Ol' No. 12, (scraped)

This is how I converted my 10th Anniversary 1:22.5 scale "Big Hauler" into a 1:20.3 scale "Medium Hauler." Essentially, I squeezed it in from both ends and pulled it up from the top to get it to look like a (free lance) Baldwin medium-sized narrow gauge ten wheeler, circa 1910.
The smoke box, pilot deck and pilot truck were shortened, along with the tender (just to improve their looks, IMHO) taller cab walls were built under the original roof, the coal bunker was raised with "hungry boards" and a half inch was added to the smokestack. A wooden cowcatcher, an old fashioned headlamp and a bunch of extra details, like the Johnson Bar link from the engineer side of the cab to the valve gear and a throttle quadrant and control rod from the top of the backhead to the steam dome (running under the dynamo) complete the transformation.


Here are the official "builders photos:"


... and some other shots:














As you can see, old No. 12 is lettered for my Dulles and Reston Garden Weeds Railroad - not to be confused with that other D&RGW R.R.


The water hatch hides the on/off switch for the sound card.


Very flexible surgical rubber hoses connect the tender to the injector lines.


I added pickups to the tender trucks to improve the loco's electrical "footprint."


The single-chime whistle and pop valves are Trackside Details brass castings. I just polished them up a little, gave them a wash of Testor's POLLY Scale "Oily Black" and then rubbed most of it off. Five minutes work.
Here is how I made and attached the cords. I stripped the insulation off some light electrical wire and unraveled the copper strands. I cut them to about twice the length I'd eventually need. I then clamped them - four strands parallel to each other about an eighth of an inch apart - in a vice and chucked the other ends together into my variable-speed Dremel tool and turned it on at its lowest speed.
The trick is to keep the cord taut but allow it to "shrink" as it winds up. Don't let it double up on itself. Practice will make perfect. The resulting cord is surprisingly stiff and will keep its shape when you hang it. With copper wire, there's no fuzz and it's totally water-proof.
I spray paint it a dark color (being sure to cover all of the copper - even a tiny uncovered spot will really shine out in the sunlight and destroy the illusion) followed with a light color dry brushed on to emphasize the twists in the "rope."


To attach the cord, I just put a ninety-degree "hook" in the last 16th of an inch or so, stick it through the hole in the arm and bend it back on itself. A drop of CA glue secures it. A pair of tweezers helps to keep it in place until the glue sets. Finally, I lightly run my finger up and down the cord until it has a natural looking drape, both vertically and horizontally.




The smoke stack was lengthened by carefully cutting the cap off with my trusty (that's [i]trusty,[/i] not rusty) razor saw and dropping in a half-inch tube of the same diameter, then gluing the cap back on. Some "Green Stuff" gap filler, a light sanding and paint hides the joint (but you can still see it if you look closely.)


Here's a shot of the foreshortened pilot deck with one of Vance Bass' excellant wooden cowcatchers attached.


Connecting the Johnson Bar to the valve gear was much easier than it looks. Just strip styrene and a couple of slits to cut. Unfortunately, the link is stuck in reverse - not much I could do about that - but, at least it's right some of the time.


Hope you enjoy the photos. If anybody has any questions about what I did or how I did it, I'll be glad to try to answer 'em.
Jack Thompson