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.

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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
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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...

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~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

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