Here's my Rio Grande SDL-39. No such thing, I know, I know, but I wanted one. Started with the Kaslo Shops resin kit, then added Rio Grande details. Gotta have dynamic brakes, so those were obtained from Atlas, a part that is made for their SD-24 IIRC. The nose-mounted Pyle light came next. That was mostly it, plus paint. Still waiting on buying the air horns, because they were kinda more than I wanted to pay at the time. I should think of doing that, but $13 for a set of horns ain't cheap.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Before Athearn released their SD39, I made my own, with a bunch of Cannon & Co parts and Hi-Tech hood sides on an old Athearn SD40 frame
Here it is before painting:
marksrailroadIt's also N scale so it was a little harder to work with than if it had been HO.
Who made the locomotive that you started with?
-Kevin
.
Living the dream.
Sorry I can't provide any photos but my biggest undertaking so far was when I kitbashed a Kato Canadian National Mikado from its original appearence to more like the actual prototype that I found while looking at photos of Steam Town locos. I began by removing the bell from the front of the smoke box and placing it between the stack and first dome on the boiler. I then made up a new number board and glued it to where the bell was. I then added a water heater above the front of the smoke box and the plumbing that went with it. After that I mixed flat black and silver to create a graphite looking paint and painted the smoke box and fire box. Last but not least I built up the coal tender and raised the coal stack. In the end it turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself seeing how it was my first undertaking so it was a big deal to me. It's also N scale so it was a little harder to work with than if it had been HO.
BigDaddy "Bob your link doesn't go anywhere. Posting links from this site is challenging. Posting pics is unforgiving of mistakes. See the sticky in the General Forum on posting pics." This forum is bunk with their picture posting through third parties. Come on! it's the 21st century. Other sites have direct posting. As to my post, I followed the directions and the photo did show after posting. I noticed a spelling error, went through edit and changed that. Then the photo would show, "404" error and not display!! i'm not going to fool around like this, taking a photo, hope that the third party site works, get an address, then finally make my post, then find out that it doesn,t work. It may work well for others, I don;t have the time. Too bad as I would participate if this outmoded method wasn't used.
"Bob your link doesn't go anywhere. Posting links from this site is challenging. Posting pics is unforgiving of mistakes. See the sticky in the General Forum on posting pics."
This forum is bunk with their picture posting through third parties. Come on! it's the 21st century. Other sites have direct posting.
As to my post, I followed the directions and the photo did show after posting. I noticed a spelling error, went through edit and changed that. Then the photo would show, "404" error and not display!!
i'm not going to fool around like this, taking a photo, hope that the third party site works, get an address, then finally make my post, then find out that it doesn,t work.
It may work well for others, I don;t have the time. Too bad as I would participate if this outmoded method wasn't used.
Bob your link doesn't go anywhere. Posting links from this site is challenging. Posting pics is unforgiving of mistakes. See the sticky in the General Forum on posting pics.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Chicago Yelowstone and Pacific #35, a Baldwin DS 4-4-10, poses in the Central District. Kitbashed in the early 1990s from an Athearn S-12, and another shell. Body and frame lengthened to represent the longer 8 cylinder powered locomotive. Mashima motor, A-Line flywheels, NWSL wheelsets were also used. Scheduled to be shopped with DCC decoder, likely sound, upgrade some of the detail, new paint. This was built from an old 90s Model Railroader article.
This is Bradford Valley Lumber Co. no. 10, the latest addition to my On30 fleet. All of my engines are kitbashed in some way, but this is one of the more extensive ones:
It started as a Bachmann On30 2-4-4-2 tender engine. I designed a cab and side tanks in Blender, and had them 3D-printed by Shapeways. The hand rails on the cab and side tanks are copper wire. The additional platform on the front was scratchbuilt from styrene and copper wire.
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
I am going to contribute something that is not the least bit impressive.
OK, I will share. Most of my kitbash projects are a lot simpler than some of the great work above, and photo skills are not the best. Some of these locos are not finished, some I simply don't have competed photos.
All are freelanced for my ATLANTIC CENTRAL, and the main goal is to create a "family" look.
