Revell/Concor Big Boy

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Was clearing out a draw last night and found I had a Concor Big Boy kit..only got it last year so cripes knows how I forgot it. :confused: Anyway does anyone know if anyone past of present has tried to motorize one of these ?

I thought of doing it by motorizing the tender, but the plastic value gear is cast solid.

Any thoughts ?

Simon
 

mhdishere

Member
One thing that comes to mind for me is to get a couple of eight-drivered engines (mikados, consolidations) and use those for the mechanism, then install the boiler on top of them. You might be able to find the mechanisms at a train show, look for something that took a dive to the floor and smashed the boiler but left the mechanism intact.

Sounds like a LOT of work to me personally, and would probably cost about as much as buying one, after scavenging two other working engines.
 
Good idea, although you maybe right about price, that said here the Rivarossi BB goes for the equivalent of $400.

Simon
 

mhdishere

Member
You might be able to catch one on e-bay, there are a couple out there now in the $200 price range.

There would be a lot more than the expense of the engines too, you'd have to figure out some way to attach them so one (or both) sets of drivers can pivot.
 

Ray Marinaccio

Active Member
I have one of the earlier Monogram Big Boy kits and was thinking the same thing.
Bowser sells a kit to refit the tender. They also have mechanisms to replace Bachmann drives.
I was thinking of using a couple of old Bachmann GS4s for the drivers and valve gear and scratching a chassis. It will be a lot of work.
I have already powered the Monogram Hudson using a wrecked AHM Pacific I picked up for $15. I posted a photo of it in the oldies thread.
 
Hi Ray,

The Monogram/Revell/Concor kits are identical, just reboxed ;)

Would be interested to see how you'd go about such a project, as then I've have someone to copy! :D

Simon

Wonder if Bowser would sell their BB chassis without the shell?
 

rowsdower

New Member
I actually am in the process of motoring one of these guys. I watched ebay for a while, waiting for a good deal on specific parts of a Rivarossi drive. After a few months I was able to piece together the entire drive for around 50 bucks. For some reason the shells and tenders go for nearly that much by themselves so getting the revel kit saves you a lot of money.

With that said, it is going together rather well so far. With very minor adjustments I was able to get the Rivarossi weight/frame installed inside the revell boiler with plenty of room to install the back head and smoke units up front (I know they're kind of cheezy, but I like smoke units). The driver sets attached easily once you make the right holes in the underside of the boiler. I must say both Rivarossi and Revell must have scaled their models well because the two versions fit nearly seamlessly.

My next step is remotoring the drive and finishing the tender.
 

steamhead

Active Member
I have one of the earlier Monogram Big Boy kits and was thinking the same thing.
Bowser sells a kit to refit the tender. They also have mechanisms to replace Bachmann drives.
I was thinking of using a couple of old Bachmann GS4s for the drivers and valve gear and scratching a chassis. It will be a lot of work.
I have already powered the Monogram Hudson using a wrecked AHM Pacific I picked up for $15. I posted a photo of it in the oldies thread.


I converted a B'mann 2-8-0 using the Bowser conversion drive...They're not anything to write home about. I spent a lot of work on it and couldn't make more than a mediocre runner out of it....
 
Z

Zathros

I don't know how this slipped by me but this is the oldest deadest thread and it is closed!! 9 years old, I can see the couple of posts after wards but this is ridiculous!

Start a new thread if you wish to continue the discussion. Thanks!
 
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