For B&M fans, I was looking for a simple way to create a "good enough" version of B&M's iconic berkshires. This is a simple kitbash using a Kato Mikado mechanism, two Bachmann 4-8-4 shells, a couple of Kato Mikado loco cabs, a Bachmann pilot with cinder deflectors, Kato and Bachmann drawbars spliced together, a pair of Mikado trailing trucks spiced together back-to-back, and a Bachmann tender. I used a B&M line drawing of the 2-8-4 to spice and rejoin parts to come close to the overall dimensions of the proto locomotive. The wheelbase is faily close. The result is good enough for me and could be the basis of a much better model to some of our more skilled modelers on the site. The result runs and tracks very well and retains Kato Mikado performance characteristics. I had to file down the rear of the Mikado frame to clear the trailing truck as the only major structural change to the mechanism. The spliced drawbar works well and I actually snapped the kitbashed trailing truck to the drawbar rather than the locomotive. The arrangement was straigh forward and works quite well. I could back long trains up around curves with derailments. Overall, this kitbash was easy and worked out surprising well. I am posting this to give B&M modelers an easy way to capture the look of a notable locomotive using a Kato mechnism that many of us picked up at clearance prices.
