Mark and Eric.
I have little knowledge of CB&Q pacific locos. But, based on Eric’s reply, it would seem that the USRA light Pacific could be a possible choice for a bash. Driver diameter and wheel base are very close and the dome heights I think should work.
There are several choices that can be had for maybe $100 or so. Yes, there are those on eBay that seem to think they are selling works of art and want to charge accordingly. But, patience will win as the demand is not all that high nowadays.
I would suggest looking for an Oriental Power House USRA Light Pacific. These were built with a sprung brass chassis that included a can motor and enclosed gearbox and are noted for their very smooth operation. The superstructures are diecast. They are nicely detailed but leave room for additional detailing. Right now you can find them for starting at about $125, but seem to sell for a bit less.
Athearn sold a lot of their Samhongsa built light Pacific’s and the can be found for reasonable prices, These have plastic superstructures and are not the easiest to disassemble. Both of these have RP25 flanges.
My choice would the Oriental but the Athearn is available with DCC/sound. But, according to what I’ve read, adding DCC to the Oriental should be quite easy. I don’t use DCC so I haven’t attempted one as of yet.
I do have a B&O Oriental Pacific that I could sell for $80.00. It needs repairs to the pilot. Nothing serious but it was apparently dropped and everything up there is loose. Only the right step was bent but I tried to straighten it without removing the pilot and a solder joint or three let loose. It’s all brass up there so no worry about breaking any castings. I will fix it within the next couple of weeks but then I’ll be asking $125.00 for it. If interested I can send photos on Monday.
John Hagen
From: CBQ@groups.io [mailto:CBQ@groups.io] On Behalf Of Bott, Eric H.
Sent: Friday, July 1, 2022 7:02 AM
To: CBQ@groups.io
Subject: Re: [CBQ] S-2 Pacific
Mark:
It’s at least worth considering the LMB S-2a. They can be found in decent cosmetic condition for ~$200. You’d probably want to install a can motor, and it’s probably 75:25 that a new gearbox would be warranted. If you install one of the shorter coreless or square motors (the former being more expensive, but strong and potentially higher rpm; the latter being very economical and super strong, but generally lower rpm than a suitable can motor), you will then have enough room to get a backhead into the right place in the cab. American Scale Models (www.americanscalemodels.com) is the place I go for detailed backheads, and owner Bill Davis is a super guy.
Beyond that, brass is a great medium for super-detailing or modification, and you can elect however far you want to take that, using the now pretty robustly available (direct or on eBay) lost wax castings from PSC. The new owners, the Prantls, also seem like nice people.
Installing a gearbox requires a puller and a press, and accurate re-quartering of the main driver axle, so don’t go into that process that with your eyes closed. I can recommend a great craftsman who can do the work for you, but he will not work with NWSL gearboxes any more, and you’d be in for the $60 PSC gearbox price and the motor price, in addition to his labor and the 2-way shipping costs. My LMB S-2a is with him for this work now, so he’d have good processes and dimensions already worked out if he received one from you to upgrade.
When looking for suitable donor models for a project like the one you are contemplating, I always start at www.steamlocomotive.com. It is an astonishingly comprehensive databank of steam loco characteristics. With respect to the S-2, you’d look in the 4-6-2 part of the database for Pacifics that had close to the same wheelbase, driver diameter, and locomotive weight (the latter to address your “beefiness” concern), constraining your search to prototypes for which suitable models have been produced. If a donor model you are considering doesn’t come close in these basic dimensions, you’d be looking at a huge effort to modify it to suit.
Also beware that many plastic (and even some brass) models were produced with grotesquely large driver flanges. When that was done, the drivers were often correspondingly undersized in diameter to “look right”. To me, it never does, but YMMV. Trying to swap out drivers in a model is a sure way to make a project cost exorbitant, if not completely impractical.
G’luck!
-Eric
Sent from Mail for Windows
Hi everyone!
I'm looking for a starting point to model an S-2 Pacific or three in HO scale.
Brass is probably out of the question.
Are there any decent plastic locos (meaning decent running qualities) that would make a good starting point? Something with taller domes to more closely match the S-2, for example. The BLI heavy Pacific is one I wouldn't consider a good starting point - too beefy looking.
Thanks!
Mark P.
You receive all messages sent to this group.