Bachmann's Climax

Here is the official builder's photos first:



When I was trying to come up with an imaginary lumber company to letter it for, I thought of an old Laurel & Hardy two-reeler (One Good Turn, 1931) in which Stan suggests that Ollie could chop some firewood in return for a kindly old lady's offer of a free lunch. Ollie, of course, doesn't think much of that idea and insists that Stan should be the one to do the hard work, saying: "You once told me your father was in the lumber business."
"Well, he was," Stan sheepishly admits, "but only in a small way. He sold toothpicks."


That became the inspiration for my own "lumber" business - also in a small way.


I replaced the steel cab with a wooden kit from Banta Modelworks.


I cannibalized some headlamps and the smokestack from other B'mann locos I'll eventually bash some day. You may have noticed that I also rounded off the top of the steam dome, which had a curious flat spot on top.


When I beefed up the end beams with additional timbers to support the link 'n' pin coupler pockets. because they extend below the top of the trucks, I had to cut arcs out of the insides where you can't see them. If you look closely in the third photo (from the top) you can just make out the beginning of the arc cutout. This allows the trucks to swing as freely as they did before.
I also replaced the B'mann front and rear steps with ones I made from brass bar stock and strip styrene.


A closeup of some of the details.


She's a wood-burner, but, of course the model runs on a lithium-ion battery pack and is controlled by an AirWire receiver/decoder. You can see the antenna sticking out of the wood pile and the recharging jack is hidden inside the water-fill hatch. Sound comes from a one of the new Phoenix P5 cards. If you want more info, on how I installed the Li-Ion Battery Pack, AirWire receiver/decoder card and Phoenix P5 sound board click here for the tutorial in my How-to's


"Chesty" likes sticking his head out the side, here is the rest of crew...


The engineer is Rudy - but everybody calls him "Red", his dog, Chester and Tony is fireman.


These are the best sculpted and cast large scale resin figures I've ever worked with. They needed absolutely no modification and only minimal flash cleanup. They are very realistic, in typical static poses and just ooze personality. They are from Fine Folk Figures (available from Warrior Run Loco Works, among others.)


They look good, front and back.


I really don't remember where I got Chester (affectionately known as "Chesty" - you marines know why) but he's a white metal casting and also very well proportioned.


Speaking of "Red", I wonder if he knows why firemen wear red suspenders?...to hold their pants up, of course.


Here are some pics of No. 6 in action, hauling a load of potential toothpicks (logs,) at Roger Cutter's wonderful RGS East in Northern Maryland.










BTW, for those of you who were interested in the amount of run time I get from the lithium-ion battery pack (14.8 VAC, 2400 mAh) - I ran it all afternoon, pulling a seven-car train up a pretty steep grade as well as around the whole layout three or four times, and didn't run out of juice.