BLI BigBoys both In-Stock and arriving soon

[robert3985]

I am waiting on the N&W Y6, which should be released in a few months.  Is there a way to remove the smoke unit on these locos?  Not interested in any of that.

I know Big Boys are cool and will sell well, but with Kato releasing theirs in the near future, we have a huge supply of them right now.  I would have rather seen a good 2-10-x mechanism of some type, even if it is a USRA copy.  Or heck, can we have a good new steam switcher?

I was wondering the same thing about removing all the smoke equipment.

Looks like the detailing is pretty good on the BLI model...with separate throttle linkage, no ashpans on the 4014 and an add on tool cabinet to make the tender a 3985 tender.  Looks like double dynamos also, but no antenna details on top of the cab.

Cast on grabs on the sand domes and fugly cast on grabs on the front of the cab roof.  Looks like the railings on the pilot are bit thick, and the railings/conduit on the sides of the boiler are a bit thin.

Is the perforated metal I see used for the running boards?  Can't tell for sure.

I really wish that on the coal fired version, they'd just leave an open, empty coal bunker...or even half a coal bunker so coal loads would look different for each Big Boy.

Holy Krap!...excessive cab overhang on that Kato Unitrack curve!!  That's ridiculous...

No innovation at the junction of the main side steam pipes like the Kato version which does a less obvious non-connection to the rear pistons.

I like the open window on the Engineer's side, but I don't like the thick red ash dump wheel, which is superfluous on the 4014 since it isn't producing any ashes.  It's probably cast on.

The color of the smokebox is totally wrong, but hey, nobody ever gets it right, and the black paint isn't glossy.

Boiler details under the sand domes looks to be in-service detailing, not 4014 details, which is fine by me since I don't want or need an excursion 4014.

Yeah...that smoke stuff really turns me off.

I'm surprisingly not excited at all about it, but, I hope it sells well.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[pmpexpress]

Con-Cor originally did sell Rivarossi Big Boys. I own one.  I don't have the box top anymore, but it did have a Con-Cor label on it.  They just never got around to fantasy schemes I guess. Con-Cor also sold spare parts for them (that's where I purchased a spare engine assembly).

The Con-Cor Rivarossi N-Scale Big Boys were initially shipped in Rivarossi plastic jewel-boxes with a self adhesive white Con-Cor label bearing red printing on the box lid and a blue colored injection molded plastic nest.

In their final years of production, the models were delivered in Con-Cor cardboard boxes with red or tan colored box tops and gray colored Styrofoam packaging inserts.

While some of the prototype railroad liveries that were chosen by the Italian firm my not have been prototypically accurate (e.g., Clinchfield, New York Central, Pennsylvania, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific Berkshires), confined to models that were decorated by Con-Cor, none of the factory delivered Rivarossi N-Scale products bore the colorful Amtrak, Chessie System, or Conrail fantasy paint schemes that were favored by Con-Cor.

[peteski]

The Con-Cor Rivarossi N-Scale Big Boys were initially shipped in Rivarossi plastic jewel-boxes with blue colored injection molded plastic nests, then Con-Cor cardboard boxes with red or tan colored  box tops and gray colored Styrofoam packaging inserts in their final years of production.
. . .

Yes the one I own came in a fairly large cardboard box with gray foam nest.  The top of the box was light brown. It looked like imitation woodgrain pattern.

[pmpexpress]

Yes the one I own came in a fairly large cardboard box with gray foam nest.  The top of the box was light brown. It looked like imitation woodgrain pattern.

From a pre-1988 first run mechanism run which was the first of the Con-Cor Rivarossi cardboard box Big Boy releases, I completely forgot about the "Premiere Edition"wood grained box top version with the self adhesive gold foil Con-Cor label.

Manufactured from 1988 until around 1999, the models with revised mechanisms were shipped with red or tan cardboard box tops.

The 1979 first run models were shipped in the plastic jewel-box that was previously used to ship the Rivarossi N-Scale 2-8-8-2 Y6B Mallet steam locomotives.

Like the Big Boy models, the later run Y6B locomotives shipped in Con-Cor cardboard boxes with red or tan cardboard box tops.

[Nato]

       Peteski, if your Con Cor Rivarossi Big Boy came in the large brown imitation wood grain box it was from the very first run. I had two of those, and one that I obtained  used that the previous owner  had lettered and weathered for New York Central. I did a partial repaint leaving the weathering and re adding a front UP shield. I also owned two of the later runs which came in two different types of Con Cor Boxes, one a long red one, and one a short tan box with the locomotive and tender in a short foam insert. Nate Goodman. (Nato).

