Here is a very easy mod with good results. My prewar AF Comet came equipped with
steam type wheels and a finicky AF reversing unit. Neither satisfactory.
Solution? I removed the motor from a Marx SP 6000 tin diesel. One screw.
Then I removed the motor from the Comet. One screw. Installed Marx motor
in Comet. One screw.
Result? Disc wheels and a modern e unit.
This should work on the tin Zephyr with no problem.
I need one of those, but it might end up in the garage next to my road runner
Steamer posted:I need one of those, but it might end up in the garage next to my road runner
Maybe I just missed them, but why haven't I heard any Road Runner/Coyote jokes since Ford brought out their Coyote V-8 for the Mustang? I guess most new Mustang drivers are too young to remember the Plymouth Road Runner. Beep Beep. (Loved the cars; never liked the horn.)
Now we return you to your trains.
Nick R. posted:Working on my own version of the Diesel Polar Express. Not sure if I'll leave the trucks silver or paint them black. This is the first train related project in awhile, but it's fun to get back into it!
Nick
Got the silhouettes back in and decided on a simple strip for the loco. Now to add some LEDs and it's going on the Christmas village as a static display.
- Nick
In my make-believe world, these "steam era classic" 40' boxcars were purchased from AT&SF and repainted for QA&P revenue service. These decals were created in MS Word, saved as .pdf files, and printed on laser waterslide decal paper. I also did a Weaver made boxcar that I have decided to sell at the next Lone Star Hi-Railers train show, March 2020.
The ACF cylindrical hopper was painted and lettered in similar fashion to a Frisco offering by Atlas. It will be put in service hauling raw gypsum from the Acme Plaster Company a few miles NW of Quanah, TX. on the QA&P mainline.
(heavy sigh) What might have been...
Rob Leese posted:In my make-believe world, these "steam era classic" 40' boxcars were purchased from AT&SF and repainted for QA&P revenue service. These decals were created in MS Word, saved as .pdf files, and printed on laser waterslide decal paper. I also did a Weaver made boxcar that I have decided to sell at the next Lone Star Hi-Railers train show, March 2020.
The ACF cylindrical hopper was painted and lettered in similar fashion to a Frisco offering by Atlas. It will be put in service hauling raw gypsum from the Acme Plaster Company a few miles NE of Quanah, TX. on the QA&P mainline.
(heavy sigh) What might have been...
The WHAT Railroad?!? But, the QA&P RR really did exist. Located completely in Texas, it was founded in 1902 and lasted 79 years. Still successful, it was merged into Burlington Northern. BN has abandoned some of its trackage,
but the QA&P still operates as part of Burlington Northern.
Rob, for what it's worth, the QA&P was a successful railroad. Your contributions as an employee are part of the reason.
Homemade Lionel 9278 Life Savers Tank Car
After looking for a reasonable or inexpensive Lionel 9278 Life Savers Tank Car (they are rather hard to find and I have never seen one at a train show) I decided to make one. They are whimsical and very colorful and always caught my attention. I do not know what Mars- Wrigley Co., the present maker of Life Savers five flavors hard candy, would transport in a Tank Car.
Lionel Lifesaver Single Dome Tank Car you can purchase
I had three double dome tank car bodies and frames, unmarked and looks exactly like the Lionel two dome tank cars. I know Lionel used a single dome tank car for their Life Savers car, so I figured a double dome car would work. If they transported the makings for the five flavors, perhaps they needed five dome tank cars !
I chose a tank car body that had a sizable chip missing on one side walkway. I decided to remove the two side walkways as this would make adding the multiple colored strips, by paint or colored tape, much easier. I ground the walkways off with a Dremel grinding bit, small file and knife and puttied it smooth. The center hand rail bracket was also removed as this spot is where the “Life Savers” name label would go.
The ends of the car and domes were spray painted with aluminum paint.
The colored stripes can be masked off and painted or colored vinyl tape can be used. I thought the colored vinyl tape would be easier to do but either way will be a chore. The colors of the stripes should represent five Life Savers flavors which are currently Cherry, Raspberry, Watermelon, Orange and Pineapple. I purchased a couple of rolls of Life Savers, 5 flavors, finally finding them at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and planned on using the package label for my car "Life Savers" logo label. I had problems figuring out which flavors represent which colors on the package so I chose the colors as red, green, yellow, orange and cherry or grape. I had colored tape from a package of six colors of tape, which included red, green, yellow and white. I had some acrylic orange paint and made a purple or maroon color from red and a little blue paint and painted strips of white tape to make orange and purple stripes.
