N&W E2a "(& WM K-2) Pacific kitbash thoughts

[3rdrail]

I just got my Rivarossi Pacific in the mail... in looking at your photos of the MP, the shell casting is just about identical, only yours is die cast metal and mine is plastic.
In looking at the boiler profile, I'm wondering if I couldn't make something happen using the Bachmann Connie boiler...  The profile and diameter seem a lot more in line with the WM proportions...  I think I'll have to lengthen it a bit, though.  Gregg, do you still have those boilers leftover from your Reading conversions?

I'll probably tackle the tender first.  I'm going to see if I can make Fox Valley wheels work with the tender pick up.

Lee

Lee, I haven't done the conversion yet, but yes I still have the Bachmann 2-8-0 boiler shell. But, I think it is much too short to use on a Pacific. It is even shorter than the old Bachmann 2-8-0 shell. I also have an old Rivarossi Mikado boiler shell, I'll check to see if it matches the diameter of the Bachmann. Then you might be able to combine the two for length. I've only got one of each, though.

Bob, what do you want for the old MiniTrix 0-6-0? Are any of the tender bodies by chance off the IHB 0-8-0?

[Bob Bufkin]

Never owned an 0-8-0.  The 0-6-0 tender is long gone.  I'll let you know about it later (gotta find it in my junk drawer).
Bob

[wm3798]

The Bachmann has the domes and bell in more or less the right order, and there's enough room above the cast smoke box door to locate the headlight in the right place.  On the Rivarossi conversion, the headlight ended up above the smokebox because of the diameter issue.

I'm thinking if I cut the Bachmann shell just ahead of the steam dome, then splice it to the RR shell from the first band in front of that steam dome, I may have the length I need, and reduce the amount of other shell mods I'd have to make.

I'm going to take some side on photos of the Connie I've got, as well as the RR, and do some cutty pasty in the computer to see what happens.  I also have to disassemble the RR to see how and where a decoder will fit.  I'm thinking tender, but I want to limit the number of wires running between the engine and tender... we'll see.

Lee

[wm3798]

Well, here's what I came up with camera wise...

Here's the Rivarossi engine in its stock condition.  You can see how pronounced the taper in the boiler is.  This is the main issue I'm going to try to overcome.

Here's the same engine, with parts from the Bachmann shell photographically added.  You can see it will come up short.


So, looking at the reference photo, I moved the elements around to see how much additional surgery will be required.


I'm satisfied that the boiler diameter will work, but there are some significant issues I'll have to overcome.  First, the Bachmann smoke box will have to be lengthened by about 3' behind the stack.  Doing this and retaining the rivet detail will be a bit of a challenge.  Also, it looks like the best way to deal with the sand dome is going to be to just fabricate a new one.  I may be able to salvage the one from the Rivarossi shell, but it's really not the right shape for the WM engine.  I'll have to fool with that a little bit.

There's also about 5 or 6' of length I'll need to add to the boiler between the sand dome and the smoke box.  I may be able to fabricate that out of some tube styrene.  I'm going to have to shave off most of the cast on details anyway, so I think I can get away with that.

Well, until I can get my hands on the required Consolidation shell, this part will be on hold.  Next I'll have to investigate the decoder situation.
Lee

[wazzou]

Lee -

You can always use Archer rivet decals to add rivets where necessary.

Go to http://www.archertransfers.com/AR88014.html

These will probably be the size closest to N Scale available though the spacing may be wide.

[wm3798]

Interesting.... Thanks for that tip...  I've not done much steam mingling, so I wasn't aware that was out there!
Lee

[3rdrail]

Lee, another thought. I have a boiler shell left over from a Kato Mikado, which is a thicker boiler than the light Pacific. Might that work? It's from my 1/2 finished PRR L1s.

[wm3798]

Can you shoot a broadside photo?  I want to check the placement of the domes etc...
Thanks,
Lee

[wm3798]

So anyway, not to hijack your thread or anything there, N&W, but I took apart the Pacific tonight.  First I test drove it in DC, and after a bit of cogging, it settled right in, and looks like it will be a great little drive.
Upon opening it up, I found that it has a nice can motor, and a fairly simple pick up system.  Installing a decoder should be no problem.

I also took some time to mill down the flanges so it can run on my Atlas c55.  The trickiest part was the trailing truck, which is held together by a rivet.  I dug that out, pulled the wheels, and chocked them into the Dremel tool, then put it back together replacing the rivet with a small screw I had laying around.

To chock the wheels, I used one of those extra bolster adaptors you get in MT truck sets.  It worked out great.  The narrow end was perfect for centering the lead truck wheels, while the fat part fit right into the trailing wheels.  I inserted the screw from the Dremel's cutting wheel attachment, tightened the wheel onto the bit, and ran the wheel on a small file, checking every couple of passes to make sure I wasn't taking off too much.  Worked like a charm.  For the drive wheels, I turned the engine over on it's back in a foam cradle, shell off, and clipped power pack leads to the motor.  While running the engine, I used a Dremel grinding bit and carefully worked the flanges down that way.  When I was done, I pulled everything apart and brushed out all of the tailings.



