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The Builders Depot

Customizing & Kitbashing

Custom Critter Poject!

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SCVR66
Big Boy

Status: offline

Posted - April 02 2013 : 10:13:12 PM

I had this SPectrum Great Northern 44 Tonner, it was traded to me for some work I did on my friends engine. It ran good for 2 weeks then one of the trucks blew out. It has sat out of service ever since while I contemplated what I wanted to do. I need a shunter but didn't know what to do. Then it hit my yesterday that I could cut the 44 tonner in half but leave a full cab on. So yesterday I cut the shell basically in half, then i cut a small wood beam for the back of the engine so it'd be level. I got to tell you I went into this project with no clue as to how I was going to make it work but i was determined to do whatever I had to do. So that was the end of day 1, i spent the rest of the night lookin up photos and trying to find ideas. I went into day 2 (today) with a pretty good feeling. I had my ideas and was ready to let them loose! So first I cut off the truck mount that attached to the frame, I used a hand saw and sawed the metal truck mount off the metal frame, took about 5 minutes but was worth it! I did this because you see a screw goes through the top of of the mount and screws into the top of the truck which allows the truck to swivle and or move. So then it all started coming together.
I had shaped a strip of wood to fit under the nose of the critter so that I could glue the truck mount to the wood. See the screw is what allows the truck to rotate so as long as I didn't get glue on the screw I'd be fine, simple enough and thus the truck was fully installed for the critter and now she could run! Gave her some test runs, oiled up the motor, cleaned the wheels and it was onto the next step. Well I added a coupler right after to check the height of the truck and truthfully that came before the truck was glued to the wood cause i kept having to shorten the wood strip under the nose to get perfect coupler height so once I got that all that needed to be done was add the side covers. I had a Tyco Plymouth that was laying in pieces and was never coming back together, therefore I decided I was going to use the plymouth's sideframes on my new critter. So I cut the frames right before the weights are on the frame of the plymouth, giving me plenty of room to shorten the frames to my desired length. So I used my bench grinder to quickly shorten the side frames to the length between the steps and back beam and they both fit perfectly!! Glued those in and BAM! I had myself a working homebuilt shunter! All that's left is to build the back door and figure out where to add the rear coupler but she has a front coupler so she can go to work! A really fun spring break project! I did repair the truck that originally blew out so i'm gonna look into a 2nd possible critter project but likely i'm going to have to build the body for it being there's not enough left of the other half of the 44 tonner to make another, plus I'd rather have a different design.
This new critter is a much better size for the turntable!

the start!

here's the small bachmann truck that is powering her

the truck mount was cut from the frame. It was a metal frame but my hack saw worked very well with it!

A wood strip was shaped to fit under the nose so that the truck mount could be glued to the wood so that it's all one piece when you pick up the critter.

cut the side frames from a tyco plymouth and sized them down to the proper needs of my critter! Thus completing the overall look of her!

at her post!

I buy, repair, and collect
http://scvr.weebly.com/
http://seyboldlocomotiveworks.weebly.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDeputation?feature=watch
Hyde.

Edited by - SCVR66 on April 02 2013 10:19:28 PM

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USA ~ Posts: 1352 ~ Member Since: January 15 2012 ~ Last Visit: July 25 2021