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New Articles

Converting a Sunset SP P-8 Pacific to Proto48

Past Articles

Gene Deimling Constructing an ATSF Bx-27 boxcar

Tom Mix Another Method to Make Rivets

Tom Mix Scratch Building Some Drivers

Robert Lerners's Tank Car Conversion

Dan Ellis's South West Industrial Railroad

Part 2 of
Tom Mix's Locomotives

Tom Mix's Locomotives

 

Tips

Working Coupler Pocket for the San Juan Type-E Coupler

Improving San Juan Type-E Coupler

Bottom Operating Cut Levers

Peeling Paint

Canvas Roofs

Wire Grabs

Wire Grabs

 

Proto48 Article:
 Tom Mix's Proto:48 Locomotives Part II

The art of scratch building is alive and well in Colorado

Photos and models by Tom Mix with commentary by Norm Buckhart and Gene Deimling

 

In our first installment we presented two of Tom Mix's great Proto48 steam locomotives, a 2-8-2 and a 4-6-0. We are adding photos of Tom's CB&Q M-4 class 2-10-4. Like the previous locomotives, the M-4 is scratch built using brass, steel and nickel silver. You will find a number of commercial castings on the beast but the vast majority of the work was done using basic raw materials.

 

 

Tom Mix's massive CB&Q M-4 is slowly taking shape in his shop.
(click on photos to to enlarge)

 

 

Tom uses both brass and nickel silver in his model building. The smokebox, firebox and tender were done in this material.

 

 

In this view, you can see the back head detailing done by Tom.
(click on photos to to enlarge)

 

 

The mechanism is driven by a Pittman motor that is run through a Delrin
chain and into a NWSL gearbox. Tom has incorporated a novel mechanism to shift the valve gear (notice the long arm running from the drive train.

 

 

The tender is a masterful execution complete with rivets and working water hatches. Even though the model is massive it retains many of the delicate details of the prototype.
EED