Williams mikado re-detailed as a Southern Ms-4

I think the trick to getting good results from a rattle can is knowing how the paint works - how thick or thin it wants to go on, how many coats, etc.  Once you get results you like, stick with it!

SR's Alexandria shops had a peculiar way of driving the lubricator from the expansion link, and I finally figured out how get mine together:

A locomotive running around with its valve gear on center looks silly once you know how it's supposed to look.  I had also hoped to put the valve gear in forward by mounting the radius bar lower in the expansion link, but for various reasons I had to abandon that here.  It certainly tops my least of features I wish our engines had.

The parts pile is gone, the paint is on, and it's time for re-assembly!

That looks great! Yes I wish manufacturers would have the reverser forward. If only I had $5k for the 3rd Rail Allegheny with working valve gear...

Oilers working on a cab forward. A small but nice detail.

It sure is a nice detail.  Didn't you also try to put the valve gear on that cab-forward in... forward?

Completed!  Everything's back together, and the last few details are on.  I was going to NeoLube the rods, but I think they look pretty convincing as they are.

I had ERR cruise/RS installed, and she runs just as good as she looks.  One last thing: the original Seuthe smoke unit wouldn't fit in the new stack, so I opted to go smoke-free.  I also didn't re-install the marker lights, but instead of removing the bulbs I shoved them into the base of the stack, inventing a feature completely new to the world of model railroading: Stack Glow (patent pending), simulating a load of bad coal at night.  I plan to retire off the royalties once the big guys pick up on this one. 

Hope you've enjoyed watching this process and have gotten a few ideas!

Beautiful job!  She certainly looks 'real' and is a truly unique locomotive with the attention to detail you've given her. Sorry, but A.C. Gilbert beat you to the punch with their 'Red Glowing Smoke' I think it was called back in the early '50s. Now you may have to delay retirement awhile if you were counting on your 'royalties' from this neat feature!

PS  Is the pilot wheel stock Williams? A full-sized pilot wheel)s) lends so much to our steamers. Too many of them come with greatly undersized pilot wheels. We sold the early brass steamers at my shop when they first came out and I can't remember if the scale wheels were standard.

Figures, there goes my retirement...

Yes, those are the stock pilot wheels.  Painting them all black improved the look quite a lot!

Far cry from a sparsely decorated Williams …..nice work!….

Pat

That looks....great. Well done!

👍x1000. 🙂

Mark in Oregon 🎄

Looks absolutely exquisite!

Thanks for all the kind comments!  I always enjoy threads on here that cover the bashing of a locomotive, because more and more that's the only hope we have of getting something you want, accurately.  I've learned so much from them, hopefully this one will contribute.  Also, we have to keep those detail part suppliers in business!

Fantastic job.

"Smoke free" is fine with me, also. I like the look of smoke and I like the smell of model loco smoke fluid (unless inappropriately scented, which is most of the scents) - but smoke units are a prime center of frustration to me - they work, they don't, they kind of work, need fixing, burned out...phooey. I leave them off mostly anyway, even if they work.  The ones that work only make me think of the ones that don't. Had one die on me last month - as I was watching the blasted loco go by. Thanks - rub it in.

The glow. I removed the improper class lights from my 1st Gen Lionel J3a some years ago - pushed the green LED's into the smokebox and filled the holes. Out of sight, out of mind. But now - I wonder if my Hudson's stack glows a bit green in the dark? I'll have to look.

@D500 posted:

The glow. I removed the improper class lights from my 1st Gen Lionel J3a some years ago - pushed the green LED's into the smokebox and filled the holes. Out of sight, out of mind. But now - I wonder if my Hudson's stack glows a bit green in the dark? I'll have to look.

Nuclear-powered J3a?

Great work. I feel like I've seen this topic before but I haven't for some reason. Nice job making the dream a reality.

@49Lionel posted:

It sure is a nice detail.  Didn't you also try to put the valve gear on that cab-forward in... forward?

I think so. I haven't run anything in a while.

Awesome work!!

@Southern Railway Sean posted:

Awesome work!!

Thanks!  Next project is an H-4 2-8-0.  Stay tuned...

Awesome job! She looks very realistic!

@49Lionel posted:

Thanks!  Next project is an H-4 2-8-0.  Stay tuned...

I can't wait.

@49Lionel posted:

inventing a feature completely new to the world of model railroading: Stack Glow (patent pending), simulating a load of bad coal at night.  I plan to retire off the royalties once the big guys pick up on this one. 

Looks great.

That look worked for Marx in the 30's and for American Flyer twenty years later. Good ideas come around again.  

Didn't Marx have a windup that actually shot sparks out the stack?