Since I posted my previous thread of scratchbuilding with brass, I have come back down to earth and decided to try detailing some on-hand steam locomotives and and looking for some help and advice. The two engines are a Bachmann Canadian Overland Northern and an IHC mogul. The northern was part of a trainset that my dad and I got at a liquidation place a few years ago. The mogul was also part of a train set at a second-hand store that I picked up for $5 a few years ago.
Here is what I have so far
On the northern, I wanted to raise the coupler so I wouldn’t have to use a high shank coupler. I also replaced the cab with a Precision Scale Co all weather cab. On the mogul, I shortened the tender and added white rims to the drivers.
This is what I would like the northern to look similar to this one https://mayorofguelph.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/cnr6167.jpg
For the mogul, this is the engine I want it to look similar to. 
My great grandfather parked the engine on this spot when it was retired from service before all the tracks were ripped up. It has always been my dream since I was a kid to bring it back to life and let it stretch its legs and let it’s whistle wail throughout the farmland of southern Ontario once again but for now, a model must do. Here is a side shot. 
For the detail parts I’ve seen that Minitures by Eric makes the right number boards and a superheater for the Northern. I’ve also seen that Precision Scale catalogues a brass CNR pilot kit and air reservoirs. Additionally, the trailing bogie on the Northern is wrong so I am
To answer your questions, yes, the tank on the pilot deck of the Northern is an air tank.
The PSC air reservoirs (formerly Kemtron) consist of brass tubing which you cut to length, and cast brass ends (various styles available) which are soldered or glued into the tubing’s ends
None of the PSC pilots shown in my PSC catalogue are the same style as those used by the CNR, but the one closest, which you may be able to modify, is PSHO-32533, a B&M pilot with steps. The PSC pilots are mostly one-piece castings (as are those from Cal-Scale (Bowser), although many include a cast brass dummy coupler which the modeller may install. If you want a working front coupler, it will take a bit of work to modify the pilot, but it’s certainly do-able.
Here’s a brass version of the CNR pilot on a loco which I built for a friend, using an Akane 2-10-2. He supplied the pilot, one of a bunch which he bought from a source which supplied them to an unknown manufacturer of brass locomotives. I’ve used-up all of them but one on various of his locos. The one left is destined to go on an Athearn Mike when I get time, and that one will be for me.
Here’s a photo which shows the CNR-style pilot:
…and on the finished locomotive:
…and on his modified Athearn Mikado:
Your Northern would need that large sand dome removed and replaced with one similar to that in the photo of the prototype, and it would also need a more suitable steam dome - PSC has various ones available. Your model has a Worthington feedwater heater (the square box ahead of the stack and the pipe and pump above an
Thank you Doctorwayne, that is a real trainload of help and some tremendous modelling. One thing I forgot to mention is that I am not going for a spitting image model, I just want to detail it enough so it isn’t initially recognizable as a cheap bachmann engine and that screams canadian steam. When I am finished, I will be lettering it for my freelanced road. Here is where I found the CNR pilot kit, http://www.precisionscaleco.com/ Click on the detail parts icon on the right hand side, PIA brass parts, top of page 12 under P. Judging from the photo in the cataloge and the pilot on the mogul, they are pretty much the same.
These are good projects to start on the road to more intricate scratch building. Keep at it and push yourself to try new and more difficult things! I try to do something new and more challenging on each project. Doing 90-95% scratch construction at this point took 8 years I have been seriously doing builds and am no where near done learning, don’t think I ever will be.
Again keep at it, we will all be looking forward to seeing your progress.
You’re right, that pilot looks the same. Thanks for that link; no doubt my friend will pick up a few of them. [swg]
Wayne
No problem, thank you for your help!
The IHC 2-6-0 mugol is a GREAT starting engine for what you want to build! I think that it will turn out great!
On the other hand, I think the Santa fe 4-8-4 is not the best starting engine to build the CNR 4-8-4. I mean unless you are going to scratch build the entire shell(like RDG casey), its gonna be a rough ride. You are going to have to rebuild the walk ways, domes, cab, tender, rear trailing truck etc and not to mention cut off/fill in some parts…
Not trying to stop you from doing the 4-8-4, but I think you should start off with the 2-6-0 mugol, which is easier [:D], then work on the 4-8-4.
Oh and I would suggest to work on one at a time, because trust me, I got like 8 unfinished projects on my workbench where I forgot what my goal was for that engine in the first place [:P]
Good luck and best wishes!
