1. Home
  2. Model Railroad Forum
  3. Meet "Frank". (Contains Actual Model Railroad Content!!)

Meet "Frank". (Contains Actual Model Railroad Content!!)

Short for "Frank N. Steam".

Found an unused Balboa S.P. MK-5 chassis on eBay and bid low figuring to use it for parts if/when mine broke down. Got it, and it sat untouched in a box for two years.

Then about six months ago I found an old Westside S.P. Whaleback tender at a swap meet; exactly the sort that frequently showed up behind MK-5 Mikados. Bought it thinking I could letter it for the Sud Pacifico de Mexico and swap railroads with my MK-5 by simply swapping tenders.

And then just a few weeks ago a virgin (unpainted) Balboa S.P. MK-5 boiler shell showed up on eBay and I got to thinking "Ya know, you already *have* 2/3 of another locomotive just sitting around..." so I went ahead and bid.

Had to cast my own lead boiler weight, but I had the original one to copy so that didn't prove too difficult (the burns have healed nicely), and after a week or two of fitting the boiler shell to the chassis (You thought they were mass-produced, and that parts would automatically interchange? HO-HO! It turns out that "Hand-built" means they were all slightly different!)

Anyway, herewith the results: Sud Pacifico de Mexico Mikado # 853. The heaviest class of steam engine that ever ran on the S.P.de M. And notorious for bending the then 60-pound rail into interesting new shapes.

formatting link
formatting link
formatting link
She still needs a little weathering on the boiler, but she runs just fine, and fits onto my 90' turntable with just a scale foot to spare at both ends.

A serendipitous locomotive.

~Pete

Reply to
Twibil
Loading thread data ...

[...]

And good looking, too!

;-)

wolf k.

Reply to
Wolf K

Very nice indeed. Are you planning on modeling the "interesting shapes" as well?

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

Thenk yew, Wolf! I'm partial to medium-sized steam locomotives with short, fat boilers.

In fact, this is sort of my ideal...

formatting link
~Pete

Reply to
Twibil

Heh. My trackwork has *always* featured "interesting shapes", and when I was primarily modeling logging railroads I told myself that it was prototypical.

Now I just hope everything stays on the rails.

~Pete

Reply to
Twibil

That's pretty damn gorgeous, especially for a kitbash. *

Reply to
PV

Thank you, PV. Scratching and kitbashing structures for the layout is one of my more favorite things to do, but I lack both the tools and the skill to scratchbuild a brass locomotive.

However, right now I'm in the middle of building a line-side propane business yclept "Strickland Propane", and printing out the decals for same.*

*There's a joke in there somewhere, but if you've never watched "King Of The Hill" it's probably a "whoosh".

Sorry.

~Pete

Reply to
Twibil

As usual, Very Nice work!

I'm particularly impressed at how well your work stands up to hi-res digital scrutiny. With or without weathering ...

Reply to
LD

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Well, most of that is Balboa's work and not mine.

~Pete

Reply to
Twibil

Hmmm - sort of like Furzenloser Fuels - "Around here, if you smell gas, it's Furzenloser!"

Reply to
Steve Caple

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.