WELCOME TO THE

BASH IT ...just BASH IT !

On30 has historically been a modelers scratch and bash gauge. Inspired by craftsman like Gordon North, Steve Fisher, Jeff Saxton and Laurie Green just to name a few, many modelers continue that legacy. Since the introduction of many more R-T-R On30 products there seems to be more people who are a little timid about taking the plunge into a full blown bashing project, In an effort to keep the legacy alive here is a little sample of just what one encounters in such a conversion which will hopefully get some of those creative juices flowing.

	The red parts of this project , a Tomy product , is 1/4" scale static
	model of the Disney Land, Japan locomotive. My friend Steve Fisher and I
	were given these by the importer. We put them on MDC 0-6-0 drives and
	for various reasons were less than satisfied with the running ability of the
	final product. Recently another friend suggested that we look at the
	Bachmann HO 0-6-0 as good power source. Thus we dusted off our
	models and started an upgrade bash.



Still in need of some detailing, lettering
and weathering. The construction phase
is complete. Although made from the
same kit , these moguls are different
in detail parts, giving each a personality
it's own.




THE MECHANISM


	Here is a stock Bachmann 0-6-0 on the bottom with a modified version above
	that. Note the larger cab deck of styrene and to accommodate a set of lead
	trucks, the larger styrene pilot deck .
	To fit into a narrower boiler, the motor mount piece has been cut down and the
	light selector card has been removed . If you are going to use the stock saddle
	tank the motor modification is not necessary.


For this project we had to fit the mechanism, designed for a wide saddle tank,
into a smaller boiler. This required removing the directional light module from
the motor which for this Mogul was not needed. Then the motor mounting bracket
needed some surgery. It looked like this after a little saw and Dremel tool work. If you plan to use the Bachmann 0-6-0
mechanism with the stock saddle tank boiler then this internal modification is not necessary. You may, however, want to
change the light bulb arrangement to accommodate a larger O scale headlight.


	This engine bash, a 2-6-0 saddle tank required no internal modifications other than to rewire the front light and to remove the rear light from the stock mechanism. The cab on this version is from Banta.



To convert from an 0-6-0 to a 2-6-0 one must modify the frame in front of the
pedestal. The old pilot deck was removed and the frame was narrowed
(we used a band saw). Then with a Dremel and a half inch sanding drum,
an arch was sanded to allow for the wheels.


Fabricating and installing the lead trucks was one of the more time consuming parts of this build. First I had to find a set of
wheels that would look size appropriate. In discussion with my partner, we chose Grandt ore jimmy wheels which we had
on hand (a deciding factor ). One reason for this choice is that the Grandt wheels take a wire axle that can be run through
a piece of brass tube which has been soldered to a small sheet brass
tang. Note, the pivot point is forward of the attachment point.
The whole assembly attaches to the forward gear cover plate screw
and pivots over the boiler screw. Also not that the Kadee #5 coupler
box has been trimmed at the rear with a McHenry coupler installed.


The pilot deck was constructed from sheet styrene with scale lumber beams. The foot boards on one unit were fabricated
from sheet brass but if you are careful in removing the stock footboards, they can be re-used on the new pilot deck.
The pilot unit is attached to the frame by a mini-machine screw which is threaded into the hole already in the frame.

The back heads that we added on the Disney conversions are from Grandt Porter kits.


The tenders for the mini-moguls are similar but different.
Both used the tank from the Disney kit but the stock four wheel
tender had pedestals that we found unattractive. For one version
we used a scratch built brass deck that was originally for
another project. For the other deck we used two
G C Design Group log bunks that were cut and glued together
to make the deck long enough for the tank. Additional details
included tools and tool boxes from the GC Design Group
selection of detail parts.

All of our loco painting lately has been Floquil Engine Black, a custom mixed graphite smoke box and dry transfer lettering.
Then a slight rusting with brown acrylics and alcohol . Next a dusting of Polly S Grimy Grey finally followed with a dry
brushing of light gray stencil paint to highlight the details.

We hope that this page might spark your enthusiasm to dust off some tools and bash a loco. If you need advice about such a
project or if you would like us to build one for you e-mail us at gcerrone@gcdesigngroup.com

All loco parts were supplied by Coronado Scale Models , Phoenix Arizona, 602-254-9656

MORE BASHING FUN.................

Besides working on these Bachmann conversions shown above, I have recently also been doing some bashing of Forneys. These tank locos usually have side doors and provide little visibility into the cab. However, I still wanted to give the impression of backhead detail without getting too committed to detail that couldn't be seen. To achieve this I started with a Grandt Porter backhead . To this I added a turret made of a tiny block of laminated styrene strips , a pressure gauge made by using a hole punch to make a styrene disc, a piece of styrene sprue and a few pieces of .020 wire. When the backhead was painted black and added to the interior of the loco it did just what I had intended, created visual authenticity yet took very little time to fabricate. Try it , it's easy but subtle.