In the basement now looking at my stock tender. What threw me off were the step bolts on the rear. On the original the bottom two bolts are connected to AIR! So now I can see how easy this really is and how it fixes several problems in one step (or is that two steps?).
I need to get moving on this project. My RailBoss ESC arrived a few weeks ago and Swiss Post says my receivers are somewhere in NY.
Just stumbled upon this thread…thanks everyone for the cool pictures. I’m in the process of re-outfitting my Connie with updated RC/Battery and have recently installed a new BBT gear/motor. This has all been extremely easy work for me the novice…but what has me totally bamboozled is…how the heck do you guys move the headlight up to the top of the boiler?? (of course I’m being quite facetious about the ease of the other installs)
But in all seriousness I’d appreciate some advice. And where do you get all the extra “stuff” to add to the realism…Ozark? Other?
Richard
Ozark & trackside details make headlamp mounting plates. I used a trackside details one myself. I liked the look of the brass casting. I have also made one out of styrene for a friend.
Terry
Wanting to steal a few of your ideas and have questions on the cow-catcher…
Did you fabricate from individual parts; or did you cast it? If fabricated; is it wood?
Scratchbuilt from wood. I drew the patterns on the computer based on published drawings, cut them on a band saw, glued together, and sanded. Today, I’d draw them and have them laser cut and assemble.
Later,
K
I just finished a couple of simple fixes on a Connie for a fellow clubmember - installed the B’mann brass main gear and resoldered one vagrant wire.
This loco is near mint. Unlettered, with Phoenix or Tsunami sound - I’m not sure which. Now I’ve returned it to him it turns out he wants to sell it as he’s in 1:24 and this loco is HUGE. I offered to mention it here and get advice from some of you guys who have experience with this fine looking loco.
What would you do? Try to bash it down to near 1:24? I can see Jon Radder’s suggestions going a long way, also Mik’s (RIP) Bug Mauler cab swap, raising the light, cutting back the pilot, extending the smokebox, reducing the tender, or building a new, smaller one.
But all that’s a lot of work… maybe he should just sell it to somebody into 1:20.3.
I could bring it to the Invasion for him if anybody’s interested in it, btw.
What is this loco worth nowadays? Thanks for all input, fellas!
John, they usually sell for under $300 on ebay.
If it was me I wouldn’t cut it up, it’s too nice a loco. But, it’s not me.
Terry
John Le Forestier said:
I just finished a couple of simple fixes on a Connie for a fellow clubmember - installed the B’mann brass main gear and resoldered one vagrant wire.
This loco is near mint. Unlettered, with Phoenix or Tsunami sound - I’m not sure which. Now I’ve returned it to him it turns out he wants to sell it as he’s in 1:24 and this loco is HUGE. I offered to mention it here and get advice from some of you guys who have experience with this fine looking loco.
What would you do? Try to bash it down to near 1:24? I can see Jon Radder’s suggestions going a long way, also Mik’s (RIP) Bug Mauler cab swap, raising the light, cutting back the pilot, extending the smokebox, reducing the tender, or building a new, smaller one.
But all that’s a lot of work… maybe he should just sell it to somebody into 1:20.3.
I could bring it to the Invasion for him if anybody’s interested in it, btw.
What is this loco worth nowadays? Thanks for all input, fellas!
I’d follow Kevin Strong’s lead and turn it into a 1:24 model. Would be a lot of fun.
Here’s a picture of Kevin’s 1:22.5 version:
"Super Connie"
Sorry. Couldn’t resist that. As an old pilot (not a bold one) I still remember the Lockheed Constellation, a big four-engine airliner and military transport plane which was lovingly referred to as a “Connie” by its pilots just like we do with our Bachmann Consolidations. There was an upgraded variant of that airplane known as the “Super Connie” which I have taken to calling my B’mann bash. I hope that moniker is appropriate, it did come out pretty good, IMHO.
