It really depends on what you are starting with. The 0-6-0 has a completely rebuilt firebox with the old one cut off and harvested for parts (dome, rear shade, slot for the deck plate and the mounts for the screws) the shell was extended a little and built the sides and back then wrapped it. Like I said I took lots of pictures of the starting points and can go pretty in-depth with how I did it.

The I-9 was a different story with the firebox being added to an existing structure. (stock spectrum shell) The back was extended a bit, I have strips glued to the original shell as supports then wrapped to where it naturally flowed back into the boiler and lots of putty and sanding to shape. The cab pieces were really just based on an I-10s as I was making them.


Next was a shot of paint before the cab roof was glued on making it look pretty rough.


Then the finished project.

Casey, please go in depth. Great looking engines, guys!

Adding a Wooten firebox to an existing casting isn't terribly difficult, I dremel, file, and/or sand any detail off the casting, build out the sides with styrene stock, then wrap it with sheet styrene and add styrene strips as banding. The only real trick is making sure both sides are symmetrical.




Having gone through the pain of making them match, in the future I'd just eliminate the walkway and add it back later.

Thanks, Wowak. The pictures are quite helpful. Both the 0-8-0 and 0-6-0T are beautiful!

I'm also interested in creating the backhead on a camelback. With Casey's I-8 and L class conversions, I suspect he could simple use Mantua's molded backhead. What about the 0-6-0? Is it rivet-embossed sheet styrene and cast firebox doors?

So aside from the one way of making the wooten, is there a way to make some sort of mold or casting to make one? Is there a way to make a duplicate shell from an existing model?

Nick

Robin, unfortunately Lionel saw fit to put the circuit board for the reverse unit smack in the middle of the cab, so there isn't much of a backhead. I've put some details to see through the windows, but the floor is necessarily about 18 scale inches too high and there's a curved panel over some capacitors. Unfortunately this also prevented me from modelling #1251s open cab back.





Nick, I have no experience with casting, but I don't see why someone with the skills couldn't take a modified boiler and make a mold, as long as you took draft allowance into account. I don't personally know anyone with the equipment to pour "hard" metals, and I wouldn't really want a resin locomotive boiler.