Friction for Percy

The question Percy and I have been grappling with is this: I strongly believe that 622 and 10 both spontaneously lost their quartering, causing them to lock up; how is this possible? Let’s review what we’ve learned so far: There is substantial play between the original crank pins and the connecting rods, as well as […]

Percy throws a rod

Earlier, Percy sheared off a crank pin. So, conjecturing that this meant the fast starts and stops were causing the wheels to get out of quarter sufficiently to put some force on the crank pin, I continued to replicate #10 and #622. Both of those have brass crank pins, but I turned some for Percy […]

Percy shears a crank pin

With Percy’s continued resilience to poor alignment, my approach will be to continue to replicate the construction of #10 and #622 until I can make it fail in the same way. This week, I turned some 3 mm axles, having no such stock material in my collection. It turns out to be harder than expected […]

Percy gets compensated

There is a widely held belief among proto:scale modellers that equipment works better if it is compensated or, better yet, sprung, or even better yet, compensated and sprung. It stands to reason that wheels that are able to stay on the rail are less likely to find the ballast. However, in an email, Rob Kirkham […]

Percy’s new connecting rods

One of my theories has been that Percy’s loose connecting rods were more forgiving of minor perturbations in quartering or crankpin eccentricity. So, I printed the middle experiments (8 degrees out of quarter and .022″ off eccentricity) with the thicker crankpins that allow only minimal clearance. These are about 20% bigger than the original crankpins. […]

Converting to hex

For many years, I’ve maintained a small stock of screws. They come in an array of shapes – countersunk, cheese-head, round-head, the oh-so-Canadian fillister-head, and hex. I never stocked the hex-headed ones because I didn’t have the appropriate tools to turn them. The trouble with most of these screws is that they have a simple […]

Percy to the Rescue

If it wasn’t obvious, I’ve been in a funk since discovering that 622 will not run after painting. In my heart, I know the solution will ultimately involve a new set of drivers, as attempting to fix the ones that are there will surely destroy them, and it’s unknown if I could ever put them […]

How fast does it go?

“How fast does it go?” my friend Andrew cheekily asked when I posted those photos of 622 a month ago. At the time, I’d not powered the engine on as I was up to my elbows in the Railway Modellers’ Meet. Since then, virtually all my hobby time has been consumed either by wrapping up […]

Sharing progress on 622

The Railway Modellers’ Meet has been under way since the beginning of the month. Since that first Saturday, we’ve met every Thursday for more clinics, virtual layout tours and our famous Meet the Modeller sessions. I had hoped to have 622 ready for Meet the Modeller last year, and alas, it is not even complete […]

Glazing 622’s windows

Somehow I’ve been convinced that true modellers glaze windows with real glass. I’m not sure if it’s really better; the passenger car has plastic windows, and they look fine to me. However, there is no doubting that when you tell anyone – even a non-modeller – that the windows are glazed with glass, they are […]