Canadian Pacific 2-8-0 Kitbash

[sailormatlac]

Hi everybody,

First time here, as a poster and not a lurker.

Recently, I got my hand on a bunch of Miniatures by Eric vestibule cabs. It's what sparkled this project.

Canadian Pacific engine always had a esthetic charm that caught my eyes when I was reading my 1927 Youth Encyclopedia when I was a kid (I'm not that old, just read everything that was available in the house in the mid-90's. BTW, I'm sure someone remember the Do It Yourself Encyclopedia by Mechanic Popular, 1957 edition showed an O layout!).

Anyway, rarely large steamers ventured on my prototype (Quebec City), only smaller steamers. So I started working on my new X'mas steam project earlier than I thought: kitbashing a Spectrum 2-8-0 into a Canadian Pacific N2c engine (built in 1914). Last year, I used another Rock Island Spectrum to make a CNR stand in. The CPR project needs less reworking thant the CNR counter part. Mainly a cosmetic make up.

I'm not trying to get everything by the propotype, but still will make efforts to get a good result. Most hard work will be on the tender. It needs a severe shortening and reshaping which shouldn't be too hard to do. If I were a rivet counter, I would probably move the domes, but this involves a lot of reworking. Maybe I'll try it just to get the right look. Except for the cab and few castings (whistle, headlight and stanchions), most things will be scratchbuilt from styrene and electric wire.

This project involve reusing and reworking the aforementionned Miniatures by Eric CPR resin cab I got for 1$, moving some piping, a new injector, a new headlight and adding the characteristic runningboard skirts. I hope this project will inspire a few people how you can make yourself a quite decent looking canadian steam engine under 100$ including detailling pieces. I'm always amazed how Spectrum engines can mimick a lots of different real locomotives from different roads. Which is why I also started to rework a Spectrum 4-4-0 into a CPR #144 clone.

















Matt