Roundhouse 2-truck shay


posse

posse

Active Member
So one day I decided I wanted a shay, and in one way or another, I was going to get one. After seeing the prices of a Bachmann shay, I wasn't ready to pay that kind of money. But, there are cheaper ones, and the cheaper ones have some assembly required.

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When I was younger, I did put together some Athearn BB kits. Then after a few years break from the hobby, I decided to get back into it and built a couple of Kadee log cars. Until now, those where the hardest kits I built. After a good deal on ebay, I went to work.

Here on the boiler, I had lengthen the exhaust pipe. Otherwise, it would have exhausted right into the boiler end plate.
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Next I mounted the motor and gear tower. The red twist tie was used to hold the handrail post to the boiler.
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More to come!
 
Well shoot it's basically ready to run straight out of the box! ;D

That looks like a great project. I've been wanting a Shay and something to spend time on - maybe this is the path I should take too.
 
Ianacole, is your shay still noisy? Or has it quieted down? I'm running the plastic gears and I've got quite a bit of gear noise. I did lap the gears, but maybe I need to do more. If anyone has any tips on how to make these run smoother, I'm all ears.
 
LoudMusic said:
Well shoot it's basically ready to run straight out of the box! ;D

That looks like a great project. I've been wanting a Shay and something to spend time on - maybe this is the path I should take too.
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Say LM,

Maybe Athearn is/was making some Rr out of the box Shays but the earlier MDC/Roundhouse Shay kits are far from it and a bit of a challenge to build but very rewarding when finished if done correctly!

I've built two of the two-truck shays some years ago and they run very nicely but they do tend to rock a bit just like the real ones!
 
I got rid of my Roundhouse Shays when Bachmann released theirs..... the difference is amazing, and the price of the Bachmann is very affordable. I paid $150 each for mine including sound!
I tried to get the Roundhouse Shay to run decent, but there is just to many variables involved....
 
posse said:
Ianacole, is your shay still noisy? Or has it quieted down? I'm running the plastic gears and I've got quite a bit of gear noise. I did lap the gears, but maybe I need to do more. If anyone has any tips on how to make these run smoother, I'm all ears.
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It growls like nothing I've ever heard, even with the NWSL upgrades. But, I don't have a lot of run time on it yet. I need to put it on the stands and break it in some.
 
Your best bet is to get the NWSL gear replacements for more reliable running. They won't diminish the noise though. I've had a couple Roundhouse shays and they all sound like a coffee grinder on the rails!
The real tricky part is getting the driveshaft on the side to work properly. most modellers only use 1 gear per truck because getting all of them to line up right without binding is near impossible.
 
After working on it for a couple days, I think the NWSL gear replacements is the way to go. I can see where getting all the gears on the drive shaft is going to be a treat. The other thing that I need to figure out is how to add the front head light.
 
Not much has happened for a while. The replacement gears are on back order. I did manage to drill a hole through the boiler for the headlight. One word of advice, I suggest you drill the hole before you add all the detail on the boiler.:eek:
 
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