This tread is solely for posting pictures of your kitbashed locomotives. And please explain the basic work you did to get the kitbashed result. (For a locomotive to be considered kitbashed it has to be distinguishable from the stock model of the locomotive.) Thanks!
C&O F-20 4-6-2 No. 488. Kitbashed from BLI USRA Light Pacific. Added a number of brass detail parts, several scratch built detail parts, piping, modified cylinders, new running boards and steps, replaced trailing truck, modified tender. Repainted, decaled and weathered (just a bit more to do).
Rick G.
OK, so does this fit?
An Athearn SD40-2T, cut down to fit an SD40-2 Athearn frame, and equipt with a Canadian wide/saftey cab, and added details parts, like grabs, fans, screens, etc.
Mike.
You ask for it.
This is my first of three kitbashed Southern Pacific Yellowstone 2-8-8-4 AC-9s. They began life as Rivarossi Cab Forwards.
The first thing I did was strip the top shell.
I have kitbashed a couple of HOn30 critters for Boothbay Railway Village. The shells were kitbashed from Athearn Hustler bodys with Bachmann N scale mechanisms. This is one on the layout
And both shells before painting. I removed the walkways, split the body down the middle to narrow them and adjusted the length (after cutting away too much) to fit the mechanisms.
Thsi is another we bought at a train show. It is an N scale Kato (?) NW-2 body and mechanism with an HO scale cab, and added detail parts.
Wow! Some really nice work and some very imaginative re-builds. [tup][tup]
Mel, while the cab forwards were a good solution to the problem for which they were designed, I always preferred the looks of the AC-9s…very stylish, as is your model.
I’ll start with some older ones, like this Tyco Mikado. It’s mostly a detailing job, using about a hundred dollars worth of detail parts, mostly from Cal-Scale, and Kemtron, although I did alter the running boards and added scratchbuilt front steps to them. The sandbox is an altered dome from a Tyco 3-dome tank car, and the cab is from Model Die Casting. The tender is an MDC oil-type tender modified into a coal-type, with an open bunker. Those six wheel trucks under it accounted for almost half the money spent on detail parts…
The 886 pictured below is an Atlas SD35, with a scratchbuilt safety cab - I had seen CN’s original safety cab on a GP38 in 1973, I think, and took a few photos, and then converted a couple of Atlas SD35s and SD24s…
This is a John English Pacific, from the early '50s. I got it, used, in the mid-'50s and altered it with some Cal-Scale detail parts and a Kemtron vestibule-style cab. The tender was scratchbuilt, with modified Central Valley trucks. This locomotive is currently awaiting another makeover…
Another Tyco Mikado, mostly re-detailed with Cal-Scale parts and a scratchbuilt vestibule cab - it was built over the original plastic cab, then anything of the ori
OK, I will share. Most of my kitbash projects are a lot simpler than some of the great work above, and photo skills are not the best. Some of these locos are not finished, some I simply don’t have competed photos.
All are freelanced for my ATLANTIC CENTRAL, and the main goal is to create a “family” look.
First up, USRA 2-6-6-2 from Bachmann, the original tender replaced with a Vanderbilt tender and the trailing truck changed to a Delta type. I have two of these, still need a little weathering…
Next we have a Bachmann 2-8-4 converted into a modern heavy 2-8-2 similar to the DT&I 800 class. I actually have five of these with various minor sub class versions. These were done by mixing and matching parts from all three versions of the Bachmann Berkshire/Kanawha. Two of the five have long Vandy tenders and the larger Kanawha cab. The Delta trailing truck is the old Kemtrom piece now PSC. This photo is obviously before the paint work.
Next up, a Bachmann 4-8-2 Heavy with a Delta trailing truck - not a big mod, but again, part of the “family” look. There are two of these with the oil tender, and 5 more with coal tenders.
Next up a Broadway USRA heavy Mike with a Delta trailing truck and a Bachmann long tender. The ACR has two of these as well. The Delta trucks came from the original Athearn Genesis 4-6-2.
Next we have the easiest kit bash of the century - A Proto 2000 2-8-8-2 turned into a 2-8-8-0…and lettered ATLANTIC CENTRAL. This one also has a twin…
I am going to contribute something that is not the least bit impressive.
[#dots]
-Kevin
This is Bradford Valley Lumber Co. no. 10, the latest addition to my On30 fleet. All of my engines are kitbashed in some way, but this is one of the more extensive ones:
It started as a Bachmann On30 2-4-4-2 tender engine. I designed a cab and side tanks in Blender, and had them 3D-printed by Shapeways. The hand rails on the cab and side tanks are copper wire. The additional platform on the front was scratchbuilt from styrene and copper wire.
Chicago Yelowstone and Pacific #35, a Baldwin DS 4-4-10, poses in the Central District. Kitbashed in the early 1990s from an Athearn S-12, and another shell. Body and frame lengthened to represent the longer 8 cylinder powered locomotive. Mashima motor, A-Line flywheels, NWSL wheelsets were also used. Scheduled to be shopped with DCC decoder, likely sound, upgrade some of the detail, new paint. This was built from an old 90s Model Railroader article.
Bob your link doesn’t go anywhere. Posting links from this site is challenging. Posting pics is unforgiving of mistakes. See the sticky in the General Forum on posting pics.
Sorry I can’t provide any photos but my biggest undertaking so far was when I kitbashed a Kato Canadian National Mikado from its original appearence to more like the actual prototype that I found while looking at photos of Steam Town locos. I began by removing the bell from the front of the smoke box and placing it between the stack and first dome on the boiler. I then made up a new number board and glued it to where the bell was. I then added a water heater above the front of the smoke box and the plumbing that went with it. After that I mixed flat black and silver to create a graphite looking paint and painted the smoke box and fire box. Last but not least I built up the coal tender and raised the coal stack. In the end it turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself seeing how it was my first undertaking so it was a big deal to me. It’s also N scale so it was a little harder to work with than if it had been HO.
Who made the locomotive that you started with?
-Kevin
.
Before Athearn released their SD39, I made my own, with a bunch of Cannon & Co parts and Hi-Tech hood sides on an old Athearn SD40 frame 
Here it is before painting:
Here’s my Rio Grande SDL-39. No such thing, I know, I know, but I wanted one. Started with the Kaslo Shops resin kit, then added Rio Grande details. Gotta have dynamic brakes, so those were obtained from Atlas, a part that is made for their SD-24 IIRC. The nose-mounted Pyle light came next. That was mostly it, plus paint. Still waiting on buying the air horns, because they were kinda more than I wanted to pay at the time. I should think of doing that, but $13 for a set of horns ain’t cheap.
Outstanding effort; you sir are a true craftsman in the strictest since of the word. Well done and keep it up.
What kind of air horns are you looking for?
-Kevin
.
Hello all,
Amazing!
Hope this helps.
Some of the MILW SDL 39’s had a crazy looking air hood across the top, gave it a unique look. Nice build!
Mike.