# Kalamazoo 4-4-0 kit bash



## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

I am taking on the task of building a locomotive I have been wanting to do this for some time now. Finally have gathered enough parts to start this..I am starting with a parts Kalamazoo Locomotive boiler and drive unit. I removed the smoke box and will add a section to lengthen the boiler. What I am trying to achieve is the look of The General Civil War 1850's era loco. I have a MPC kit that I am using for some reference










This is the section to be added for the length.









The added section fitted and glued in place, also gaps and details that were removed filled with putty and will be sanded...


















Will be adding more photos as I go along... Thanks for looking.....


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## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

Hey Travis- 

Good looking bash going on here, thanks for posting. I look forward to future installments

Best

Jerry


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

MPC model next to Kalamazoo for comparison. This is what I am trying to get close to.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Up next the front smoke box. This particular Baldwin engine had a smoke box that came down past the front steam chest as you see in the photo. I used a scrap Lionel building for the framing of it. This is why you see a brick pattern in it which was later sanded off. I really need to stock up on some Styrene 



























































The finished box. I later filled this with resin to make it more rigid to add screws to hold the steam chest and front pony truck mount.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Now onto to the front truck and swivel. I started with a Bachmann 4-6-0 bottom. I sawed off the front swivel/pivot area and modified it to fit for clearance of the shorted wheel set. This is mounted with screws also so if it happens to break or needs maintenance it can be removed easily.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Ok will have to finish post later photo bucket is not cooperating.......


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

This is the section removed from the bachmann chassis.










fitted to front mount.









Final shape and installed to truck.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

This is the steam chest and front pilot mount I removed part of it for the wheel clearance ..










Re-enforced with styrene 


















Test fit..


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

So I am this far now. The smoke stack and cab are just for looks right now not sure what I am gonna use yet. I had to make some minor tweaks to the pony truck and mount but it should work smooth now. up next will be constructing the steam cylinders to the front mount.....


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

So at this point of my build I ran into a road block..sorta..... I tested the running of the engine and found out it has one of the gears on the axle. So now I need to find a replacement part or swap with another one......More to come.......


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

Hartland Drivers and gears will work on a Kallamazoo locomotive....I know because I have used them


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

Kalamazoo*


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

The Hartland drivers are an improvement over the old Kalamazoo ones. When I purchased the replacement wheels and gear/axles, the prices were reasonable.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

I have a Hartland 4-4-0, the wheels are good, just be warned that the rims can come off. I've re-glued 2 back on. Wasn't a big deal, put back in place and run some thin ACC into the gap. Been fine ever since. 
My climate bears most of the cause.... up to 114 in the shade.

Interesting Kala-bash!  
John


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks like a good start on a nice bash!


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

I am going to try to see if I can make a set of B-mann steam chest with cylinders attached work. If these don't turn out the way I want then I will build from scratch. 


















I removed the centre section and cut some slots for the screws. trying to have everything fastened with screws instead of glue for strength. I will take a photo of this when I remove them again..










Here is the test fit. I found out that by adding this set after removing the original ones that it raised the front up about 5/16 so the front drive wheel was not in contact with the rails.So...... I removed some of the smoke box, which is the orangish red plastic and now everything looks pretty good.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Now I need to get these both in a little more proportioned to the locomotive. The box on top of the cylinder looks too big so I am gonna take some off of the top and maybe some of the width too..










Here is another view with some of the parts that may be used. I really like the pilot from the MPC model kit. I wish I could locate some more of these.....


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

So the pilot, stack and bell are not final yet, although I think they will fit the bill for the look I am after. Will need to figure how to fasten them too. I was asked earlier from someone if this will be painted black or the colorful way they did things then. I would like to match it close to the original as possible. Any suggestions on some paint that should be used?.. It will need a good degreasing/ parts cleaning before that happens. Not too worried yet as this is a ways down the road.......


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Travis
You are doing a fantastic job, and a great job of sharing with us.
I have used Magic Sculpt many times on applications as putty or even building up large pieces, I have added MS to a metal rod and turned down on a lathe. I have lathed, milled, sanded it to many applications. One thing that has been extreme helpfull is mounting Kadee couplers in a odd way. I have built it out to look like metal and built it out to look like wood.
Dennis


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks Dennis, If ya have any ideas please let me know.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

I had one of the general mpc kits, and used a lot of parts from it on my "_Emma Sweeny"_ looks good so far! one thing i notice is your stack if facing the wrong way the pointy part should be facing the cab

very very nice so far!


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Nate it is there just for the pic. I haven't added it on permanently yet... . Do you have any pics of your locomotive..?