For the tender trucks, I replaced the wheel sets with axles from an old ConCor passenger car.  They're kind of shiny but they have a nice narrow tread profile and low pro flanges, plus, they are insulated on one side just like the stock wheels.  I put it all back together, and it tested perfectly.  I won't be able to road test the flange work until I get a decoder in it, though, which will be next.

Lee

[Mark5]

So anyway, not to hijack your thread or anything there, N&W,

No problemo! 

Mark

[Bob Bufkin]

I just got my Rivarossi Pacific in the mail... in looking at your photos of the MP, the shell casting is just about identical, only yours is die cast metal and mine is plastic.
In looking at the boiler profile, I'm wondering if I couldn't make something happen using the Bachmann Connie boiler...  The profile and diameter seem a lot more in line with the WM proportions...  I think I'll have to lengthen it a bit, though.  Gregg, do you still have those boilers leftover from your Reading conversions?

I'll probably tackle the tender first.  I'm going to see if I can make Fox Valley wheels work with the tender pick up.

Lee

Lee, I haven't done the conversion yet, but yes I still have the Bachmann 2-8-0 boiler shell. But, I think it is much too short to use on a Pacific. It is even shorter than the old Bachmann 2-8-0 shell. I also have an old Rivarossi Mikado boiler shell, I'll check to see if it matches the diameter of the Bachmann. Then you might be able to combine the two for length. I've only got one of each, though.

Bob, what do you want for the old MiniTrix 0-6-0? Are any of the tender bodies by chance off the IHB 0-8-0?

Found it.  I'll let it got for $25.00 and that includes postage.  Here's a couple photos:




Also found an old Gloor Craft N6B kit if your interested.

[jmlaboda]

What???  You want to do an E2a and not a "Mollie?"  Sacrilege!!!

No.  Just kidding.

I, too, am interested in how this goes.  Despite an old article published in Trains magazine that declared the E2a Pacifics the ugliest "Mud Hen" locomotives ever built I have always thought the author was blind and stupid.  Here's too hoping something can be developed in regards to this beauty!!!

[wm3798]

K-2 Update...
Well, tonight I got the decoder into the tender and turned her loose on the layout.  I also cut a new, shorter draw bar which closes up the gap between engine and tender.  She struggled a bit on the sharper turns of the temporary section, and a little bit on some of the 15" minimum radius of the real part, so I examined her closely.  At first I thought the problem was with the drawbar, or the wires running between cab and tender, but they both wiggled freely, so that wasn't it.

It turns out that I took off a wee bit too much flange on one side of the front set of drivers.  She kept creeping up over the rail going into a curve.
So, I did two things.  First, I determined that there is a good bit of room in the boiler to add some weight, which I did.  This is good news, because when I modify the boiler, it will be bigger than what Atlas gives you, so I can add a bit more weight.

The added weight helped a bit, and it really helped her pull the 4 train passenger set she is scheduled to pull up the grade.  Didn't even breathe hard.  But I still noted some hopping on a couple of curves in particular.

So the second thing I did was swap the front drivers for the rear ones.  This involved moving the little set pins that guide the side rods.  I did this after I test drove the engine in reverse over the whole layout in both directions.  There was no hopping or creeping, and more importantly, with the flawed driver running to the rear, it presented no problems whatsoever...  So swap away I did.

I started test running it again, and it managed the curves just fine now, but I must have missed the quartering by a gear tooth, as it locked up on a straight-away when I goosed the speed a bit. I also have to adjust the gauge of the new front drivers, as they bound up a little at a couple of turnouts.   

At that point I had to abandon the work bench.  Even though the boy isn't sleeping in the train room, he still wants me below decks before he turns in.  Oh well...

I'm pretty sure I can get it running again, so the next project will be modifying the tender with an oil bunker and some other details.  Stay tuned.

Lee

[Mark5]

I'm seriously considering doing the E2 project if I can pick up a MP 4-6-2 on the cheap.

After finding some close up pix of the MDC cab on the web, I decided the MDC cab is not a good option to mimic the E2 cab.

Been trying to look at the GHQ cabs to see if there is any potential there, but neither the GHQ or RLW sites seem to have any decent pix up. :

Mark

[hegstad1]

I'm seriously considering doing the E2 project if I can pick up a MP 4-6-2 on the cheap.

After finding some close up pix of the MDC cab on the web, I decided the MDC cab is not a good option to mimic the E2 cab.

Been trying to look at the GHQ cabs to see if there is any potential there, but neither the GHQ or RLW sites seem to have any decent pix up. :

Mark

Mark,

I saw your post over on Atlas also but I'll post this picture here.  This is my NP Q-5 Made from the GHQ W-3 conversion kit.  Hopefully you can see enough of the cab.  It looks close to the E2 cab to me.  Closer than the USRA anyway.