A couple of months ago, I was able to relocate a lighting support and add an additional track to my turntable. As such, I needed one more locomotive to complete my roster. I’ve been wanting an articulated locomotive for a while, and I decided to make a Bachmann 2-4-4-2 into a tank engine.
My original plan was to use a side-tank kit from Backwoods Miniatures. However, when I contacted them to purchase one, I was advised that they had ceased trading last year. As such, I decided to 3D print my own kit.
After measuring the model’s footplate and boiler, I re-created them in Blender. I designed the cab and side tanks from scratch, as well as an extension for the cab floor at the rear. For the fuel bunker, I copied the one I’d made for the 2-6-2 tank engine and narrowed it to match the width of the cab.
Once this was done, I uploaded the model to Shapeways for printing. The cab walls were printed as one piece, however this didn’t work out. In order to get them to turn out, I separated the four walls, added locating tabs and slots, then printed all four walls lying down. I also removed the rivet details along the side tanks, as this was not printable.
In order to fit the floor, I had to remove the tender walkway and the plastic detailing across the rear of the chassis. Once this was done, I was left with four holes at the chassis. The floor extension was designed to fit into the two inner ones, then screw in place through the original cab holes.
Is this really going to be your last locomotive?
You appear to be having far too much fun and doing too good a job, and I reckon you’ll suffer from withdrawal symptoms, if it is.[swg]
For the foreseeable future, yes. I’ve run a few operating sessions now, and I’ve got a couple of minor track tweaks in mind. After those are sorted out, I’m ready (after 7 years) to get a start on the scenery.
Also, now that #10 is completed, I feel as though my roster is complete. I now have geared engines (#1, #2, #5 & #6), simple rod engines (#3, #4, #7, #8 & #9), an articulated rod engine (#10) and a diesel (#11). This covers the variety of engines that would appear on a logging line like the BVLC.
I may build more engines in the future, but for now I’ll be ‘shifting gears’, so to speak.
Having said that, I’m toying with the idea of an On18 micro-layout in order to practise my scenery technique and give me something to take to shows. Such a layout would need engines and rolling stock… [:)]
Congratulations on the kitbash. It’s a very nice looking engine. That would have made a great article for MR to run. Very inspiring creation! Something much more interesting than Cody assembling another plastic kit or building yet more trees!
HO scale question here… since you had this apart, how big is the mechanism? Would it be possible to mount an HO scale boiler and cab and make a standard gauge HO 2-4-4-2 out of this model?
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I have always “kind-of-wanted” the Oriental Powerhouse HO scale 2-4-4-2, but am not fully satisfied with the looks of that model. Could this be an alternative project?
Skillful and creative work yields a stunning model. Congratulations and thanks for sharing the detailed writeup and pics! Your new loco is a gem and, like Bear stated, can hardly believe it’ll be your last. You’re just hitting your stride on these after some past learning experiences, so I hope you find something else inspirational enough to bring your loco shop back into production[dinner]
The motor takes up most of the inside of the boiler, so you couldn’t really reduce the size of it unless you remotored it with a smaller motor. As for a cab, you probably could put a HO scale one on. You’d need to reduce the width of the footplate, too.
I haven’t weathered any of my steam locomotives yet. I’ve got a few failed projects which I’ll be using to practise my technique, then I’ll weather the locos on my layout.
So, weathering this model is a bit further down the track (pun intended [:D]).