I decided strips of 5/16 inch width would look good and give four sets or so of five colors. I saw the Lionel 9278 Life Saver single dome tank car started with the same order of colored strips from each end and then had to repeat a color or two to make them meet in the middle. The single dome car has a substantial railing and ladders at the middle of the car. My double dome tank car will have an open visible middle and walk way and ladders at the domes, nearer the ends of the car. I decided to start the color sequence at one end and repeat it in order to the other end. I was two colors short of finishing the last two colors on the last sequence. I arranged the colors sequence to use more of the pre-colored tape and less of the two tape painted colors. Cutting the tape around the domes was tedious and the tape was old and had to be glued on in some cases. I found E 6000 clear glue would melt the vinyl tape and I had to use some old auto vinyl trim glue I had to glue it on.
The picture below shows the painted and other colored vinyl tape on the right and the car partially striped. I removed these strips to allow removal of the hand rail anchor as it was in the way of the "Life Savers" logo label to be attached and decided to start the striping from the end.
The "Life Savers" wrapper from the "Life Savers" tubular package was removed and sprayed with clear spray paint on both sides twice to keep glue from affecting them. The logo labels were cut out and glued on with auto vinyl trim glue.
I decided to make one short walkway at each dome and install them on opposite sides and use one ladder for each side to allow access from both sides of the car. I made the walkways out of Popsicle sticks and glued them on with J B Weld. I made a walkway between the two domes so that an operator can climb one ladder and reach both domes. I added plastic window screen on the top of the Popsicle walk ways to simulate walkway grading.
I made two ladders out of N scale plastic track ties and cut out every other tie to give one foot distant between each rung. The ladders and walkways were painted aluminum.
I added a pair of Lionel trucks to the car frame and screwed the tank car shell to the car frame. I then glued the ladders on between the short walk ways and the car frame with a little auto vinyl trim glue as they will have to be removed if the car tank body has to be removed from the frame in the future.
This picture shows several of my homemade cars: my homemade large Vanderbilt coal tender, Lionel 6413 Mercury Capsule transporting car, flat car with two small General engines, Aquarium Car and the Lionel Life Savers Tank Car
My new homemade Life Savers Double Dome Tank Car is my most favorite car. I always say that about my latest homemade car or latest train meet find. I do know this Life Savers tank car is the car that really stands out on any train consist it is in.
You can see how I built my O27, 50s style, 27 switch layout over the past 40 years including many more homemade cars like this and round house with a scratch built turntable for $10 at the OGR link below.
https://ogrforum.com/...ra-027-layout?page=1
Charlie
Here is the caboose for my circus train in the making. It was made using plastic, Kusan Kanonball caboose.The final touch will be the addition of Marker lanterns.
The locomotive received new paint and K4 decals. Every car behind the engine (except Tom’s Shamrock tanker) was repainted and finished with custom made QA&P decals. The double plug boxcar and the silver tank car are based on actual revenue cars that once existed...just not exact.
Randy Harrison: Years back, I once saw an H0 Circus train that I think was actual production named "Burn'em And Bailout, Bungling Bros. Circus". I thought it was pretty funny. Your caboose looks good.
artyoung posted:Randy Harrison: Years back, I once saw an H0 Circus train that I think was actual production named "Burn'em And Bailout, Bungling Bros. Circus". I thought it was pretty funny. Your caboose looks good.
Art:
Thanks for the heads-up on the HO train. I had not known about that and thought Bungling Brothers was my own, twisted creation. I will make sure the Great Northeastern Railways crack Legal division is alerted in case Bungling Bros. Burn'em And Bailout, Circus sues us for Trademark infringement.
My dad and I started making Big Boys back in 1982. We cut up two 736 boilers and used the running gear. The tenders are made out of two 1666 plastic tenders. The trucks are made out of Lionel scout trucks.
The other engines are modified similar. We made about 20 engines all together.
gary mack posted:My dad and I started making Big Boys back in 1982. We cut up two 736 boilers and used the running gear. The tenders are made out of two 1666 plastic tenders. The trucks are made out of Lionel scout trucks.
The other engines are modified similar. We made about 20 engines all together.
That's pretty darn cool. Had to make your own stuff before it was available.
On a technical note how are they set up? Are both sets of drivers powered? Are just the front drivers articulated or do both turn? Do they run on 072 track? I'm curious how the mechanism works.
Had some 265 laying in the junk yard. Just finished restoring them, Red, Black, Chrome. Working on the cars now.
Lou1985 posted:gary mack posted:My dad and I started making Big Boys back in 1982. We cut up two 736 boilers and used the running gear. The tenders are made out of two 1666 plastic tenders. The trucks are made out of Lionel scout trucks.
The other engines are modified similar. We made about 20 engines all together.
That's pretty darn cool. Had to make your own stuff before it was available.
On a technical note how are they set up? Are both sets of drivers powered? Are just the front drivers articulated or do both turn? Do they run on 072 track? I'm curious how the mechanism works.
Just the rear drivers are powered. Front drivers are dummy they articulate and do run on 072 track.
Thanks for asking!
gary mack posted:My dad and I started making Big Boys back in 1982. We cut up two 736 boilers and used the running gear. The tenders are made out of two 1666 plastic tenders. The trucks are made out of Lionel scout trucks.
