Progress on Spec 2-8-0 kit bash, ICRR 908

[lanny]

Jon Grant's beautiful kit bash of an ICRR #908 gave me the 'push' needed to get going on my Spec 2-8-0.

Here are 3 photos of my #908's 'current' condition. Have to finish pilot airpump details, boiler front hand rails, marker lights, etc. Then smooth and sand to get ready for painting. Then comes cutting and shortening the tender. It's fun so far ... but the tender scares the 'dickens' out of me 







lanny nicolet

[Stephen Warrington]

Very Nice Lanny you want to do one for me? looking great but I cant see to tackle all that small details any more.

Stephen

[Harry in Oconomowoc]

This looks really good and shows what can be accomplished by kitbashing on a locomotive.
My hope is to do the same but not based on IC.
The Spectrum 2-8-0 I have is about 7-9 years old but it runs beautifully.  The one major draw back is lack of sound.
Surely someone has added sound to the 2-8-0.  What product did you use, will Bachman sell a sound kit, etc.?
Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

[lanny]

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for your  compliment, but though I'm having 'fun'  kit bashing the #908, I have several other Bachmann Spectrums that are on already on my 'kit bashing to do' list !

Maybe (as you and Ray and others have suggested) Bachmann will eventually make the 2-8-0 available with ICRR lettering. The model is 'easy' to give an ICRR 'look' to since it is based on the ICRR Connie and, since they have a Spectrum Heavy Mountain with ICRR lettering (which is really not a very close model of an ICRR Mountain), it shouldn't be hard to do an ICRR lettering run on this model.

Harry: I currently run only DC/Analog. But I 'assume' the newest run of Spectrum 2-8-0s are DCC equipped (not just 'DCC ready'). If that is the case, it should be fairly simple (I think?) to add a third party sound decoder and speaker to your 2-8-0. I 'think' those Spectrum are 'DCC ready'.

My Spectrum is a 'DCC ready' which I purchased a couple years ago.

lanny nicolet

[SteamGene]

Soundtraxx has a total plug n play sound DCC decoder/spearker for the Spectrum 2-8-0.  They are no longer in production, but may be found.  Installation is simplicity itself.
Gene

[oldline1]

Lanny...........very nice conversion! It's neat seeing all the various conversions being made to the 2-8-0. Seems Bachmann has gotten a lot of folks actually doing some modeling with this fine little engine rather than just sitting around complaining about the hobby. Congrats Bachmann!

With all the folks making the 2-8-0 into an IC version maybe someone will make a replacement sand dome available.

I have 2 of them but haven't even gotten them out of the box yet. I've been modifying and playing with my 5 Russians. I've got Tsunami's in 3 of them and they work great! The other 2 just have Digitrax decoders. I'm so thankful to Bachmann for doing the Russians! They're one of my favorite steamers along with the USATC S-160's.

Roger

[brad]

Great work lanny.. Thanks for sharing

brad

[joegideon]

Wow!  That's really very nice.  I have seen a number of tenders on eBay- no doubt remainders of  scrapped-out Hallmark engines.  I bought a Hallmark from Peachtree- It had a gearhead motor!  But, it ran maybe a hundred feet before it developed a lope.  Then it just stopped dead.  The spokes on the main drivers had crumbled.  This seems to be very common on these models.  I thought I might be able to put the superstructure on a Bachmann mechanism, but the HMK had been filled with lead an shot.

[lanny]

Roger,

Regarding the 'Paducah' style sand dome, I am planning to try my hand at building one for use as a 'pattern' for Ray Breyer (possible 'resin casting'. I better let Ray 'fill' in what he is planning to do if he wants to.

Hopefully, when I have the 2-8-0 boiler completed, and before I tackle tender, I plan to 'take a break' and build a Paducah dome like I 'kit bashed' on this model and send it to Ray (Orsonroy) for whatever he may want to do with it (He has been a 'wealth' of information and encouragement in my 'kit bashing' attempts). So it may be that sometime in the 'future' there will be at least one 'prototypical' Paducah dome available to us 'die-hard' ICRR steam fanatics!

The only 'commercial' Paducah domes that I am aware of that are available are from Bowser. However, they are too small for most ICRR steam applications, and aren't really detailed or shaped correctly.

Actually ICRR #908, according to Ray, had 3 different style sand domes in its career! There are a lot of different varieties of these kind of domes ... probably that's why they aren't commercially available.

Joe: ... I think I'll check around eBay and see if there might be a 'lonely' Hallmark tender for a 2-8-0 that needs a good home 

thanks everyone for the nice comments

lanny nicolet

[Paul M.]

Roger,

Regarding the 'Paducah' style sand dome, I am planning to try my hand at building one for use as a 'pattern' for Ray Breyer (possible 'resin casting'. I better let Ray 'fill' in what he is planning to do if he wants to.