[peteski]

       Peteski, if your Con Cor Rivarossi Big Boy came in the large brown imitation wood grain box it was from the very first run. I had two of those, and one that I obtained  used that the previous owner  had lettered and weathered for New York Central. I did a partial repaint leaving the weathering and re adding a front UP shield. I also owned two of the later runs which came in two different types of Con Cor Boxes, one a long red one, and one a short tan box with the locomotive and tender in a short foam insert. Nate Goodman. (Nato).

The Con-Cor Big Boy plot thickens . . . 
I wish I still had the box top.  The box also had an embroidered UP shield patch and  Con-Cor JMC  break-in instructions which start off with "Thank you for purchasing the BIG BOY made in Italy by Rivarossi".

And in a typical TRW fashion we have totally derailed this thread. 

[Mike C]

I was wondering the same thing about removing all the smoke equipment.



Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

   Not sure about the BLI N scale decoders , but I do know that the HO decoders have a CV that turns off the smoke generator .     Mike

[peteski]

Wow!  These come with meandering N scale smoke?  I got to get me one of these!   

While back in the early '70s at least one of the early Arnold European locos came with factory installed smoke generator (which did have off switch), to my knowledge not many other locos were made that way in the last 45 years or so.  If there were more, they were likely European prototype made by European manufacturers.

I've seen some impressive smoking locos in larger scales where there is a fan in the loco to simulate puffing, but the lazily meandering smoke in N scale models just looks cheesy.

[garethashenden]

Starting with a rare and unique N scale model (Rivarossi), it appears that we will now have glut of Big Boys. I should paint one for the Boston & Maine RR. 

There are a bunch of pictures of them on B&M rails. Well, one of them anyway.

[wazzou]

Wow!  These come with meandering N scale smoke?  I got to get me one of these!   

I seem to recall my first train, the Tyco “Chattanooga Choo Choo” had a clear bottle of oil that you’d pour down the stack to create smoke.
I could be wrong on that one, but I think that was the only Steam Loco I had while young.
There should be a study done on them, like Gas Ranges.   

[peteski]

My first experience with smoke was when I was a teenager in Poland with a small TT-gauge layout.  I bought one of the small Seuthe smoke generators, then cut off the smokestack in a steam loco I had, drilled a hole in the boiler, removed some lead ballast inside and installed the smoke generator in there.  The smoke generator had a diameter close to the original stack, and it was covered by black plastic sleeve (shrink tubing?) so it actually didn't look bad.

I used it several times but the novelty wore out rather quickly.  The smoke looked like smoke from a burning cigarette sitting in an ashtray. Not like a smoke coming out of a locomotive.   Plus, it only smoked when the loco was going fairly fast (it needed high enough voltage for the internal heater to vaporize the oil). Then there was the mess.  The oil would wick out of the generator onto the boiler making it all oily.  Not something I would want to use in any of my N scale steam locos.

[robert3985]

As far as the BLI Big Boy is concerned...it's smokin' more, and I'm enjoying it less...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Nato]

     "We don't need no Stinking Smoke!" Nate Goodman (Nato).

[robert3985]

I was wondering the same thing about removing all the smoke equipment.

Looks like the detailing is pretty good on the BLI model...with separate throttle linkage, no ashpans on the 4014 and an add on tool cabinet to make the tender a 3985 tender.  Looks like double dynamos also, but no antenna details on top of the cab.

Cast on grabs on the sand domes and fugly cast on grabs on the front of the cab roof.  Looks like the railings on the pilot are bit thick, and the railings/conduit on the sides of the boiler are a bit thin.

Is the perforated metal I see used for the running boards?  Can't tell for sure.

I really wish that on the coal fired version, they'd just leave an open, empty coal bunker...or even half a coal bunker so coal loads would look different for each Big Boy.

Holy Krap!...excessive cab overhang on that Kato Unitrack curve!!  That's ridiculous...

No innovation at the junction of the main side steam pipes like the Kato version which does a less obvious non-connection to the rear pistons.

I like the open window on the Engineer's side, but I don't like the thick red ash dump wheel, which is superfluous on the 4014 since it isn't producing any ashes.  It's probably cast on.

The color of the smokebox is totally wrong, but hey, nobody ever gets it right, and the black paint isn't glossy.

Boiler details under the sand domes looks to be in-service detailing, not 4014 details, which is fine by me since I don't want or need an excursion 4014.

Yeah...that smoke stuff really turns me off.

I'm surprisingly not excited at all about it, but, I hope it sells well.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Just curious.  Why does this post deserve a down-vote??

Anyway...did a horse-trade today for one of these...an in-service 4023 with the re-located after-coolers.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[robertjohndavis]

I haven’t received mine, yet. I don’t mind the idea of smoke since I can turn it off.

However, I am a bit disturbed by the brass (?) smoke unit parts visible in the stacks. It’s distracting and turns a curiosity (smoke unit) into a visual negative.