Layout Tour: The O Scale Tall Pine Timber Co.

The Tall Pine Timber Company is a good example of what type of O scale layout you can have in a typical 1950’s tract home garage. (about 1.5 car garage) Despite 2-Rail O scale models’ firm status as the #5 modeling scale, behind HO, N, G, O 3-Rail, and maybe even On3, there are a good amount of available cars and locomotives to help the modeler build the layout that he’s always wanted.

The TPTCo. occupies what seems to be a 20X25 foot space and features a double-track mainline of 2-rail O scale and features an On3 point-to-point operation above the mainline on a ridge. A modest yard is located on either side of the layout with a town between the yards on a ridge, which is served by the On3 branchline. The layout is basically an around-the-walls “doughnut” which maximized the mainline run and also provided for gentler curves for the large Southern Pacific Mt-4 4-8-2’s that he likes to run.

What stands out most in the TPTCo. is the collection of rolling stock. An excellently detailed and weathered collection of 1940-1965 era equipment can be found on the layout, each beautifully weathered an nicely detailed. All the gondolas seemed to have really nice loads, and there was a surprise to be found in each boxcar which had an open door.

It seems like working on rolling stock is this modeler’s favorite activity, as you can find many examples of highly detailed Maintenence of Way equipment, (like this gray drovers’ caboose above) A large collection of MOW flats and gondolas literally covered in people occupies both medium sized yards on either wall.

The people were EVERYWHERE, it was an impressive collection of figures doing all sorts of things. From the requisite Woodland Scenics’ characters to other brands, you could see just about anything. Mules, Hoboes, Businessmen, Workmen, Ladies, Children and more. It was almost to the point of overpopulation, in some areas, which is rare for a layout of any scale.

Alot of detail was poured into every scene and the layout (to me) looks like it’d be located in the foothills of the Sierra Mountain range. Snowsheds, a rarely modeled feature, were present along with the normal “frontier town” scenes and a few other interesting points of interest.

Overall, very competent modeling and exceptionally detailed rolling stock made the layout enjoyable. The trackwork and ballasting were also superb and the modeler’s eye for interesting scenes that only figures could tell really brought much of his layout to life.

In addition, he really had a good sense of era, with plenty of vintage vehicles, period clothing and advertisements, and even “way of life” details, like this chicken coop behind a house with a victorian-era screen door used to keep the chickens from escaping.

Despite these great details, the rockwork was rather cartoony, with sheer 100+ foot cliffs making a “box canyon” out of much of the layout. The On3 line seems like an afterthought to me and visually disects the layout (which is a positive thing) I think the layout could have benefitted from nicely painted backdrops instead of the cliffs. Also, alot of the non-cliff rock work was incredibly steep, it created “mini-mesas” which gave a blocky shape to much of the scenery, some gradual slopes would have broken up this nicely and somewhat easily. Some bridges did look overbuilt, but that’s ok, they looked good. The overpopulated layout flooded with people seemed a bit improbable in spots, with railroad workers covering the decks of flatcars and freight depot platforms.

Overall, it’s a pretty impressive layout and it makes a great place to hang out on a warm summer day, that’s for sure! The hospitality of the hosts was second-to-none, I can’t thank them enough for an enjoyable visit.

Open the Floodgates! Pouring the “Water” for your model scenes.

This is one of the intangible “thresholds” of modeling that modelers have to work up the courage to do, because it’s a one-shot-waste scenario. It’s a tense operation pouring what can be awfully expensive water materials on your nicely painted riverbed.

In the two previous articles, we discussed a new way to research the color of a river, and how to prepare the riverbeds for the coming torrent of “water”. And appropriate landforms to compliment your riverbanks.

Options for Water

For water, Woodland Scenic has been selling a horrendously overpriced product called “Realistic Water”which is actually just Acrylic Glazing Liquid used for painting light layers of paint on a painting. Learn more about Acrylic glazing liquid here. You can get this stuff by the GALLON for half the price of the bottle of WS product at Blick Art Supply.

Acryllic Glazing Liquid
Pros:
-Least Expensive! (Less than $10/Gallon!)
-Easy to Pour
-Non-Toxic, Smelly but not noxious
-Water-Soluble
-Dries CLEAR and looks “wet” and like flowing water (more so than other fake water products)
Cons:
-Smelly for 12 hours after poured.
-Takes 24 hours to dry
-Needs containment if riverbed extends off layout
-If you want to pour it deep, it will take many layers due to the fact that it won’t dry at all fast if you pour it deeper than 1/8″ layers.
-Cannot be colored or dyed (It doesn’t matter if you’re pouring your water shallow)
-It flows through the tiniest gaps in the scenery and like water takes the path of least resistance when poured. Make sure you’ve painted your riverbed properly before pouring.

