Kriegsloks building shops

[Colorado Midland Modeler]

I wouldn't be going that far
The motor is not in yet. I have to solder in the grates imitation and figure out how to actually secure the motor on top of that.

You don't give yourself enough credit, I think it looks great! For securing motors, I've had good luck with GE Advanced Silicone for kitchen and bath projects. It gives good adhesion, provides a cushion against vibration, and insulates the motor from the frame, which is good if you plan to install DCC. I think I bought it at Wal Mart, but you could probably get it almost anywhere, and I'm sure other brands would probably work just as well.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

You don't give yourself enough credit, I think it looks great! For securing motors, I've had good luck with GE Advanced Silicone for kitchen and bath projects. It gives good adhesion, provides a cushion against vibration, and insulates the motor from the frame, which is good if you plan to install DCC. I think I bought it at Wal Mart, but you could probably get it almost anywhere, and I'm sure other brands would probably work just as well.

While i experimented with adhesives before on earlier projects, i have my mind set on a mechanical motor connection on this one. I will most likely drill and tap two holes for a bracket that surrounds the motor and screws into the grate area. I'll try to find a thin insulation material for both the bottom of motor as well as for surrounding bracket/clamp to keep it snug and insulated from vibrations at the same time. I have a nice Swiss can motor picked up for it, so insulating electrically from the locomotive is no problem. Biggest challenge will be making pickup shoes/tabs for the locomotive. I have in my mind how i want it to work, just need to sit down on a weekend and see if my head project is doable physically.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

I couldn't wait until tomorrow, so tender is back together for now:

Minimum grime will deffinitely bring out some more detail, but first decals must go on; "fried egg" Lehigh New England logo on the sides and locomotive number on the rear. Light touch up will be needed in few spots do to tender shell laying on top of the aluminum form while baking.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Today i'm working on the flywheel and motor mounting on the F-1 decapod. During lunch howewer, i put decals on the tender. The number on the rear wall was tough as the decal was litterary falling apart:

Decals for Lehigh and New England are hard to come by, and i was lucky an acquaintance from nearby antique shop had a mix of Champ and old Walthers decals. It was the Walthers numbers which are especially brittle, Champs are on a thicker backing and tougher. Later when i'm sure they set, i'll spray some clear laquer over them.

 

[Colorado Midland Modeler]

Today i'm working on the flywheel and motor mounting on the F-1 decapod. During lunch howewer, i put decals on the tender. The number on the rear wall was tough as the decal was litterary falling apart:View attachment 210716View attachment 210717View attachment 210718View attachment 210719View attachment 210720View attachment 210721
Decals for Lehigh and New England are hard to come by, and i was lucky an acquaintance from nearby antique shop had a mix of Champ and old Walthers decals. It was the Walthers numbers which are especially brittle, Champs are on a thicker backing and tougher. Later when i'm sure they set, i'll spray some clear laquer over them.

Looking good! Lehigh and New England's logo reminds me a bit of Great Northern's logo, minus the mountain goat. I believe I read somewhere that crumbling decals can be prevented by lightly spraying the decal sheet with a clear coat.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Looking good! Lehigh and New England's logo reminds me a bit of Great Northern's logo, minus the mountain goat. I believe I read somewhere that crumbling decals can be prevented by lightly spraying the decal sheet with a clear coat.

Thanks for the tip, i'll try it next time.
Railfans reffered to Lehigh and New England logo as "fried egg logo". I like to have some red on steam locomotive, the GN logo also looks good on steam as well as NP ying and yang.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Today i was getting my a$s kicked by couple pieces of brass. The goal was to build a motor mount which also acts as a fire box grate. Because i still have to actually design and build the mount itself, the idea was to have that grate be able to screw in on top of the main frame. The motor mounting pieces would then be soldered into the grate assembly. I finally have the grate itself made and only one 2-56 screw is holding it, since the front of the grate vertical wall is soldered to the main frame and it acts as an allingement piece for the grate. I don't know if it's a Swiss thing, but the only threads to screw in the motor to anything are at the shaft side and impossible for me to use since i have the flywheel on the shaft (i was able to calculate everything and i can in fact have my flywheel on the motor). There is only one threaded hole on the backside of the motor and it's probably something metric, so none of my screws fit, and i don't want to complicate the model by using American standard hardware and metric (all screws are American brass model pieces available in any hobby shops). So this is it for the day:

There is very little space between two shafts from the flywheel to the gearbox, so i'll be most likely using a vacuum hose to power the gearbox. The idea for the mount is to solder a thick "L" shaped piece in front of the motor, and in the back another piece which will have hinged arm closing the motor from the top and screwing it shut to the front "L" piece.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Today back in the workshop and i tackled that motor mount issue. Taking a break last week gave me time to think and instead of complicated multi part brass mounts, i came up with a single piece cradle for the motor:

First cut out of a very thick 1,5mm brass sheet. With a cutoff wheel in a dremel i slowly ground out rounded space for the motor to lie in and at the same time, end up almost touching top of the fire box grate below, this was to insure that the motor ends up at the level i wanted it to allign it with the gear box shaft. Initial testing:

