How far will (would) you go to modify a new engine.

I "modify" every locomotive I have. For steam locomotive models, I first up-grade to Kadee couplers, disconnect the green or red class lights on the front, un-plug the wires to the red marker lights on the rear of the tender, and modify the coal pile in the tender (if it's a coal burner). Lastly, I take the model to my custom painter buddy and have him strip and re-decal the tender, if it was incorrectly done by the factory, and then weather the model for the appropriate prototype.

For what few diesel models I own, they are all modified with fixed pilots and Kadee couplers, then weathered.

I model the Seaboard Air Line and of the 8 or so engines I have, 3 are steamers.

One is an 0-6-0 RailKing Imperial USRA type which SAL owned.  All I did to this was repaint/letter, and add Kadees.

The 2nd is a RK 2-8-0.  It came with a Bellpaire firebox so I dremeled that off, along with a lot of cast-on detail.  I added brass details, fixed the pilot, and added Kadees.

The 3rd is a hybrid I built using a Weaver G5 4-6-0 chassis and a RK 2-8-0 boiler.  I left the chassis as is, but dremeled off cast-on detail from the boiler and lengthened it to fit the chassis.  I also built a Vanderbilt tender and plan on using it on this engine until I get a suitable replacement (or not ).  I'm still working on this project.

Another project I'm working on is removing fluting from an aluminum passenger car (top and upper sides) to make it look more like the prototype.

The stopping point for me is when I know that something I want to do is going to require using a milling machine.  I have a mini-lathe, but not a mill.  Somethings can be done with files and grinding disks, but this method can result in removing details you don't want removed.  The aluminum passenger car would have been easier using a mill, but I did an acceptable job using my Dremel, files, and whatever else I could to remove the flutes.  You have to have patience though, something I have to concentrate on to keep.

Another stopping point is not being able to find all the detail parts I want to do the project.  This actually comes into play sooner than the use of a mill.  If you can't find the right part, there's really no use in continuing.  A lot of folks go to the trouble of making their own molds and parts, but I'm to the point that that's too much trouble and $$$ for me.

It boils down to what I want to accomplish with a specific locomotive. 

It could be as simple as repainting or as complicated as doing a major redetailing.  The only thing I can say for certain is I do a whole lot less of it nowadays.

Rusty

Rusty brought up a good point about wanting to do it less these days.

I have some arthritis in my hands (from using them as mallets, vises, etc over the years) and sometimes it's just too difficult to do some of the small work required, even at 1/48 scale.  I used to build 1/6 military models (tanks, airplanes, etc) and that became hard to do also.  A pin vise seems to really set off "Ole Arthur".

The blocking obstacle used to be concern about destroying the value of a collectible, but

now that technology seems to OBE what once was thought of as going to appreciate,

to, instead, depreciate rapidly, and production seem(ed/s) to crank out dozens, that fear

no longer seems relevant to me.  The ones that are appreciating, IMO, are the ones made as toys in the past, and which were expected to be destroyed in play.

I recently purchased an engine with four passenger cars with the specific purpose of having the set repainted in a different road name.

This is probably the only reason I would modify a new engine or cars for that matter.

1) Will I like the loco a lot more afterwards?

2) Do I have confidence I can do it?

3) Will it be fun?

4) Is this important enough or are there other projects that will produce results/products I want more?

The answer has to be "Yes" to the first three and at least a wash on the last.  Cost of the loco is not a consideration: I would do surgery on a Vision loco just as readily as on a RTR loco.  If you think about it, while the monetary risk is higher if you mess up when working on a Vision loco, so is the expected gain - you improve an expensive loco.  So cost is, in my view, a wash.

Here are some projects I have done:

- Repaint my Legacy N&W J in Union Pacific gray and black (doing it now - bought the loco with the intent to do this)

- Cut the roof and upper sides off the cab and raised the cab height a scale foot on legacy Berkshire so it looked more like the prototype

- Repainted the Southern Crescent into flat black, relabled it UP (bought it with that intent)

- Repainted/relabled a WBB Trainmaster

- Replaced the body of a WBB ten-wheeler with that from a Lionel Mogul

- Lowered the cab roof on a Lionel shay by 3/16 inch so it would fit under a low overpass

- Added details, etc., to two WBB ten-wheelers

- Modified the bodies, repainted four BEEFS into 'war trains" with gun turrets on them, etc.

