ATSF 2-8-0 engine 664 (conversion of a N scale MDC/Athearn consolidation)

[mmagliaro]

If someone had access to a fancy five access cnc machine, how hard would it be to design correctly sized wheels that meat NMRA specs and fit the MDC 2-8-0?  Could it be done with nearly scale spokes?

The driver treads are 0.3", which is 48" life size.  That's pretty darn close to the 51" of the NP 1880's prototype that this engine is.  They are only about .020" small.  And N Scale driver treads are usually a little small to compensate for the flanges.  Even very fine-scale flanges in N are oversized.   The 2mm society in the UK already makes a variety of steam drivers using, I believe, a CNC driven mill.  I suppose if they had a really high-speed spindle so they could use .010" or smaller cutters, it would be possible to make a beautiful wheel with scale spokes.  How "hard" is that to do?  I have no idea.

[Chinapig]

Well, I did order a kit from:

https://www.atsfnscalemodels.com/index.html

and it’s now complete.  It’s a well-made conversion kit made simpler by the tender coming ready assembled and primed.  Tender pick-up is off all wheels.  The hardest bit was squeezing all of that stuff into the tender – an 8x16 motor, a Loksound 4 micro sound decoder, an 8x11mm speaker and 4 tantalum 220Uf capacitors, plus some tungsten putty as extra weight.

I put 20 wagons behind it and it acted as if they weren’t there so I didn’t try any more.  Twenty’s a lot more than I envisage my loco pulling.

All-in-all, a nice project with a resulting loco that not many other folks will have.

The photos are taken on a work-in-progress oNeTrak module of mine.

Cheers, Ted

[johnb]

Well, I did order a kit from:

https://www.atsfnscalemodels.com/index.html

and it’s now complete.  It’s a well-made conversion kit made simpler by the tender coming ready assembled and primed.  Tender pick-up is off all wheels.  The hardest bit was squeezing all of that stuff into the tender – an 8x16 motor, a Loksound 4 micro sound decoder, an 8x11mm speaker and 4 tantalum 220Uf capacitors, plus some tungsten putty as extra weight.

I put 20 wagons behind it and it acted as if they weren’t there so I didn’t try any more.  Twenty’s a lot more than I envisage my loco pulling.

All-in-all, a nice project with a resulting loco that not many other folks will have.

The photos are taken on a work-in-progress oNeTrak module of mine.

Cheers, Ted

I would like to give you more than just one upvote. That is some great modeling

[Dirk Jan Blikkendaal]

Very nice work Ted, and I am glad you are happy with the conversion kit!
Regards, Dirk       
ATSFNSCALEMODELS

Well, I did order a kit from:

https://www.atsfnscalemodels.com/index.html

and it’s now complete.  It’s a well-made conversion kit made simpler by the tender coming ready assembled and primed.  Tender pick-up is off all wheels.  The hardest bit was squeezing all of that stuff into the tender – an 8x16 motor, a Loksound 4 micro sound decoder, an 8x11mm speaker and 4 tantalum 220Uf capacitors, plus some tungsten putty as extra weight.

I put 20 wagons behind it and it acted as if they weren’t there so I didn’t try any more.  Twenty’s a lot more than I envisage my loco pulling.

All-in-all, a nice project with a resulting loco that not many other folks will have.

The photos are taken on a work-in-progress oNeTrak module of mine.

Cheers, Ted