This is a really old Aster JNR 8550 Mogul kit that I bought and I’ve been working on it in my 4x4 closet workshop in Florida for about a year. The idea is to convert it to EBT #1, an old 2-6-0 that was resurrected to pull the boss’ Business Car, #20 “Orbisonia” around 1910.
This drawing shows the two locos side by side, and roughly at the same scale. The stack, domes and cab all need to be changed.
First of all, you have to put the kit together! That has been fun, especially as I decided it would be converted to butane as I have no alcohol locos. I’ve accumulated a few bits that will be the next part of the project.
In the summer, I used my big drill press in MD to raise the stack and add a Roundhouse copper cap. This Fall I worked on a Bronson-Tate Forney replacement cab kit to make it shorted and lower. I more-or-less finished the can this week and parked the loco out of the way next to my C-16 tender while I contemplated the next stage.
As you can see, in real life it is quite a small loco. The tender is small but still overwhelms it. I have another even smaller tender that came with the butane tank and I wondered whether it would work. There’s an ulterior motive here - some parts for the original Aster tender are missing, and using the 4-4-0 tender will save me having to fabricate the missing pieces. So a quick photoshop with a similar Bachmann tender, and here’s the result:
I will have to replace the front truck with the axledguard off the kit, but that shouldn’t be a problem. And I get a butane tank and valve without having to make something.
Whaddya guys think ?