Yea...but something about a 2 axle just screams * JUST DO IT !! * I am already scrounging up some 'stuff'. I also presume it doesnt have to pull/push but a couple cars at a time. And DC works ok for me...as my layout is dual mode DC/DCC. :tb-cool: .
ok, so I can't seem to figure out how to edit old posts with this new setup. But here is an old logging railbus I did a while ago, it is kinda box-ish The coach with it is one of the older Bachmann ones with the roof modifyed, and lowered quite a bit with MT couplers. And the new boxcab. I have something in store for this one that might blow your mind Still a TON of work left to do, but the basic shape is roughed in and some roof details done. I also designed to shell to be removed, and not modify the existing chassis, I like the little steeple cab that is normally with this chassis. So I am going to order another chassis later, mabey the one with hand rails for the final version.
I'm serious and believe it could be done. Let me dig up the chassis. Please send me a PM with your email addy and we can take it from there. Thanks!
On the traction side of things a popular conversion is to use the steeple cab on one of the Kato eight wheel chassis. A description of the process is on the N-Cat web page.
Delamaize, your model reminded me of one the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad built out of spare parts: The second photo is someone's version in G scale.
Well, I have determined that MTL 905 couplers are the way I am going to go. I spent my hobby time last night working on fashioning some coupler pocket for them which I will then fasten under the raised ends of the chassis. I was filing down the styrene on the upper part of the pocket last night so that the coupler can sit up higher in-line with the MTL coupler height gauge that I use for tuning all my couplers. Adam
I'm tellin' ya guys, there are few chassis that are less suitable for a slow-speed switching boxcab than the four-wheel 11-104. It's all about the electrical pickup. If you're willing to permanently assign an electrical pickup car to it, it will work fine. But the inability of that thing to work right by itself is why I never made a kit out of the Trackmobile. Now, but try a gearhead on an 11-105 chassis, and you've got something really good. I'd recommend a Kato 11-105 motor on a Gizmoszone 5.14:1 gearhead (the 3.5 v. motor is interchangeable with the 12V Kato motor, same case drilling) and you'll have a bulletproof 8-wheel pickup shorty chassis with a slow-speed gearhead, just the ticket for negotiating tight curves without stalling and slow speed. Chris did a home-brew gearhead, same idea. The 11-105 has excellent pickup, just too fast. With a gearhead you can also pile the weight over the power truck for traction in a boxcab. I've been putting in the micro gearheads in 11-105's as the basic power for my "Super" Climax A's, and they work great. The little capacitor on the 11-104 is to prevent electrical interference, not prevent stalling. I'm very curious about the use of any capacitor as a 'substitute flywheel' but I don't see how it would work without also preventing stuff like .....STOPPING until the capacitor was drained. The new Richmond Controls LED systems are using track-powered capacitors as battery substitutes and doing it quite well. In fact, you can turn off the track power and the LED's will continue to glow for about 10 minutes. The other 'DUH' thing here is that the stock 11-105 chassis and the Bachmann 44-tonner/70-tonner are similarly sized. In a boxcab, I think the most rational thing you could do is buy a 44-tonner and just use the chassis. 8-wheel drive and pickup, good slow speed, very good elecrical, what's not to love? As soon as I found out they fit in the 70-tonner kits I gave up on the 11-105 chassis, and then Bachmann introduced the 70-tonners. My Bachmann-powered still runs better than my stock 11-105. My gearhead 11-105 though, is really a sweet drive. Love it. That Kato 11-105 motor + 5.14 Gizmoszone gearhead is also what is powering my rebuilt Atlas 2-6-0 with tender drive, and that's hands-down the best performing small steam locomotive I've ever seen - quiet, smooth, perfect slow speed, torque, the whole deal. And unlike a Faulhaber, you don't have to take out a mortgage. $13.10: http://www.gizmoszone.com/shopping/agora.cgi?product=Gearmotor;ppinc=1g In theory - and even in practice - the attached 'electrical pickup car' solves all the tiny locomotive problems. You can get some absurdly small drives out there now, they just can't pick up worth a darn. Stuffing one of the micro 4-wheel ones inside a Burro crane, with the attached flatcar of 'rail' as the pickup car worked just fine. It's amazing how smooth the finished product works. I'm using Kato caboose trucks and pickups. It's on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkttVZc-Ges With that pickup car I can go right through Atlas C80#6's on a crossover and not a hiccup. And the drive is GARBAGE - a tiny motor vertically mounted pushing one axle... so if that works, anything is possible.
I know the 11-104 isn't as good as the 11-105/6/7 chassis. My prototype has two axles and is rather short so I am taking a bit of a chance here. We'll see how it goes. One of the strengths of the 11-105/6/7 is that the pick-up springs function also a bit as a s suspension system to keep the wheels in contact with the track.
I find that adding weight to either the 4 or eight wheel chassis improves their performance. The same holds true for the BanDai versions. A boxcab built out of heavier brass plate or cast white metal should be an excellent performer. The eight wheel chassis just have more flexible points of pick up. The four wheel chassis does not flex so the imperfect track will take one or more wheels off the rail.
I'm a bit late to the party, but I can't resist this challenge. My prototype is Canadian National twin-engine "oil-electric" 7750, built in 1932. There's a dimensioned CNR diagram on the Fallen Flags site (mislabeled "7730") which should make the project easier. I plan to use the Kato NW2 mechanism, scratchbuild the carbody, use Archer rivet decals, paint the whole thing basic black, and letter it for my freelance Western Union. The big question: brass or plastic for the carbody? I've done small projects in brass, but never anything like this. By the way, if anybody is still looking for an appealing boxcab prototype, check out Grand Trunk Western 73 (originally numbered 7730), a Brill gas-electric dating to 1926. That thing is so cute you almost expect to see window boxes with petunias.
I am trying to add a 44t to my pending order. If I succeed, I will have the basis for a nice, freelanced boxcab.
I was staying out of this because the only B&O boxcab I could think of was #50 and a little large for the theme of this topic. http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo50b.jpg But then I found this: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo1b.jpg OK Chris... You may have to add one more to that order.....it looks dead on to the B&O unit above. For a real challenge, I found one more.... http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo10.jpg Anybody up for powering a Microtrains disconnect logging truck? That is about what the above cab would take.
Awesome! Welcome aboard Tony! And you too, Thieu! Funny that you should show the B&o #10. I was thinking of doing that as an unpowered unit with the leftover roof from the RPO car. Perhaps I will...
Made some progress on the box cab this weekend. I've got most of the rooftop components sourced and prepped, all scrounged from old parts and household stuff. Still need to find something to work as a bell, though if I can find something that's close enough to the shape, a little gold paint will probably do. Had to cut another roof part as I broke the side off of the first one (d'oh!). And I'm seriously considering B&O #10 with the leftover bits. Maybe I can power a boxcar or idler gondola and leave it as a dummy...
Tony, That B&O boxcab is in Manhattan right at this corner: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qs...72802&dir=89.43229159039907&sty=b&form=LMLTCC Float bridge is still there across the street. and the B&O building it still there as well, but surrounded by newer construction.
I can't edit my post? Here is an aerial view of the B&O yard: http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/bo26aerial1951.jpg You can see the boxcab peeking up at the left.
