Kim's A3 Pennsylvania Switcher

[Kim]

After 6 years, 296 pages, 606 progress posts, 3970 images, 33 videos, and a WHOLE lot of help, input, encouragement, and support from all of you wonderful people who hang out here in this forum, I have now, as of today, completed my A3 Pennsylvania Switcher locomotive build.  (And there was much rejoicing!)

I am very pleased with how it came out. 

I would also like to take a moment to express my gratitude to all the wonderful people that make up this forum.  I wouldn’t have been able to do this without your help and support. Thank you one and all.  I truly appreciate it!

With all that said, here are a few beauty shots of my A3 Pennsy Switcher.  The full build log can be found here: https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,8552.0.html

Thanks again!
Kim

[Dave Otto]

Congratulations Kim, beautiful model and certainly one to be proud of!

Dave

[crueby]

Stunning result to a great journey!!   

[tghs]

looksgreat,, so was the process..

[RReid]

Gorgeous. Congratulations on so successfully completing such a major project, not to mention documenting pretty much every step along the way. A true tribute to Hiraoka-San.

[Admiral_dk]

What a Wonderful Lokomotive and Tender 

The latest addition looks fantastic too with the color printed Face 

Thank you so Much for taking Us All along for this Amazing build 

Per     

[MJM460]

Well done on reaching the end of construction.  And I do hope the engine will continue to give you joy for years to come.

It’s been a great journey and you have beautifully recorded it, and I have been following from the beginning.  (I did not realise it had been quite so long though.  But I am sure to you at times it must have seemed longer.)

I am also one of the many who feel the pressure gauge was beyond me, but you have made it seem within reach (almost).  And I am so glad you made the dead weight tester, so you can check the gauge (and any others you come by) whenever you want.  I have added that at least to my build list.  Dealing with dodgy pressure gauges over many years and witnessing the calibrations for many years made me appreciate the value of that device.

Thank you for all the work you have put into documenting it all so we can follow along and enjoy the journey with you.

MJM460

[wagnmkr]

A wonderful accomplishment Kim. The journey has been worth it as you have a beautiful engine there.

 

Tom

[Kim]

Thank you all for your kind words!  It has been a very enjoyable journey, made even more so by sharing it with you all. Thank you!

Kim

[Kim]

I am also one of the many who feel the pressure gauge was beyond me, but you have made it seem within reach (almost).  And I am so glad you made the dead weight tester, so you can check the gauge (and any others you come by) whenever you want.  I have added that at least to my build list.  Dealing with dodgy pressure gauges over many years and witnessing the calibrations for many years made me appreciate the value of that device.

The pressure gauge was much less of a struggle than I had imagined.  I would encourage anyone to build it!  I found it very rewarding.  And seriously, if anyone is interested in doing so, I would gladly share some 0.005" phosphor bronze with you to help you out!  Just let me know.

As for the dead weight tester, that was a fun project also, and not too difficult, much simpler than the pressure gauge for sure.  However, I'm not sure how much value it would be as a general pressure gauge tester.  As i found, the amount of air it can displace is VERY small.  I doubled that with my longer plunger, but still, I'm not sure if it would work well with larger pressure gauges with more dead air space in them. The bourdon tube tester that I made from Kozo's plans had VERY little dead air space in the tester which is why, I believe, this little tester worked well with it.  So just that gentle warning about using it at a general dead weight tester.  It might work.  It's possible that other leaks that I had in the system were what caused me problems with my stock pressure gauge. Maybe I should go back and try it out with that gauge again now that I've seen it work!

Best of luck if you do try it MJM!  And please let me know if you'd be interested in any of the sheet phosphor bronze!

Kim

[MJM460]

Hi Kim, thanks so much for your generous offer, it’s very tempting.  I will have to re-consider my build list.

I will send you a pm (probably tomorrow).

I think the deadweight tester will work fine if I make provision for a hand pump connected to the end of the length wise drilling.  Air bubbles are the undoing of any piston pump, if I can purge them through and compress the air remaining in the gauge with oil from a hand pump, I expect it to be fine, as mentioned by one of those who commented at the time, especially if the gauge is directly connected to the tester, and with the longer piston as you made for the modified design.

MJM460

[Wobblers123]

Well done, amazing work.

[stevendavis]

Congratulations!!! And thank you for sharing all your work!!

[Kim]

Thank you Wobblers, and Steve! 

Kim

[RonGinger]

Very nice work. And dont overlook all the work you did to document this so we could all see it. I am sure you spent many hours editing text, selecting photos, uploading, etc.