Charles
Like I said before, the goal for the northern is to make it look like a Canadian engine and not model it after a specific one so the sand dome will stay but I will try to move the walkways on both sides. The main details I want to add are a pilot, air reservoirs and appropriate pumps as well as to replace the molded on piping with brass wire. I think it is better to mess up on a $50 model than a $500 one. As for two projects at once, it isn’t a problem for me since the goals are simple and I am a fiddler by nature so I usually need a few things to work on. Thank you for the encouragement! [swg]
I know this thread has been dead for awhile but I’ve finally been able to makes some progess. After many months of confusion and delay, most of the parts I ordered came, though the air pump was out of production. Even then, life got busy with college and my work placement so the point I didn’t really have the time or energy though I did get the paint off with Easyoff oven cleaner. Lately, the colleges in Ontario went on strike so it has given me the time and the energy to get back at it.
For the pilot I wanted a working coupler but also with the draft gear from the kit. To accomplish this, I drilled a hole in the draft gear box all the way through. I then drilled into the shank of a Kadee #58 coupler and then cut off the excess and filed the shank so the holes lined up. My plan is to stick a piece of brass wire through the holes and secure it with a small drop of CA. I had 0.031"on hand so I drilled the hole 0.032" .
[url=https://flic.kr/p/ZLDvxL]
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After taking the shot I realized the valve gear is wonky but I think I just reassembled it wrong.
Here is the prototype again
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I did have to lower the “front porch” on the model so the pilot and coupler would sit at the right height.
I also replicated the larger piping with brass wire I had o
The friend whom I mentioned in my earlier post gave me a brass model of a CNR Mogul similar to the one in the photo I posted of his. However, I want to model a very specific CNR Mogul, #88, which I saw laying on its side, in a street near my home when I was a child. The model will need to be almost completely re-piped, and the tender either rebuilt or replaced with a scratchbuilt one. The prototype loco was rebuilt and put back into service.
Your method for adding a useable front coupler is similar to what I do, as very few steam locos allow room for including the draught gear box.
You can purchase the triangular number board, but it can be easily made from styrene: a thick piece, cut to the proper size and shape, for the main body, with a thinner, slightly overhanging (only on both sides) piece cemented to the top and bottom. Use bits of styrene equal in thickness to the amount of the overhang to box-in the front and rear of the area which will represent the recessed glass of the number board. Add a punched-out disc of .005" styrene to the top to represent a cover over the access hole.
Drill the back of the numberboard and the front of the smokebox to accept a piece of wire that will act as a mounting pin for the new part.
As for piping, you should be aware that prototype piping sizes refer to the pipe’s inside diameter. When Proto’s Heritage Series of steam locomotives was released, it was very apparent that the person cutting the dies for the piping was unaware of this, as the piping on the ones I’ve seen in-person is all undersize. That includes, at least, the 0-6-0, 0-8-0, and 2-8-4.
Here’s my re-piped Proto 0-8-0, modified to represent a specific locomotive…
As for HO scale piping, most water lines on small, older locos are about 2" in diameter…that’s about .
Thank you very much for your detailed explanation! Your post seems to have more useful information than my textbooks! [:P]. Do you also make the air cooling coils out of phosphor bronze wire too? I found some .020" brass wire at my LHS for the air lines and I tried to make the cooling coil but it was too easily shaped so it turned out wonky instead.
For the headlight, the closest thing I could find was this. http://www.bowserorders.com/.sc/ms/dd/HO%20Cal%20Scale/13054297/Cal%20Scale%20HO%20Headlight%20SF%20w^2FBracket
The light housing appears to be similar but the bracket isn’t. Do you know any other CN style headlights or brackets?
As for the Northern, I kinda realized that biting into two projects at once was a bit of a bad idea. It is currently sitting in the deadline stripped of most of the moulded on details.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/21hM1db]
I’ve returned with another progress report. I’ve finally had some more time to work on the mogul and more detail parts arrived at my LHS.
The headlight, air/signal hosebags and the class lamps arrived with the air cooling coils from PSC still on order.
The installation of the class lamps has been the most difficult part to date. When I looked at the prototype, I realized that they were mounted on brackets, something that didn’t come with the parts. I didnt think it would be super difficult so I made some with brass strip I had on hand. I cut smaller strips off the large one and then bent and filed them to size and shape
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Then I cut a small strip of 0.010" styrene sheet and glued it around the top and filed it to shape. After that, I glued them onto the smokebox but it did take a couple of tries for them to look right. Once the glue had time to set I then added the class lamps. I know they aren’t the best, but I’m proud of them.
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I had also filled in the orginal headlight hole and added the front grab iron though I later realized it was oversize so I’ll eventually remake it with smaller wire. I also added the air and signal hose bags to the pilot. The only thing needed to give this a real CN feel is the triangular number board which I have yet to order.
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(I know the headlight is wonky, I haven’t glued it into place yet.)
Thank you all for your help and encouragement.
(Edit: sorry that last pic is foggy)
You’re making pretty good progress on that, lone geep, and it’s starting to look like a CNR Mogul, too! It’s nice to see others getting interested in this kind of work and getting good-looking results, too. [tup][tup]
Wayne