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

I haven't posted any updated pics lately, however I am doing a lot of cutting sanding and feels like I'm getting nowhere..LOL.. I am still trying to figure out the steam chest and cylinders on how I'm gonna fasten them to the front. I Think I may have it figured out. So tonite I cut down a bachmann side rod and got a rough length that I may go with. I want to make some metal side rods out of brass or something better looking than the plastic. So what I have done I can use for a reference on the length... You guys that have built locomotives from scratch My hats off to You!!! So this is a big learning project for me.... And I 'm sure the next one will be a little easier...


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Cool! I'll be interested in following this one along. For the siderods, you might consider drawing them and having them laser cut from steel. You may also think about aluminum, if you're looking to hand-cut them. You can get 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum at Lowes or Home Depot. 

Later,

K


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestion Kevin


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Update on my project.....
I made a new set of steam chests and cylinders. i cut out a 1/4 inch section from middle and used plastic weld stuff ( forget what its called) to glue together and then mounted on the front pilot frame.



































This shows a piece of plexiglass thin that I added to fill in..

Next mounted and tested for fit. I think I will make the chests a little narrower still just a hair too wide.









With that being done. I decided to remove the small arched piece from under the boiler it was in the way..

























Next the under frame. I am gonna redo this part as this is a test fit piece. It looks to big and out scale sorta...



















next is the cross whatever ( its late LOL ) this is made from plexiglass too. I will probably change this to styrene or something a little thinner not sure yet. It is cut and glued into the frame. 









Now with that done I need to fit the drive rod so it will have clearance the the cross head. This is not the finished piece I will have to redo this as I cut it to short and it doesn't fit up to the bottom of the boiler. You will probably notice in one of the pics..


















So this is what I came up with for now on the drive rod going from the front wheel to the cylinder. I took a Bachmann piston guide and and front rod. Shortened it and the drive rod I rotated it 90 degrees so it would look like the version on the General. It looks a little too big ( which I expected) So I will try to make it narrower later. 


















This is what I came up with.














































So this is where I am at on this thing. After what you seen in the last few pictures I ran it to test it and it work very smooth. Now if I can get a good looking set of side and drive rods fabricated and a few small changes, I think I will have the hard part whipped.
Now for anyone that has checked in on this build, I want your HONEST opinion on what you think I should try to do or maybe change. I am open to suggestions. What do you think of the looks of the size of the parts being used?. Need some input on this from you guys that have built locos before...If this turns out the way I really want it too then I am going to build a few more of these over winter for my coming Civil War era railroad..
Thanks for looking.......


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

After following some of you guys on here and Large Scale Central, I finally gave this a try at building a Locomotive. This is my first time doing this as before I always worked with wood. I have to say i am having a great time with this and wish I had done it sooner. Good thing I am not retired or i would never stop until its done..LOL. Too bad Mik couldn't have seen this. He would have probably loved it knowing that most of what I am using except for the styrene pieces I bought are all scrap stuff..........To be continued......


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

you said you wanted some suggestions, so here they are!

my suggestion is keep doing what you are doing, because you are doing a great job!!!!!

keep us updated,
Nate


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

You are making great progress! Just keep doing and you will find that you keep learning. You will find new and sometimes better ways to do things. I have been building stuff for 70 years and am still learn something new every day. That is what makes it so fun and challenging. If you never make any mistakes you probably aren't learning much! So keep it up and most of all HAVE FUN!!!


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks!! Nate....


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Oh Let the fun begin!!. I have to say I wished I had tried this a long time ago. I am really excited to get this one done and work all the bugs out. I am already thinking about the next Civil war Locomotive.....I worked on making some drive/side rods. I bought some K&S bar stock and tubing and some silver solder. I have regular solder too but thought I would try some of this.. That stuff seems to be really "sticky" and is somewhat harder. Not too bad to work with..Here are some pics of what I did Saturday. This is one side done. However I think the ends are too thick,so I think I will have to lap sand them down to the right thickness. Wasn't thinking of that when I built these.

Picked up some fun stuff....









Patterns for reference..























































And the finished set.....










These turned pretty close to what I need. However when I tested the rear side rod it would bind up. I think the holes in the ends are too snug and need to be oblong just a hair to allow some play in it. Other words they are to tight. They allow the pin to turn freely but bind when both wheels turn... I also filled in the ends with solder so this added some weight to the wheels. Should help with traction. Now if I can get another set to match the othe side i will be in business........


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

I also built the frame under the boiler out of brass. Looks better than the plastic tube, which was way to big.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

Looks Great!


