First Ten Wheeler - JBRR

The Bachmann Anniversary Edition is a 10 Wheeler built to a scale of 1:22.5.
  
I needed a larger looking locomotive to haul my 50’ passenger cars and I needed it to look closer to 1:20.

I have a number of drawings and I printed these out to full size in 1:20 scale to allow me to make the necessary modifications.

I decided I could NOT hope to replicate this to a full 1:20.  For one thing, I decided to leave the wheels and chassis as is, thus making them a bit smaller than needed.   Also, I really didn’t want to try to replicate the shape of the ET&WNC boiler.

So, I’d use the ET&WNC as inspiration - but I’d freelance a new 10 wheeler in a larger scale.

Some modifications appear to be straight forward.  
I first print out a scale plan of the tender and notice that the tender just needs to be widened about 1/4 inch on either side.  (It also had to be lengthened about 1 1/4”).   
However, you can also see that the step on the back is just about dead on for width.  The supports are a bit narrow, and the step itself has an extra notch or two, but it’s proabably worth leaving as is!
After all, this is not about making an exact replica - I’m just trying to create a heftier looking locomotive.

I used Evergreen styrene strips to lengthen and widen the tender.   There’s also a couple of pieces on the bottom, which don’t look as nice, but I really don’t plan on turning it over!

I built a new boiler by wrapping thin styrene sheets around a couple of paint cans, but it did not turn out round enough for me.  It wasn’t really noticeable until I put the smokebox front on.  

I bought some K-27 domes from Accucraft - and they fit almost perfectly.

 
I’ll be using the bell and the light fixture from the original model/
I found some screws to attach the Accucraft domes and it doesn’t look like I’ll have to sand anything - the fit is that close with my new tube.
The tender will be covered with a thin plastic sheet - and I’ll be adding some rivets.

Boiler and Pilot
I bought a Ruby Pilot Kit from Vance Bass.   It assembles very nicely and I bolted it in place.  
I had to widen everything else as well.  I left the coupler lift bar.
I also added some brass steps from Trackside Details.

The smoke box front is done with NBW from Grandt while the others are cut from .040" Evergreen rod.
I used the NWSL Chopper and cut thin slices...ten at a time. I finally figured out it was a LOT easier to use a knife instead of tweezers to try and place these.

Tender
The steps, ladder and braces are all new commercial parts.   I kept the grab irons and light from the original tender, though I did build the  tender body from styrene.  

I’ll use the plastic coal as a base for the real coal that will be added after the final coat of paint.

Hard to see, but I did add some diamond tread on the front tender deck.