Have you seen the latest On30 Annual?  There are a couple of excellent bashes using the 4-4-0, and the one by Bill Iwan [sp?] does have more of that "western" look.  Looks like the main ingredient is a wood cab from Mount Blue, and they list the PSC parts.

Almost forgot the Youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHUxGWE5yzg

manager

Love the "Celiestial Line" loco.  What a great photo.

I agree with the idea; an older loco can easily fit in a more recent time period.  The opposite isn't true.  And since modelers work in a variety of time periods, older locos mean more sales, potentially.  Assuming the radius question is dealt with.  And I do have one suggestion to deal with that:  Mason Bogie.

Here is what Bill Iwan did with his On30 4-4-0.  Beautiful work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHUxGWE5yzg

manager

Found a photo of that loco.  Let's see if the link will work.  Maybe there is a prototype for everything.  Gives me some ideas for that Mantua 4-6-0 chassis that I found on Ebay.




manager

Thought I might add the conversion kits from Mount Blue.  The caboose kits from them go together well, but require some patience.  I would imagine that this kit would be similar.



Gary

I did some quick checking, and wholesaletrains.com has Forneys at $119.99.  Just ordering the boiler [$50.00] and the mechanism [$75.00] from the parts department puts you over that price.  So it looks like ordering a completed model is a better deal.  And it's always nice to have spare parts left over, for future projects.  That's what I tell my wife, anyway.

manager

You may know this already, but the 2008 On30 Annual has a step-by-step description of the 2-4-0 bash process by Jim Shultz.  Reading this is what pushed me over the edge.  And back issues are still sold.

http://www.on30annual.com/

One issue that I had to address was electrical contact.  The drivers by themselves have trouble over switches, and this gets worse with the stock sound system.  My 2-4-0 was getting pretty finicky about cutting out and restarting when it hit a rough patch, and one solution would have been to add a bigger capacitor to the sound system.  And would have been much easier if I had replaced the stock Forney sound with a full Tsunami.  I opted instead to add wipers to the tender trucks, so that all 8 wheels of the tender pick up power, and that has worked fine so far.

This might not even be an issue if running on DC.

You might also check the On30 Group and On30 Conspiracy, where Alan Carroll was showing his new Forney bash, a very nice 2-4-2T loco.

manager

You could try replacing the coupler with an undershank coupler, where the knuckle is mounted lower.  Although I've not had trouble at all with the 4-6-0, so I do suspect that you have some sort of damage.

manager

Good eye, ebtnut.  The MR article describes the process of adding detail and painting the Spartan model.  I'm not sure what the exact prototype is, but I really like the proportions.

Then again, I bought the LS Bachmann 4-4-0 because I like the proportions.  Can't run it anywhere, but it's a brilliant piece of 3D art.

manager

And to add to the 4-4-0 discussion, I really like the lines of this little HOn3 brass loco, as painted and detailed by John Olson, on the cover of the May 1977 Model Railroader.



manager

I would like to see an On30 version of the Fort Wilderness Railroad locos and passenger cars, which were built by Walt Disney Imagineering in the 1970s, and ran on 30" gauge tracks.  While I really like the Disney paint scheme, a basic black version would also be cool.  Here is a photo of the Large Scale model:



These locos were slightly scaled down versions of 36" gauge Olomana, from Hawaii.  Which would also be a good choice.



manager

$5.00 for a set of 4.  SKU: 23135110 at Caboose Hobbies.

manager

I bought a set of San Juan Car Co On30 wheels, and they are very nice.  Perfect fit for the Bachmann trucks, but they come in a black finish.

manager

I knew this sounded familiar.  I had 2 photos in the archives that relate to this discussion.  The first appears to be a Mantua 4-6-0 that was converted to On30, mostly with the addition of a new cab and details.  Looks like a new boiler too.



The second appears to be a Roundhouse 2-6-0, one of the older kits perhaps.  Same sort of process



If someone knows who created these, please let us know.  Really fun stuff, and  in the finest tradition of On30, creating plausible locos from HO mechanisms.  It does give me some ideas for what to do with the Roundhouse 2-6-0 that's in the mail.

manager

Forums are places where you share ideas.  Harold, I would never have thought of using a Roundhouse 2-6-0 mechanism, and I was able to find a really good deal on Ebay.  So I appreciate your suggestion.

And I personally like both the equally and unequally spaced drivers.  I'm wondering if I can find a boiler for the Roundhouse that will allow for a 4-6-0, almost a small version of Sierra Rwy #3.  The collection of loco parts for bashing just gets larger, but that's the beauty of On30.

The sad part is, I can't seem to find time these days to paint a boxcar.  Maybe it will be a long, cold winter.

manager

Note that the outside frame 4-4-0 is officially called "Modern", and is described as being built at the end of the steam era.  That's sometime in the 1940s.  I seem to recall that there were some similar locos built in the 1920s, but that there were some minor differences -- I think the earlier locos had spoked drivers, unlike the solid drivers on the Bachmann model. 

Also, both of the Bachmann 4-4-0s are DCC without sound, although they are as sound-ready as you can get.

Someone else might have more detailed info.

manager