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

The binding is probably due to the wheels being slightly out of quarter. If the wheels can be rotated slightly on the axle you might be able to make it a little better. However you will find that most engines have a little slop in the rod bearings, even many of the full sized ones! That is why some sound systems have a "rod clank" sound at low speed.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

I checked the quartering on the current motor block I have. everything is good. I made one of the holes oval shaped a little. now it turns free. However I am really getting frustrated with this and about ready to give up on this route...


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

These aren't much for pics, but I am trying a different route. I bought some aluminum bar stock 1/8 x 1/2. I rough cut two side rod patterns and will finish them by hand...




























After I filed down to get them to match I will drill the holes and finish the corners....


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Looking forward to seen how this effort turns out. Wishing success to you!


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

So for now I have tried to cut these out of aluminum by hand, didn't turn out to bad. Still rough looking. So I went to Harbor freight and bought a cross slide vise for my drill press and used a dremel bit that looks like one of those end mills. I had some success with it after fine tuning the vise and mounting it. I used some hard plastic. I think it was Delrin or something, not sure. I will post some pics of this later..........


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## chuckger (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Travis,
A while ago a buddy and I worked on a loco frame. We made brass side rods like you did, but we used automobile valve grinding compound on the side rods, prop the engine upside down and let it run about 20 minuets or until it runs smoothly. hope this helps.
chuck


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks Chuck.. Do you have any pictures of the finished side rods?.


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## chuckger (Jan 2, 2008)

Travis,
I don't have any pics of the side rods, they where flat brass bar and we used plastic rod covers from Hartland. I'll see if I can post a picture.

Chuck


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

This is really starting to get frustrating. ....


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Update on my Locomotive build. I was going to pretty much give up on this. I decided to go ahead and see what it looked like after being painted. Not too bad I guess. I still have a long ways to go and some bugs to work out...

Cab being ready for paint...


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Filled all of the holes and gaps and then gave it a coat of grey primer which I found out that Valspar sucks.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

The cab with a coat of red. Ended up giving it two or three coats to cove the plastic filler. I used Krylon Short cuts from Hobby Lobby. Red Pepper and Flat Black.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Here is the boiler which was extended and filled with putty. Need to make a few minor changes that I forgot to do before painting.










Along with that, I used many different parts from manufacturers for this bash. The pilot and wood burner stack is from the MPC General Model kit. The steam chest are from Bachmann mounted on the modified front of the original Kalamazoo frame, Backhead is original to the Kalamazoo parts. It will be detailed more before being installed.Last the Headlight mount and light is Kalamazoo..I may look for a bigger light to use as it looks a little small..


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Here are some side, Front and rear view pics of the parts temporarily in place. The roof has been painted red with masking tape on top to represent a tar paper type look. I will post photos of it later on. Along with that the cab interior will be painted a mint or cockpit green.







































Thanks for looking...


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

I did get a brass frame for the crosshead built. I haven't painted it yet. Still need to get the cross head cut out of styrene and notched to mount it...


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Coming out quite well Travis, keep with it.

Chris


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Thanks Chris!.. This has become more of a project than I thought...lol


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## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

Looks good mate.


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

If the motor block is Kalamazoo or Delton, I have purchased many parts from eBay. Search for the Kalamazoo or Delton name in G scale trains.


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

For those of you that were following this build, I haven't given up on it. I haven't done much to it lately. I will be getting back to it soon tho. Thanks for checking in...


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

The Hartford 4-4-0 drivers will make nice replacements for the Kalamazoo solid ones.I did a kitbash years ago, and used them. They fit on the axles, and have no solid backing, so you can see through the spokes. Since I converted to Battery/RC, I didn't need the electrical pick-up so the new Hartford wheels looked much better and worked well.
I obtained the Hartford drivers from Hartford, as replacement parts.
Fred Mills


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

Since you are maintaining the locomotive, as a model of such a locomotive as the "General", you won't be interested. But, anyone wanting to modernize it and install a front coupler...I used a replacement pilot from LGB, for a more modern Mogul, and used the Kadee front coupler set, suggested for the LGB Mogul....and the Bachmann 10 wheeler. You do need rather wide radius curves to use the front coupler, but it sure looks great with it installed. A replacement pilot for one of the B'mann ten wheelers might work too.
Fred Mills


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

....don't forget the simulated Stephenson Link valve gear, and bell crank....
Fred Mills


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## general1861 (Jan 22, 2010)

Fred, what drive wheels are you referring to?. I wasn't aware there was drive wheels available for the 4-4-0. The Kalamazoo are undersized for the time period. Do you have a picture or part number available.?


