Since I have the room now I've decided to build a more involved coal mine complex. -- Complete with tramway. I just happened to have one of those old cheesy Faller 32mm 'e'-train locomotives that has been begging me to manglify it into something useful for YEARS.....
For those not familiar, the 'e'-train was a really cheap O-scale drive stuffed under a 1/25ish superstructure. To me it looks sort of like a Stainz that gained an extra set of wheels, then shrunk in the wash.
First thing was to cut the German domes off and replace them with some old-stock Kalamazoo ones that I picked up very reasonably on e-bay. Then I extended the side tanks and modified the cab a bit...
I decided, since it was working the mines, that it should be very decrepit, rusty and dirty. To that end, the body got a base coating of raw umber.
I decided to add a short coal bunker to the rear. I also added some Plastruct box to the top of the cylinders for valve chests, brass side rods to connect the wheels, and a real wood buffer beam (which I chewed up with the Dremel to distress it a bit)
Next step is to add some weight (the original one was lost before I acquired it) and a few details. It's going to be VERY minimal compared to my usual stuff... partly because there's really no room to work, and partly because it would be rather like gilding a turd.
For those not familiar, the 'e'-train was a really cheap O-scale drive stuffed under a 1/25ish superstructure. To me it looks sort of like a Stainz that gained an extra set of wheels, then shrunk in the wash.
First thing was to cut the German domes off and replace them with some old-stock Kalamazoo ones that I picked up very reasonably on e-bay. Then I extended the side tanks and modified the cab a bit...
I decided, since it was working the mines, that it should be very decrepit, rusty and dirty. To that end, the body got a base coating of raw umber.
I decided to add a short coal bunker to the rear. I also added some Plastruct box to the top of the cylinders for valve chests, brass side rods to connect the wheels, and a real wood buffer beam (which I chewed up with the Dremel to distress it a bit)
Next step is to add some weight (the original one was lost before I acquired it) and a few details. It's going to be VERY minimal compared to my usual stuff... partly because there's really no room to work, and partly because it would be rather like gilding a turd.
