Digitally kitbashed 4-4-0.

[scottychaos]

Several people have posted photos of the upcoming 4-4-0 "digitally kitbashed" into different versions..here is mine! 

First off, I dont dislike the 4-4-0! I think its cool.
but something has bothered me about its lines..a few people have said they like the Large Scale 4-4-0 a bit better..seen here:

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/gallery/1_20_3_American/aab?full=1

(I own one, a Large Scale spectrum 4-4-0, and its gorgeous! probably my favorite engine I own..)

Comparing photos of the Large Scale 4-4-0 to the On30 4-4-0, the differences stand out..(and yes, they are very different prototypes! so it makes perfect sense they should look different!

But what if one wanted to make the On30 4-4-0 look more like it's Big Sister?  In that case, the main "problem" with the On30 version is the boiler/cab sits too high and too far forward..giving the loco a distinct "front heavy" look...the Large Scale version sits lower and farther back on its drivers...giving it a much more comfortable look IMO..

An hour or so of mucking about in Photoshop, and we have this:



For a larger version of that pic, click here:
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u45/scottychaos/4-4-0-modified-800px.jpg

Main changes made:

Boiler/Cab/Cylinder/Pilot truck assembly can stay essentially unchanged,
just move it all lower and further back.
Remove extended smokebox.
new headlight bracket.
New pilot
Steam dome and cab shortened.
Main rod would need to be shortened.
tender shortened in height and length.
(ideally I think the tender should be even shorter in length..but that would require different (smaller) tender trucks)

looks pretty good! 
Makes it a "moderinized" older 4-4-0..
If you wanted to backdate even further, you could add a box headlight, fluted domes and a wood cab..

the only major problem with this 'bash is the cab is now too short, prototypically speaking...small locos still have big cabs, because humans dont shrink for small locos...so on my digital kitbash, the cab is now a bit too short in height for the scale..making it look like a model of a larger engine...but I figure if you want the "look", the "too short" cab wont be a major concern...I tried a version with the full-height cab on my modified engine, but it just didnt look right, ruined the proportion of the whole engine.

I also dont know if the boiler CAN be lowered! the mechanism might make this difficult...but overall I dont think it wold be a terribly difficult 'bash..and it really changes the look of the loco!

thanks,
Scot

[finderskeepers]

proportionally everything looks much better now, problem is that the cab is likely only 4' tall now!

[rich19]

I also agree that it looks much better now. I would suggest to replace the "dwarf" drivers with larger ones. This would also eliminate the need to lower the boiler.

My aftertought, however, is that modifying this little engine and (for me) backdating it to the 1880's and finally repainting it, might cost more than buying the MMI american. And I'm not vene mentioning the risk of ruining it....

Cheers, Richard

[scottychaos]

proportionally everything looks much better now, problem is that the cab is likely only 4' tall now!

yeah, I know the cab is short!

Im not sure exactly how tall the cab is on the Bachman engine, but we know the drivers are 33".
bringing the drawing back into photoshop..
measuring the drawing.. 33" drivers = a cab height of 5' 9"
my new drawing then equals a cab height of 5' 4"..
only 5" shorter than the original..
not unreasonable..

Scot

[ksivils]

Scott,

Any way you can digitally bash the original 4-4-0 to have a cabbage stack, just so we could see what that would look like?

Kevin

[Hamish K]

My concern with this is that, if made and run alongside other ON30 models, it may  look under scale i.e. it could look like a smaller scale model of a larger loco and not a 1:48 scale model of a small prototype. Smaller locomotives do not have the same proportions as larger locos, as you indicated. It looks fine by itself, but would it look odd with other ON30 equipment?

Hamish

[scottychaos]

Scott,

Any way you can digitally bash the original 4-4-0 to have a cabbage stack, just so we could see what that would look like?

Kevin

Kevin,
here is the 4-4-0 with the same cabbage stack from the 2-8-0!



Thats a big stack for a small engine! 
im not 100% sure the stack is the exact right size for the 4-4-0 photo, but its very close..I took this photo:
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/catalog/?function=detail&id=1427
and assuming its the same headlight on both models, (which might NOT be a correct assumption! but it probably is..)I matched the headlight size between the 2-8-0 and the 4-4-0, so the headlights were the same size, then cut and pasted the stack..
thats what it would look like if the SAME stack as the 2-8-0 was used..

If you used a smaller cabbage stack (not sure one exists in actual model form) and tried to make it a bit more proportionally pleasing, you get this:

My concern with this is that, if made and run alongside other ON30 models, it may  look under scale i.e. it could look like a smaller scale model of a larger loco and not a 1:48 scale model of a small prototype. Smaller locomotives do not have the same proportions as larger locos, as you indicated. It looks fine by itself, but would it look odd with other ON30 equipment?

Hamish

Yes..it might look odd. but IMO its not THAT far off..
its not like taking a HO scale 4-4-0 and just running it on an On30 layout with no modifications...the 'bashed 4-4-0 is still O-scale, and the cab isnt *that* much shorhter..

here is the 'bash same as above, but keeping the full-height cab, so you can see what that looks like..IMO it ruins the look, but thats just me..others might like it!



thanks,
Scot

[Hamish K]

Scot

I do like the look of your digitally bashed 4-4-0 with the taller cab - to me it is how a small 2 foot or 30 inch gauge loco should look. But I am familiar with such small locos, take for example the 2 foot gauge loco "Cairns" at the Illawarra light Railway Museum near Woollongong, NSW, Australia. See www.ilrms.com.au/cairns.htm Quite a different loco I know (it's an 0-6-0) but note the cab height relative to the rest of the loco. The proportions of the Bachmann loco and your version with the higher cab seem right to me.

I can appreciate those who are more familiar with larger 4-4-0s wanting one that looks like them. Whether your original digitally bashed loco (with the lower cab) would look OK alongside other ON30 locos is hard to tell unless some-one actually makes one and photos it together with other ON30 locos. I thought the issue should be raised for any-one contemplating such a conversion to consider, although the answer is up to each person, on the principle that if it looks right to you, it is right.

Hamish

[Chris333]

I know they say this 4-4-0 is not based on the Mt. Gretna locomotives, but other than the sand dome and fenders it is pretty much an exact match:


And if you look the sand lines come from the fenders so that is where it was stored.

A few more:

This is the builders photo. After a Forney derailed on it's first trip the railroad ordered this locomotive and it was delivered 10 days later. They didn't have time to take a factory photo so a rep was sent with the locomotive and the above pic was taken.



These are the only 4-4-0 this size ever built in the US.

[Royce Wilson]

This engine would make a very nice looking mogul(2-6-0)
                                                        Royce

[Dusten Barefoot]

Take the cabbage stack off. Put on the Hunter smoke stack, and extend the cab a little bit, and make it a wood burner.
Rock On & Live Strong
Dusten Blake Barefoot