Very nice work. I have done the same. It was not cost effective but I got what I wanted.
Many older modelers forget the world and this hobby is continually evolving and have trouble dealing with it. The hobby will continue, just not in the way we want it to.
I have been around nearly seventy years and have seen a lot of changes.
I learned about scratch building in the late 1950's. There was no Internet to compare notes with a lot of people. You learned by doing yourself with a lot of error before getting a finished model.
We forget or are not aware that scratch builders have to make a lot of adjustments, mistakes before getting what is very nice. They discarded or re-used a lot of stuff.
What we have for scratch building is a lot different today in 2010.
I built a HO 1900 era flatcar that is not available, scratched for basswood ready to use and plastic details, trucks ready to install, plans in Model Railroader, etc. I did not have to scale from a prototype photo for plans.
I have no problem with shake the box kits or RTR either.
The hobby is what I make it to be for me.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
FreightTrainBlues What a beauty, very inspiring! That whining guy you mention might as well have been me - maybe under some old screen name which I forgot. My list of projects here is waaay to long to consider scratchbuilding one, or re-motoring / painting an affordable older brass engine, whereas I WOULD spend my $$$ on something BLI or P2K or Bachmann would come out with. So just let me cry in my beer allright?
What a beauty, very inspiring! That whining guy you mention might as well have been me - maybe under some old screen name which I forgot. My list of projects here is waaay to long to consider scratchbuilding one, or re-motoring / painting an affordable older brass engine, whereas I WOULD spend my $$$ on something BLI or P2K or Bachmann would come out with. So just let me cry in my beer allright?
Pass that man a towel.
I decided several years ago that my JNR locomotive roster wouldn't be complete without a couple or three 9600 class 2-8-0s (fat boilered, short-framed, three-axle tender equipped rail-borne pit bulls.) They ARE commercially available - in Japan, at prices that make MSRP on a DCC-and-sound Big Boy seem like a steal. My solution? Buy Bachmann consolidations (which do have the proper wheel size and frame geometry.) Someday, when I get the (required) Round Tuit, they will be cosmetically modified. In the meantime, I run them as 'foobies,' with appropriate numbers painted on the inappropriate tenders Santa Fe style.
Hey, whatever works.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - eventually)
Good Looking Loco's, Thanks for sharing.
Springfield PA
All the images below have three things in common. They are the work of a fellow named Greg, they all represent D&H locomotives and they share one other commonality. All these locomotives are built on Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 mechanisms.
Not too long ago, somebody was whining about there being a dearth of Wootten firebox engines on the market. Rather than cry in his beer, Greg went ahead a created some.
I'm in awe of this guy's work, even if it hasn't been "peer reviewed" by some self-appointed and self-annointed Grand Poohbah Of Model Railroading.
Andre