What's on My Work Bench

 I recently picked up the Minitrains Porter 0-6-0 HOn30 locomotive at Rider's Hobbies in Flint, Michigan. They carry Minitrains so it's worth a stop for that alone.

I added couplers. The front coupler is stationary and from an older MDC N scale truck.

Porter builder's plates from an old Flying Zoo set and a bell were added. The structure on the rear was enclosed to form a coal bunker. Coal will be added after paint and decals.

The number plate is from a Chivers kit where several are supplied.

Climax Kit

I have not done much on the Climax kit. I was unsure of weather to add a DCC decoder and how to paint it. I will wait to add the decoder because I need a smaller one like the TCS Z4.

I did not want to paint it with a lot of raw wood because my railroad would have painted it more like a common carrier road engine. But I had not seen many paint jobs like that on a class A Climax. My friend, Phil Gliebe, built a Climax that won first place in the steam kit class at the NMRA national convention and was mentioned in the NMRA magazine in Sept. His paint job is exactly what the FS&K would have used and removed that obstacle.

I still have other projects to finish, but this one will come to the top of list this winter and I will post pictures as it proceeds.

New Railbus

At left is my latest distraction from the projects I should be working on. This is a brass etched rail bus from Aru Models in Japan. It is a freelanced version of SRRL No 3 that fits on a Kato No 11-107 shorty bogie chassis in N scale. Here I've primed it and added tissue to the roof. Does include white metal head light castings which are not shown here, but will be added after painting the grill.

This is an excellent kit for the modeler who wants to learn how to solder an etched-brass kit because of the ingenious tab and slot design of the parts. All parts are held together by tabs and slots so that the modeler can solder the pieces with without finding a way to clamp them. I filed and sanded the tabs and slots off once the soldering was done. There are also no curves in the kit that can be difficult for a beginner to form properly. Thsi kit can also be assembled with ACC. The instructions are in Japanese, but the pictures are sufficient for a clear understanding of the assembly process.
This kit is available from Mr Yoshiya Kobayashi. His website is: http://www.hpmix.com/home/yoshiya/Yoshiya/index.htm. I will post pictures as the build progresses.

Old Photo of Motive Power

Here's an old photo from 2002 taken on my film camera. The motive power from left to right are: Chivers small Forney on a Bachmann 0-4-0 chassis, AHM Plymouth diesel with NWSL regear kit, kit-bashed rail bus (Jordan school bus and Bachmann trolley chassis as described in the Maine 2 Foot Quarterly) and a Brick Price Hawaiian 0-4-0 locomotive on a Bachmann 0-4-0 shifter chassis. The scenery is not Maine 2-foot prototypical, but what I have on hand at the time.

Old Photos

Here's an old picture of a Chivers Forney that I built, but is now disassembled because I added electrical pick up to the trailing truck, but it never worked properly.
The chassis was the Bachmann docksider with a flywheel added. It ran fairly well until I "improved" it.










Here's the same body ready to be added to a Kato 2-6-4 chassis that has been modified to a 0-4-4. The trailing truck already had electrical pick up. This picture is also an old one.

Kiso Baldwin Conversion

These pictures show a conversion of a Baldwin Kiso to a configuration that more closely resembles a Maine narrow gauge locomotive. This link will take you to images of the prototype: trains.nute.ws/0-4-2/KFR6.htm.

This loco was used in Japan for logging but was built by the Baldwin locomotive works, the same company that built many of the Maine 2 foot engines. This means that many of the features already match Maine narrow gauge prototypes.

I changed these features:

1. Tailing truck from 2 wheels to 4.

Removing the existing trailing truck requires removing a screw. I then fashioned a new arm to fit a Micro Trains N scale archbar truck and attached with the screw for the existing trailing truck.

