Steam up
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 4:39 pm
I started my second loco at the recent Missenden Spring Weekend. As a dedicated GWR modeller, a GER Y6 tram loco might seem out of character but I have always loved these locos so bought one when Paul Willis got Jim McGowan to do a limited run. My thanks to Paul a) for getting the kit out and b) for his help at Missenden.
I am very much finding my way with chassis but I have made this one with a couple of new(ish) ideas.
First, the loco build so far:
Over the years I have been watching other modellers and thought 'that's a good idea' or 'I will not be doing that!' and in the latter cases, thinking up what I feel might be a better way. How many times have you seen someone fiddling with a screwdriver to remove a chassis, followed quite rapidly with either the 'bum-up' pose on the floor or cursing because the *** screw won't go in the hole?
My thoughts turned to magnets. No-one has yet come up with a way to magnetise brass, so I have used the butt end of a scalpel blade, snapped and ground to fit a Masokit door droplight frame and soldered under the floor. You have to think ahead here in order to make sure the frame spacer you are attaching the magnet to is the thickness of the droplight frame below the top of the chassis frame. I also put the magnet across a hole to reduce any negative effect to the magnetic field the brass might make. The magnet is 10x3x2mm neodymium which I bought from First4Magnets, stuck in with some double sided tape. I am sure there is scope for improvement here! The slot in my spacer is to clear the coupling.
To keep the chassis aligned, I soldered the droplight frame against one side frame and packed the other side out to the correct width with scrap etch.
The other end of the chassis slots below a cheesehead bolt (8BA) soldered in to a tapped hole in the floor and filed off flush. In this case, I wanted to avoid a nut showing in the cab; elsewhere this might not be so important. The lumps inside the spacers are bits of lead ballast.
When I made my other loco, 4600, I used a 2-pin plug to connect the motor. This meant that if the polarity is wrong, it is simply changed and if at any time the motor comes out, I do not need to unsolder anything. It means you only solder to the motor once. I have used decoder wire which is rated at 2amps. The socket is soldered to a piece of copper clad, across a break.
As this loco has a hidden chassis, I decided to use top wiper pick-ups as I did on 4600. Not being underneath the loco, these pick-ups are not vulnerable to damage, being caught by fingers or padding in the stock box. I think they also make a 'cleaner' chassis and intend to use top wipers wherever possible. I will come to the wipers in a moment, but to complete the 'between the frames' bit, I have used 0.7 brass wire, soldered to the copper clad and passing through the chassis inside some plastic tubing.
The actual pick-ups are made from 0.35mm phosphor bronze wire. I coiled it round some 0.7mm brass rod three times with a tail at each end. This was slipped over the rod sticking out from the chassis and secured with a 14BA washer soldered on the end. (Note: You must trim the brass wire back to clear the connecting rods first. Guess who did not!) The end of the p/b wire has been bent up, back then down to form a loop over the flange of the tyre, making sure it cannot touch the chassis side frame. This is to keep the pick-up on the tyre, not in front or behind.
I am very much finding my way with chassis but I have made this one with a couple of new(ish) ideas.
First, the loco build so far:
Over the years I have been watching other modellers and thought 'that's a good idea' or 'I will not be doing that!' and in the latter cases, thinking up what I feel might be a better way. How many times have you seen someone fiddling with a screwdriver to remove a chassis, followed quite rapidly with either the 'bum-up' pose on the floor or cursing because the *** screw won't go in the hole?
My thoughts turned to magnets. No-one has yet come up with a way to magnetise brass, so I have used the butt end of a scalpel blade, snapped and ground to fit a Masokit door droplight frame and soldered under the floor. You have to think ahead here in order to make sure the frame spacer you are attaching the magnet to is the thickness of the droplight frame below the top of the chassis frame. I also put the magnet across a hole to reduce any negative effect to the magnetic field the brass might make. The magnet is 10x3x2mm neodymium which I bought from First4Magnets, stuck in with some double sided tape. I am sure there is scope for improvement here! The slot in my spacer is to clear the coupling.
To keep the chassis aligned, I soldered the droplight frame against one side frame and packed the other side out to the correct width with scrap etch.
The other end of the chassis slots below a cheesehead bolt (8BA) soldered in to a tapped hole in the floor and filed off flush. In this case, I wanted to avoid a nut showing in the cab; elsewhere this might not be so important. The lumps inside the spacers are bits of lead ballast.
When I made my other loco, 4600, I used a 2-pin plug to connect the motor. This meant that if the polarity is wrong, it is simply changed and if at any time the motor comes out, I do not need to unsolder anything. It means you only solder to the motor once. I have used decoder wire which is rated at 2amps. The socket is soldered to a piece of copper clad, across a break.
As this loco has a hidden chassis, I decided to use top wiper pick-ups as I did on 4600. Not being underneath the loco, these pick-ups are not vulnerable to damage, being caught by fingers or padding in the stock box. I think they also make a 'cleaner' chassis and intend to use top wipers wherever possible. I will come to the wipers in a moment, but to complete the 'between the frames' bit, I have used 0.7 brass wire, soldered to the copper clad and passing through the chassis inside some plastic tubing.
The actual pick-ups are made from 0.35mm phosphor bronze wire. I coiled it round some 0.7mm brass rod three times with a tail at each end. This was slipped over the rod sticking out from the chassis and secured with a 14BA washer soldered on the end. (Note: You must trim the brass wire back to clear the connecting rods first. Guess who did not!) The end of the p/b wire has been bent up, back then down to form a loop over the flange of the tyre, making sure it cannot touch the chassis side frame. This is to keep the pick-up on the tyre, not in front or behind.