C57 Japanese 4-6-2 Locomotive and Tender

[Flyboy Jim]

Thank you Jim. I must apologize for not keeping an eye on what you are about on the site. Will correct that.

John............you haven't missed much lately on my PMR #5 build. I've been distracted, but am determined, in the near future, to at least give the can a small kick down the road.

Jim

[J.L.]

Hi Jim,
There is a lot going on these days to distract indeed!

The piston rod can be seen going into the cylinder and being held in place on the motion bar by the crosshead. The connectiong rod is fastened to the crankpin on the center wheel. So it's the drive wheel. But the actual drive from the motor on this engine will be from the third wheel with a worm gear.

On an Occre Adler locomotive and tender model built recently, the model could optionally powered by a motor mounted in the tender.

[J.L.]

Assembling the valve gear meant following the illustrated diagrams religiously. Several times links had to be removed, turned over or reversed and put back together again.

How in the world did the engineers of the early steam slide valve operating systems keep them in good working order?  Boggles the mind.

Parts include: expansion links, radius rods, hanging links, connecting links, combination levers, and most importantly, piston valve spindles.

Also,many parts on the model were attached together with slot headless  2 x 3.6mm set screws.   

Good challenge.

[J.L.]

The valve gear is in place.

In the last photo, you will see the two piston rods in action; one  being driven forward, the other being pulled back  by the linkage - representing being acted upon by the double action of a steam valve.

[zeeprogrammer]

The quality is amazing. Makes me want one.

I certainly enjoy following your thread.

[wagnmkr]

"How in the world did the engineers of the early steam slide valve operating systems keep them in good working order?  Boggles the mind."

John, that is why almost every time the train stopped for any time, someone was out with an oil can and grease bucket!

Though you had to print the instructions, it looks very much like the quality is on par with the other locomotive you did.

You are doing your usual masterful job with this one as well.

Cheers

Tom

[Flyboy Jim]

Too bad they're out of stock...............I'm thinking they'd sell a few just from this excellent build thread.

Jim

[J.L.]

Thank you fellows for the kind comments.

I just discovered something yesterday. I've been calling this a 2-6-2 engine.

It's not! 

It is a 4-6-2 engine. How do I know? Well, when I started looking more closely at the instructions, I noticed a large mount for the leading truck. Four wheels!

It's a wonder somebody didn't trip me up on this glaring error.

I appreciate the engineering that went into its design. I guess as the engine rounds a sharp curve, the front truck, being so long would have to pivot in a special way. They made provision for this by having a moveable pivot point. Four links allow the pivot mount to slide back and forth.

I've never seen this type of pivot point before.  Very clever.

[J.L.]

The leading truck is a nice little model in itself.

It would be a wonderful child's toy! 

[J.L.]

The locking bar for the door is now in place.

I like the lens for the headlight. It has vertical striated lines with a lens in the center. The light is LED.

When I looked down the chimney the other day, I saw a shiny aluminum disk.  Oops! I forgot to paint the floor of the spark arrestor. So the plan is to drop a few drops of PVA glue down the chimney and give the wet glue a shot of graphite.  Instant soot! 

The two bands around the tank do need some colouring. Hopefully, I can slip a piece of paper between the bands and the walls of the tank as masking and paint the bands either white or brass. We'll see what Google can come up with when C57 pictures are found.

[J.L.]

One of the disadvantages of gluing delicate parts onto a painted surface is that the glue may not stick or that if may mar the surface of the paint. I read recently that hand lotion will remove the white residue left by CA glues.  Epoxies smear and leave a shine.

Well, these instructions mention synthetic rubber adhesive and multi purpose adhesives. I'm not sure about the first one, but I did find a water based All-Purpose Adhesive that was fast drying and fast tacking. It's called Quick Dry Tacky Glue by Aleene's.

It goes on like white PVA and leaves a mess at first. But with a wet Q-tip it dissolves instantly and the wetmess is removed quickly with a dry Q-tip.  Best of all, there is no streaking left from the clean-up. 

The grab rails around the smokebox door were attached this way. The stauntions were very tiny and the curved grab rod had to pass through their tiny holes and be glued in place.

Worked like a charm.

[Admiral_dk]

Great tip about the glue, John 

[J.L.]

Hi Per,

You are very welcome.

Although the tacky glue is very easy to apply and clean up, it is not as strong as CA or epoxy. I notice in some places, the instructions suggest backing it up on a hidden side with these stronger glues.  For example, on the inside of a tube where the part comes through, but its lug will not be seen when CA glue is added. With the more forgiving tacky glue, you also have time to adjust the part carefully knowing that any glue left about by sliding the part around to fit properly can be easily cleaned up.

I've also noticed that because the glue is tacky, you can put a bit of it on the end of your finger and set a nut into it. The nut stays in place as you reach inside something to find a mating bolt and acts somewhat like thread locker. 

[J.L.]

I'm on a roll with suggestions today. 

I notice that I'm leaving fingerprints all over the painted matt surface of the boiler walls. I tried using cotton gloves, but they were a pain.

But when I was placing painter's tape around boiler bands to hold them in place while I turned the model over to bolt the bands together, I noticed that when  turned back over after finishing, removing the tape left a flawless matt surface.

Of course! Forensic investigators use tape all the time to removed fingerprints! 

The yellow tape is less aggressive than the normal green tape. I now that because when I was asked in a paint store if I would be applying the masking tape over a painted surface or not. Since I was, they gave me the yellow tape instead of the green tape.

As an aside,I know that if you put an object in a sealed chamber, adding CA glue will reveal fingerprints. The CA vapours react with the oils on the print.

Of course, we all know that CA glue was invented for surgeries during the Korean War.

 

Too much information.

[J.L.]

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