Jeff Smith Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 The Backwoods Miniatures Doodlebug conversion from the Bachmann Combine (Baggage Car) took my fancy a while ago. To get going in On30 I had bought from eBay a Pennsylvania steam set with three cars, one of which was a combine. These actually seem quite hard to get except maybe on eBay as new ones haven't been advertised lately. The finished vehicle does not represent any particular prototype but is 'typical' of diesel railcars of the period although my research showed that most Doodlebugs were in fact standard gauge. Anyway I recently received the kit as shown in the photo below with the combine. It basically comprises an etching of replacement cab front and windows. Also a guard or cow-catcher frame to be made up using brass rod. Modified bogie side frames for the Tenshodo Spud, which has already had suitable sized wheels fitted, and a few white metal castings of radiator, tank, bell, lamps etc. The instructions seem pretty comprehensive and take you step by step to take apart the combine, cut out the baggage end, assemble and fit the new driving cab end, build up and install the Spud, etc. There are also some useful suggestions such as removing the moulded glazing and fitting new flat glazing (not supplied). The only deviation I have made so far from the instructions is to add a couple of 2mmx2mm styrene strips inside the sides, after removing the end, to support the new brass cab front. Otherwise it would just be a butt joint inside the sides - ok once the glue dries but I want to ensure it is located correctly. I will eventually be re-spraying the body and applying decals and also fitting a decoder. I will periodically report progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loconuts Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 This can make up into a nice model with some thought. A friend Built one with modifications and it ended up looking like the Dooddlebug fromthe East Broad Top Company. He spliced two coaches together to make it 40 foot long, cut the verandas off and replaced the non-driving end with a Pullman type end. The driving end was built as the kit. He ditched the clerestory roof for a single arch roof and fitted an exhaust pipe plus some roof tanks over the driving end. He had to move the bogie centres out. There was a drawing of the EBT Doodlebug published in the Narrow Gauge and Shotline Gazette some while ago, if you cannot find a copy I will look out my scanned copy and forward it on, just let me know. Loconuts Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 I am just building mine per the instructions with perhaps some minor changes. A quick update - car stripped, end cut out, glazing removed and body sprayed dark green. The cab front fret has been formed and laminated using impact adhesive and the window frames fitted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 Another update. Cab front painted white ready for masking for black stripes. Bell, silencer and vents fitted to roof - awaiting exhaust pipe. Floor front modified by cutting off steps, shortening and reattaching front end and coupling gearbox. Pilot/cow catcher soldered up from fret and brass wire. This will attach under the gearbox using the same screw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
switcher 1 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Reminds me of the Crooked Mountain Lines, I loved the single unit 'trains' on that. http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/?p=3685 Edit: This may also be of interest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 Just an update. I painted the cab front and decided to install working headlights using the bulb from this combine and one from another car. The lamp bodies were made from aluminium tube with the white metal lamps that came with the kit drilled out and installed in the front. Holes were drilled through the cab front and the lamps glued on. I tried wiring the lamps both in series and parallel. In series were too dim (DCC current) so they are in parallel using the two pin connector used for the original internal lighting. These will be connected to the appropriate front light wire and common wire from the decoder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted November 6, 2015 Author Share Posted November 6, 2015 Another update. DCC decoder now soldered to the SPUD after modifying by cutting the metal strips connecting the wipers to the motor. Also extra pick-ups on the rear bogie insulated side. SPUD side frames fitted. I had to cut a hole in the floor forward of the SPUD pivot to accommodate the wires. The wires from the rear bogie have been taped to the floor and go down through the hole to the spud. Now with the internal floor fitted with slot in the cab end to accommodate the decoder wires. These wires are quite stiff and restrict the bogie movement somewhat however it still goes around my 18" radius curves. Mock-up assembly for testing. Lights work, and after a couple of hours bench running-in the SPUD (as recommended) and resetting the decoder steps to 128, runs quite well. Exhaust pipe added. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted November 6, 2015 Author Share Posted November 6, 2015 Something I forgot to mention. Backwoods fits larger wheels to the SPUD and these have pinpoint axles. In a normal unpowered bogie these fit into cones drilled into the cast sideframes. The gluing on of the stretchers to the top of the SPUD is imprecise so alignment of the pinpoints in the cones could not be guaranteed. I could have cut off the pinpoint ends to ensure they didn't conflict with the location of the axles in the SPUD but was concerned about heat in the axle affecting the wheel location and insulating plastic centre, instead I drilled out and countersunk the cones in the sideframes. In fact, if you look back at the picture above of the underside of the SPUD you can see that the rear brake shoes are much nearer to the rear wheels than the front ones are to the leading wheels. This will not be very noticeable in operation as the sideframes are well tucked under the floor.....I didn't see this as I was working on the top of the SPUD to fit the stretchers and sideframes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 Just a quick update, photos to follow. I decided to cut away the green floor above the SPUD to allow more freedom of movement to the Digitrax decoder wires. I also fitted a false cab floor painted black just below the windows to mask the wires from view through the front windows. I may fit a truncated driver. The main passenger compartment windows were glazed with simple flat clear styrene - the toilet window was made opaque with a fibre glass brush. I fitted a 1mm styrene stretcher across the cab front under the back of the lights and drilled a couple of holes through the new brass footboard for securing the body to the chassis - the rear is held by the original moulded tabs and slots. The kit illustration showed some steps behind the left hand baggage door for roof access so I added these. Testing indicated the need for lighting in the passenger compartment so I refitted the thick clear styrene strip and wired in a bulb from another coach. This is on the same circuit as the headlights - all three bulbs are in parallel so quite bright. The roof and fittings were painted in a weathered grey with the exhaust a rusty grey. I'm going to leave the roof as a clip fit for access. Testing indicated a rather lively direct performance so I changed CV 3 & 4 to 10 from the default 00 - this gives a more gentle acceleration and deceleration. An effect I hadn't really anticipated was the interference from the under track uncoupling magnets. Other threads of mine have detailed my search for non-magnetic wheels for my O-16.5 stock as I am using Kadee type couplers. Current Bachmann On30 stock has non-magnetic wheels but my combine came from an old train set and the trailing bogie has magnetic wheels as does the SPUD supplied with the kit. I didn't think this would matter but it does in fact give a slight hesitation then surge as each bogie crosses a magnet. I can change out the trailing bogie wheels but I think I am stuck with the SPUD ones..... All that remains is to add some steps below the baggage compartment doors and some transfers once I've decided what to identify it with from my stock of 4mm UK sheets. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 Photos as promised - all done except the transfers. First photo is with the layout lighting off, second and third are with it on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Final update on this. I sent for some HO Microscale alphabet water-slide decals in white. These are very thin but with a relatively thick backing sheet so the smaller items I found hard to transfer to the surface. However after a coat of satin varnish I applied the number; 4 was chosen as this is the DCC address. Then I decided a road name would look good so I settled on the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes RR partly because I already had a 2-4-4 Forney and Caboose from this rail road. The SR&RL was an amalgamation of several 2 ft gauge lines in Maine with about 112 miles of track and ceased operation in the 1920s. By happy coincidence (I subsequently found out) the SR&RL had actually built three internal combustion railcars, Nos 3, 4 and 5, taking the numbers from earlier scrapped steam locos.......of course they looked nothing like this one but no matter. Finally coated the decals with matt varnish - I may give a slight weathering at some time. Generally I am very pleased with this well thought out conversion kit from Backwoods. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Smith Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 Weathered with matching trailer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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