Throwing my hat into the ring. Minitrix 2-10-0 / I1SA improvements

[wm3798]

Mine is resting comfortably.  I've got to get down to the basement and get set up for another Pennsy Night on the loops.


If you can find one, it fits almost perfectly in an old Rivarossi Berkshire case with only a minor modification to the blue nest.

Lee

[Lemosteam]

@Lemosteam John,

Any thought on a proper tender shell to fit the Minitrix shell? The shell looks like a 90P75 and the I1sa engines with the short tender had the 90F82 with the straight sides on the coal bunker.

All in due time....

[Dave V]

Mine is resting comfortably.  I've got to get down to the basement and get set up for another Pennsy Night on the loops.


If you can find one, it fits almost perfectly in an old Rivarossi Berkshire case with only a minor modification to the blue nest.

Lee

Love it. The only thing I'm running into...and same for my kitbashed long tender...is that I'm not seeing any I1sa locomotives that got the three-axle truck long tender.

[wm3798]

Love it. The only thing I'm running into...and same for my kitbashed long tender...is that I'm not seeing any I1sa locomotives that got the three-axle truck long tender.

Hi-Railer's license.  I had three axle trucks in the bin with pick ups.  The bolster placement on the old resin kit seemed to call for them.  Looked a little wobbly on four wheel trucks.

Lee

[randgust]

Somewhere Lee has pictures of that one and mine side by side at Altoona in '25.

[wm3798]

As requested!

Randy's is on the left, and has enjoyed his attention to detail.
Lee

[delamaize]

Did more work this afternoon. Front foot boards, handrails, added number boards to the headlight, whistle shield and a whistle stolen from another parts box loco, dynamo behind the headlight, feedwater heater, and correct sand domes. Also plugged the hole in the steam dome from the old body screw position. I *Think* im ready for paint now.

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[randgust]

Check with John, but you really need a doghouse on the tender, foobie or not.

I was lucky that I had one in the bag of GHQ L1 parts.   Not sure where Lee got his.   There's a guy on Ebay doing a resin print if you search.

And that left side feedwater heater is so distinctive vs. the original Trix it's as necessary as the front-end air tanks for the 'look', and the effort to do it is worth it, good show.

And while I 'know' that out of the erecting bay they left in DGLE, I have yet to see a photo of one past WWII that wasn't an inpenetrable shade of grimy black covered in soot.

You'd see passenger power get cleaned up, but other than out of the shop, the I1's stayed pretty filthy from what I've seen.   I did mine in DGLE and then weathered it with washes of grimy black and black soot chalk.   Drivers got all brush painted to the rims.  Rods and pins all neolubed.  That alone does more to improve the heavy rod and valve gear appearance than anything else you can do.

I used a Tsunami 1100 with the speaker in the tender under a foam coal pile.  The Tsunami has a setting for the PRR banshee whistle.   I've had complaints - MK at Altoona said 'that thing sounds like you stepped on a cat' which I regarded as a compliment.

[delamaize]

Another update!
Got a hold of Lemosteam and he sent a pair of dog houses from his shapeways days my direction, along with some other details parts like safety valves. Got them installed on the longhaul tender foob unit. Also, decided to change out the air pump, and whistle on it also. He also sent the wire and pilot steps my way. Once I get those installed, I *Think* I'm ready for paint again. I need to spend some time staring at it before making that decision.

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With the short tender version, I was able to pick up another off eBay that had missing valve gear, but was otherwise complete. This one had good piston rods, and cross heads, both of which were shot on my orginial short tender one. I combined parts from both units, and spent far too long quartering and requartering the mech, and got another pretty sweet runner. So Im moving forward with the short tender version also.

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Although with this one, my Giant ham hands did create a problem. I managed to break the pilot off while I was quartering the thing. And of course the way my luck is, I could not get a good Bond with CA on the 3D printed material. I ended up having to fix it with styrine. Overall it still looks good, still runs good, and I think once it's finished, detailed, and painted no one will be able to tell that there was damage. In addition I decided that the hodged podge tender I created using a Bachman medium tender frame and the minitrix shell was not good enough. So I ordered enough parts from Bachman to build a K4 tender to put behind this. Another Advantage going this route is the ability to easily install sound. Given the K4 tender has speakers, and all the wiring in place. So the plan is going to be the same as the Long Haul version, where I will install a next 18 or next 21 harness, and initially go with a Lokpilot and upgrade to LokSound later

As always, stay tuned for more.

