OMI UP turbine question for Butch

Discuss All Facets of 2-Rail, 1/48 Scale, Model Railroading
User avatar
big bad jim
Posts: 435
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 12:38 pm

OMI UP turbine question for Butch

Postby big bad jim » Wed Aug 19, 2020 4:13 pm

I seem to recall Butch discussing the various Overland turbine models at various times. I've recently had a veranda turbine pass through my hands on the way to somebody else, and we are trying to nail down the time frame when these models would have been imported. A second question concerns whether any of the early OMI models, and this turbine specifically, would ever have been factory painted. My impression is that they would have been unpainted, and that factory painted models didn't become more common until at least the mid 90's if not a few years later.

Jim

up148
Posts: 3969
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:52 am

Re: OMI UP turbine question for Butch

Postby up148 » Wed Aug 19, 2020 5:04 pm

Hey Jim,

The only OMI O scale turbine to come factory painted was the 1993 8500 HP Big Blow. Outstanding model. Sometime in the late 80's, Tom started offering "Custom Painted" turbines in HO, using various painters around the country. Some were good and some were great. And sometime in the early 90's all HO turbines were imported painted unless special ordered.

All the O scale 4500 HP turbines came unpainted. The Veranda was imported 1st around 1981, followed by the Standard or slab sided turbine in 1983. All of these had the infamous tank drive and Doug Cockerham did quite a business converting these models and any OMI tank drive models to his super drives. Although the soldering was hit or miss in the early 80's on all OMI models, the accuracy of these early turbines was excellent......and you really had no other choice if you wanted a turbine.

The most rare of the O scale OMI turbines was the #61 with special tender as only 10 or 15 were imported. The propane turbine (rare) was imported with a chrome plated tender, but unpainted turbine body. Many painters would paint over the chrome with a good silver paint as the prototype was silver.

I can't find my copy of "OMI the 1st 10 years" so I can't confirm these dates, but 99% sure the dates are right. Believe the total run of all 4500 HP turbines was between 100-125. To my knowledge OMI never ran a second batch of turbines, so they are all pretty rare. I know Rich has a copy of this book and might chime in on numbers and dates.

Tom offered these smaller turbines with and without tenders, but finding a tender on the secondary market was almost impossible. The prototypes only operated a very short time without tenders, due to high fuel usage and frequent fuel stops....which defeated the purpose of these engines to replace steam which required frequent stops (50-75 miles).

Shipping these smaller turbines requires some thought as the pilots get bent down easily shifting in the factory boxes. Best way to ship them is cocoon the turbine in bubble wrap and ship it in a separate box and they the factory box by itself.

Which model did you friend buy?

Butch

Chris Webster
Posts: 819
Joined: Mon May 25, 2015 7:25 pm

Re: OMI UP turbine question for Butch

Postby Chris Webster » Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:24 pm

Brasstrains.com's Brass Guide says the OMI Veranda turbines were imported in 1982. There were 75 of one version produced and 45 of the other version produced.

up148
Posts: 3969
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:52 am

Re: OMI UP turbine question for Butch

Postby up148 » Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:27 pm

Could be right on dates. Without the OMI book I can't say for sure, but very close. Not many models of the prototype.

bob turner
Posts: 12833
Joined: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:57 pm

Re: OMI UP turbine question for Butch

Postby bob turner » Wed Aug 19, 2020 7:20 pm

Be kind of careful. The early mechanisms were quite good for the first two times around a big loop.

And the interior bulkheads often will be found re-installed with JB Weld.

User avatar
big bad jim
Posts: 435
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 12:38 pm

Re: OMI UP turbine question for Butch

Postby big bad jim » Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:05 pm

Butch, thanks for the background on the OMI turbines. We had already found the reference info on the Brasstrains website, so are presuming the date as 1982. That's quite a bit earlier than I realized. But all of the other backstory is quite interesting as well, and my friend may ultimately be interested in other turbine models. I know that the veranda has been on his list for the better part of his lifetime, so this was a big get for him. But he is a fan of big UP power, so he may pursue other versions down the road.

The turbine in question is one of the veranda types, with tender. OMI 0218, apparently. I had presumed it was not painted at the factory since there was no ".1" suffix after the model number. It had a what I thought was a pretty nice paint job, and also some light weathering, mostly exhaust grime up top and road grime around the trucks.

I don't know if the drive is original or not, I wouldn't absolutely know what to look for to identify a Cockerham drive. I also tried to handle the model as little as possible to avoid any accidents.

I was tasked with picking up the model from the seller, and forwarding it on. I ended up repackaging the loco and tender almost exactly as you described, although I fabricated a chipboard inner carton which then was wrapped with the bubble wrap. If you have ever seen the later OMI models, at least in HO scale, they included a similar chipboard wrapper, which folded up around the model, with foam bumpers pressing against hard points, then fit into the foam box insert. I was inspired by that design. We agreed that it would be best to ship the models separately from the OMI Big Green Box (BGB® :D ) )both for the safety of the models and to save costs. The box must have been used for the 3 unit turbines as well, as it was one and a half times too big, with a third slot that was empty.

Bob, my friend is aware of the potential issuues with the early OMI models. But as a custom builder, he's proficient with the solder and waving the hot stick around, so he's willing and capable if anything needs fixing. His biggest concern will be maintaining the existing paint job if any soldering is ultimately required.

I'll see if he minds if I post some photos, what few I have.
Jim


Return to “O-Gauge, 2-Rail, Model Railroading”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests