SatinFinishFlooringBoxBackground2, originally uploaded by gerenm2000.
Bobber Gibbs posted this on the On30Conspiracy this evening, and I just had to share.
The background is cut from the boxes from a Canadian-made hardwood flooring system. The company web site is here:
There’s a dealer locator on the site, and I’ve found a chain in PA that sells and installs the product. I’m planning to contact them to see about getting some empty boxes from one of thier installs!
I just made an interesting and possibly important discovery. I have the Miniatures by Eric kit OHK6 to convert the HO 0-6-0T to an On30 model. As I mentioned earlier, I also have a couple of the Bachmann 0-4-0 Porters. I presently have the cab removed from one of them, and so, I thought I’d take a look at what the MbE cab would look like on the Porter. When I slid it into place, imagine my surprise when it fit perfectly! As if it were designed to fit there! My next step was to compare the two cabs. As it turns out, the MbE 0-6-0 conversion cab is a COPY of the Bachmann 0-4-0 Porter cab – right down to the woodgrain detail on the underside of the cab roof. The wood load delivered with the kit is cast from the Bachmann Shay wood load.
My curiosity got the better of me, and I got the 0-4-2 Porter out of the box. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the bunker was copied from the 0-4-2 — along with one of the stacks provided in the kit. The other looks like it was copied from the Climax/Shay straight stack.
So, now for my $45, I got a bag of copied Bachmann parts, and a couple of domes that I could have gotten from Don. All of the parts appear to be either purchased or copied from others, with only slight modifications, if any.
I’m a little torn here –Â and a little torqued. It appears that the only truly original parts in the kit are a new back-head and a new floor/rear pilot assembly. I doubt now that I’ll buy anything else from him, even though I was planning to get 2 of the Forney kits. I have also removed his link from my web site.
One of my new Bachmann On30 Railtruck on the layout.
I really, really like this little model. It runs like a charm and is cute as the dickens! And, wonderfully detailed.
Even the drive-line is really neat: There’s a tiny motor concealed under the opening hoods. The motor is “wrapped” in detail to make it look like an engine. Behind the motor is a tiny gearhead that’s disguised as a transmission. From the back of the transmission is a real drive shaft that looks and functions just like the real thing. It feeds into a “differential” housing that drives the rear axle. It is v e r y cool.
Even the headlights work, and there is a single red tail light. Impressive.
My only gripe is the included DCC decoder (yes, DCC is pre-installed!). It’s functionality is limited in such a way that it neither supports CV2/5/6 for speed control, nor does it support an alternate speed table. That means it’s going to have to be replaced.
Fortunately, I always planned on replacing the stake-body with a box body, which will allow plenty of room for a Soundtraxx (or other) sound decoder and speaker. At least Bachmann provided a standard 8-pin connector on this bugger.
There are two “pilot” options that ship with the model. Standard is a grate or “cow catcher” pilot, or you can install this snow plow:
It turns out that it’s possible to post images to the site, along with the appropriate text, from Flickr. As I get time, I’ll move all the images over to get picture posts working again. This will take some time. Please, stand by.
There aren’t many On30 pictures on flickr — yet. In fact, the only On30 pictures currently on flickr are by my good friend Garry Cerrone. Very cool!
