Lionel postwar slope back tender

Yes, I did that modification to my 1615's tender years ago, back in the Seventies.  The light housing itself, I got from Walther's, I think.  The lens I hand-carved from the clear plastic top of one of my wife's nail polish bottles.

It actually looks pretty good.  But if I had to do it over, I think I'd just try to find a Lionel factory original illuminated slope-back tender for sale somewhere.

You're probably thinking about MV lens's. They have a metal backing on he lens that is really hard to get off without ruining the lens. All Lionel postwar plastic slope back tender shells have the rear headlight filled in, so drilling and filing will be needed, if you go that route.  I would use a MPC tender shell, should be a easy find (Charlie Nassau, Ebay ). It has a separate casting with the hole and lens already taken care of for a light. Mounting the socket and electrical should be easy.

OK great! 

i will look into a MPC tender shell, keep the orig. aside. 

thanks.

I mounted a simple 12v bulb in the MPC headlight housing, no lens, worked out well:

Mind you, I did do a couple other modifications. 

Mitch

You may want to add some weight to that tender while you have it apart. Many years ago, I found the tender to be too light to track well if pulling a very heavy train. I glued some rocks in mine way back in the 50’s. Has not had a derailing problem since.

MOWINGMAN. Rocks work! Lol.

Years ago I  had these O scale light as a feather older issue  Atlas boxcars that I would epoxy to the not visible inside floor stacks of pennies.  Then I made things easier with automobile tire weights. Easy with the sticky tape on one side a roll of them set up side by side interior.  These were especially well suited to Weaver PS1 covered hopper cars of which I used to switch on my O scale modules. They wouldn't fall off narrow curves!

I would get a Precision Scale https://www.precisionscaleco.com large brass headlight and some railing for the steps. You could also add working marker lights. I have had many of these 0-4-0 little gems and they are fun to detail. The headlight # is PSH-40206 and cost about $8.00. It looks a lot like the back up light that came with older 0-4-0s. Just cut off the old back up light and glue a piece of plastic over the hole for a base for the light.  I also would put two pickup rollers on the tender as they are very short. I use these lights on my small electrics. This what they look like. Hope this helps. Don

scale rail posted:

 Just cut off the old back up light and glue a piece of plastic over the hole for a base for the light.  I also would put two pickup rollers on the tender as they are very short.

Agreed on both counts.  That is exactly what I did when I detailed my 1615's tender.  I also replaced the metal-sideframe trucks with Lionel plastic-frame archbar trucks.

I've got to see if I can find that tender, and get a photo of it.

I agree with Moingman, those tenders are light. I have had problems backing through switches with them. Glue some fishing weights inside and that should fix the problem. If you use Precision Scale, you could get all kinds of under body detail like air tanks and thing. Maybe a tool box that many tenders had and some air hoses. Precision Scale has moved to Washington State and parts go out in one day if they are in stock. Don

Why not just buy a 6403B tender.