Woodland Scenics Realistic Water is IDENTICAL to Acrylic glazing liquid, Except 4 times more expensive. (approaches $16.00/bottle)

Envirotex
Pros:
-Dries Clear
-can be poured deep (thick layers) forming bodies of water
-Can be colored with dyes
-Looks nice, but dries dead flat and needs waves added in additional layers.
Cons
-PRECISE mixing may be difficult
-Excessive care to deal with bubbles is time-consuming and boring
-Produces a lot of heat from chemical reaction
-Expensive
-Yellows with age (big problem)
-Creates “fillets” (concave meniscus) and creeps up pier pilings, water weeds, Stone abutments and anything sticking above the water. Looks weird and hard to fix. (Joe Fugate remedies this problem in his DVD’s.)

“Magic Water”

With thanks to Mr. Williams of “Magic Water,” we’ve expanded our coverage of the pros and cons of his product.

Pros:

-Looks realistic
-Can be poured to ANY depth without a need to “layer” pours
-Doesn’t melt plastic or foam
-Can be tinted and colored
-Has a much gentler meniscus around objects and the shore.
-No bubbles
-No Yellowing
-No Cracking
-No Shrinkage over time
-Comes with instruction booklet that shows how to model everything from mud puddles to high waterfalls.

Cons

-Toxic
-Resin-Based
-12-24 hour drying time (Not as bad as envirotex!)
-Needs additional layer to create realistic waves
-Will seep into porous plaster scenery and needs to be sealed.

E-Z Water

E-Z Water (Bag of yellow/clear plastic granules)
-Looks enticing for beginner modelers…DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES PURCHASE E-Z WATER!!! It’s a terrible, noxious, yucky, sticky product that ruins cookware, your riverbed and your modeling confidence because every pour will end in failure.
Did I mention that it’s never actually clear? It’s always yellow.

Preparing the River

If not contained on both ends of the riverbed or water feature it can leak in all the nooks and crannys, this is the same for all other water products.

Building a Dam:

To hold back the heavier products like Envirotex, Acrylic Glazing liquid, and Magic Water, you need a dam. I made mine out of metal plates you use for workshop pegboard. These galvanized steel plates are less than $0.50 apiece at any well-stocked hardware store. I drove drywall screws through the holes to hold them in place.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART TO MAKING THE DAM IS THIS:

You have to take Wax paper or Plastic wrap and seal the side in which the water product is going to sit against to prevent the liquid or resin from spilling all over your floor. THIS HAS TO BE NEARLY WATERTIGHT, as all these products seem to find every nook and cranny just like actual water.

Here’s a photo of the dam in place:

Make sure you have at least a 1/4 to 1/2 an inch over the top of your water surface for safety.

Laying a Riverbed, Step by Step

One of the luxuries you’ll probably have as you build your future riverbed is that you won’t have previous scenery attempts lying in the middle of your project. I had to level out an entire canyon before even starting my river.

Here’s what it looked like BEFORE:

I use a lightweight way to build my hillsides, as covered in Woodland Scenic’s “Scenery Manual” which is basically old newspapers, junk mail etc crumpled up into little balls, taped to the board with 2 layers of plaster cloth and a thick layer of sculptamold atop the plaster cloth. They came down without a fight using a small hacksaw to cut through the plaster cloth.

A great tip I learned to recycle sculptamold is to heat up a large pot of water on the stove, then bring it out to the train room an ladle the hot water atop the sculptamold. The sculptamold turns back to the watery mush it was when you first mixed it, and can be recycled over and over. It even absorbs some of your scenery material like the ground foam and dirt, which adds to texture when you use it for scenery next.

The first part when planning a river that will include any rail or road bridge is to build the right-of-way and get it to a point in which it runs reliably, then begin scenery.

Once the track is laid down, shape your banks surrounding the tracks with care to observe how real rivers create banks. Erosion is typically a large part of the character of a riverbank, and trees are the only barrier to preventing the entire banks from being swept away in a flood. Hard stone outcroppings are also elements that add character to a river.

Looking at the above diagram, one can observe some of the neat features you can add to your river scene to add some more detail.

