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[quote user="NWP SWP"]would you guys agree that'd be something that would be a good first kitbash?[/quote] No.  I concur with Tom's evalutation.  Start small then work your way to the bigger projects. My first kit was an N scale box car when I was 8 or so.  That was somewhat successful.  There was an interviening few years of more important things (cars, girls, larger model trains, USN) that got in the way.  My second kit was a box car 5 years ago.  The third kit I built (a week after the second) was a Branchline passenger car. I learned a lot from that Branchline kit.  The most important thing I learned was that I didn't know what I was doing.   So I built some athearn BB kits, Accurail kits then proceded to start building structures.  Ive recently completed my first bridges, central valley girder bridges.   I too have a locomotive scratchbuild in mind, but I know that my skills are not quite there yet.  That hasnt stopped me from obtaining the appropriate brass detail parts, basic metal shapes, appropriate instructions and tooling to procede with the work.   Watch the movie "What about Bob?".....baby steps...   [quote user="NWP SWP"]so I thought of taking a Rivarossi El Cheapo Grande Big Boy and Cab Forward and make the two into a 4-8-8-4 Cab Forward then detail and paint the locomotive...[/quote] My opinion on this project: Skip the whole Big Boy and figure out how to mount a 4 wheel trailing truck in place of the two wheel on the Cab Forward.  It is doubtful that if SP had made a 4-8-8-4 Cab forward that it would look much different than their existing cab forwards.   Also note. The 4-8-8-4 Big Boy had a 4 wheel trailing truck to support the weight of the firebox and a 4 wheel leading truck for guiding the locomotive around curves at higher speeds.  The Cab Forward has its firebox at the front.  The purposes are therefore combined.  If you look carefully at the Cab Forward's trailing truck, the only thing it is supporing is a giant deck and the cylinders.  Replacing this with 4 wheel truck in both model and prototype would have reduced weight on the drivers, making them more prone to slippage.   Thats not to say don't do it.
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