08-08-2011, 07:41 PM
Hey guys..!! Thanks for all your comments. They sure are welcome after all I went through getting this baby done. I swore a hundred times I wouldnt do this EVER again, but a couple of weeks ago I kinda started browsing around seeing what I might tackle next.... 
I ran across my ol' man's Mantua Pacific from waaay back...very early fifties vintage. I'm thinking I just might resucitate it....
For the time being I'm going to concentrate on working on the layout which has been lying idle most of this time. Gotta "get 'er done"....
As for the cowcatcher/steps issue, i double checked to see if the boiler might not be sitting correctly on the frame, but it is firmly seated on the saddle and on the cylinder pipes. It is not the original catcher...The original was a blob of black plastic....
It's one of the many add-ons I purchased , and "dolled" it up with the piping between the tanks and the coupler levers. The front coupler is scale (+/-), from a time before Kadees, so it's essentially just for show....
I ran across my ol' man's Mantua Pacific from waaay back...very early fifties vintage. I'm thinking I just might resucitate it....
For the time being I'm going to concentrate on working on the layout which has been lying idle most of this time. Gotta "get 'er done"....
As for the cowcatcher/steps issue, i double checked to see if the boiler might not be sitting correctly on the frame, but it is firmly seated on the saddle and on the cylinder pipes. It is not the original catcher...The original was a blob of black plastic....
It's one of the many add-ons I purchased , and "dolled" it up with the piping between the tanks and the coupler levers. The front coupler is scale (+/-), from a time before Kadees, so it's essentially just for show....
Gus (LC&P).