Other riverbed types would include small stones (don’t use ballast for this) and clay riverbeds.

As you can see in the diagram above, I cover the ENTIRE riverbed in an uneven, but somewhat smooth and thin layer of sculptamold. This makes you river look 100% more natural and gives that neat fast-flowing ripple effect that makes your eye think that the water is actually moving.

This is what the dry riverbed looks like with the layer of sculptamold down and the silty riverbed of decomposed granite in place. Any dirt you apply atop the sculptmold MUST be applied over a layer of FULL-strength white glue to prevent us from having problems when we paint the riverbed next. (It will also create a nice layer between the sculptamold and the acrylic glaze.)

Here’s a closeup of the bridge abutment in place, with low wooden retaining walls on either side to prevent eroding the mainline behind the stone pier.

Using techniques in the PREVIOUS ARTICLE on how to correctly paint your riverbed, we take our paints and paint DIRECTLY on top of the dried dirt. (make sure to use a medium sized 1/2 inch wide disposable paint brush)

In the next article, we’ll cover how to pour the river, it’s easier (and in some ways harder) than you might think.

How to Model a River

Rivers are perhaps the most often modeled item on a railroad next to Depots and Trackside industries. Unfortunately, very few people actually model a river realistically enough to really convince your eye that it actually looks like water. Sure, the glossy surface helps, but it’s also what’s below the waterline that counts most.

Joe Fugate has certianly captured the look of a seasonal creek, with great success. You can follow his progress in his 5 DVD set about his Southern Pacific Siskiyou Lines. I would highly reccomend these sets of DVD’s for anyone wanting to make realistic scenery. (Volumes 4+5 deal with scenery)

For this article, I’ve modified Joe’s methods to produce a wide, shallow river. This type of river can be found anywhere. It typically doesn’t get more than 15 feet deep and has lots of sandbars and silt.

If one looks at the wide variety of rivers across the country, they all have on thing in common: a dominant riverbed color. This varies wildly from the rich oxide reds of Upper Michigan to the Green Swampy mess of the South, from the Clear mountain streams in the mountains to my river, slow, shallow and containing decomposed granite and a bit of clay.

Color Theory.

Color is a make-or-break thing about painting a river. Model railroader has pushed black and sand as the dominant colors for riverbeds, and I disagree with their color assesment for ALL rivers, although the Milwaukee river does in fact have that color grouping.

The Mississippi is predictibly silty with a sandy brown being the dominant color.

The mighty Missouri River is raging in the winter, you can see the difference between the fast-moving winter Mo’ and the levied puddle that once was part of the river.

The somewhat fast moving Susquehana meets up with what seems to be the Juanita creek/river, just north of Harrisburg, PA in a hamlet called Benvenue (no “i” ?)

The Kankakee River is green..

The American River is deeper and faster…

My favorite as far as color is concerned is this one outside Edisto Island in South Carolina.

…Finally we have the River I intend to model mine after, the Salinas River, located in California.

This really gives the modeler ideas to branch out beyond the ultramarine blues and blacks and see what a REAL river looks like.

Next, we’ll discuss how to build a leak-proof riverbed for our water product and discuss how to correctly blend colors together to create the riverbed, then finally, We’ll pour the river and add the bankside vegetation.

I used Windows Live Local’s “Bird’s Eye View” to capture all of those Aerial shots.

Interacting with Miniature Railroading has a NEW look!

I’m pleased to announce the new colorscheme for Interacting with Miniature Railroading! (No, it’s not based on a railroad’s color scheme for those curious minds)

Check out the new banner, a time-lapse photo I look on my model railroad, and you’ll find a few other improvements.

I’m beginning to re-write some of my articles that were a good idea in theory..but weren’t as helpful as you might have wished. The first article that has been throughroly re-vamped is “Micro Layouts are a Blast!”

Next will probably be updated tutorials on how to do stuff, and you’ll see them in the next few weeks among the other new material.

I have made many promises in the past for articles that I never got around to writing, the list is below, and will be a guide to what you’ll be reading on this site in the next few weeks as I tie up these loose ends.

 

If YOU have any suggestions, please leave a comment.

List of future articles:

-Building a Photo Diorama for you model Trains (re-write, new photos)

-Modeling 4 lane concrete roadways (re-write, new photos)

-We build a Pizza-Style Micro Layout (New)

-How to weather: Tank Cars. Livestock cars, Hoppers, Gondolas, Steel boxcars, trussrod boxcars, old passenger cars, streamlined passenger cars, flatcars, Covered hoppers (both grain and cement), cabeese, diesels, and electric locomotives.

