Old Mother Hubbard from junk in my cupboard

[Mik]

Before we begin, here's a prototype pic... Delaware Lackawanna & Western #90

As usual, this won't be actually be a model of #90, especially since my Allegheny Valley is narrow gauge. But I still hope to capture the flavor of it. Most of the Mother Hubbards ran on the Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey Anthracite roads, so I need to think up a plausible excuse for it to be in Western Pa... perhaps as an experiment with burning boney (tailings)?

I'm starting this with a pretty worn, but only $30 LGB Mogul chassis... The previous owner mounted the snowplow to the pony truck. It looks kinda funny on curves but actually works a treat, and will allow it to run tender first or even doublehead with Kim's Mogul.

Add some pvc drain/waste pipe, and a firebox section from a Bachmann Big Hauler...

A LGB Mogul cab leftover from that box of LGB shtuff I got a while back. A pvc pipe cap steam dome, some more bug mauler bits, and....

Still a long way to go, but this mock-up should help you see where it's headed... I have to wait until I get a Bachmann backhead before I fabricate the side sheets for the Wooten firebox. Not really too bad for just an hour's worth of work.

Unless I find some interior pix, I'll probably skip the cab piping, etc. on this one beyond a basic throttle, johnson bar and engineer. I have a used Bachmann tender coming. Making up the corners on the flared tank top will be the toughest bit, I think.

I've got a bunch of other irons in the fire this summer, so this will mostly be my 'rainy day' time waster.

 

[dudley]

Very sweet, keep the pictures coming. Love the original

 

[Mik]

I promised myself I'd keep this one simple. Unfortunately, a camelback just doesn't look right without all the "clutter" in front of the cab on the engineer's side. I'm not sure what the air pump is from. It was in a box of stuff I forgot I even had. The sand lines are from a Kalamazoo 0-4-0

Funny thing... that little bit of piping and handrails took longer than sticking the superstructure together

 

[Mik]

Doncha hate it when you do a bunch of work on something, but still have absolutely nothing to show for it? The backhead I needed is still in the mail, so I spent a few evenings doing other things.

First I rough cut the other bits needed to approximate a Wooten firebox. Then I wired the motor leads and figured how to mount the Bachmann weight inside the boiler without shorting them out. It will be lighter than stock LGB, but since the gears are worn, I figure that won't necessarily be a bad thing. I scrounged a bunch of detail items and put them somewhere I wouldn't lose them, (then spent another 2 hours looking for them again!) Meanwhile, I ordered a throttle, johnson bar and smokebox washouts - they should be here next week.

I also decided on a paint scheme. I just couldn't (quite) bring myself to do basic black. In anything but direct sunlight it may LOOK black, but the cab, domes, tender, etc will be Polly S PRR Brunswick Green, And Kimmee decided we could even afford to spring for a $3 roll of 1/16" gold stripe tape! (some ebay guy wanted $7 shipping for 2oz roll of 1/16" white, so it probably ain't getting dual tone)

Like I said, stuff done, but nothing to show.....

 

[Mik]

A little more progress... with pictures!

An almost Wooten firebox.. above the running board, anyway

Can you tell this is 3 colors? I may have to adjust them a tiny bit.

SLAMMED! The first order of business on the Bachmann tender was to get that narrow gauge low slung look. Cutting away the wear plates on the crossmembers and the step on the pivot pin equals a super quick 3/16" lowering job.

A previous owner had started to cut away the cast in faked coal from the shell, so I finished the job.

 

[Mik]

Well, this is how it looks this afternoon.

I need to scrounge a pair of 3/4" tall gold numbers (#9). I'm also considering painting the face of the plow Burnt Sienna just to give it a little more color.
Meanwhile, I managed to misplace the cab roof. It's here... someplace. We were cleaning up, and it got put somewhere so I wouldn't lose it

If disorganization is a sign of genius, I should be a Mensa candidate.

 

[trammayo]

Coming together very nicely Mik. Like your style

 

[Mik]

A tiny bit of progress to show. I found the roof, put a coupler on the plow, hard wired the loco (and ran out of solder!), installed the headlight, bell and the classification light brackets.