I got one of Walter Smith's Marklin Mikado retrofit brass shells, and happy to find that it fit right on the Marklin Mechanism. As many of you know the Marklin 2-8-2 Mikado (Freight loco with 8 smaller drivers yielding more torque) , AND the Marklin 4-6-2 Pacific (Passenger loco with 6 larger driver for higher top speed) both share the exact same USRA caricature shell with exaggerated shell feature reminiscent of a Walt Disney Casey Jones cartoon. I approached Walt a year ago with help fixing the issue, and the result is a really nice 3D brass mikado shell, that weighs about the same as the original, yet has much more realistic features and details. It is actually modeled after the Northern Pacific W-3 Class Mikado, but can be used with many other railroads as the features are really close to SP, Southern and many other railroads. The shell is a steal at just under $60 on Walt's Shapeway Store, Walt's Trainz and Things. As with everything in Z, "If you see it, get it, for tomorrow it will be gone! Anyways, I just started on it, so here is some pics: Not visible because I placed the steam dome on the shell, is that the screw hole to hold the shell to the mechanism is hidden under the steam dome, so you will gave to use tacky glue or a piece of double sticky back tape to hold the dome on to the shell. The reverser cylinder is quite nice addition, as this is a The dual cross compound air pumps and fine condenser coil tubes on the Fireman's side are really eye catching.
That shell looks great! It even has handrail stanchions ready to go. I’m rather surprised the N scale community hasn’t utilized the Shapeways brass shells. They have so many steam mechanisms that could use a different shell. But then, so does Z.
The Stanchions did not even require any cleanout, I just fed .010" brass wire through them, then bend the end 90 degrees, and used tweezers to put them in the bottom smokebox stanchions. They came out absolutely fantastic IMHO. I shot mine with BBQ Black, brush painted the smokebox and firebox gunmetal silver, the bell, horn, and builders plate brass, the roof brown, the window framed red, the sunshades canvas, and applied stripes and decals I made for last year's NP Mikado scratchbuild project, and I have a superior looking mikado in just a couple hours. In my opinion this is a great way to upgrade a ho hum Marklin Mikado to the quality appearance equal to MTL's Mogul's selling for $800+ these days. You can use the Marklin tender with most roads, as it is pretty close to a USRA tender design, But I'm going to do the NP Shorty Doghouse Tenders for mine. This is probably a $#!T or get off the pot deal, as there is no telling how long they will be available on Shapeways for this price! I have 3 more on the way!
Rob, Really nice paint work and graphics! I just noticed what an excellent job you did on the roof material, very realistic! Matt, Nice assembly, great decal application and paint job! Scott
Matt, Really nice --- well done !!! Paint came out fantastic. I was tempted to get this kit as well. May have to after seeing your results.
A "non-Z-scaler" has no clue of just how small the details are, until they see the 9V battery in the pics, which should give them a better understanding. Now we fellow Z-scalers fully understand what we are looking at --- pure genius.....
I made a sign post for Clyde's Ford Dealership today. It has a magnetic base, pogo pin electrical contacts, and embedded inside is a bridge rectifier, SMD LED's, and SMD Resistor. You can turn it around and don't have to worry about polarity. This is the pinnacle of my miniaturization of electronics skills.
The Ford dealership is on Clyde's Main Street. If you look very closely, it's right behind the Safeway store. You can see a white Ford F150 up on the dealership ramp at the top left corner of the dealership lot:
Very cool looking Ford Sign! This will be a great addition to my small Ford dealership! Thanks Robert!
WOW! Cool sign! My father worked and retired from fords! Amazing how you do them! always jump right out at you!