-How to weather steam locomotives (a mulit-part series)

-How to model an orange grove using new techniques

-How to detail and scratchbuild a citrus packing house from photographs of the real thing

-More building and structure plans

- N scale structure articles

-A review of the new Bachmann HO GE-45 tonner (with siderods!)

-and more!

What Is the Best Scale for a Christmas Train Set?

Top 5 Christmas Layout Scales (1 being the most ideal)

5. LGB- Garden Scale Fun! At 1:29 scale, G scale will cetianly provide a lot of fun on a large scale. You could even put most gifts on the flatcars and gondolas that come with the starter LGB sets! These trains are extremely durable and even capable of being submerged and continue to run flawlessly.

4. O27 Lionel – You can’t have a classic Christmas without a loop of LIONEL encircling the tree. Although unrealistic in every way from the standpoint of a real model railroader, the kids won’t mind as they take the hefty throttle and crank up the speed on powerful diecast 4-6-4 hudsons or streamlined F3 diesels. The wide range of “action cars” that perform some element of animation only helps to increase the fun exponentially. Their legendary durability also help too.

3. On30 is the perfect comprimise of Playable size, prototype accuracy and colorful family fun. Basically,these O scale narrow gauge trains run on HO gauge track! This adds flexibility and fun, as you can operate both scale on the same loop. Bachmann makes some really impressive and affordable equipment that lasts forever and can be used on more serious layouts in the future. They are also about the same scale (1:48) as those ceramic holiday homes that are so popular. This is the fastest growing portion of the hobby and hundreds of brand-new products are coming out in On30 each year since it was formally introduced in 1997.    

2. Lego Trains- Infinite Creativity in a scale that works out to roughly 1:32, which is close to #1 scale. The rebuidable trains add a lot of holiday fun and I really enjoy playing with these reliable, colorful and fun trains.  

1. HO scale- I may be biased, but this is still the perfect comprimise of Scale, durability, and unlike every other scale listed here, inifinite expandibility. 60 years of product development has made HO the scale richest in variety with literally hundreds of thousands of different products to build and play with. Your youngsters will be able to, should they become interested, actually be able to build a fun and realistic looin model railroad that takes up less space then all the previously mentioned scales without being fragile, like N or Z scale.

Gallery of the Scales

 

Set up a Holiday Train Display

Setting up a train around the tree should be an undeniable childhood experience, regardless of culture or religious faith. It could be a small N scale loop around a tiny potted conifer, or the traditional 7 foot Noble Fir with a loop of Lionel O27, American Flyer S, or HO rushing around the tree.

 
Scale is important in three ways.

-Child-based durability- My Parents gave me N scale for Christmas when I was three, and no matter how careful I was, it always got damaged. Larger, more toylike LIONEL offerings would be better for the kiddies. LGB G scale trains are nice too, but a pain to store year-round unless you’re a serious Garden railroader due to the unwieldy, heavy, and large boxes that are needed for storage. HO scale is a perfect compromise, and very expandable with 100,000+ parts you can enhance your train set with.   

-Time to set up / disassemble - Smaller scales will set up faster. HO seems to set up in less than 10 minutes, while troubleshooting a half-century old LIONEL set, finding all those blasted (probably lost) pin-shaped track connectors and maintaining those noisy old grease-bucket locomotives could drag on onto hours. LGB is the only other scale that sets up fast and nicely. 

-Size -You, or your parents probably don’t want the entire living room covered in mainlines, sidings and branch lines, engine terminals and bridges that could turn into a mine field late at night with just the tree lights on.

The K.I.S.S. principle applies here.Keep It Simple Stupid, as Lockheed aviation’s Kelly Johnson proclaimed, also applies to ’round the tree train setups. If you already have a model railroad, do you really need another more temperamental floor-based version of your plywood central? Probably not. Stick to the loop of track, avoid switches because unless you’re crazy about DCC, one train is all you’ll be running under the tree anyways. For larger scales like O scale, anything more than O27 is probably Overkill (pun intended) You don’t want a 10 foot diameter loop around the tree, as that complicates the “present zone” which lies just outside the loop of track. You want to be close to the tree while you open your gifts, don’t you?