Also, following the practice of several real railroads for locomotive designation, I have dubbed it a C-20 because, size-wise, it sort of falls between a C-19 and a C-21 and I have seen a very similar Consolidation that ran on the White Pass R.R. that was rated for just over 20,000 pounds of tractive effort. As far as I know, that “other” D&RGW never had a C-20 on its roster, but my D&RGW does. (That’s the beauty of free-lance modeling, you’re not a slave to prototype.)
First, the official builder photos:
Some side-quarter shots:
I’d hesitate to start describing everything I did to this model - it would fill a couple of pages - and since most of you are already pretty familiar with the Bachmann Connie, I’ll leave it to you to spot the differences with the stock version. That being said, I’ll still be happy to answer any specific questions you may have.
The two most obvious changes are the addition of a smokestack and cowcatcher from an Accucraft C-21. I try to give all my locos a “family resemblance” by painting and equipping them more-or-less the same - so they look like they came from the same roundhouse and I’ve followed that practice with my “Super Connie”.
I used Richard Kapuaala’s wonderful portrait figure of Sherman Pippin of the ET&WNC (“Tweetsie”) as the engineer.
As you can see, I opened the back of the cab and shortened the backhead a little.
I exchanged the trucks on the tender with some metal Accucraft ones and lowered the bolsters somewhat. The air tank came from Accucraft.
The pilot deck and truck were shortened about an eighth of an inch each. The breaker bar was scratch-built for the working Accucraft coupler (same on the tender end.) I also reduced the height of the sand dome a little bit, added a lid and swapped positions with the bell.
This is only meant to be a “suggestion” of cab interior details rather than an exact duplication. I used the original Johnson bar - which was very short - to rig up a throttle quadrant.
Here’s the electronic “guts” of the thing. The on/off switch and the charging jack for the 14.4 volt lithium-ion battery pack are hidden in the water fill trunk. Since my lithium-ion charger looks very similar to my NMH one, and they use the same type plug, I’ve painted the recharging jacks on the lithium-powered locos and the plug on the recharger a bright yellow to make sure I don’t accidently use the wrong charger, which could cause some real problems. The battery pack fits under the air tank inside the tender shell. The AirWire receiver/decoder and the smaller Phoenix P5 sound board are mounted on top of the speaker baffle and normally concealed by the removable coal pile. There’s a volume switch and a programming jack to the right of the P5. Holes cut in the bottom of the tender frame provide plenty of ventilation.
Here is a shot of the revised version of No. 65’s front pilot truck.
I used some metal castings that I had from Ozark Miniatures (their Part No. 1039).
Extreme Closeup
Here’s a few more shots of the cab interior and the tender that I thought you might enjoy seeing:
The fuel load is real coal, picked up in the yard at Chama, NM.
My thanks to Jonathan Bliese for finding this air tank for me.
I’ve been running his guy for some time now and I knew it was only a matter of time before the Delrin drive gear gave out - and sure 'nuff" - it did recently. Turned out fixing it was a lot easier than I thought. Bachmann supplied a replacement driver axle with a brass gear affixed and it was just a question of going up from the bottom, removing the old one and installing the new one.
Anyway, that’s about it. Now it’s a pretty much unique engine that looks a lot less Mexican and a lot more Colorado. Man, this little “vest pocket” Connie runs sweet - I just love watching that Baker valve gear work as it glides along with those counterbalances spinning.
Wonderful work Jack. I need to get back to work on mine; it’s all apart with a list of ideas for putting it back together. Your model has just added more ideas to that list!
Dave Goodson and I have concluded the Connie Drive I build may be the best thing I have ever done.
So far no failures and Dave is calling his “Ghost” (it’s quiet).
If anyone is having trouble with the Connie pilot truck, I have built a replacement with Sierra Valley wheels. The simplest of all installations, one screw (don’t lose it). All metal, $25.00;
I’ll pay the shipping. The axle runs in a thickwall brass tube, fill with oil.