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

I know Hartland has similar drivers; plastic centers with a metal rim and wheel tread. The Hartford I'm aware of made 1:20 stuff....

The Hartland (HLW) are undersized as well. They are see through. I own a Jupiter by HLW and they're 2" D at the tread.
John


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## bcp (Dec 29, 2011)

And now Photobucket has taken away all the photos of this conversion. 

Bruce


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

bcp said:


> And now Photobucket has taken away all the photos of this conversion.
> 
> Bruce


Well the free accounts were advertising supported, but with the pics here and the ads there, their original intent of being the viewing platform was compromised.
Yes the amount they decided to charge is high, to get their users to post links to the pics... and tons of ads....

This site deleted my pics altogether, shrug.

John


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Another fine thread ruined by photo-fuggit .... all pix gone...

Any chance you can get them back and fix the thread?

I'm sure the admin here can make it so you can edit the early posts, but what a job it would be... maybe just a few pix added so people can see something?

Greg 963


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## jaug (Oct 18, 2011)

Interested in you build but I don't know if it's my Mac or not but I can not pull up your photos


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Umm...

The pulling of pictures by PhotoBucket is all over the news some weeks ago, as well as being discussed in several places on this forum.

That's what my post refers to...

Greg 870


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

jaug said:


> Interested in you build but I don't know if it's my Mac or not but I can not pull up your photos


Here, jaug, background on that - as Greg said it's not you, it's them. 

*Photobucket addresses complaints over new policy that charges heavy users $400 *

*Denver photo-sharing site says it needs to find “sustainable business”*

By Tamara Chuang | [email protected] | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: July 6, 2017 at 7:00 pm | UPDATED: July 13, 2017 at 9:59 am





http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/06/photobucket-complaints-over-charging/

*
*

*Behind Denver-based Photobucket’s unpopular decision to go from free to $399 
*

*Denver’s once innovative photo-sharing site is a skeleton of its former glory*




By Tamara Chuang | [email protected] | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: July 16, 2017 at 12:01 am | UPDATED: July 16, 2017 at 12:33 am



http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/16/photobucket-fee-hike/


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## Sampug394 (Dec 30, 2010)

Apparently you were once able to click on the static image, and it will take you to the original image posted on the photobucket site... Which is silly considering to read a thread with dozens/hundreds of pictures, you'd have to go back and forth and would waste lots of time and clicks.

Photobucket was essentially paying for a lot of people to hotlink a lot of images with no actual advertising money being made since people weren't actually visiting the photobucket site and galleries, and decided to make a move against it with not very much warning. Thousands of people have been aggravated and are actively fleeing the site and service, looking for alternatives or just taking their images off. The major bombshell regarding photo-fuggit (As Greg said above) is that to save money, and attempt to make more money with the $400-year storage, not only has photobucket marooned most of their userbase, they have essentially ruined countless amounts of posts and threads all over the internet, with endless new and old-aged threads and their visual information and history now obsoleted and lost in cyberspace.

Summed up, a major image-hosting company was tired of not making money. They decided to kill hotlinking to their images on their servers, replaced ALL images with a placeholder, told everyone they could fork over $400 a year to get it back, and are now rapidly losing their customer base, not realizing they shot themselves in the foot by destroying a massive amount of hard work and information. _And then_ asking for an obscene price to get it all back.

Personally I would not be surprised if Photobucket shut down in the near future, considering the very poor business decision they made. The least they could have done is applied that placeholder to future images, but instead they felt it was better to do a widespread book-burning style eradication of internet history, and replace ALL images instead.

I have signed up with Imgbox as a free alternative for my newest thread, and may attempt to revitalize my old threads with newly uploaded images on Imgbox. So far I have no complaints with only a few images uploaded anyway, and I therefore offer it as an alternative to Photobucket.

https://imgbox.com/


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

Sampug394 said:


> ...
> 
> I have signed up with Imgbox as a free alternative for my newest thread, and may attempt to revitalize my old threads with newly uploaded images on Imgbox...https://imgbox.com/


and do you seriously expect, that the same behaviour (using a "free" hoster) will bring you a different outcome in the long run?


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## Sampug394 (Dec 30, 2010)

kormsen said:


> and do you seriously expect, that the same behaviour (using a "free" hoster) will bring you a different outcome in the long run?


Not really. I understand your point. For now its an available source of hosting. Unlike some people out there I keep the original files of my photography on my computer anyway. Have never actually lost any images in cyberspace.


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