maybe my craziest mover ever

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

People who know me, definatley know that i come up with crazy and insane ideas…1/900th scale engines cut on a bandsaw?..duplicating a loco’s trucks from oak?..anyways, i’ve stumbled upon my craziest idea ever, and it actually working pretty good.

while looking at my small collection of locomotives one night, i came across, an oldie…it was my dad’s, a standard run of the mill diesel, thing was, it was beaten, not “just a little” it was trashed, which got my attention, at first i thought of rebuilding the plastic shell…no to hard… what about building a new shell?..genius i say…

after a little more thinking, i abandoned that idea, and finally settled upon my newest idea…build an entire engine from scratch out of solid pine…

today during shop class, i had the liberty to build a test frame and parts of the nose, and its looking fairy nice, though im scrapping them for a more efficeint design. the loco im working on is roughly based off a Alco Rsd-15, of course the engine wont sport many details like brass or plastic model, it will be unique, i plan on staining the loco in several colors to best represent the bnsf warbonnet scheme, all in ho scale…

i should have some pics of it by next week

to anyones knowlege, has something like this been done before?

Ryan

2

I’ve never heard of it, but hey.

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well i would have thought that maybe some one would have done something like this before…
…since one can be built and stained in about 3 hours, we(myself and a close friend) mulled over the idea of creating a dozen or so and selling at the local hobby shop…we have access to a metal lathe also, so we might try making our own wheels also…

Ryan

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What scale are you doing this in ?

bill

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Don’t forget to make room for the decoder!

Terry and WILMA for now

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About a zillion years ago MR had a cover article on a fellow who made steam engines out of wood. I can still recall the cover, but not the article. So it’s been done before!

Bob Boudreau

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Brio makes hundreds of thousands of them every year

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I can’t wait to see this.[:D] It sounds awesome.

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great news guys, first off, its HO scale…secondly…i might try N scale also

well today was great, i was able to cut out all the parts i needed, the base, is 1/4 inch pine veneer, everything else is solid pine…i have some sanding left to do, and square it up a little…tommorow(friday) will see it all come together, wood burning the details, gluing, and painting.

unfortunatly for this model, it will be a dummy unit, i have a way of getting a motor in it, which would be too hard, but ill try that for the next one, and well, once the dcc is up and running, then ill put a decoder in it.

im going for a very unqiue look with this loco, its a cross between some Alco’s, Emd’s and everything in between. i plan on doing a “Half and Half paint scheme” one side will be painted, while the other, will feature a nice stain to bring out the wood…i tooled of the idea of doing a warbonnet scheme. where the red, would been stained a darker color,while the silver would be a varathane…

…anyways i hope to get to the local hooby shop, to pick up some trucks, currently im using some old ones off a non functioning unit…

i’ve mulled over the idea of using our local machine shop to machine wheels, and what not…well maybe for the next one.

just for those expecting mad detail, well it wont, this is my first time scratchbuilding anything, and the most you will see will be some grab irons, and railings, also, dont expect much from the paint job…i hope to borrow someones digital camera, and hopefully have some shots late next week

…and i have to stop with these long posts…

edit had a look at brio’s trains, and well…yikes, no…hell no…mine actually resemble a train…and thanks for the interest, i hope i dont dissapoint

Ryan

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hey guys me once more…a little update…things have progressed on this locomtive, but have slowed down, i have to install the grab irons and paint it still, the reason it isnt done is because ive started work on my first n scale micro layout…more updates soon

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Well, let’s see some pictures!!!

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Yippee, wonderful idea. I’m waitin for the pics![:P]

And I won’t be dissappointed whatever you create, because I would not be able to create it no matter what!

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making a engine from wood…cant wait to see the pics…

sounds like your having fun…

Mike…

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well thanks for the interest, because of this great interest, ill be finishing it monday,as i left it in my locker. …i have to cut some windows from the clear part of a cd case, glue them, place the upper half of a H0-person in it, paint it, and then somehow figure out how to put on the grab irons,…maybe put a small plow on it, and drill out the holes for the trucks…if i can borrow some ones digital camera on tuesday, i should have pics by thursday at the latest…ive attached an image of what it looks like done in paint

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hey all…loco has first coat of paint on it…not bad…little bright though…should be done soon…does anyone have a converter that takes different sizes form scales and feet and transfers them to a chosen scale…i remember seeing one of these on a website, but dont know where

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Ryan,

Quit teasing and get us some photos!

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Bob, I remember that article and was going to go dig for it until it occurred to me that anybody viewing it before attempting to do what Ryan is doing might just be discouraged from even trying. I don’t remember the particular year and I don’t have an index: I do know that the name of the craftsman was Ernest Warthers, and in my opinion, his work was equal to anything I’ve ever seen in a model railroading magazine, especially considering that he even made his own tools.

Wayne

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You must have missed that table at Timonium, the guy had many one piece models carved from wood. Not just trains, but cars and planes too. The F16 and F14 were incredible! And a helicopter! At least, I think they were made from one piece of wood. Definitely wood.

–Randy

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some guys…(like most model railroaders) have WAY too much time on their hands…[:D]…chuck

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i’d actually be really interested in seeing that article…as for detail in wooden vehicles…ive seen plans from a tool compan called lee vally for an impressive looking locomotve…what scale i dunno…im lookin to dig out the old “kid workshop thing” if i remember it had a small lathe on it, perfect for turning wheel sets on it from oak…ill have it apinted this weekend…half of it is painted the other half varathane…then ill drill for the trucks and install the grab irons etc…

…as for homemade tools…the thought of a small homemade lathe has come across my thoughts alot actually…no…no…i must focus on school work…