Hopefully, when I have the 2-8-0 boiler completed, and before I tackle tender, I plan to 'take a break' and build a Paducah dome like I 'kit bashed' on this model and send it to Ray (Orsonroy) for whatever he may want to do with it (He has been a 'wealth' of information and encouragement in my 'kit bashing' attempts). So it may be that sometime in the 'future' there will be at least one 'prototypical' Paducah dome available to us 'die-hard' ICRR steam fanatics!

The only 'commercial' Paducah domes that I am aware of that are available are from Bowser. However, they are too small for most ICRR steam applications, and aren't really detailed or shaped correctly.

Actually ICRR #908, according to Ray, had 3 different style sand domes in its career! There are a lot of different varieties of these kind of domes ... probably that's why they aren't commercially available.

Joe: ... I think I'll check around eBay and see if there might be a 'lonely' Hallmark tender for a 2-8-0 that needs a good home 

thanks everyone for the nice comments

lanny nicolet

Joe: ... I think I'll check around eBay and see if there might be a 'lonely' Hallmark tender for a 2-8-0 that needs a good home 

And out of the kindness of your heart you'll take it in your house and raise it and... 

Seriously though,

It's lookin' good, Lanny.

[Orsonroy]

Regarding the 'Paducah' style sand dome, I am planning to try my hand at building one for use as a 'pattern' for Ray Breyer (possible 'resin casting'. I better let Ray 'fill' in what he is planning to do if he wants to)

I plan to 'take a break' and build a Paducah dome like I 'kit bashed' on this model and send it to Ray (Orsonroy) for whatever he may want to do with it. So it may be that sometime in the 'future' there will be at least one 'prototypical' Paducah dome available to us 'die-hard' ICRR steam fanatics!

Hi guys,

Not much to tell. I'l be sending Lanny's dome to a QUALITY resin caster to have a few domes made. The first run will be small (likely a dozen domes or so), and will be a pilot run. If there's enough interest (likely 100 reservations or so) I'll dummy up the cash to have a production run made. If there's interest beyond that, I may chain Lanny to his workbench to make a few different Paducah domes!

The only 'commercial' Paducah domes that I am aware of that are available are from Bowser. However, they are too small for most ICRR steam applications, and aren't really detailed or shaped correctly.

Yeah, the Bowser domes are really only good for some of their switchers. It's best to stay away from them and "roll your own" (or hoodwink Lanny into doiong it for you!)

Actually ICRR #908, according to Ray, had 3 different style sand domes in its career! There are a lot of different varieties of these kind of domes ... probably that's why they aren't commercially available.

Only two of those domes were the odd Paducah style domes; 908's first dome was a small USRA castoff from the road's 2900 rebuilding program.

I think that the real reason why there's never been any good Paducah dome castings available is because the IC seems to have been largely overlooked by the hobby. Sure, you can get their passenger stuff all day long, but the only "correct" IC steamers out there are the old AHM 4-6-0 and Bachmann's 2-8-0 (which they STILL don't have in IC colors!). Even the diesel guys can't get their hands on the all-time favorite shortline engine, the GP-10 (which has worn at LEAST 85 different road names!). I have no idea why the road has been ignored by the hobby: it ran in one of the largest MRR cities on the planet, ran for 150 years under basically the same name, and has TWO folk songs written about it that everyone knows.  MILLIONS more people have seen it than have seen the D&RGW narrow gauge, but it seems that nobody models it....

[lanny]

It's 'break time'. I've pretty much finished all the detail work I want to do on the boiler (with 3 small exceptions which can be added later). It's ready for sanding and painting.

The it will be time to 'tackle' the boiler. There were some things I didn't like about the previous photos on this thread, so have done some fairly majoy changing. ICRR folks will notice right away ... and will also notice that my changes are probably not 'blueprint prototypical' ... but they satisfy me, and that's what MRR is all about. Here's some 'final' photos until after the sanding and painting and tender are completed.

Mr. Bachman, would you mind, for the 400th+ time , sending a note for me (and many others) to Bachmann requesting that they seriously consider a 'Harriman style' Mike for future production? Thanks!









lanny nicolet

[lanny]

Ooooops .... in my previous post, rather then "The it will be time to 'tackle' the boiler", I meant to say, "Then it will be time to tackle the tender". Sorry 'bout that!

lanny nicolet

[the Bach-man]

Dear Lanny,
I've done so many times...
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[lanny]

Hi Mr. Bach Man,

Thank you very much! I promise not to 'bug' you anymore about them (But Gene, I can't promise you I won't ever mention them again, however, so keep counting:D)

When Bachmann Mfg. produces a Spectrum Harriman style Mike, I'll be buying one (or six or more) 

Mr. Bach Man, I sure appreciate very much your continued suggestions to Bachmann Ind. and also your great work on and for this forum. Thanks!

lanny nicolet