05-01-2014, 02:21 PM
I haven't been all that big a fan of restored steam, maybe because there hasn't been a whole lot of it out here -- every few years, 3751 or 844, but not much else. But somehow I got stoked about UP moving Big Boy 4014 back to Cheyenne. I decided to see if I could get one of the cheap Revell plastic Big Boy kits and modify it as far as possible into the 4014 during its move. The Revell kit doesn't seem to be carried by the usual model train sites, but you can get it pretty inexpensively off Amazon, so I got one.
I need to be careful about scoping this project. My aim is to add whatever details I can to the Revell kit to make it look somewhat like 4014 on its move, without going bananas. For instance, the boiler sheathing has been removed (as it is on many museum locos, apparently to get rid of the asbestos insulation), and I am simply not going to spend the effort reproducing the unsheathed boiler with rivets showing. However, I do want to be able to have a diesel shove it back and forth on my layout. While the kit is advertised as having movable wheels, I'm not sure how well this will work, but I'm going to try to make it into enough of a dummy that I can at least have a mini-restoration trip if I want to.
I'm starting with the tender, as the changes really caught my eye when I saw the loco leaving West Colton on Monday:
Notice there is no coal in the coal space, and the tender deck is being used to carry what looks like an air tank, as well as some components from the loco. The loco components can be made from the Revell parts, and I'll have to figure out how to do the air tank:
I cut away the coal load from the Revell casting and will build up the empty coal space from styrene. I will also add weight to the tender for operation, insofar as this can be made workable:
I replaced the snap-on lead truck attachment for the centipede tender with a screw and washer. I also made a styrene retainer for the pedestal tender wheels.
I'll need to modify the chassis of both engine and tender to provide for Kadees front and rear, as well as more robust articulation and drawbar connections. I will also need to make the center wheels on the pedestal tender blind.
I need to be careful about scoping this project. My aim is to add whatever details I can to the Revell kit to make it look somewhat like 4014 on its move, without going bananas. For instance, the boiler sheathing has been removed (as it is on many museum locos, apparently to get rid of the asbestos insulation), and I am simply not going to spend the effort reproducing the unsheathed boiler with rivets showing. However, I do want to be able to have a diesel shove it back and forth on my layout. While the kit is advertised as having movable wheels, I'm not sure how well this will work, but I'm going to try to make it into enough of a dummy that I can at least have a mini-restoration trip if I want to.
I'm starting with the tender, as the changes really caught my eye when I saw the loco leaving West Colton on Monday:
Notice there is no coal in the coal space, and the tender deck is being used to carry what looks like an air tank, as well as some components from the loco. The loco components can be made from the Revell parts, and I'll have to figure out how to do the air tank:
I cut away the coal load from the Revell casting and will build up the empty coal space from styrene. I will also add weight to the tender for operation, insofar as this can be made workable:
I replaced the snap-on lead truck attachment for the centipede tender with a screw and washer. I also made a styrene retainer for the pedestal tender wheels.
I'll need to modify the chassis of both engine and tender to provide for Kadees front and rear, as well as more robust articulation and drawbar connections. I will also need to make the center wheels on the pedestal tender blind.