Engine truck good enough for now

Rebuilding the engine truck wheels, including one tyre that went missing (but is not missed as it wasn’t my best work) took a morning. This time I soldered the half-axles in place before casting the spokes. So all the wheels are nice and solid now, even the one that came apart in the heat and […]

Engine truck: two steps forward, one step back

Obviously, things were going too well. Parts were literally flying off the frets and attaching themselves to the frame. I was hopeful of actually hitting my deadline. The optimism continued as I folded up the the engine truck. Even tacking the bottom chord onto the side frames worked reasonably easily, despite being a flawed design […]

Bearing guides and kit design

I never know what to call these things. The Brits call them “hornblock guides,” but North American engines have no hornblocks and have no need to guide them. We unimaginative North Americans call the bearings, well, “bearings.” The parts on the engine that guide them are pedestals and their wedges. There is no room to […]

Frame for 622

The framigami idea paid off, and compared to #10, the frame for 622 went together very quickly. Of course, it didn’t go perfectly according to plan. There are a few things I will change if I re-draw the etching artwork, and a few things I would remember to do differently next time. Things for next […]

Firebox

I felt a mild surge of anticipation as I cut the firebox free of the fret and set to embossing the stay bolts and rivets from the back. Others are able to use half-etched rivet holes to make convincing, even rivets. Beautiful, even. So far, this is not a skill I can count on. Maybe […]

Driver bearings

I looked around at the various offerings for bearings in both the HO scale and 4mm markets and found they were universally too large for my purposes. Maybe a more modern engine would have such a large axle box, but my little teakettle needed daintier fittings. So, I decided to make my own. I believe […]

Bearings and the finest line

I read once that the finest line in model railroading is the one that separates running clearance from slop. I made four driver bearings on the weekend, starting with a 1/8″ drilled hole in the end of some brass hex. Only after I’d completed all four did I examine them critically on an axle. They […]

Rods for 622

As I was starting to turn up the crank pins, I figured I’d better find out if they would fit through the holes in the rods. They don’t, but rather than keep dragging out the whole etched sheet, I parted them off. Then, thought I, well I may as well fold them over and solder […]

Finished with casting drivers

After a couple of do-overs, I’ve finished casting the drivers for 622. It has not been a fast process, but at least it works, and I believe it results in a reasonably good wheel. I really should have remastered the mold before starting, as every wheel needed a little carving to account for overzealous application […]

Etchings arrive

The package from PPD arrived today and like a ten-year-old freeing a puppy on his birthday, I couldn’t wait to rip open the package! And then cut, and then rip some more, for PPD don’t mess around when it comes to getting their product to you safely. The two sheets were wrapped in tissue, then […]