After that it was time to go to the basement to drill out the hole for the front sleve of the motor to fit in the cradle:

Bending time:

And rear shaping of the cradle to fit. Still some fine tuning to do, but the motor sits nicely in the cradle:

I have to bend the rear vertical piece a little more in to hold the motor snugly:

I will probably drill and tap two holes in the grate and screw the cradle into the grate, that way everything will be easy to maintain with easy access. Still not sure how to hold the motor from the top, but a single bracket on a hinge at one top end and a screw on the other top end will probably solve that.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Well, i've decided to simplify the motor mounting even more. Instead of trying to drill more holes and screw around with tapping them, i just soldered the whole cradle into the grate. The grate itself unscrews from the main frame anyway, so there is no need to keep those two assemblies separate:

I have also located a rubber hose in my parts bin to connect the flywheel shaft with gearbox shaft.

In the rear of the red motor cover was a hole which was just large enough for 2-56 screw tap, so after tapping that single hole, i screwed the motor in through the cradle, after drilling a hole in the cradle:

The motor has a little play along its axis, so at a later date i'll find a double sided tape and put it between the motor and the cradle. I couldn't wait to try running the whole running gear, so even though the main frame is not ready detail wise, i screwed everything together:

Time to hook this thing to a transformer and see how she runs...

 

[Rico]

Very neat watching this come together!

 

[KriegslokBR52]

The thing was stopping because of loose wire from transformer, i just stuck that wire into motor clip, but it just didn't want to stay put. Otherwise the mechanism rus fine.

 

[Colorado Midland Modeler]

The thing was stopping because of loose wire from transformer, i just stuck that wire into motor clip, but it just didn't want to stay put. Otherwise the mechanism rus fine.

You've made amazing progress on this decapod, I look forward to seeing it rolling down the track with a freight train.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Today a little earlier home than usual and tomorrow not so early wakeup. So after disassembling the locomotive again, i sat down to do the final detailing on the main frame. Leaf springs were started on and because the resistor station just wouldn't handle the heating of the main frame (thick brass plates), i had to resort to very carefull use of mini torch to solder each spring into the main frame. I stopped at first two pairs, since several prep steps had to be done for each spring. First is the trimming spring detail to proper height, then getting a little of solder on the bottom of the spring with resistor soldering station, flux on the main frame where the spring will go, heat sinks for each spring in the form of steel plates (here i used whatever was available on my table, including a 90 degree edge), finally firing up the mini torch with one hand and holding spring with the pliers in position for soldering.

As can be seen, most of the springs are seen in side elevation, and the idea of the springs is to add depth to the model, as well as hide the gearbox over the middle drive wheelset. First drawing is of the Western Maryland I2 decapod. Second drawing is the Lehigh and New England version:

Spring rigging was virtually identical on both versions.

With first two pairs done, next two pairs are waiting for trimming;

Fifth pair of under hanging springs for the rear is still in the bag. That one will require some more work before it can be hung in the main frame;

Besides the springs, there will be a riveted plate going in at the rear of main frame:

A carefull eye will also notice the outline of ash pan sticking below the main frame. I will have to add that detail to complete the heavy look of the locomotive frame.
Brake rigging will be mounted to the bottom plate enclosing the driver axles, so that's not the part of main frame at the moment.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Yesterday a large train show in Allentown, some train watching after that and no work done on the F-1. Today i'm continuing on the suspension pieces on main frame and the ash pan:

Ash pan was a little tricky to do because i've had to adjust some measurements to fit in my main frame. After some drawings i started to cut metal:

I realised the first drawing was backwards in the way the sides were folding, i wanted to have one piece which after folded, would be the exact shape i needed;

It fit right in and the last set of underhanging springs was then trimmed to shape and soldered in:

The wheels will cover the missing piece of trimmed leaf springs. I still have to make the rear cover assembly for the ash pan and those riveted plates are still to do.

 

[migalyto]

Finally got caught up after falling behind again!

Amazing work as always, you are a true craftsman!

 

[KriegslokBR52]

A few more details added since i was all fired up. Did the ash hatch oppening linkage although a little simplified:

According to the pictures the handle was running up and away to the left from the main frame, it was firemans job to clean the ashes, but do to piping under cab being in the way when removing the boiler and cab assembly, i just ran the handle inside the frame and soldered it to keep everything solid and stronger. That handle mechanism is not visible on most pictures, but this Baldwin F-1, new at the factory shot provides a few details:

Even $1000 plus Overland model does not have the ash hatch mechanism and i really don't like that empty space under cab on steam locomotive models. I did wash the whole assembly in gasoline with an old tooth brush and then in hot water with soap, there was just too much oil, flux and brass dust on it. Done for today though and time for dinner.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Yesterdays fruit of labor late in the evening:

 

[Marlin338MX]

I don't think you could ever put a "price" on how much time you have invested in your work. Thanks for sharing your progress with all of us!

 

[migalyto]

ash hatch oppening

Try to say that fast 10 times in a row!

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Try to say that fast 10 times in a row!

Joker