Swap Shell

[Malarye]

Hello everyone. I have an HO FTA Bachmann and I want to put another shell in that chassis?
Is that possible? Has someone done it? Thanks.

[ElectricFan]

Hi Malarye:

Yes, you can swap out shells, but you need to be careful; it's not an exact fit in all cases and you may have to do some jiggling. 

I have a Bachmann FT that I bought as part of a DC Commander set, and I have other Bachmann F shells.

The Bachmann FT chassis will take the current Bachmann F-7 shell, but you need to take off the front coupler to line up the holes in the chassis with the mounting posts in the body for the body mounting screws. Reattachjng the coupler is a little tricky -- you need tweezers or small needle nose pliers, but with a little patience everything is fine.

The chassis will also take the very old Bachmann F-9 shell that was attached to its chassis via a tab and a slot on the body.  Since there is no corresponding tab on the FT chassis you'll have nothing to secure the body, but I have used double faced scotch tape in installations I've used for my F9 locomotive on other mfrs. chassis.

The HO scale F7 was a pretty generic locomotive and there are lots of manufacturers who made them (and continue to make them).  The only one that would require major modifications to fit the FT chassis would be the old Tyco/Mantua F unit which had a lot of molding on the inside to fit their particular weight and power truck.  That molding would need to be sanded flat.  Most of the others might require minor sanding

Several manufacturers also made F-3 locomotives, but with the exception of the Walthers/Life-Like/Proto 1000 F-3, the shell would require a lot of modification to fit the Bachmann chassis. 

Highliners used to market a F-unit shell kit for around $80 which would allow you to make an F2 through F9, but I don't know if you can still get them and I don't know how they would fit the FT chassis.   

You can check the Bachmann parts store for what shells may be available from them, and you can check other manufacturers' parts section to see what it is available.  However, your best source may be local train shows and the "used/white elephant" section in your local hobby shop.  Be careful that you buy what is called an F unit.  An FP shell is too long for the Bachmann chassis, and an FT shell unless it's a Bachmann may be too short because Bachmann modeled the later version of the FT locomotive -- the earliest version was a tad shorter.

Hope this helps.

Electric Fan