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MPC The General


mtncolonel

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I just bought from e-bay the 1/25 MPC model of the General of the Great Locomotive Chase. This replaces one I had bought years ago but lost in one of my moves. It seems complete except for the decals, which provides numbers, W&A lettering for the tender, and striping - all in gold. I've contacted the seller, who does not have the decals. It appears the model was in water from the damaged box. Does anyone know where I can get these decals? Does anyone know what became of MPC and how to contact them at this point?

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Hi, John,

 

The General is a neat kit. Good luck with building it.

 

MPC and AMT and Ertl are all owned by Round 2, LLC, 4073 Meghan Beeler Court, South Bend, IN 46628. Their website is round2models.com where, I suppose, you can find contact information and parts ordering. Decals may be a challenge for an out-of-production model even for them. Go to the model railroad section of your LHS and browse through the markings they have. You may have to use an alternate railroad's markings, or customize your own.

 

Again, good luck.

 

Ed

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I have both the MPC & AMT boxings -- I am ('am' being a relative word, I started in 2010) building just one, but I had need of some spare parts, and I got them both at relative steals.

-- MPC instructions are better for construction; AMT/ERTL instructions are better for color call-outs.

-- I know I have used the tender markings from one set of decals, but am not sure about the state of the other set.

-- Inventory your parts, I probably have spares.

 

PM me your snail-mail address; I'll send you a copy of the AMT instructions and whatever I can of decals. Even if they aren't particularly useable, you might be able to use them to print yourself a new set. Also, if you do your inventory, I'll try to help on missing parts.

 

It's a neat kit, but you've got to be a modeler, not an assembler ....

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  • 3 weeks later...

My mailing address is 1775 W Kentucky Ave, Denver, CO 80223. Interesting that you are in Nags Head. I lived in Fayetteville and Lillington for about 7 years, both in the Army and much later. The Outer Banks were my favorite part of the state, especially Ocracoke.

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  • 2 weeks later...

John -

I got your mailing with the copy of the decals for the General and the instructions. This is just great. I have been thinking about getting the materials to make my own decals, and this would be the first chance to try that with the copy you sent. Thanks a lot!

I'll let you know how it comes out.

- John Manion

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  • 1 month later...

Has anyone done a photo walkaround of this locomotive? It's in a museum in Georgia. I have a Kitmaster HO/OO scale kit and would like to build it in its Civil War configuration, but need further details. A distant relative of mine was an engineer for the Western & Atlantic RR (but not General).

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I haven't done a walk-around of the restoration but while researching the AMT kit, I did an internet search. The problem is sorting out what the correct colors may have been and what variations have occured as the restoration has been repainted over the years.

 

Using my BMJ (best modeling judgement) but understanding I wasn't present at the Great Chase, I have selected this for my scheme because it will look good:

 

thegeneral.jpg

 

but I strongly suspect it came in basic black with a bit of trim, like this:

 

loco002.jpg

 

Here are some others:

 

general_loco.jpg

 

general_loco1.jpg

 

general_loco3.jpg

 

the-general.jpg

 

the-general-train.jpg

 

toy_train_general.jpg

 

toy_train_general_cat.jpg

 

warr-2014840.jpg

 

 

I think you can be comfortable that you have some latitude in what you pick ...

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Cool! Thanks for posting. I have learned that General did not have wheel brakes until much later than the Chase (she was thrown into reverse to stop,like most locomotives of the period), and that her pilot (cowcatcher) was different from that shown in most illustrations and as currently displayed. A good source is "The General and the Texas" by Stan Cohen and James G. Bogle, published by Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., but it does not have any clear walkaround photos like we modelers crave, especially of all the mechanical stuff forward of the driving wheels.

Edited by SkyKing
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Looking at the reference photos and the restored full-sized engine, all of the wheels are open-spoke. The Lionel example has closed-web wheels, which are inaccurate. Do the MPC and AMT/ERTL kits have the open spokes? Just asking.

 

Ed

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I know Wikipedia isn't always the most accurate source, but it mentions that the original configuration had three domes and a balloon stack, which would change the look quite a bit. Oh, and it orignally had wide gauge wheels. Most likely no one but you would know the difference. (Details like that keep me from making much progress on converting locomotives to match my chosen subject.)

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Her overall configuration remained basically the same as built (except for the pilot), with some changes post-Civil War due to conversion to oil burning and the addition of modern air brakes, to mention just two. Her gauge was originally 5 feet, like most southern railroads, but this was later changed to 4 feet 8 1/2 inches, a change which would hardly be visible in HO/OO gauge.

 

"The General and the Texas" is available from Amazon.com. It's a great read.

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Having just gotten, and skimmed, The General & The Texas by Cohen & Bogle, I can see where the 3-dome would spring from -- the picture on pg 42 showing the remains after the destruction to prevent capture as Atlanta was evacuated in Sep 64. It also clearly shows how the pilot is wrong on the kit.

 

The cover painting by Wurtz then has much more credibility. I sure would like to know what other sources he might have had.

 

If you at all care about "The General", get this book !

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  • 7 years later...

Occre, a Spanish company make an old style locomotive kit similar to the General named the Jupiter.  It is a large mainly multi medium kit and they make some other very interesting transport kits as well.

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I forgot to mention in my last post that many years ago (in the 60's I think) I built the Rosebud Kitmaster Genera!. When the moulds were sold on to Airfix they just used the moulds for the British railway engines and rolling stock. They only issued Stephensons Rocket from any historical Kitmaxter moulds. All the Airfix own and Kitmastef moulds were sold on to a company named Dapol who still make most of the kits today. Whether the General moulds along with some other Kitmaster subjects like a Beyer Garratt  and some European subjects went on to Dapol with the rest I do not know. None of those have seen the light of day since Airfix took on the Kitmastef range. Maybe the moulds went to Dapol but we're never used?

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