2. Large balloon stack.

The existing balloon stack is a large one by US standards. It does resemble the size of the stack on the SW Sargeant as delivered to the Franlinn & Megantic (See Moody page 69). I wanted to swap it for a straight
stack but drop in weight negatively affected the performance. To see what I mean just twist the existing stack while gently lifting up and it will come off. Then run the locomotive. So as a compromise I replaced it with a smaller white metal balloon stack from the Chivers Forney kit. It seems to run as it did before with this stack.


3. Oil bunker to wood burning/coal burning

The original oil bunker reached to teh cab roof, much too high for a Maine narrow gauge engine. I cut the upper portion and filled the gap with a flat piece of brass. I soldered the filler from the oil bunker to it to simulate the water hatch.

I am considering the following modifications:

Power pick up on the trailing truck.
Running boards on each side of the boiler.
Bell on top of the sand dome.
Wooden or boiler tube pilot.

DCC Options

Here are some decoders that could work for HOn30 locomotives because they are small enough. As you'll see 3 decoders from 3 different manufacturers can fit into a typical HOn30 locomotive. The locomotive shell in all these pictures is a Chivers Forney. The picture are right shows that a Digitrax DZ143 decoder will fit inside the shell though it might preclude the use of a flywheel.
Here's the DZ143 inside the shell.

















Below is a Lenz Gold Mini W decoder. Lenz offers an additional power module that would keep the loco moving over dirty track but it's too large for an HOn30 Forney.













Lastly we're showing a Train Control Systems M-1 decoder. Their website is www.tcsdcc.com. While I have not operated any of their decoders they look promising.

Added on Feb 2 :
TCS (www.tcsdcc.com) has just released a new Z scale decoder (catalog number Z2) that is rated for use with N scale mechanisms. This is the smallest decoder I have seen yet. But may I just need to get out more. :)

This one might be useful for those really tight spaces.

I've been quiet for a while because I haven't been doing much modeling lately. So here's some old pictures of partially complete projects waiting for me on my work bench. The first one is a Kennebunk Models resin kit of WW&F No 9 on a Bachmann chassis. It is waiting for smoke box and boiler details and pilot details. The boiler is filled with Templo to give it as much weight as possible. If you don't have Chris McChesney's handbook on Hon30 locomotives I recommend it. That's where the Templo idea came from.
The second picture shows a Chivers forney body that will go on an scale Kato C-11 drive. This was a 2-6-4T
before I removed the last driver. There have been a few articles over the years on this conversion. Pieter Roos did that last one in the Maine 2-Foot Quarterly in the 1990's. The drive is very nice. The drivers are a little large but the trailing truck has pickup so this should run well when it's all together.

The other news of note is Stevens Creek Model's release of the Monson wood shed in HO. Click here to see it: http://www.hon3.com/Woodshed/index.htm
This kit has some very nice detail and will become part of my Monson module in the next few years.

I hope to have more to report as I get back into modeling.

Here's some pictures comparing the N-Drive mechanism to a Bachmann.

Here the N-Drive mechanism is on the right. The Bachmann mechanism on the left has Nigel Lawton's re-motoring kit and a new worm from NWSL installed. The biggest difference is the motor position: it sits much closer to the worm and rear drivers. So use of the mechanism with the Chivers small Forney kit (RC-45) requires some modification.


Here's the N-Drive mechanism with a new boiler made out of 2 sizes of brass tube so that the Chivers smoke box casting will fit into it. The motor fits inside the new boiler. I think this will allow the Chivers kit to use this mechanism.
The last two photos show Bachmann and N-Drive chassis for comparison. Note that the drivers are a little smaller on the N-Drive chassis and the wheel base is a little shorter. The chassis in front in the last photo is Bachmann with the original motor, boiler and cab floor to be used in a Kennebunk Models resin forney kit now out of production.

N-Drive Website

Thanks to Stephen at http://fairlightworks.blogspot.com/ I've discovered that N Drive Productions has a website now:

http://www.n-driveproductions.com/

The range and prices page are the correct prices for the 9mm (N scale) drive.

Note that the wheel base and motor location are different from the Bachmann drive it replaces.

Here's the N-Drive order form.

