I need to modify a couple of steam locomotives. My BLI Consolidation and Bachmann Mogul (both DCC) are meant to run on my late 1940’s CNR subdivision, but both come with the headlight mounted on top of the smoke box. Canadian National locomotives mounted most of their locomotive headlights in front of the locomotive rather than on top. I have some experience with kitbashing, mostly on buildings, but some rolling stock, but I don’t want to break out the knife, drill and putty without more information.
Can anyone give me some tips on how to proceed with this operation? Does anyone know where the detail parts are available? Any thoughts on this project would be appreciated.
[#welcome]
Glad to have you here.
PSC carries a wide selection of headlights, including some previously marketed by PIA and other old school lines. Mounting brackets are also available if not included with the particualr part you need. You can find catalogs for these at: http://www.precisionscaleco.com/detail.htm
Not sure about Canadian coverage, but the selection is wide.
To light it, I recommend using the tiny SMD LEDs you can get that are prewired. These come with leads made of magnet wire. It’s slim stuff so you can actually cover it with liquid electrical tape and it looks just like an electric cable to get the leads inside the boiler if the lamp assembly can’t be flush mounted. My source (there are others) is Ulrich Models: http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/miniature-surface-mount-leds-with-6-leads/
I use MV Products lenses for the headlights, which usually come without. Using a drill bit or file, you take off the silvering on the back of the lense in its middle. The tiny LED is mounted at the back of the cavity, shining through the hole in the lense very realistically. Walthers carries MV: http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=516&category=LEM&split=30
The rest is basic modeling, but the thin wiring with this method makes it easy to get things hooked up and looks great once everything is in place.
Mike - Thanks for the speedy and helpful reply. Much appreciated.
Any CNR modellers who want to weigh in on which headlight would most likely be found on an elderly Mogul in the late '40’s and a less aged Consolidation in the same time period would offer welcome information.
Mike has got the working lights part covered (I don’t use them) but I’d suggest that you check out Cal-Scale/Bowser for headlights. PSC has a lot of nice parts, but they have, when I last checked, a $35.00 minimum order.
For CNR locomotives, I’d suggest Cal-Scale’s HL-203 or HL-207. You’ll also need brackets on which to install the lights: HB-246 is a plain bracket, while HB-241 is similar, but with an undermounted number plate. The number plate isn’t a CNR-style one, but it’s useful if you later decide to add the brass number plates which are available from the CNR SIG.
Here’s one of those number plates on a CNR T-3-a 2-10-2
Wayne