4-6-2 Mantua steam engine parts

[Anonymous]

Good afternoon Gentlemen: I bought a used Mantua Steam engine(4-6-2) U.P. on eBay @ a reasonable price. This engine is probably a 1970's production run. When it arrived in the mail the front end (plow ) was smashed into bits about the size of the pieces of coal in the tender,
I attempted 2 find Mantua online for replacement part , No luck. Would anybody have information about parts availability , or would maybe Bowser parts be close enough 2 adapt to this engine? The loco is pot metal but the plow,front ladders are one piece in plastic. I don't c a serial # on the engine Mantua only on bottom of tender. Then again I have not disassembled the engine to look inside. [e-mail]

[conford]

This part, the pilot, breaks easily on the Mantua Pacific (and Mikado). I know because I have broken a few over the years. If you want to find a replacement, good luck. Maybe some hobby shop has them in stock, but it will be hard to find. Mantua was bought out by Model Power, and they may produce parts... someday. At this point I believe they have reintroduced a few of the engines.

You may be able to fabricate a replacement by grafting a brass pilot onto the Mantua casting (which includes the front ladders, airpump shield and pilot deck) using some sort of square styrene strip to join the parts. I'm presuming the rest of that part, as described, is intact. This would work OK, but remember to leave good clearance from the rails, as a brass pilot will short the track if it comes in contact with both rails/

Have fun!
Peter
conford

[Anonymous]

Mantua was purchased by Model Power, and parts have not been available for a bit, but try these folks, http://www.railstop.com/ they claim on thier web site that they have pilots and cabs available now.

[TomDiehl]

Try, Yardbird Classic Trains. http://www.yardbirdtrains.com/

For a metal replacement, try Parts by Paul [e-mail]

[wjstix]

I can't promise anything, but if you can't find one anywhere, I might have one. Mantua came out with a later version of the pilot (it didn't have the big "bulge" thing on it) and I bought a couple of them to use on some Mantua engines. I think I have the original pilots laying around somewhere.

Too bad MP doesn't offer parts, Mantua had a big parts catalogue and you could buy virtually any part from them for a reasonable price - I think the pilots were $.90 back c.1995.

[Soo Line fan]

I am detailing a Mantua Mikado and needed to get a pilot without the air pump covers. I ordered one from Yard bird the other day. The pilots and cabs are not available from Model Power yet, they told me when the Pacific gets released the parts will be available. Model Power does have a lot of other Mantua parts however.

Jim

[TomDiehl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Soo Line fan

I am detailing a Mantua Mikado and needed to get a pilot without the air pump covers. I ordered one from Yard bird the other day. The pilots and cabs are not available from Model Power yet, they told me when the Pacific gets released the parts will be available. Model Power does have a lot of other Mantua parts however.

Jim

For these, try the "Parts by Paul" email above. The parts are cast metal instead of the original plastic, but he does have a Mikado pilot without the air pump cover, just a plain one.

[orsonroy]

The metal pilots show up occasionally on Ebay. But for a few dollars LESS, why not just buy a completely new pilot from Bowser? It's easy enough to drill and tap a hole in most of them to accept the Mantua mounting screw. And if you want to have the pilot mounted air pumps and shields like the originaly Mantua, Bowser sells two styles of those too.

[jeffers_mz]

Yardbirds has them. Good folks to do business with too. They sent me a motor for parts without even waiting for me to transfer the money into my account. Two orders, both a cakewalk, what more can you ask for?

[nfmisso]

In addition to the suggestions above, take a look at Cal Scale and Cary parts from Bowser
http://www.bowser-trains.com/
and Precision Scale
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Part&scale=H&manu=585&item=&keywords=&instock=Q&split=300&Submit=Search