Quote from: electrical whiz kid on September 26, 2015, 01:14:22 PM
Rye;
On "never comes out of the box", let me chime in.

Among the guitars I own are two Gibson Les Paul customs-pre Norlin, pre 1960.  Do I know what they are worth?  Yes, I do.  Do I not play them?  Are you nuts?  Why did I buy them in the first place?  My point is simply; if you went through the trouble of working hard for the sheckels  it takes to buy this animal, indulge yourself-don't let it sit around for your heirs to enjoy.  My son, Drew will acquire what is left of the 'Pauls after I am gone-same with MY brass as well.  If you were 65, and found a 20-something hottie, would you not...?

Rich C.

one of the favorite phrases I love to coin: if you want to look at something, buy a poster

I plan to run everything I own even the Berlyn Locomotive Works M-67 I have, it's going to be part of my mail train. (Coasting drive doesn't seem like a great idea for heavy tonnage wouldn't you think?)

Quote from: austrian on September 21, 2015, 01:18:32 PM

Quote from: Trainman203 on September 20, 2015, 04:28:34 PM

Quote from: Woody Elmore on September 18, 2015, 08:50:09 PM
Now Bachmann has to do a USRA pacific.

Someone else has already made one recently.  Just like the USRA MacArthur.   Time to do Harriman engines, not redundunt models of something already offered very recently.

I, too want a Bachmann USRA pacific. I think it is not important whether a model has been done by another company as Bachmann is a bit different:
!) Bachmann tends to offer its locos for some years what makes it easiere to build a fleet. For example now I have 7 sound value Bachmann F7, not bought at the same time. When funds allow I will add one or more F7B units. Some companies force me to pre order and buy at once or risk the chance not getting the ABBA consist I want.
2) I love to play with my trains and run them a lot. So spare parts sometimes are necessary. I have never experienced a company that made it easier fot me to get spare parts.
3) Value/detail/sturdiness - while there are locos available with more detail on them for me Bachmann look good enough and I do not have to search the layout for parts falling from locos. Painting and lettering is fine. And sound value locos are great value for money.

So whenever possible I stick with Bachmann and only buy locos not available from Bachmann. I even waited for the 2016 Bachmann announcement until I ordered my first Alco PA, my favorite diesel as I hoped Bachmann could do it but Bachmann brought the E7. Unfortunately the Santa Fe did not have the foresight to order E7 but I hope that Bachmann will use the chassis and in the next years we will see E6 and E8.

Thomas

But see the thing is there's ample room for other prototypes that haven't been produced outside of brass with all that you say in mind..

Quote from: electrical whiz kid on September 16, 2015, 11:14:44 AM
Rye;
If you have access to back issues of "Railroad model craftsman", look to the issues prior to about 1974.  He was pretty good, and his knowledge of brass conversions is really good.
I got interested in his stuff, as I said before, when I was in SEA. 
Rich C.

It's a good thing my Father saved all his Railroad Model Craftsman magazines... you know the older magazines (MRR too) had some magic to them that made me more of a kitbasher growing up. How guys out there would recreate something they wanted kitbashing with mere house hold items even to recreate a certain steam locomotive they desired, the days even when Ready to Run was a premium and you had to be mechanically inclined to make a nicely running engine out of a kit.

One of my biggest challenges in the hobby is trying to recreate the engines I feel are unique.




Even if they never existed in real life:

Quote from: jonathan on September 18, 2015, 08:38:11 AM
OK, I'll chime in as well.

Would love to see Bachmann do the B&O S-1a 2-10-2.

For years and years... and years, Rivarossi, then IHC produced the S1a, which are now ancient.  The revitalized Rivarossi no longer has the molds and has no intention of reproducing this model, from what I've read anyway.

The EM1 is selling like hotcakes, why not the S1a?

I have a brass one, but as a true collector's item, it never comes out of the box.  Would love to have one I could run and run and run.

Well, we can dream anyway. 

Regards,

Jonathan

I'll take a few if they have surface mount domes, it'd make D&RGW F-81 clones a bit easier to pull off

Quote from: Desertdweller on September 15, 2015, 10:52:44 PM
I remember Bill Schopp.  And Alan Rice (Eric Lanal), Whit Towers, John Allen, and all the rest.  I would read Schopp's conversion articles with fascination, as he chopped up (now) priceless brass locos while I couldn't even afford the plastic versions.  Wouldn't you like to look through his "scrap box"?

Les

The more I've seen his name floating around the various forums and the few articles he's written I can't help by want to see more of his stuff.  I chop up brass all the time now to get what I want considering the prices coming down makes it somewhat easier to get obscure locomotives. I love freelancing

Quote from: electrical whiz kid on September 14, 2015, 08:22:23 PM
I have seen 'brass-on-brass' super-detailing, and it is NOT for the faint of heart. 

Definitely wouldn't recommend my methods to get a cab off to make a Sports cab for a couple brass engines:






don't try this at home kiddos!

Quote from: electrical whiz kid on September 13, 2015, 01:32:47 PM
Wheels are probably less than the best way to pick up power.  If you contemplate a prototype "motor", they all had shoes which ran either on a third rail, or overhead, on the "clothesline".
To all who might be interested, two options:  You can buy a pickup system from "Tomar", or build one yourself.  These take a pretty sharp eye to see, if they are done properly.  These systems are dependable-more so than wheels, as they slide on the rail, thus making a pressure held steady contact with the electrical system.
In the past, I have used phosphor bronze sheet-metal, and etched them, then shaped and "pig-tailed" them.  Just like gang-busters, guys.

