When I attended the ECLSTS, Rich Yoder was showing off his production EBT Mikado. It’s a gorgeous looking locomotive, but now that I’m retired, I find it even harder to justify spending more than I spent on my first car for an electric locomotive. The EBT had a number of Mikes. I liked the idea of building #12, as it was the smallest of the lot. Accucraft is planning to come out with one, but it won’t be cheap.
I started thinking; very dangerous, I know. The Aristo-Craft Pacific has 2.5" drivers - which scale out to 50" in 1:20, compared to the 48" drivers on the EBT Mikes. So, I decided to use this as a starting point. First, I “won” a Pacific off of E-bay. It looks a bit small next to my 1:20 10-wheeler, but I sure like those drivers. I suspect I’ll need another pair. 
I used my Scale Print utility to print out a full size (in 1:20) scale drawing of #12 to compare and to use in planning.
Another thread (Problem: Tight back to back gauge on Aristo locos) details my disappointment with the gauge (way off!) and the oversize flanges, but that is now corrected.
Now it’s on to making it look much more like a Mikado. I quickly decided that I would NOT make a scale model of the EBT locomotive. Instead, I’d use #12 and #14 as inspiration. I had drawings for both, so I could use those to get an idea of what the parts should look like. First up is the trailing truck. Looking at the one that came with the Pacific, I thought that it might work.
It sits too far back from the drivers, but overall didn’t look too bad. I built a new frame to move it closer to the drivers and replaced the wheels with a 26" Sierra Valley set.
This could work:
Then some parts were fabricated from brass and styrene to change the overall appearance.
I think that’s the easy part. I don’t think I’ll be finishing any time soon, but I wanted to start a log detailing the construction; maybe I’ll get some good suggestions.
