Hi folks,
I´m thinking about purchasing a Mantua 0-10-0 and converting it to a 2-10-2 for my south american passenger and freight train. The 2-10-2 should represent an argentinian steamer to be more precise. The Mantua 10 coupled steamers are a good compromise for such a project, since they have small drivers: only 51 scale inches as I read somewhere. The prototype also had the same size! What I dislike about the looks of the Mantua 2-10-2 is the conical boiler and the air pumps/details at the front which give the engine a very unaesthetic appreance. The straight/even boiler and empty front of the 0-10-0 I prefer much more, since it also comes closer to the prototype. That´s why I´m so focused on the 0-10-0. There is only one thing I like more about the 2-10-2: the cab looks much nicer and is also closer to the prototype. But well, you can´t have everything. My question is now: how difficult is it to make a 2-10-2 out of that 0-10-0? Since I don´t own the model yet and since there are almost no infos about the Mantua 2-10-2 and 0-10-0 available on the internet (they are rare models being produced in 1992 only!), I can only assume how the underside looks like. But I´m pretty sure that it should look like the underside of the Mantua 2-10-0 with just pilot and trailing truck added. And the trailing truck of the 2-10-2 seems to be just a little bit shorther than the trailing truck of the Mantua 2-8-2. It would be nice if somebody here could show me how the underside of the Mantua 0-10-0 looks like, because I´m really curious to know if it´s the same frame and look like on the 2-10-0. In such a case it shouldn´t be a problem to buy a pilot truck and (Mikado?) trailing truck and attach them to the screws IF they are in the same position on the 0-10-0 like they are on the 2-10-0. I already searched for these parts on the internet. I was hoping to find a Mantua 2-8-2 or 2-10-0 pilot truck and Mantua 2-10-2 trailing truck, but all I could find were 2-8-2 and