Barry Olsen
6822 W. Villa St.
Phoenix, AZ 85043
623-936-6088
Jack , that’s probably the best weathering I’ve seen on a Large Scale Loco .
There is quite an art to it , and you seem to have mastered it .
Very nice indeed .
Mike
ps You have given us ideas for the two that we have and don’t run much .
Superb!!!
Mike Morgan said:
Jack , that’s probably the best weathering I’ve seen on a Large Scale Loco .
There is quite an art to it , and you seem to have mastered it .
Very nice indeed .
Mike couldn’t say it any better!
Everybody’s Connie looks great!! I need to get working on mine now.
Ken Brunt said:
I shortened the pilot and front truck by about 1", raised the headlight and added class lights.(http://rgsgardenrailroad.com/lyt07a.jpg)
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/RGS00010.jpg)
(http://rgsgardenrailroad.com/lyt05a.jpg)
Also managed to fit a snow plow to it:
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/42plow03.jpg)
Would it be possible to get some details of how you shortened the pilot and front truck by about 1" i.e. where did you cut, did you have to move the pilot attachment point etc.?
I have a Connie that I have just got going again and it just way to long for my layout (front hooks a small hedge on a curve) and shortening it would make it work and look so much better.
As I am in Australia I more than likely not reattach the cow catcher and just have a buffer beam to make it look more Australian.
Actually Graeme, it wasn’t all that difficult or involved. The biggest PITA was refrabricating the front pilot truck.
First thing you have to do is remove those support arms. I had to rebend them and shorten them too.
Those are attached to the plate that holds the buffer beam and pilot. That unscrews from the bottom.
That will expose the metal chassis. I cut the chassis just behind the pilot buffer beam in that picture above (about an inch back from it’s original length). Then all you have to do is cut the top plate to fit.
Then it’s just a matter of shortening the pilot truck and making a new mount for it. I left it loose and floppy so it tracks better. Reattach the top plate and shorten the support arms. Rebend them to fit the existing holes and screw them back on the top plate.
Those other holes on the side of the smokebox and on the pilot plate are for the snowplow. It’s a K-27 plow from B’mann. I also added a Kadee coupler to the front and back. While I was at it, I moved the headlight to the top of the smokebox and added marker lights.
I did all this about 10-12 years ago, so I may have forgotten a thing or 2 that I had to do, but that should get you started. I didn’t like that long front end on the Connie, but shortening it was all that difficult.
It looks like the only thing you forgot was there lunch pails!
Thank You Ken,
Does moving the pilot wheel further back cause any issues with it being closer the cylinders, like reducing the ability to negotiate tight curves?
On my current layout my Connie has trouble with a tight radius curve, its just on minimum recommended radius, and I am wondering if the repositioned pilot truck might add to the problem. Unfortunately increasing the radius is not an option due to space restrictions.
Graeme Price said:
Thank You Ken,
Does moving the pilot wheel further back cause any issues with it being closer the cylinders, like reducing the ability to negotiate tight curves?
On my current layout my Connie has trouble with a tight radius curve, its just on minimum recommended radius, and I am wondering if the repositioned pilot truck might add to the problem. Unfortunately increasing the radius is not an option due to space restrictions.
I can’t answer that Graeme, but I have run it on a few different layouts besides mine and I never had any problems going through turnouts or curves. I had a few Aristo and LGB turnouts and sectional track pieces on my old layout, but I’m not real sure what the radius’ were on those. But looking at the pilot truck while it’s upside down it does have quite a bit of side to side movement. As heavy as that engine is, if worse comes to worse, you could probably eliminate the pilot truck and it would run just fine.
Another suggestion I would offer is if you do have a problem with it on curves, notching out the cylinders so the truck can swivel more would be an option. As it is now, the front pilot can’t be seen anyway so no one would see that. I don’t think you would need much more swivel then what it does now.
