GHQ Hiawatha build on bachmann chassis

[Cad5]

I don't have a second FEF to do a tutorial with but here's what it currently looks like without the shell on it, and the saw I used to do it
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And here's the order I made the cuts in and about where I made them on the unmodified chassis
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1-5 were cuts made with the saw, 6 is where I had to grind material away for it to fit properly. The saw is a generic hobby saw from hobby lobby. You're probably best off fully disassembling the engine and then screwing the two halves back together to cut them

[kiwi_al]

Thanks for that, you did that really well - excellent!!!

[chessie system fan]

I'm excited you're working on this again. Can you post a straight side-on picture? I'm curious if the GHQ shell was stretched proportionally to fit the Con Cor hudson.  Does the shell look right on the new Kato mechanism?  How about the tender?  Supposing the locomotive shell rode high to fit the Con Cor mechanism, I could believe the tender height was slightly fudged to look right (and don't forget about the inaccurate 33" wheels, so your tender is comparatively three one-and-a-half inches taller than expected).

[Cad5]

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I think it looks about right on the fef mech, but I'm very curious if I can use gs4 wheels with it because its pattern is slightly more accurate.

(and don't forget about the inaccurate 33" wheels, so your tender is comparatively three inches taller than expected).

actually it's only 1.5" difference at the axle 🤓 but the pewter tender is ~1.5 mm shorter than the plastic one but I haven't measured to see which is more accurate yet

[chessie system fan]

I can't tell if it's the photo angle or not, but it seems like it's nose-high.  And did your hacking affect the motor and the running qualities at all?

[wazzou]

I agree it appears the cab end should be shimmed slightly.

[peteski]

Pretty clever adaptation of the smooth running and powerful Kato chassis.
Since in Kato's 4-8-4 design the 4th driver is strictly cosmetic (does not carry any weight), this type of conversion makes perfect sense.  All the weight is carried by the 1st and 3rd drivers (2nd driver is also cosmetic)

[Cad5]

I can't tell if it's the photo angle or not, but it seems like it's nose-high.  And did your hacking affect the motor and the running qualities at all?

It's just how it's sitting right now, I slapped the front truck on for the picture but the spring on it is just a little strong and it's causing the nose to lift.

[peteski]

I think it looks about right on the fef mech, but I'm very curious if I can use gs4 wheels with it because its pattern is slightly more accurate.  a

GS-4 is very similar to FEF3, but the frame has a slightly different design.  There is a small, electrically isolated frame on the top of the back of the model for the motor's electrical connection through the unusual drawbar which has 4 conductors (2 for track pickup and 2 for the motor, so a decoder can be installed in the tender).  The drivers themselves might be swappable (I haven't actually tested this).

[jwaldo]

(Attachment Link)
Pewter is just so much nicer to work with, I've had to work it a bit to get it all straightened out and I'm still working to fix some subtle proportion stuff but I'm very happy with it.
I've decided I'll try to make all the handrails myself this time around but we'll see how that goes.

It didn't really hit me how small this shell is until I noticed the Lego supports. Gives a whole new perspective to how detailed the casting is.

[Cad5]

One thing certainly on my mind is getting the two parts with the number boards and marker lights recast in clear plastic so I can have them illuminated. I'm also wondering how hard it would be to 3D print a replacement for the valve gear bracket because the hole pattern isn't exact

[Cad5]

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Shortened the front truck as well as worked on some detail on both front and rear. I think I'm going to need to find a smaller rear pair of wheels for the rear truck but here's how it looks on the engine
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I also picked up everything (I think) I need to mold and cast clear replicas of the number boards so hopefully I'll get around to that in the next day or two

[Cad5]

Took quite a few tries but it's just about good enough now
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[peteski]

Impressive, especially considering the tiny size of the castings!
How will you go about illuminating them now, and making sure the stray light does not shine through the areas which should remain opaque?

[CNR5529]

For what it's worth, @craigolio1 has mastered the art of casting miniature LEDs in clear epoxy. I have been making 3d printed masters for him and he is able to embed the led in the casting. As you already have the masters and molds, you should be able to use this technique as well to get lit class lights and number boards. We are intending to do the same thing for similar class lights on the Royal Hudsons we are both building...

See here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=47390.msg653192#msg653192