The other engines are modified similar. We made about 20 engines all together.
Gary,
Fantastic. And I thought my making center cupola cabeese from 2 SP cabeese was something special - I am humbled
Dang, so much talent here, I love this thread
gary mack posted:Lou1985 posted:gary mack posted:My dad and I started making Big Boys back in 1982. We cut up two 736 boilers and used the running gear. The tenders are made out of two 1666 plastic tenders. The trucks are made out of Lionel scout trucks.
The other engines are modified similar. We made about 20 engines all together.
That's pretty darn cool. Had to make your own stuff before it was available.
On a technical note how are they set up? Are both sets of drivers powered? Are just the front drivers articulated or do both turn? Do they run on 072 track? I'm curious how the mechanism works.
Just the rear drivers are powered. Front drivers are dummy they articulate and do run on 072 track.
Thanks for asking!
That's still pretty cool. Would have needed a u joint to get the front drivers powered, plus reengineering the front gearbox. Overall they are way beyond anything I could hope to build.
Keep those post and comments on Homemade cars coming. Great work by all.
Charlie
here’s a little something i’ve been working on, it’s a marx ge 70 ton on a lionel caboose frame, running a heavily modified motor assembly from a 18430 crew car for power.
Rob, Charlie, Randy, Gary, Signalwoman great work all. This is one of my favorite threads. I'm glad it's still going.
Rob Leese posted:QA&P 546 was a disappointment to me. 564 is turning out much nicer.
The unit numbers under the cab side windows are still the main problem...they simply do not match the prototype. The remainder of the K4 decal work seems alright.
Bob, if you post the clearest, largest photo of the prototype's cab number you have, a friend of mine may be able to help you get the correct font style and size to supply the artwork for a decal maker. Of course, if you know that information already, the issue is with the decal maker.
I received this from one of our OGR member so I decided to restore it. I did some scratch building on it like the wheel brake and grab handles I also add some details from Scale City Designs like the Ice hatches, ladders and stirrups
I’ve had two more type of trains I would like to build one is a Millitary and a Circus Train so I decided to start on my Millitary train. This one will have a UH-34D Helicopter in a Gondola. I have to order the decals for Gondola it will be the Nickel Plate Road I Hope the decals work I will also be adding more details to this Atlas O Scale gondola like tie down rings and Kadees. Sorry I will not post the Helicopter build here if you would like to see the build of the Helicopter go to www.scale-models.co.uk/whats-new/ You will find me there in the Millitary section. But you will see the Helicopter on there in some test shots
Decals, weathering, and flat finish are complete. One last step is to remove the truck sideframes and spray them heavily with aerosol graphite (a strange technique I invented). It leaves an ultra-flat black finish that appears grimy and slightly dusty. The graphite also works well simulating rooftop exhaust buildup...and if the results do not look good, it can be removed with a cloth dampened with paint thinner.
my attempt at making a cheap lionel 8313 look and run decent, black smokestack, metal side rods, nos ac motor, i added a headlight lens from an 8300, and drilled out the original boiler front to fit it.
i painted the boiler front black, then sanded back the paint on the number to bring out the gold.
the leading truck is just a mock up at the moment, but i’ll find a way. it looks much nicer with it. i can’t remember what the tender came with, but it matches the lines of the locomotive a lot better that the slope back that came with it originally.
Got some decals for my AHM custom Piggyback flat car
Rob Leese posted:QA&P 546 was a disappointment to me. 564 is turning out much nicer. There are still several steps to go.
The unit numbers under the cab side windows are still the main problem...they simply do not match the prototype. The remainder of the K4 decal work seems alright.
All done. Mostly...
Still looking for the correct spark arrestors.
Must admit I did some poor research: of the three GP7’s that Frisco lettered for QA&P only 564 had a steam generator, and this Lionel model has none.
Question: the roof of the short hood is held magnetically and can be easily removed...can a short hood roof with steam stacks be purchased separately? I am really not that picky but this could be an easy fix.
Not Super exciting, but I shortened a broken Lionel switcher shell and mounted on K-line chassis. I think I got the grey close enough. Not finished yet, I think it will be L&N if I can find decals. Maybe some yellow handrails. Felt like a decent accomplishment...Jeff
Looks great and still like a NW-2.
I cut an inch or so out of a junk Lionel NW-2 switcher shell and added it a Marx 1998 bottom way back in 1983. With that 1998 Marx bottom, it is real fast runner through a O27 oval and figure 8. It is lots of fun converting junk train parts into some thing neat.
Charlie
Thanks Charlie, I find myself looking for more usable junk at train shows. Possibilities are endless if you have the courage to attempt it. Proof is all the great kitbashing from members on this site!
Thanks again,
Jeff
Not mine, but BENZ TRAINZ has come up with something clever.
Mitch
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