New Forney Kit from Railway Recollections

Railway Recollections (see links list) has released a resin kit of Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes RR No's 20, 21 & 22 both late and early. This is the late version with air brakes and steel cab. Please note that the assemblies here are only test fitted and the gaps will disappear when fully assembled with screws. This is a nice resin kit with accurate parts that fit together well. For what it's worth I recommend this kit for any HOn30 Forney lovers out there. It runs on the recently released Bachmann N scale Prairie 2-6-2 (Bachmann # 51551). This chassis ran well on my N scale layout for twenty minutes after the middle driver was removed. It might fit on the older Bachmann 2-6-2 or 0-6-0 but why take that chance that all your effort will be negated by a poorly running mechanism?
This kit is just begging for super detailing and many of the parts are not hard to find. The bell and handrail stanchions at left are prime examples. I'll also add pop valves, a whistle, a compressor (hence the hole in the running board) and piping.
This is a well-thought out kit. The pieces scale well against drawings for No 20 that I enlarged to full size HO. The wheel base is also right on.
Extra weight is added in the cab, but since the Bachmann split frame remains this is not really needed.
The Bachmann chassis shown here has been prepped for use except the original pilot and pilot deck and the leading truck have not yet been removed. The manufacturer provides an HO scale pilot to replace the existing N scale one.
One other good reason to try this kit is the trailing truck suspension. It slides from side to side and will take a 10" curve per the manufacturer. I believe it, based on how far it swings. It provides vertical suspension as well, keeping the drivers in better contact with the track. Not included, but recommended by the manufacturer and shown here are Kato N scale passenger trucks with electrical pickup. I got a used Kato N scale passenger car cheap just for the trucks. B & F Hobby has had them for sale as parts in the past. These will compensate for the limited eletrical pickup due to the short wheel base and lack of tender. The combination of the good running chassis, the rear suspension and trailing truck pickup means this will be a good runner. I'll update this as I complete this kit.
As a disclaimer I have no financial ties or interest to the manufacturer or this kit. I just want to share a good thing. This should be available from any of the three sources in the links section: Trains & Things, Train & Trooper and B & F Hobby.

Locomotives

At left is the typical Frary/Hayden conversion from the '70's using the Trix FM chassis and the Funaro & Camerlengo Plymouth resin shell for the cab. It does still run well despite being dropped 48" once. :)



Here's a Jordan 1930's school bus shell on a Bachmann trolley mechanism. The rear wheel wells were filled with plastic sheet and Squadron putty and wet sanding until smooth. The idea is from Mark Rollins with a few of my own modifications. The construction is described in detail in the Fall 2002 issue of Maine 2-Foot Quarterly.


Here's a very quick and easy conversion if you can find a Kato N scale pocket loco mechanism. This one is from the yellow steeple cab. Remove the shell, remove about an 1/8" of plastic from the motor housing on each side and the Funaro Plymouth shell will fit onto the chassis.
Here's the same loco with a DCC decoder installed.

Latest

Check out the new HOn30 Forney kit that Railway Recollections released in January for Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes RR Nos 20-22. I've modified the Bachman N scale 0-6-0 chassis per the instructions and it still runs well. The longer wheelbase also gets it over the plastics frogs on some of my turnouts so it should run better. The assembly is divided into 4 sub-assemblies: boilder, cab/fuel bunker, rear deck and pilot. I have slowed myself down a little by adding a working head light in the boiler. It looks like it will go together smoothly. I'll post pics soon.

You can get this kit from Train and Trooper & B & F Hobby.

Other HOn30 news: sweet-looking laser-cut wood Monson boxcars soon to be released by Stevens Creek (http://www.hon3.com/).

N-Drive Productions in the UK is producing a replacement mechanism for the Bachman 0-4-0. I hear that quite a few are coming across the pond. His e-mail address is n.driveproductions@yahoo.co.uk for inquries. Picture is at right.

It should be a good runner with a Mashima can motor. I have not seen one in person so I can't evaluate it fully.