Bachmann On30 Mogul Info

On30 Mogul Notes:

The Bachmann 2-6-0 mogul is a great little On30 engine. Its can be procured cheaply on ebay, runs well, and can be bashed and modified in many ways.

It appears to be prototyped after Colorado and Southern #21 and  #22 as originally produced with C&S head light and the large between the domes top mounted air tank. ( Like #22 in photo below) The other edition (photo above) with a more generic headlight and no top mounted air tank has been made to pass for a number of narrow gauge roads including Denver and Rio Grande.

As I describe the steps, I will try not to to be vague or general, as Montana directions tend to be. (Turn left at the old Johnson place.... but Johnson's haven't lived there for 25 years!)

First my disclaimer....These tips and procedures have worked for me, and if you have similar skills and tools they should work for you too.

However...My life experience tells me that no amount of instructions will ever prevent an impatient, unskilled, or clumsy individual from messing things up. So if you don't have experience working on small delicate things and you can't read and apply.....don't try this at home!

Sorry but..............“Nothing offends better than the truth”

Deficiencies:  As any modern mass produced item, the assembly process lacks time and care. The hidden snaps and catches are frustrating at best, and the overuse of superglue and lack of screws add to the dilemma. It wasn't designed to be taken apart and worked on, but with some effort we can get around all that.

Plastic:  As far as I can tell, most of the body plastic is not composed of styrene and does not respond to Testor's styrene glue. I have had success gluing the piping with Ace hardware general purpose plumbing glue for CPVC, PVC, and ABS plastics.

Paint:  The thick paint can be gently stripped with 91% isopropyl alcohol with no damage to the plastic whatsoever. Perfect!

The super glue:  The super glue my model was glued with was thick and brittle...Brittle is the good part. Some scraping, and a few cuts in the glue joint with an X-acto number #11 blade and some pushing, pulling, prying, twisting, and bending, and the glue cracks and comes apart.

Hand rail stanchions:  The hand rail stanchions are metal and need to be stripped and de-burred. I place a hot soldering iron at the joint between the handrail wire and the stanchion and pull as it heats up. It appears that the super glue melts before the surrounding plastic and pops out with no damage to the shell whatsoever...cool beans....I then strip the metal stanchion in lacquer thinner and clean it up with an X-acto knife and a file and a bit of 400 grit sandpaper. I run a clearance drill through the holes and I am ready to re-attach the stanchions. (Again with super glue, SuperJet red.)

Chassis:  The axles are metal and insulated from the metal wheels by plastic bushings. These bushings tend to protrude from the outside of the wheels in a random and ugly way and can be trimmed flush with an X-acto knife.

Pilot coupler lifters:  On my model the coupler lifters seemed to be only pressed in. They popped loose with a popsicle stick It appeared that there was a clear coating over the gold color that I removed with 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper and fine steel wool. I then used Hobby Black to bring it to a dark patina. If I do it again, I will start with paint stripper!

Firebox sides:  Thin plastic, the rivets aren't the same on both sides. Best to make brass etchings to replace them. (I've made the etch pattern, just need to etch.)

More in the next post!