 

Most importantly, just have fun! This is the PUREST form of the hobby of model railroading, and something to be shared with as many people as possible. This classic staple of holiday tradition should be passed from generation to generation responsibly and lovingly…then just crank up the throttle, sit in a comfy chair or track side and watch your mighty locomotive pull it’s colorful train of cars endlessly ’round the tree and relax.

Join the Fun! Micro Layouts are a Blast!

Micro Layouts are probably the most beneficial section of the hobby due to the fact that they, in the definition given by Micro Layout compiler and modeler Carl Arendt: “Micro layouts are small model railroads, usually less than three or four square feet in area, that nonetheless have a clear purpose and excellent operating capability. “

FOUR MAIN TYPES OF LAYOUTS

There are four main types of micro layouts, and about 80% of micro layouts are based on these concepts:

 

1. The Pizza Layout is a classic. Originally devised for HO or N scale, the pizza layout is a circle of track, usually scenicked. Rarely are these layouts build with any other trackwork like spurs, but there are notable exceptions. The term originated from either the pizza like look of the loop of track or the fact that some Pizza layouts were built in pizza boxes!

2. The Ingelnook Switching Puzzle dates back to 1978 and is the brainchild of Allen Wright, according to this source. The ingenious 5/3/3 ratio of 5 cars on the main and capacities for 3 cars on both sidings has been lauded as the “perfect” switching ratio. This type of layout is very portable and mentally challenging to shunt or switch cars around with. The Inglenook puzzle exists in real life on some railroads all around the world, like Italy and the US.

3. The Traverser is another very popular method of switching in even less space then the Inglenook. The problem is that a transfer table, a rather unusual piece of railroad equipment that is rarely found outside of railroad backshops, is the hallmark of this plan. This eliminates the need for switches, but realistically limits the modeling subject to a handful of prototype locations. Some variations on this layout can be found on Carl’s site.

4. Ridiculously small micro layouts like the curious “dime layout” that uses a US 10 cent piece as the inner portion of track in what one could term a “bite sized doughnut” layout. (In keeping with the food theme presented by the pizza layout. ) The coin conducts electricity and the outer rail is bent to an improbable radius. Here’s photos of one in action!

5. (Not Illustrated) would have to be the sector plate layouts. I really don’t like sector plates, because they’re not very realistic, and none exist in real life unlike turntables and transfer tables. They do add flexibility through the ability to move an entire train from one track to another, which is interesting.

These are certainly not all of the types of micro layouts out there. Some base their switching maneuvers around a turntable, some are actually small “traditional” loop layouts that feature sidings and the like, somewhat similar to MR 4X8 foot project layouts, but squeezed down to less than 4 square feet. Others offer unorthodox track-work or very complex track age with tight curves and clearances and lots of #4 switches.

THEMES

There are infinite stories a model railroad can tell, and micro layouts push the boundaries of the traditional railroad themes. Some of the more traditional layout themes, like Anthracite coal mining, or modern intermodal terminals would be an impractical. The interesting part of micro layouts is that you can create small portions of large industries and use the micro layout as a small vignette to portray that specific industry.

Some of the more popular themes include:

1. Railroad back shops. Rebuilding cars and locomotives required a lot of specialized switching maneuvers and is one of the few prototypical places for turntables and transfer tables.

2. Wharves and seaside scenes are always popular. From the dock to a point of interchange, or from a mine to the dock. Some layouts even incorporate ”live loads” of coal, ore or soil that dump from the railroad cars into the awaiting vessel. Car float operations are also another interesting facet of this theme. A good number of micro layouts feature lighthouses.

3. Urban Traction is a great space saving theme to explore. It’s one of the few places in which railroading can be accomplished with ultra-sharp curves and overhead wire. The scratch-built trolley cars, street cars and MOW motor flats whizzing around a small layout make for great fun.

4. Mining and Logging operations are popular subjects for micro layouts, although It seems silly to have a lumber mill 5 inches from the stand of trees being harvested..the same goes for most mining layouts.

5.  Using unusual gauges narrow gauge railroads are popular. Examples like Gn15, (1:29 scale using 1:87 HO gauge track, which scales to 15″ industrial gauge in G.) or On3 (1:48 O scale using scale 36″ gauge track) On30 (O scale on HO gauge track representing 30″ narrow gauge) Sn3 (1:64 S scale on their 36″ gauge track, which is almost HO gauge track)   HOn3 (HO 36″ narrow gauge) or HOn30 (HO scale on N 1:160 gauge track)  some crazy modelers even use Nn3 (N scale on Z gauge track)  are the backbone of the Narrow Gauge Movement.

