05-05-2015, 09:52 AM
Thanks, guys. 
I'm taking a break from this while I work on some locomotives for a friend. One's an old Varney Consolidation (marketed as the Varney "Old Lady"). The friend sent it away to have it re-motored, re-geared, and re-wheeled, but in doing so, they negated the wheel wipers which I had installed previously. I'm installing a better version and doing some other upgrades, but, in my opinion, he wasted several hundred dollars for the work, which was very poorly-done. Personally, I would have relegated it to the old folks (locomotives) home.
The others are brass locos, a couple of ex-B&O 0-8-0s, one of which I'd painted previously and the other, which needs to be painted. Both are getting improved wheel wipers to give them all-wheel pick-up. The fourth one is an old Akane USRA Pacific. I previously used its tender to upgrade an old Mantua Pacific, so this one will get a Bachmann USRA-style tender. I've already re-motored the loco and installed driver wipers, but need to alter the tender for all-wheel pick-up, add a few details to the loco, and then paint and lettering.
The main reason for this shift in focus is to clear my work areas so that I can finally do some of my own stuff. This includes re-working three Bachmann Consolidations into reasonable replicas of CNR/DW&P locomotives, and doing the same to an Athearn USRA Mikado. I also have an old John English Pacific to re-do for my own railroad, along with (hopefully) a USRA 2-6-6-2, and another loco to partially scratchbuild. Oh, yeah, and a Bowser Pacific to convert into a TH&B loco. That should be the end of locomotive work for myself.
Also on the agenda are more kitbashed and scratchbuilt baggage and express cars, perhaps a couple of mostly scratchbuilt passenger cars, about a dozen scratchbuilt freight cars (which should wrap-up freight car work for myself) and 10 or 12 scratchbuilt cabooses for my home roads. Interspersed with all the foregoing, I need to get busy working on the layout.
However, the best laid plans of mice and men..... 
Wayne
I'm taking a break from this while I work on some locomotives for a friend. One's an old Varney Consolidation (marketed as the Varney "Old Lady"). The friend sent it away to have it re-motored, re-geared, and re-wheeled, but in doing so, they negated the wheel wipers which I had installed previously. I'm installing a better version and doing some other upgrades, but, in my opinion, he wasted several hundred dollars for the work, which was very poorly-done. Personally, I would have relegated it to the old folks (locomotives) home.
The others are brass locos, a couple of ex-B&O 0-8-0s, one of which I'd painted previously and the other, which needs to be painted. Both are getting improved wheel wipers to give them all-wheel pick-up. The fourth one is an old Akane USRA Pacific. I previously used its tender to upgrade an old Mantua Pacific, so this one will get a Bachmann USRA-style tender. I've already re-motored the loco and installed driver wipers, but need to alter the tender for all-wheel pick-up, add a few details to the loco, and then paint and lettering.
The main reason for this shift in focus is to clear my work areas so that I can finally do some of my own stuff. This includes re-working three Bachmann Consolidations into reasonable replicas of CNR/DW&P locomotives, and doing the same to an Athearn USRA Mikado. I also have an old John English Pacific to re-do for my own railroad, along with (hopefully) a USRA 2-6-6-2, and another loco to partially scratchbuild. Oh, yeah, and a Bowser Pacific to convert into a TH&B loco. That should be the end of locomotive work for myself.
Also on the agenda are more kitbashed and scratchbuilt baggage and express cars, perhaps a couple of mostly scratchbuilt passenger cars, about a dozen scratchbuilt freight cars (which should wrap-up freight car work for myself) and 10 or 12 scratchbuilt cabooses for my home roads. Interspersed with all the foregoing, I need to get busy working on the layout.
However, the best laid plans of mice and men.....
Wayne