Chesapeake and Ohio C-16

[2-8-8-0]

Thanks a lot for the info! Ok, i see what it is that I am getting into now, that pic is priceless. I will have a LOT of filling to do on this thing, luckily it will be in places its gonna be dark and full of air tanks, etc, so at least it need not be perfect.

For such a teeny loco it has 1000 little parts...

[2-8-8-0]

Well, cab is complete...and I think I have opened pandora's box. Even just sitting the cab on the loco, it already looks MUCH more C&O...so I guess now I have to at least attempt the other mods.

The cab sides may now be too small for numbers!!

[2-8-8-0]

And now reality appears...uurgh.

Well, the cab sills are not part of the cab itself; so, they show up sticking out in front of the cab, and I cant come up with a good way to remove them. Also, there is a groove around the top of the boiler and down the sides, for the face of the cab to insert into...that I dont have a good way to hide, in addition to exposing a side of the firebox lacking the firebox bolt details, and 2 holes where the little locator pins for the cab once lived.

Due to the molded on details all over this thing, moving the walkways also looks to be well beyond me. The grooves where the walkways were pressed in are VERY noticable, and would require some sort of filling (as Chris said) but also are surrounded in molded on detail...making any sort of accurate filling very difficult.

The air tanks arent mounted to the walkways (as I thought) but rather, to the boiler sides, and would require both relocation, as well as their mounting bosses removed, to make them appear correct.

And to top it off, the headlight is stuck through a square hole in the firebox front, that while screaming for relocation, would leave a hole that is both quite large and very difficult to fill, due to its location in the compound curve between the firebox front and firebox access door.

If all steam projects are this ridiculous, I have a whole new respect for you guys that do this on a regular basis, because quite frankly I have no idea if it is even possible for me to perform the mods I wanted to perform. Are they all like this, or is this one just reeealy kitbash unfriendly, especially for things like moving walkways?

And lastly, does anyone know if replacement parts (ie, the cab) are available for these from Walthers? Think I best just decal it and call it good enough before i totally wreck it.

[victor miranda]

a lot of what you are doing is not easy.

the best way to tackle the problems you face it to shift your mindset a little.

think of the project as a scratchbuild.
the mechanism is done a lot of details are made already for you.
you'll need to make and attach some parts to a pre-made shell.

the bad news is that walthers don't sell parts.
so a fix is a visit to the bay and 99 bucks buy it now
or sweet talk some one into selling you one....

... I expect that walthers will re-run them again at some point.

relax a bunch.  you can scratch build a lot using styrene
and flat black paint will hide a lot of... blemishes...
fill as much as you can with styrene then use fillers/bondo stuff

With any luck you can get ALL your mistakes into one loco.
that last line is a sad attempt at humor.

You will get good at it with even a little practice
It is helpful to realize that the prototypes have mistakes in them also

miss-drilled holes in sheet metal and the odd nut lost from places.
there is a reason they leak and hiss in action.

your loco will have character.
I have a loco at home, I will have to take some photos for you.
I bought it... not my work... I seriously doubt I can get close to as good
with the paint job.
a photo I have.
look at the tender.... that bumpy texture
is filler that is not sealed.  it looks like painted concrete.
forgot photo


K?

victor

[2-8-8-0]

Thanks vic.

And amazingly, walthers does sell replacements! I have a new cab and boiler on the way (the whole shell is sold as one component, but thats OK!) and that means I can utterly DEMOLISH this one as a learning experience, if thats what happens.

Which, quite honestly, takes all the stress off. A loco, even a relatively cheap one like this, is a luxury for college student me that I cannot stand to purchase all that often. But having an extra shell that, if i go wrong, is not required to go back on my loco, is a nice bit of peace of mind. So yep, gonna tackle it; worst that happens is I learn some stuff in the process. At best, I get a decent loco out of it!

Thanks guys, Ill try and get pics of the cab tonight (need a friend to take pics, a camera is also a luxury I dont own yet) The cab itself is the one bit that went pretty well I think...looks C&O-ish to me.

EDIT. Also, I guess this is nice practice to C&O-ize my Kato mikado. Tho it wont be as big a project as this (cab mod, change 1 walkway a bit, add flying pumps and air tank to the smokebox) its nice to tackle a 70 dollar engine before a 150 dollar one I guess.

[Chris333]

I haven't had to pull the light off, but don't forget the bell bracket will hide some of that left over hole. You can try small squares of sandpaper and a toothpick to get into tight areas.

Maybe you can hide the cab hole with piping?

For me it is hard to build something without scale plans. I hate guessing. Sometimes when I guess and cut something it won't look right.

[2-8-8-0]

well, I think when I guessed and cut my cab I cut a bit too much, but meh, it isnt huge. Side by side with a pic of a C-16, it looks a bit agressive. Good thing these have 3 digit numbers that start with "1" though, I dont think there is enough room there for anything larger!

The bell on the C-16 is mounted behind the stack, so that hole up front might just get covered with a pseudo-unprototypical numberplate...heh. Patching that hole will suck, no doubt about it, but going through all of this and then leaving it where it is aint happenin either! So, one way or another, its gotta move. What stinks is that I will still have a smallish tender, but whatever; as originally delivered, the C-15 and 16 had tenders like the LL one, they just got bigger ones at some point down the road.

By far the most aggravating part of this model is the trenches left down both sides where the walkways once were, but I have an idea or 2 on how to deal with those. The new cab should look simply gorgeous.

I will probably give mine overfire jets, simply to help hide those missing bolts on the firebox sides that the cab once covered.

[Rasputen]

Walthers sells parts for these??  That's great news!

[victor miranda]

Walthers sells parts for these??  That's great news!

yeah that is what he said....

I found myself wondering if he happened to get the right person ...
like Max did when he needed parts.

v

[2-8-8-0]

I must say that the Walthers parts dept was amazing; I bought a complete boiler and cab (thats how they come) but since it was damaged (broken whistle) I got it very very cheap, plus the 8.95 walthers shipping charge. Even so, worked out to be, oh, 1/7 the replacement of the whole thing, plus I have an extra shell to keep working on.

The service man I talked to was so nice and helpful that I would buy their locos for no other reason than the knowledge if I needed parts or repairs, I could speak to him. Not sure other's experiences, but mine was 100% positive.

So, thumbs way way up for Walthers this time.

Edit; He did ask me how i broke it, and i told him; kitbash gone wrong. Still was able to get the replacements, so maybe I got one because they had a boogered up one they couldnt install for warranties?