[R.W. Marty]

Hi all,


A couple months ago a brand new Davenport gas-mechanical arrived at the Shasta Pacific shops.

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/17/postid/61067/view/topic/Default.aspx

After running it through the shops and knocking any bugs out, it was lettered and turned over to a Shasta Pacific subsidiary,
the" Love Letter Mining Company", up in Trinity County. It left the Redding Yards this morning, with one of Love Letter's flat gons
in tow, for the mine complex on Love Letter Creek near Hyampom where it will be put to work moving dump cars and shifting flats
to the siding for the regular runs to pickup and deliver to the Redding yards.

We were able to catch a couple pictures as Smoky Johnson was about to send her up the line.

Actual changes to the model were;
1. That headlight had to go! Made a new one from styrene tube and reused the LED.
2. Hood was repainted, black, after the headlight mods.
3. Front handrails were repainted and the stanchions were removed from the radiator core and moved to the shell.
4. The plastic foot boards were replaced with wood.
5. THe coupler lift bar handles were shortened so the lift bar chain would hang closer to the couplers.
6. Couplers are KD # 820. I run everything at 24 inches to centerline so there was very little modification required
to get a perfect fit. Only downside is the lack of centering springs ( no possible way to install them without major surgery)
I didn't think the surgery was worth while for my operation, your may vary.
7. The seat and firing stand are a joke for 1:20 scale! The seat as supplied is 12 inches round and 14 inches high, the firing
stand is like 2 foot tall. Perfect if your engine man is 4 foot nothing tall. Anyway I changed the seat completely and raised the control
tower to suitable height.
8. the lettering is press on vinyl by a local sign shop. A very light weathering was applied as this is a brand new engine. In fact it is
so new that it will be ( by my railroads time line) 2 years before it will be introduced to the real world.
9. Battery and remote control will be added at a later date.


Thanks for your time.
Rick Marty

 

[Steamnutt]

Rick,
The changes look good!

 

[Don Gage]

Looks great R.W.
It was your initial article that pushed me to buy one for myself. I completed similar modifications then stopped working on it, I'll get back to it soon.
Thanks for the inspiration,
Don.

 

[East Broad Top]

Cool!

For the couplers, I spliced a Kadee straight-shank coupler onto the stock B'mann coupler arm. Works like a charm!

Later,

K

 

[Paul Norton]

Nice mods Rick!

How wide is the frame on the Davenport?

When you moved the stanchions for the front handrails, did it leave holes to fill in the radiator?

 

[Stan Cedarleaf]

Very, very nice, Rick. The images are great as well..

 

[R.W. Marty]

Hi all
Thanks for the interest.

Don,
Glad you got one, can't wait to see the finished product.
PS. The Cats are getting closer.

Kevin,
Yes, I remember your modification and will probably change to it to get the
centering motion.

Paul
The frame is 3 and 3/4 inches wide total.
Removing the pins leaves a hole or broken off pin end.Because of the
texture of the radiator the plugged holes pretty well disappear when painted
and lightly weathered.

Stan.
Thank you.


Later
Rick Marty

 

[Scott]

Hey that's pretty good work. Does the Davenport work well??

 

[Bob Pero]

Very nice. Your mods make the locomotive more realistic. How about a horn on the cab roof or hood? I know someone who hung a bell under the running boards. Just a couple of ideas.

 

[R.W. Marty]

Yes it is a very good runner.

Bob,
I am looking for some horns as we speak. A lot of the
prototype pictures show the horns on the cab roof and a bell
on the hood or on the running boards.

For proto picts check here. http://www.northeast.railfan.net/diesel97.html

Thanks.
Rick Marty