- Replaced the body with scratch built ones on many BEEPS

- Repair any broken loco myself rather than send it in for repairs.

Here are two projects I am thinking about because I am not sure I can do them well(Consideration #1).

- Replace the body of a Legacy ATSF 3700 Northern with the body from a scale MTH ATSF 2900 class, move the pilot and trailing trucks, etc., to make the thing look right.

- Make an articulated 0-8-8-0 out of two 0-8-0 locos.

And projects I am pretty sure I can't do but would love to do:

- Move the "pivot point from the front set of drivers, etc., to the middle instead of the rear on the JLC Big Boy, JLC Allegheny, Legacy EM-1, and Vision Challenger.

- Add animated fireman and engineer figures to the cab of any of my locos

For me, it depends on how I'd feel about losing my money if I really messed it up. For example, I wouldn't try to modify my River Raisin MT-5. Of course, I probably wouldn't have spent that kind of money if it wasn't something I really wanted just as it is...

OTOH, I'll have no problem kit-bashing my WBB 4-6-0 with added detailing, new domes, probably a new cab, etc. In fact that's why I bought it - to modify it. But it's less than $200 vs. $2K for the River Raisin loco.

Cheers,

Ken

For me it is how I feel about cutting new tires, and whether I have a steel pipe of the proper size.  My FEF awaits tires, having all the other wheels replaced with scale.  Then, maybe - maybe - the 4-12-2.  Lionel did nice work on these, and I think they are worthy.

Most of my mods are are switching out or tweaking smoke units, adding marker lights or BU lights, adding front dummy couplers, adding cab details, PS-2 conversions, sound upgrades, etc.

I don't worry so much about cosmetic details or weathering.

Possible reduction in value is of no concern whatsoever for any engines that I run often. 

Rod

Sometimes a little can accomplish a lot. Here are photos of a 2056 that I found in a parts box under a table. It obviously had a hard life. Someone had slapped flat black paint over her. I felt sorry for her, so I bought her and her 2046W tender for $35 or so. Once I cleaned and lubed her, she took right off. I decided to restore her. I tracked down original parts. When she was just about finished, I thought of painting her as Reading T-1 2124, the locomotive that headed the renowned Iron Horse Rambles from 1959 through 1961. Like Hot Water, I took her to a custom painter buddy. He spliced two 1666T tenders to model a long, elegant T-1 tender. I installed a Lionel air whistle and a Dallee relay. This outfit won first place in a "Fantasy" category in a TCA Standards Committee contest a few years ago.

that is a beautiful loco and a nice fantasy scheme.  I can see why it won first place.  Nice work on the tender, too.

Here is a more extensive mod. In the 1970's and 1980's, Bob Gale of Horsham, PA, sliced, diced, and "kitbashed" common Lionel locomotives to make everything from switchers to "scale" GG-1's, Big Boys, and 4-12-2's, long before they were available from "O" Gauge 3-rail manufacturers. The TCA Quarterly published an article about Bob Gale around 1982. By that time he was calling his models Super Classics. I bought his model of Reading T-1 #2124 from Phil Klopp.

Bob Gale built one of his last Super Classics for The Christmas Putz in The Lutheran Home at Topton, PA, along the former East Penn Branch of the Reading, about halfway between Allentown and Reading, at the top of the grade. She can be seen at the lower left of the photos below. She is a model of Reading T-1 #2102. She replaced #2124 on the Iron Horse Rambles from 1962 through 1964, when they ended after 51 excursions. The real #2102 ran past The Lutheran Home in freight service and on the Rambles. We purchased a 5-car set of Williams 60' Madison cars in Reading two-tone green for her to pull. Each car has the name of a city served by the Reading. I installed color window strips because I like them. I consider them a tribute to Marx, the only 3-rail manufacturer to place color window strips (based on real people) in 3/16" "scale" streamlined passenegr cars.

Thank you for he compliment, Lee. She still runs like a Hamilton watch.

Your tag line reminds me of another I heard, one of my favorites:

"Well, I never!"

"You should. It's fun."