First up, USRA 2-6-6-2 from Bachmann, the original tender replaced with a Vanderbilt tender and the trailing truck changed to a Delta type. I have two of these, still need a little weathering.......
Next we have a Bachmann 2-8-4 converted into a modern heavy 2-8-2 similar to the DT&I 800 class. I actually have five of these with various minor sub class versions. These were done by mixing and matching parts from all three versions of the Bachmann Berkshire/Kanawha. Two of the five have long Vandy tenders and the larger Kanawha cab. The Delta trailing truck is the old Kemtrom piece now PSC. This photo is obviously before the paint work.
Next up, a Bachmann 4-8-2 Heavy with a Delta trailing truck - not a big mod, but again, part of the "family" look. There are two of these with the oil tender, and 5 more with coal tenders.
Next up a Broadway USRA heavy Mike with a Delta trailing truck and a Bachmann long tender. The ACR has two of these as well. The Delta trucks came from the original Athearn Genesis 4-6-2.
Next we have the easiest kit bash of the century - A Proto 2000 2-8-8-2 turned into a 2-8-8-0.......and lettered ATLANTIC CENTRAL. This one also has a twin....
Well, there are more, but that's all the photos I have handy,
Sheldon
Wow! Some really nice work and some very imaginative re-builds.
Mel, while the cab forwards were a good solution to the problem for which they were designed, I always preferred the looks of the AC-9s...very stylish, as is your model.
I'll start with some older ones, like this Tyco Mikado. It's mostly a detailing job, using about a hundred dollars worth of detail parts, mostly from Cal-Scale, and Kemtron, although I did alter the running boards and added scratchbuilt front steps to them. The sandbox is an altered dome from a Tyco 3-dome tank car, and the cab is from Model Die Casting. The tender is an MDC oil-type tender modified into a coal-type, with an open bunker. Those six wheel trucks under it accounted for almost half the money spent on detail parts...
The 886 pictured below is an Atlas SD35, with a scratchbuilt safety cab - I had seen CN's original safety cab on a GP38 in 1973, I think, and took a few photos, and then converted a couple of Atlas SD35s and SD24s...
This is a John English Pacific, from the early '50s. I got it, used, in the mid-'50s and altered it with some Cal-Scale detail parts and a Kemtron vestibule-style cab. The tender was scratchbuilt, with modified Central Valley trucks. This locomotive is currently awaiting another makeover...
Another Tyco Mikado, mostly re-detailed with Cal-Scale parts and a scratchbuilt vestibule cab - it was built over the original plastic cab, then anything of the original cab which showed through the windows was carved away. It also got a can motor and NWSL gearbox, along with some additional weight...
This Pacific, originally a Bowser NYC K-11, got pretty-well the same treatment as the Mike above (including a Tyco tender), along with some fairing along the running boards. The vestibule cab was built over the stock metal cab...
This one's a pretty simple-looking one, based on an article in MR showing how to convert an Athearn SW1500/SW1200/SW7 - depending on when it was marketed - into an NW2. The basic operation was to alter the sloped section of the hood, immediately in front of the cab, into a stepped section. I took it a bit further with some added details from Detail Associates, Details West, and Juneco, a full GSB cab interior, a large Sagami can motor and Ernst gearsets...
This one was seen in the photo of the diesel with the wide cab. It's a Bachmann Santa Fe Northern, somewhat Canadianised. The front end is pretty-well all Cal-Scale: pilot, air pump radiator, headlight, Mars light, class lights, and bell. The vestibule cab is again a styrene scratchbuild over the original. However, the tender is the biggest part of the re-build. I shortened it somewhat, then opened the oil bunker area and converted it to a modelled open coal bunker. The original four axle trucks were cut into 2- and 3-axle sections then joined to form the centipede-style bottom. All detail except the journal boxes was then filed off and overlays, cut from styrene, were applied to form the cast tender bed. I then added spring detail using wire and parts cut from Kadee coupler boxes...
