Locomotive Request

[ALCO0001]

Hay Bachmann,
Just thought of requesting a EMD DD35,you did so well with the Centenial going out on a limb to make a diesel model that only one railroad had and was so successful in doing so that the EMD DD35 and the cab less booster would really be great ,you already have the trucks,just need to change out the side frames ,shorten the centennial frame maybe,or will it work the way it is since it does not really go pilot to pilot.??Another double diesel in the future I hope.
Best Regards,
Jack

[Doneldon]

ALCO-

It might be possible for us as individuals to reconstruct locomotives the way you described but it cannot be done that way when a company is building models en masse. That requires new tooling and a very substantial investment in tooling and development. In other words, NOT something which can just be ginned up on the cheap.
                                                                                                                                                                              -- D

[jward]

many years ago on the atlas forum I posed a similar question. the answer I got, from somebody very high up in atlas, was that once the basic chassis is designed, changes in the body  shells to represent different prototypes is relatively inexpensive. good examples would be designing a separate piece that snaps into the shell to represent units with or without dynamic brake, or using a separate nose and cab section to represent both high hood and low hood locomotives.

in the case of the dd35 and the dda35, that separate cab and hood section would allow them to produce both models for little more than the cost of just one model.

[electrical whiz kid]

Some of us remember the name "Bill Schopp", a gentleman who used to have a dept in RMC may years ago (Guess that dates me) and he would take brass locomotives and reconstruct them to an engine specific.  To me, it took a pair of brass ones to take (at the time, big bucks) a 70 dollar locomotive and twist, pull, push it to what he wanted-an d it always turned out right-at least the ones we got to see...
Rich C.

[Woody Elmore]

I remember the Bill Schopp articles. He always came up with interesting locomotives - he would swap cabs, running gear, tenders.  I had seen some of his work at train shows and they often didn't run too well.  However, his pioneering work got a lot of folks interested in tinkering with brass engines.

[ALCO0001]

ALCO-

It might be possible for us as individuals to reconstruct locomotives the way you described but it cannot be done that way when a company is building models en masse. That requires new tooling and a very substantial investment in tooling and development. In other words, NOT something which can just be ginned up on the cheap.
                                                                                                                                                                              -- D
Friend

Very understandable,but when you already have the tooling that will work for some of the parts involved it is smart to utilize them

like the Athearn gas turbines and there GE U50,same trucks,drive line,I was just wondering, since the dda40x frame that Bachmann

makes does not go pilot to pilot if it could work ,I realize the bolsters would have to be moved inward.

I took an Athearn dd40 and narrowed the hood to scale width,changed all the roof details to match the dd35,replaced the cab ect..,It has

been sitting around waiting for a frame.The Athearn frame would work ,but requires a lot of grinding /milling that is in critical locations in

the bolster area that weakens it too much to make a good drive,and there trucks are large that Limits the turning radius too much.Jack

[the Bach-man]

Dear All,
We used to call him "Bill Chop"...
Have fun.
the Bach-man

[Doneldon]

Very understandable,but when you already have the tooling that will work for some of the parts involved it is smart to utilize them

like the Athearn gas turbines and there GE U50,same trucks,drive line,I was just wondering, since the dda40x frame that Bachmann

makes does not go pilot to pilot if it could work ,I realize the bolsters would have to be moved inward.

I took an Athearn dd40 and narrowed the hood to scale width,changed all the roof details to match the dd35,replaced the cab ect..,It has

been sitting around waiting for a frame.The Athearn frame would work ,but requires a lot of grinding /milling that is in critical locations in

the bolster area that weakens it too much to make a good drive,and there trucks are large that Limits the turning radius too much.Jack

As I was saying ...

[JNXT 7707]

I took two non-running Bachmann DD40s (with the pancake drive) a few years ago, cut them apart and rejoined the non-cab ends - making a fantasy DD40B. It was a fun project to see "what if?" and now makes a fun dummy running mate to my new Bachmann DD40AX. It is, of course, shorter than the original Centennial - but it still tracks well on 22"R. It will run on 18 but like the Centennial, starts looking a little odd with the overhang.

[Desertdweller]

Bill Schopp was one of my heroes when I started in model railroading.

He would cut up unattainably expensive (for me at the time) brass steam locomotives to make all kinds of models that were not commercially available.  Then keep the leftover parts for future projects.  I was very impressed!

He was an artist with a Dremel Tool and a soldering iron.  And he really understood the locomotives he was copying.

One time, a new reader wrote him to complain that he wanted to try these projects, but didn't know how to solder.  Bill answered that if the reader didn't want to learn how to solder, he should take up stamp collecting.

Les

[ebtnut]

One of the tools the Schopp used was a resistance soldering unit with a pair of "tweezers".  The tweezers were kind of clunky compared to what's available today, but most of us had never seen or heard of such a thing.  One of the tools I got very early on was a little torch.  It consisted of a hand unit with a tip bent over a little metal pan.  At the bottom end was a plastic hose.  You could buy fuel tablets that went in the pan.  Light them up with a lighter then blow through the tube to create the blow stream.  Primitive, but it worked for fine work where the Weller wasn't enough and the Bernz-O-Matic was way too much.

[JRG1951]

Au Contraire,

Athearn was doing  this very thing for years in their Blue Box, and RTR line. They used the same motor/flywheel and four wheel  trucks for all for all 8 axle diesels. You could pull a truck off of a U-30B and change the side-frames and put that same truck on an F7.

If you look at the Bachmann standard line 4 axle diesel trucks, you will find they appear to be interchangeable with a side-frame swap. If Bachmann will standardize on a motor and part numbers then the hobby will have a source for parts and kit bashing. Bachmann will have a better way to build and stock parts.

Regards, John *****************************

What was the best thing before sliced bread?   <> George Carlin