# Wanna' do a new cab, details for a Mich-Cal #2



## Gary Woolard (Jan 2, 2008)

More questions about my new (to me) Mich-Cal #2. I'd really like to get this engine looking like a well-used logging beast, which means some added details, weathering, and I'm even thinking about a wood cab. Problem is, I've never done this kind of stuff before.
Seems that some while ago, folks were posting some great pix of their detailed Shays. Can anybody point me to some sources of inspiration?

And I could swear that somebody used to make a wooden cab kit for the Mich-Cal. I know I'm not mis-remembering the Banta Cab for Bachmann Shays, because I remember being bemused that whoever offered it said it would only work for the Mich-Cal #2, NOT the open-cab version.

And failing that, has anybody here built their own wooden cab for this model? Any pix or drawings you could share?

Thanx in advance,


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## weaverc (Jan 2, 2008)

Gary,
Attached are photos of my changed Mich Cal. I took off the oil tank and replaced it with a fence and wood rack. I replaced the stack with a spark arrestor type. I added a Grantham Spitinator (right front fender) and a Regner whistle (right rear fender). I also added working LED headlights that reverse with a two-way switch on top of a box on the left front fender. Inside the box is a coin battery that is activated by screwing in the knob on the side. I added 1:20 scale tools at various places on the wood, fenders and cab. The cab is wooden, once (but no longer) offered by Torry Krutzge. The vent on the top of the cab is so that the Goodall valve clears. On the rear, is a modified knuckle coupler that can be attached or removed with the link pin. I still have to 'weather' the locomotive, although I never clean it so that it looks grungy anyway.


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Carl,
That's a great looking Shay you have there.

Hope to see you @ DH next year, and possibly at Shay Days, in Harbor Springs, MI, honoring the Shay's inventor. Your Shay will be one of the best.









*My Old Geoffbuilt Shay, with Shay House in the background *


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

I keep thinking that house couldnt have been Mr. Shay's ... Its symetrical!


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

This is my Out of the Woods Shay


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Bronson-Tate has some wood cab kits, might take a look. He may even design one up for you.
http://www.bronson-tate.com/kits/live-steam/index.shtml


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

This better video of my weathered Shay.


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## Zonk (Feb 20, 2008)

Hello, 

Here is what I did with mine. 

Dull cote, a few detail parts, some mild weathering, and I let the lubricator do the rest of the work. 

No wood cab for me, I wanted to keep in it's Mich-Cal status. 

 







Matt


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## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

Not only do we need a new cab for the two cylinder Shay but a more conventional bunker would be greatly appreciated. I wasn't smart enough to buy one when Torry was offering them.


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Phippsburg Eric on 29 Jul 2012 09:41 AM 
I keep thinking that house couldnt have been Mr. Shay's ... Its symetrical!  

Yea, but you don't know what the other side looks like.


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## Gary Woolard (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks, everybody, for the inspiration! (Although I must admit that some of the mods look a bit daunting!) FYI, I also found an informative PDF in the live steam archives by a Jon Kling, if I'm extrapolating the name right from the handle. The PDF is from 2006, and is titled "Shay Rebuild - Update with Pict's." The frustrating thing is, it appears to be a continuation from an earler thread! Does Mr. Kling still hang around here?


I also found some pix that SWMTP took of Sonny Wizelman's Mich-Cal #2 at the 2010 Summer Steamup. I hope he won't mind if I post them below.

But first, I'm just full of questions!


> If you look at Carl's and Zonk's pix, there are no sanding lines coming out of the dome. But in some other pics I've seen,(including jmkjling's and Sonny's) there clearly are such lines. I'm beginning to suspect that this was a detail that was added in later production runs. If so, might they be available from Accucraft as a part? If not, has anybody tried a black metal clothes hanger?



> What is a spitinator and why should I care? Yes, my Mich Cal does spit, gurgle and hiss, but does it need fixing? This device was apparently designed & built by Bruce Gathman, but I can find very little about it!


> Carl, how much pressure do you lose when you use that Regner whistle? And how do you like the sound? Does anybody have any video or Youtube samples? I like the idea of a whistle, but I must admit that few of the whistle's I've actually heard have been more than just 'adequate.'

> I know this will expose my status as a newbie, but what the heck is that thing that's mounted behind the bell? It looks like a generator or a winch? But then what's that pole that sticks up in the air a few scale feet? 


Okay, here's a 'right profile' and 'left profile' of Sonny's Shay.





















thanks all,


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## hcampbell (Jan 2, 2008)

That thing is the generator with a exhaust stack. 

Harvey C 
SA 1838


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## weaverc (Jan 2, 2008)

Gary,
Jon Kling is still around. Send him a PM. A regner whistle is a European style high pitched single chime and not a throaty US type used on real shays. Steam pressure is not noticably lost when it is blown, which is not done much since it is manual. It is mostly for my grandkids to toot. The Spitinator was produced by Bruce Grantham, but is no longer available. It is easy to duplicate, but you can't have a Chuffer if you have a Spitinator. Mine is a first generation Mich Cal and there are no sand lines and it used to spit a lot. It also had a tendancy to melt ties, so I put a brass baffle plate at the base of the smoke box, which used to be open. Other minor changes have been made to the model in subsequent runs. Also the 'thing' you asked about is a generator with tall exhaust pipe sticking out of it.

Although this video is about my Billy, you can hear a Regner whistle here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOZd...ature=plcp


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