I am in the process of kitbashing an HO scale Mehano 4-4-0 to make it resemble the PRR D16sb #1223 which currently resides at The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. So far, I have replaced the tender and completely detailed it, I have replaced the headlight with a PRR headlight and added a larger generator and installed piping under the engineer’s side of the cab, running under the walkway, the full length of the boiler to just behind the pilot.
I may construct from scratch a Belpair firebox to slip over the existing one to give it a more fuller look but I haven’t decided yet.
My main concern here is what type of pilot should I replace the existing one with? So far I have been using Bowser and Cal-Scale parts and are working perfectly. Bowser makes a pilot for an E6 4-4-2 which would look just fine but I am wondering on how to mount it to the chassis. Any ideas? Also, would this pilot accept an EZ-Mate coupler? All my locos and rolling stock have this type of coupler and I would want to keep it the same.
Please help?! Thanks!!!