[delamaize]

Update time!
I got a lot of details added, I ended up buying a Bachmann K4 tender to use for my short tender, rather than the kit bashed one I had built, I added a bunch of details, a lot of stuff from John's 3D printed kits. Took a look at them this morning and decided I was happy with them and ready for paint. Disassembled, primed, and shot with paint. I used DEM34's formula for DGLE, 8 Parts Tamya XF-1 to 2 part Tamya XF-70. He has suggested thinning the mix for airbrush use, my airbrush seems to like the Tamya paint as is. I am super happy with how these turned out. The Long Haul tender version is happily chugging around my layout, pulling a short Excursion train at about 25 SMPH. The short Haul Tender Is Waiting for a next 18 harness, then it will get a lokpilot also. Both will get LokSounds eventually.

I may not be a SPF, but I still love a lot of their power.

Okay, I will shut up and post the pictures now.

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[Coalcracker16]

Dave, if you watch the Youtube videos that feature the films of the late great John Prophet, You will catch glimpses of that exact tender....
It works for now until Lemosteam finds the time to design and 3D Print the 4 axel version. BTW, I have (4) 2-10-0 's on the workbench now that I
have been working w/ John on, for the last two years. I don't make a move on them without consulting him. He sent me his project Trix 2-10-0 that
was featured on here. I supplied him w/ the correct scale air tanks for the pilot deck (now included in his kit) and we just started going from there.
Until a Manufacturer comes out w/ an actual PRR 2-10-0, we have three options; a kitbashed Minitrix version, a GHQ/Kato kitbashed version, or we spend the
coin on a Key Imports version (which averages around $700/750 now) John is our guiding light for this project and as time permits him, he will deliver.
He always tells me "Patience my friend !!!" In the meantime, I'll keep working on my PRR E6 4-4-2 and Oh, he also is helping me with that build too !!!
John, if you read this post, I finally gave in to your urging and officially joined the forum. Retirement is allowing me to do some even better modeling and
it is definitely better, working collectively on these builds than being a solo modeler all of those years. We can all help one another......

[Dave V]

I have all the bits to do one of these conversions (got all the Keystone Details parts and a very nice-running 2-10-0), but I'm almost certainly going to use the 12-wheel 210F75 tender I kitbashed for my M1 project. It's honestly very close to a real 210F75 (compares very favorably next to the BLI M1a/b tender). Not correct for an I1sa, but only a true SPF would know that...and honestly, I think a true SPF would appreciate the entire project regardless, especially if he/she is familiar with the original Minitrix locomotive.

Right now I have a Kato/GHQ L1s surgery on the workbench, but frankly, I'm itching to start my I1sa!

That big-a$$ kitbashed 210F75 has room for sound, baby!

[Coalcracker16]

Dave, completely supporting your efforts on the build. With the truest intentions of just letting all of us know, that the Camden & Amboy Kit Tender did exist for those
who wanted to get their project off the ground/up & running,.... until they could come up with a better alternative. You have an avenue in mind that will, I'm sure, achieve
good results. Please post pics of your progress for all of us SPF's and it's great to see you back modeling in N-Scale. When you do make the move back to Pennsylvania,
Altoona is a must...... and you can enjoy a relaxing lunch at Horseshoe curve Friday afternoon before the show on Sat/Sun !!!!!

[Mark5]

Camden & Amboy ... I bought one of their NE Caboose kits back in the early 90s. To describe it as rough is being kind - I tried to fix some of the issues but eventually decided it wasn't worth the effort (I still have it in box somewhere  ). Hopefully the tender kit is a bit more crisp.

https://www.spookshow.net/freight/camboyne.html

[Dave V]

Dave, completely supporting your efforts on the build. With the truest intentions of just letting all of us know, that the Camden & Amboy Kit Tender did exist for those
who wanted to get their project off the ground/up & running,.... until they could come up with a better alternative. You have an avenue in mind that will, I'm sure, achieve
good results. Please post pics of your progress for all of us SPF's and it's great to see you back modeling in N-Scale. When you do make the move back to Pennsylvania,
Altoona is a must...... and you can enjoy a relaxing lunch at Horseshoe curve Friday afternoon before the show on Sat/Sun !!!!!

I'm unfamiliar with the C&A kit... Does anyone have a picture of what it looked like?