The International House of Pantographs

International House of Pantographs: If you spend enough time around HO heavy electrics, you might end up with a motley crew of pantographs like this. Most of these are Sommerfeldts from Germany but there're others in there, salvaged from old heavy electric models or acquired outright for various projects. Modern single-arms tend to look okay for North American prototype models, but some of those old-fashioned diamonds on the right side of the picture really look foreign.

Must look good folded: this is a modified Con-Cor MP54 pantograph. These are swell-looking pantographs, in either the up or down position. The photo-etched arms are especially well-done. The very well detailed base, which is very accurate for the MP54, has been removed via a very scary unsoldering process. The insulator and bottom support beams are lovely and large lost wax brass castings that absorbed all the heat my best 60-watt soldering iron could produce, thus a very uncontrollable and imprecise process. I've since acquired a resistance soldering rig for 'next time'. Will now fabricate a new base and insulators to complete the South Shore look. Did I mention it looks good folded?

One up and one down. New bases will be fabricated from styrene, or of I'm feeling frisky, from brass.