Perry:
Apologies for my incorrect citation of your name! My bad.
I think our models are LMB rather than Lambert. LMB is even more old-school, with less detail and crankier drivetrains, but thicker brass for the superstructures. In addition to a modern motor, I’m expecting my mod guy (Jan) to tell me
that the gearbox needs replacing. When that’s his opinion, we always go with a PSC gearbox, as NWSL has been disappointing for several years now. Of course, a gearbox swap also involves checking and blueprinting the quartering
all of the drivers.
Depending on which driver axle has the gearbox, and the dimensions of the model, even a coreless motor of the biggest diameter that will fit into the boiler may still be too long to allow correct location of a backhead. We’ve gone one
or both of two ways to fix this. The expensive way is to move the gearbox forward a driver axle, though this usually entails altering the frame cross-members, and in some cases the valve gear hanger. (We did all of that on a Westside PRR G-5 4-6-0, and a
Westside UP A-2 4-4-2 that we also modded into a C&A configuration) and they came out superbly, but took a LOT of time and effort.) Moving the gearbox forward typically allows a motor to be moved ~3/4” forward in a model, but sometimes requires the bottom
opening of the boiler to be widened to allow assembly/disassembly of the model. The cheaper and less invasive (but sometimes still insufficient) way is to get one of those square motors that the Repower and Regear groups.io folks are raving about. They are
extremely strong for their size, and typically even shorter than a coreless motor of equal power. But they typically run at lower RPM than other motors, and even with a 27:1 gearbox (vs a 37:1) are slower than one would like in a passenger loco model. On
the plus side, they seem to be fully compatible with DCC, and run very smoothly.
Another consideration is that many older models don’t extend the boiler shell back into the cab at all, or far enough. In these cases, a boiler extension must be fabricated and installed to put the backhead in the correct place. What’s
the correct place? Well, it should align vertically with the back end of the firebox, whose aft lower corners are usually visible below the cab.
Additionally, many of the older models lack cab floors, or have only partially complete cab floors. That doesn’t work for me, so Jan also takes care of that.
I’ll ask Jan to take photos through the process, and email you with the results. I’m often the first guy to pose him with a particular model for this work, so I get to pay him for his learning curve. Typically a first effort like this
runs $250, if I supply the motor. Paint and finishing to my (very exacting) standards for a model like the S-2 would typically run me $375 (including separate cab interior color and graphited smokebox and firebox.) And I want some detail mods done to the
S-2, which will raise the cost a bit further. To many, it will sound utterly crazy to spend this kind of money (even before DCC and lights) on a $150 model. I just don’t like to have to apologize for any aspect of any of my models, and I very much like the
whole “one of one” thing. (There are plenty of photos of most steam loco classes out there, so why should any of our loco models look the same? I particularly like modeling Missouri Pacific steam, as after a few years of service, no two locos of any class
looked the same on that road.)
YMMV. We’re all crazy in some way, viewed through other’s lenses.
Best,
-Eric
Sent from
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Eric:
How is this project coming along? I have a Lambert S-2 and would like to remoter and convert to DCC. Do you have a recommendation on a motor? How it is mounted? And which backhead to use? I went to American Scale Models and they have 4 backheads listed. Can
you post a photo motor installation? Any information would be helpful. Thanks.
Perry Bilotta
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