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Son Of Cheap Brass Project.

Just got done with another project loco: a NWSL 1890 vintage Baldwin side-tank 0-8-0. Only problem with it as it came from Japan in the

60's was that it was imported as a budget loco ($17 in 1965) and lacked a lot of the basic details that we'd take for granted today. On the other hand, that left a lot of openings for custom stuff that could be added just for the fun of it... Stuff that most likely would have been added to a prototype loco as she got older and was modernized and modified to suit the conditions she was working under.

Here's the loco as she appeared in the original ebay ad:

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After three weeks of drilling, cutting, soldering, and nursing singed fingers I'd added footboard handrails, air lines, a new headlight and a cab-mounted back-up light, a bell, a generator, sand-dome access grips, a steam-dome mounted auxiliary steam valve, steps to the cab roof for backup light access, cab roof handrails (safety first), an open cab-roof ventilation hatch (and support rod for same), cab window awnings, an oil bunker and oil hatch, a handrail on the rear of the cab for the guy standing on the oil bunker, an oil bunker drain valve, a pair of tow-chain hooks on the rear of the oil bunker (for when a drawbar pulled out), and two small air tanks that hide beneath the rear of the cab. (Whew.)

Here's how she looked with the added detail parts.

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I then spent another week painting, decaling, and weathering her with these results:

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At only a bit over 4" long this is quite a small loco, but she's got enough poop for switching a string of cars on my perfectly flat bedroom layout, and she now generates a certain amount of antique "tea- kettleness" as compared to her original factory-fresh appearance.

~Pete

Reply to
Twibil
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I must say, nice work. I have no experience in brass and because of that I'm a little worried about adding some HOn3 to the layout. I would appreciate your input on HOn3 brass and which brand names that maybe I should stay away from since I have no experience.

( see, I can be civil )

Reply to
BleuRaeder

On 5/12/2009 1:07 AM Twibil spake thus:

Vewy vewy nice.

So when are you going to submit your article on this to /MR/?

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

You do Nice Work! And your photos are getting better and better ...

Reply to
LD

MR probably wouldn't be interested. They concentrate largely on beginner's layouts, computerization, and DCC stuff these days and rarely run building/kitbashing articles any more. (Nothing wrong with that, mind you. Somebody needs to do it, and they obviously think that's where the hobby's headed.)

Railroad Model Craftsman might be interested as they still target the old-fashioned model builder, but Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette would be my publication of choice if I were to write it up for sale.

All three publications pay about the same (squat), but NG&SLG targets the exact audiance that would be interested in an old-time steam Critter like this.

~Pete

Reply to
Twibil

There's a largish HOn3 contingent at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, and while I'm friendly with 'em and we trade admiration for each other's stuff regularly I'm not an expert on narrow gauge locos.

I do know that the guys down there can be found using anything from old '60's Balboa and Westside brass to modern state-of-the-art locos, but after watching them for ten years the two things that stand out in my mind are that nearly *all* of the locos -old *and* new- have been modified extensively to improve reliability, and that the narrow-gauge guys spend a *lot* of time fiddling with their locos at the workbench and cleaning the track. (The locos are so light that they require

*really* clean track to ensure good electrical contact. I'm told that On3 doesn't have the same problems.)

As one of their guys told me just last weekend, "When somebody asks me if I think they'd be interested in HOn3, I tell 'em 'If you think you'd enjoy spending half of your time screwing around with your stuff to keep it running, you'd probably enjoy narrow gauge'."

Me, I'm a "put it on the track and twist the throttle" type of guy, so I decided to stick with standard-gauge stuff purely in the interests of reliability.

~Pete

Reply to
Twibil

On 5/12/2009 11:19 AM Twibil spake thus:

Yes, of course; silly me. I was thinking of the /MR/ of 10-20 years ago, when you could still find the odd article about kitbashing locos and such.

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

Odd? Even, rather - I think they do a token two a year.

Reply to
Steve Caple

On 5/12/2009 2:12 PM Steve Caple spake thus:

Yep. Reminds me how much I miss /Mainline Modeler/, a magazine we'll never see the likes of again, I'm afraid.

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

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