Okay gang, here’s what I worked out so far, and I love it. This is actually the second version.
The engine is an mth 263e, which works out nicely as the pilot is held on with two #4 screws.
My thin gauge metal working skills are something of a work in progress and I really am not tooled up for this type of fabrication, but as with many things in this hobby, I am learning as I go
I haven’t decided on a red vs black yet, but I am leaning pretty hard towards black
Here’s a couple views of the underside. I tried to emulate the double articulating linkage mechanism common on 2800 series rolling stock. Yes, I drilled a small blind hole in the pilot of the engine to help accept the tang on the coupler.
The only problem so far is on tight curves such as 031 or even O42, the pilot wheels rub the linkage on the coupler mechanism. I will have to see if I can correct that without it total reassign.
Those giant pilot wheels are not helpful by any means. Honestly, those wheels are huge!
while the end result still need a little tweaking, i bought enough parts to make several examples.
Here is my double header, pulling nearly every tinplate hopper I have!