RIch C.

It would be neat if you could show me how to do this, I've always been tanking of techniques to improve power pickup on engines  

Here is a 3D printed model based on a Denver and Salt Lake 2-6-6-0 prototype. It's designed to fit over the Bachmann modified 2-6-6-2 chassis. Mine's been modernized for D&RGW use. I have 2 more of these currently in the development stage(one needs time to make more of these wonderful things) but honestly I have to say this engine is my pride and joy of the N scale fleet.

Matt Myers, the owner of South Boulder Model Works, a store on Shapeways designed this model, and he took a lot of time developing it and troubleshooting it and even modifying it into a modern version as well. He is also a very busy individual and I note that it takes a painstaking amount of time to develop these models and make them marketable to say a kitbashing young whippersnapper like me(I'm 26 and last I checked he was around 23-24) Making the model thick enough so as to not be brittle but also detailed.

While these seem like a great idea, 3D printing is still in it's infancy(technology is still advancing to the stage where ultra fine detailing doesn't hold a fuzzy consistency) and for detailed stuff it costs more to print detail in 1:160. Of course as time progresses so will technology and it may even help offset the cost of buying a printed model.

If I had the lucrative free time, I would take up learning 3D concept and design a bit more seriously and learn to make my own models, but working full time/overtime is severely draining.

I'd say why not take the dive and give it a shot, for all you know you may have some creative genius at the ends of your fingertips and you may never know.

Quote from: Trainman203 on September 07, 2015, 05:01:49 PM
Long years ago, Cary used to make replacement boilers for Mantua mechanisms, to produce USRA engines.  They were total stripped-down castings that let the modeler add everything.  And they were quite popular in their day.

The market appears wide open for some  entrepreneur to do the same thing for Bachmann mechanisms.

There is a rendition of the Cary boilers that was a Harriman style, of course I figure they must be rare as I've only seen it once in my lifetime. I suppose the one's out there are probably held onto like grim death.

I think Harriman style  mid-size steam would be great. We seem to have bigger engines like 4-8-4's, 4-12-2's, 4-6-6-4's(The NP/SP&S Challenger is coming soon!) and 4-8-8-2's and a pollution of 4-8-8-4's for western roads, how about a shot of glory for the unsung  hoggers of the west, the 2-8-2's and the 2-8-0's.

This may not be Harriman, but I have been pushing myself into different techniques for modifying Bachmann engines.


I'm sure with added detail and paint, one probably wouldn't recognize it as Bachmann/Spectrum 2-8-0

Quote from: Trainman203 on September 06, 2015, 06:07:42 PM
I say the same thing too, broken record......... .  Generic engines.  Harriman engines.  Small engines.  More steam engines.

Quote from: Trainman203 on September 06, 2015, 01:45:53 PM
Rich C. sayeth:

"If Bachmann-or anyone, for that matter-would give the "basic stripped-down model a go, I bet it would go over.  Cal-scale, Cary, Sellen, etc., have a pretty good assortment of parts"

I said a pretty long time ago that Bachmann could sell their erstwhile Spectrum engines stripped down, but with the formerly already-applied details available as a separate kit. 

I got taken to the cleaners for saying that.   Don't know why.  I think it's a great idea.

Both these ideas are good.  I could see different western road style/Harriman 4-6-0's, 2-8-0's and 2-8-2's doing really well under the SP/UP roadnames. Have different versions both early and late w/boxpok drivers and clamshell stacks. Bachmann also has the tooling for SP and UP style tenders.

To have these engines with separately applied domes and detail parts would create more fun for those like myself looking to kitbash/modify engines to look like a different animal.  Imagine an undecorated version of these engines sold with different domes/smokebox fronts/pilots or snowplows/alternate stacks/doghouse/etc.

Quote from: BaltoOhioRRfan on September 06, 2015, 12:19:56 PM
N&W / Strasburg 4-8-0 WITHOUT Dcc/sound

I'm not a N&W modeler but I would like to have 3 N&W 4-8-0's on my roster with the 16k water buffalo tender

N&W Water Buffalo tenders seem to be really popular on online auction sites and used on a variety of roads. With the popularity of N&W as an eastern road, I'm surprised we don't see more plastic/diecast steam. If Bachmann made a Y-2, Z-1, M-1 or M-2 sign me up for few of any of those.

I am however eagerly anticipating this Bachmann USRA Mikado release for the amount of kitbashing opportunities I have planned in the near future. So count me in. I still buy the 2-6-6-2's and 2-10-2's regularly for projects.

As a buddy of mine who works at a respectable Brass Dealer will tell you, the brass market is tumbling down. He used to collect a ton of N scale brass and he will be the first to tell you N-scale and O scale brass is seeing it's last days and soon HO will follow.  In a few years after enough circulation of K4's go around those engines will only be worth something if they have an alternative look, like the streamlined versions or the skyline casing versions unless Bachmann were to go a step further and offer alternative versions.

Quote from: rogertra on August 30, 2015, 01:13:04 PM


Don't subscribe to the Bachmann Facebook page but as I said in another post, I expected to see photos here.

Cheers

Roger T.

You don't need a facebook, or a subscription to see Bachmann's posts on Facebook, just an FYI

There is a lot of exclusive content on manufacturers' Facebook pages that aren't posted any where else.

Been making resin castings for kitbashing use

Like filling the dome gap on the Bachmann 2-8-0 and changing the smokebox door.

All I can tell you is that creativity on my end has exploded.