Will a Bachmann U36 shell fit on an Athearn U-Boat chassis? Anyone tried it?
it depends on which motor your athearn had. the Bachmann shell was slightly narrower than the old athearn u33b. if you have one of the grey round motors, it won't fit. the flat sided gold motors might.
have you considered using a Bachmann b23-7 chassis instead?
Never thought of it. I've got a B23-7 so I'll try. Thanks.
Until about 1982 Athearn used motors that were wide and all hood diesels prior to the Trainmaster have hoods one scale foot too wide to accomidate it.
So long as the newer motor is used it's not a hard swap, the side pins to mount the Athearn shell either need to be removed, or holes added to the Bachmann shell to accept them.
The Athearn frame allows use of both newer Athearn China motors as well as some LLP2K motors. Heck at this point they may be the same motor since all that stuff is made over there.
Some Bachmann units go from a closed pilot and fixed couplers as originally sold, to swinging truck mounted couplers (generally with the pancake motor), which may result in an odd appearance if an open pilot shell is used on a frame with fixed couplers.