6. Food related industries are popular. Winery layouts, Brewery operations, pickle factories and even a maple syrup factory are all represented among the  cadre of micro layouts.  

7. Brick works, Lime kilns, Railroad Tie creosoting plants and other realistic narrow gauge industrial railroads are very popular modeling subjects, this is another portion of micro layouts in which you can make a realistic layout in a small space.

8. The last main theme is dictated by the package it comes in. I’m building a shoebox layout, which when completed will be a small mining operation in HOn3 (The photo shows the plan in full HO gauge.) The packages can range from an orange crate, to a wine box to a shoe box, or even smaller, like a CD case. The business card layout is by far some of the most entertaining modeling I’ve seen. These unusual puzzle layouts can be excellently designed.

 

 

 

A small mining operation in HO scale is the theme, still a lot to be decided upon. Here are some photos utilizing my shoebox.

The Hopper will go from the mine (above track) out onto the Ore Trestle, where it will be dumped into a barge or equivalent.

For More inspiration, please visit his site, which features HUNDREDS of fantastic layouts that can be built on a shelf, in a briefcase, inside a pizza box or a shoebox, as a traditional diorama, or even as small as a CD case.

http://carendt.com/

A New Era of Model Scenery Dawns – Fields are Finally Reailistic

It has taken 70 years of model making to finally develop what has to be the absolutely perfect scale model of realistic tall field grass. The best thing is that it’s related to but not that overpriced German “Silflor”, it’s available at Michaels craft stores for $2.99, enter: The Pot topper.

This inexpensive 6″ round disk of realistically uneven green field grass can be removed from it’s coarse redwood chip backing by pulling the top from the bottom steadily, causing the polyfiber inside to stretch and detatch itself. You can use the polyfiber insides later for bushes and such after airbrushing it a more realistic color. You can even make polyfiber trees as seen in this tutorial.

It’s just what the model railroading community has been waiting for so we can devest ourselves of plain groundfoam grassy fields, like this:

To the Astounding realism of the Pot Topper’s grass, interspersed with natural rocks, dirt and clumpy ground foilage.

The grass is Ideal for HO scale, but would also work suitably for O scale, and S scale.

Although I haven’t tried it, I’d Imagine you can change the overall color by airbrushing it, so you could have this product work in a late spring/early summer and have that charistic “golden grown” color to the grass.

To reinforce the fact that my layout is set in spring, I added the orange and yellow “flowers” sprinkled atop the grass.

To install the pot topper for maximum realism, tear the grass top of the pot topper in half or smaller bits and, using liberal amounts of carpenter’s glue or plaster of paris/sculptamold, push it into a base scenery layer that has soil alread sprinkled down. Then apply your soil (* I use decomposed granite available from a landscape supply place) around the edges of the grass patch and glue down with 50/50 whiteglue/water mix. Then finally add small branches of SUPERTREES for low scrub brush and then sprinkle rocks and coarse lumpy ground foam around the areas not covered with grass and there you have it!

I hope you try this cutting-edge technique for scenery. Send me photos of your attempts and I’ll post them here.

On30 Kitbash: Mantua 2-6-6-2 + Bachmann 2-6-0= This.

A very interesting kitbash of a manuta HO 2-6-6-2 and On30 Bachmann Rodgers 2-6-0. The two locomotives fit together surprisingly well. First, you strip the manuta locomotive down to the frame, then take the weight off the boiler of the 2-6-6-2 and set it aside.

Next, you disassemble the 2-6-0 keeeping the boiler, pilot, cab and cosmetic fittings. Then to that you legthen the boiler with 3/4″ (I’m not 100% sure though) and go in and add the details to the new longer boiler.

Next, you slip the Mantua 2-6-6-2’s weight inside the boiler, and attach the boiler to the frame, which is as easy as just using the original frame screws from the 2-6-6-2 in the same 4 locations. After the boiler is firmly attached to the frame, modify the On30 cab to fit and add your brass details, paint, and take it for a test drive! Make sure to use the On30 2-6-0’s tender behind your new mallet for the most realistic look.

There’s the disassembled frame.

Here’s what the boiler looks like when legnthened with the PVC pipe.

Note the detached and re-attached boiler backhead from the On30 2-6-0.

Here’s the mantua weight (black) inside the On30 boiler, it’s a tight, but ideal fit.