Can it be something else!

nalmeida

nalmeida

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Nov 12, 2003
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Well, I've got some time ago a N Scale Bachman Spectrum Doodlebug (EMC), at the time I had some plans for it but that recently changed so I would like to ask if I could use it's chassis in anything logging related in Hon30, I've posted a pic of it below, the distance between point A and point B is 10,5 cm (4.1 inch). The chassis is made of metal and at first glance it doesn't seem easy to cut and shorten so I was looking for some rolling stock I could make with this distance between wheels!
 

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It wouldn't be hard to chop into something shorter.

The rear truck is unpowered, I don't know if it picks up electricity.

So if you chop the frame to the length you want then at the point you want the rear truck make a plastic bolster of the same height as the one currently holding the back truck on and stick that to the frame with super glue where you want the back truck to be (you would need to chop/file off the underbody detail there).

Screw the truck on with a screw or nut and bolt.

If the back truck has contacts on it for pickup (it probably does) then they are most likely to be springy things that rub against bronze plates. These are difficult to move but you could run wire down onto the truck and back through the body. This would be easier.

It should be a good project to do if you are not sure of your skills and want to develop them into kitbashing with metal.

Neil
 
It could be made into a very nice homemade woods motor car. Many outfits had them and some where home built. They were used to haul loggers from camp to the cutting area, also would haul supplies around.

Just a thought.

Jimmy "B"
 
...Still a little long for a boxcab, but I'll bet it would make a Jim-Dandy Gas-Electric.

Here's my idea. Find an MDC HO Overton combine. ( I have one, and I'll even measure the truck wheelbase, if you'd like.)

There was an article in RMC eons ago about doing this, using an N scale diesel chassis for power, and re-gauging the N scale wheels to fit HOn3.
 
Thanks everyone, nice ideas coming around!

Steve

...Still a little long for a boxcab, but I'll bet it would make a Jim-Dandy Gas-Electric.
Click to expand...

Do you have any pics for reference, I'm sort of a newbie in the logging world and this name isn't familiar, I've done a search on google but nothing conclusive came up :(

There was an article in RMC eons ago about doing this, using an N scale diesel chassis for power, and re-gauging the N scale wheels to fit HOn3.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't you have access to that issue by any chance?
 
if its anything like the HO version i have just bashed then the chassis cuts quite easily as its a very soft metal underframe. It doesnt appear to have a flywheel so it should fit the Overton body (the flywheel made the chassis too big to fit into the HO Overton).

the only problem you might find is that the rear truck might pick up (again on the HO version this is the case) in which case the unit wont run without the rear truck. you would need to take off the pojecting driveshaft though. The seating unit is merly plugged onto the chassis so it can just be prised off and you could use the seats in another project. Mine went inside an Overton passenger car to provide it with some seating.
 
Thanks for the idea and the pic Summit, but is this railbus on narrow gauge or standard?

Does anyone have any links to this kitbashes based on the overton? Was the resulting kitbash (Jim-Dandy Gas-Electric?) used in logging?
 
Can it be something else.

I find it interesting, that I suggested a homebuilt motor car. On the Red River Lumber Company's line out of Westwood California they did just that, also commercial outfits built motorcars for logging railroads. We were not talking two man jobs here, we were talking 30 foot and 40 foot equipment, which I think fits your question, "Can it be something else."

That car Summit pictures was home built to transport loggers to the cutting area and also transport supplies to camp. What, I'm invisible! It was commercially available motorcars, along with home built motor cars that enable companies to eliminate moving camps. It was less costly to move men, than it was to chase the cutting area with camp moves.

I also find it interesting that my Elko friend Jeff Moore didn't reference my remarks when bring up that motorcar called a railbus.

Jimmy "B"

Invisible Poster living at Lawton, NV that nobody must think knows anything.
 
Thanks for the tip Jimmy, sorry for not telling but I did noticed your suggestion, in any case I'm considering the possibilitie of cuting the chassis mainly because of the curves on the layout, with a car with this lenght I couldn't make as tight as I wanted. So the sugestion based on the overton cars are interesting, I'm yet to find photos of prototypes based on this, if there are any.
 
Back!

Well I finally found what I would like to convert this one to, here is the pic:

doodlebug2.jpg


Does anyone know if this is based in any particular prototype?

If real what mothorization was under the hood?

Does anyone know if there is an HO scale passenger car that I could scratch&batch to do this?

TIA
 
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