More diesels, both Model Power FA/FB-2s originally. I modified them to better match my favourite prototype cab-units, CNR's FPA- and FPB-4s. This involved moving and replacing several body panels to correct the batten placement, new numberboards, scratchbuilt fuel tanks and new radiator intake sections. Paint and lettering is SMP Accupaint and Accucals, done in the style of CNR's freight scheme in the '50s. The roadname was done with individual letters from Champ alphabet sets...
Another Model Power makeover, this time an E7B Phase II made from two E7A-units. It was inspired by and based upon a drawing in the March, 1987 issue of Mainline Modeler. In addition to the splice job, this one included a lot of new or re-worked body panels and openings. Like all Model Power units of that time, a great runner and fantastic puller...
This CNR 2-10-2 was done for a friend, and like the real locomotive upon which it's based, started with a used USRA 2-10-2, this one a re-motored brass model, shown here with a Bachmann tender...
The CNR bought ten such locomotives from the Boston & Albany when that road received its first Berkshires, and re-worked them, pretty-much as I did with the model. Here's a photo of the real one...
...and the re-done model...
The thread showing the entire re-build can be viewed HERE
Here are some more recent efforts, including an IHC Mogul, more-or-less "stock" (the oil tender has been changed to coal)...
...and re-worked with a cab from a Bachmann Consolidation and the tender further modified...
The loco above usually runs with this one, a brass model of a B&M B-15, which originally looked pretty-much like this...
The loco wouldn't run when I first got it, so I put a can motor in it, turning it into a real sweet-runner and a surprisingly decent puller for such a diminutive engine. As shown below, it got a new Bachmann cab, modified cylinders, and further modifications to the tender. Here's the two old girls together...
The re-build of the two above is covered HERE
This is another pair of locomotives, this time Bachmann's Ten Wheelers. They probably could have been used on my late '30s-era layout pretty much as-is...
...but I thought them to be too dowdy-looking and didn't like that big (too long and too wide) tender, either. My first job was to modifiy the existing slide valve cylinder castings into a more modern piston valve type, and I then replaced the stock boilers with stripped-down ones from Varney/Bowser cast metal Ten Wheelers. I hacked off the cast-on cabs and replaced them with my road's stock choice from Bachmann's Consolidations...
After shortening (razor saw) and narrowing (large handsaw) the tenders, I added details to locos and tenders and ended up with these...
You can check out the procedure, with lots of photos HERE
...and finally, for now, anyway, my latest kitbash, a Bachmann USRA Light 2-6-6-2, bought "used"...
I shortened the locomotive's boiler and the USRA long-style tender so that the pair would fit onto my scratchbuilt 90' turntable (which is actually only 89' long due to limited available real estate). I then added a bunch of detail and a bunch of weight, plus a second tender for additional water capacity, and ended up with this...
The work done in order to get to that point can be viewed HERE.
Wayne
I have kitbashed a couple of HOn30 critters for Boothbay Railway Village. The shells were kitbashed from Athearn Hustler bodys with Bachmann N scale mechanisms. This is one on the layout
And both shells before painting. I removed the walkways, split the body down the middle to narrow them and adjusted the length (after cutting away too much) to fit the mechanisms.
Thsi is another we bought at a train show. It is an N scale Kato (?) NW-2 body and mechanism with an HO scale cab, and added detail parts.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
NWP SWP This tread is solely for posting pictures of your kitbashed locomotives. And please explain the basic work you did to get the kitbashed result. (For a locomotive to be considered kitbashed it has to be distinguishable from the stock model of the locomotive.) Thanks!
This tread is solely for posting pictures of your kitbashed locomotives. And please explain the basic work you did to get the kitbashed result. (For a locomotive to be considered kitbashed it has to be distinguishable from the stock model of the locomotive.) Thanks!
OK, so does this fit?
An Athearn SD40-2T, cut down to fit an SD40-2 Athearn frame, and equipt with a Canadian wide/saftey cab, and added details parts, like grabs, fans, screens, etc.
Mike.
My You Tube
C&O F-20 4-6-2 No. 488. Kitbashed from BLI USRA Light Pacific. Added a number of brass detail parts, several scratch built detail parts, piping, modified cylinders, new running boards and steps, replaced trailing truck, modified tender. Repainted, decaled and weathered (just a bit more to do).
Rick G.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!