here's a link to a picture of an ex EP&SW Mikado with a rectangular tender. The 2-8-0's also used them. http://www.yesteryeardepot.com/SP3321A.JPG. One of the characteristics of those tenders is that they had handrails around 3 sides of the water compartment.

Here's a link to a fellow who did a minimalist job of detailing a Spectrum to SP. This view shows the tender. http://home.earthlink.net/~bowdidge/locomotive-3444-tender.jpg. He numbered the engine #3444, which is an ex EP&SW C-26. If he'd installed the characteristic EP&SW tender handrails they'd run around the periphery of the rear of the tender.

Andre

[andrechapelon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by NYC56

Andre,

This is a Bachman Spectrum that you are showing in the pics?
Sorry if this is a newb question, I was just wondering. It looks very nice to me!

Chris

Yes, it is and thanks. I'm currently lin the process of removing the cinder deflector on the back of the cab roof and removing the 2 outside cab roof hatches as SP had a single roof hatch and didn't have cinder deflectors on cab roofs.

Just takin' a break to prevent eyestrain. [:D]

Andre

[Anonymous]

Andre,

This is a Bachman Spectrum that you are showing in the pics?
Sorry if this is a newb question, I was just wondering. It looks very nice to me!

Chris

[AggroJones]

There is a guy here in Sacramento who modified a Spectrum 2-8-0 somthing like that. I don't think it was of any specific class, but it did have a much more Espee look to it than the original Spectrum version. The cab roof had the details cut off and sanded down, and replaced by a single hatch. It has the correct stack, number boards, the front end latters replaced. He didn't weather it though.

[andrechapelon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AggroJones

It's looking pretty sweet so far. Do you plan on smoothing out that cab roof?

Hadn't really thought about it. But now that you mention it, probably, since SP locos had smooth cab roofs except for a single central hatch.

Scored a Varney "Casey Jones" off eBay just the other day, one of the ones from the mid-50's. not the cheapened version after about 1959. That's going to be the basis of a T-28. Interestingly enough, T-28 #2313 was equipped at one time with an ex EP&SW tender that's very close to the tender that came with the 2-8-0.

Andre

[AggroJones]

It's looking pretty sweet so far. Do you plan on smoothing out that cab roof?

[Fergmiester]

Yep you're right thoses handrails gotta go, THEN AGAIN I've SEEN WORSE done the by the pros! Andre seriously the rails are still good. If you're looking for crisp bends try using grooved needle nosed pliers or surgical Hemostats.

Fergie

[andrechapelon]

Here's another photo from the engineer's side.




Andre

[andrechapelon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

We tend to hyper critical of our own work. Personally it looks good to me but then again close ups can be deceaving. How do you feel? Personally It looks good to me and I can be a bit of a knit picker at times. Remember black hides a multiple of sins. And the brass will look over sized against the black. Still looks good!

Fergie

Thanks, Fergie. The tender handrails really bother me. I think the mistake I made was to make them individually. I also made the mistake of soldering the handrail supports to the handrails. This time I think I'll spot solder two brass wires together and use the homemade jig I built to bend both sides the exact same way. When I've got them bent, I'll just nip off the ends that are soldered together. I'm also not going to solder the supports to the new handrails as there's no guarantee that one won't get soldered at an angle to the other. I've also got an MDC 7,000 gallon Vanderbilt. tender for which I made SP style top handrails. Not soldering the supports to the handrails made a huge difference in the looks and I'm much more satisfied with it.

It's a learning curve. I have another Spectrum Consol which is going to get a similar treatment, but I'm going to try my hand at building an oil bunker for the factory tender.

Andre

[Anonymous]

Please don't be too critical. You've done a real job. Just keep having fun.

Happy MRRing

Luc

[Fergmiester]

We tend to be hyper-critical of our own work. Personally it looks good to me but then again close ups can be deceaving. How do you feel? Personally It looks good to me and I can be a bit of a knit picker at times. Remember black hides a multiple of sins. And the brass will look over sized against the black. Still looks good!

Fergie

[andrechapelon]

This is a test to see if I got this figured out right

First photo:


Second:


OOPS! I removed the photo from Photobuket[:I]

Well, apparently I do. However, it could use some text to describe it.

As you can see, the train indicators are a bit high and I'm going to reposition the markers. Also, I need to redo the tender handrails as they look as bad, if not worse than the original Spectrum factory jobs. My modeling skills are rather rusty as can be seen.

Oh well, you only learn by doing. That's what I get for modeling armchairs all these years.

At the current time, the markers and indicators have been removed and the holes filled with Squadron putty ready for a second pass. Hopefully, there won't be a third one. Assuming the second pass is an improvement, more pics will be forthcoming.

Andre