Percy Together Again

After a couple more gear box prints, Percy went back together again. Brimming with anticipation, I put the chassis on the rails to see if it would run on the straight DC available from my ancient power pack. It sort of did, but not even as well as remember it running before I started on […]

Percy’s New Wheels

There is a little progress each evening toward re-wheeling and re-motoring Percy. The old wheels proved remarkably robust when it came time to disassemble them. Assembled with one of the red LocTites, the only way to get them apart was to break the plastic centres. It was a savage evening! I printed new centres, and […]

Gear Spacing

One of the things I love about sharing my modelling progress is the opportunity to learn from my friends. At the North Shore Model Railroaders virtual meeting this Wednesday, I shared the pitiful progress I’ve made on Percy in the last two months, culminating in the photo of the half-assembled gearbox. I commented that I […]

Percy Gear Fitting

I finally gathered sufficient courage to put all of Percy’s new gears onto their shafts. I was avoiding it because I only had one of each of the two spur gears and one lay shaft. If it went wrong, I would have to get more gears, and who knows when those would arrive through the […]

New Turnings for Percy

It’s been over a year since the lathe last graced the workbench in the heavy shop. Honestly, I was surprised I remembered how to turn it on! It took only one attempt to make this brass bearing, and two attempts for the new insulated axle. I’ll take the win!

Percy TEsts the Fit

3D models are all very well and good, but there are practical aspects to fitting a gear train inside an existing model. In particular, Percy received a bunch of weight in the boiler and saddle tanks. Who knows if the theoretical drive will actually fit? In about 20 minutes, the filament printer made rough approximations […]

Percy Considers a New Motor

Time has flown by and it is already three years since Percy emerged from the paint shop as GTR 2543. For those unfamiliar with the tale, the eight-month saga whereby Thomas the Tank Engine’s cheeky friend, Percy, sacrificed himself for science and good-running can be found here. The most significant discovery of the period is […]

Percy visits the paint shop

I found only the dried out dregs of a bottle of paint when I went to paint Percy’s new parts. The dregs looked almost viable, and I wanted the project done so I pressed forward with thinning and spraying. It was one of the worst airbrush experiences of my life. That’s saying something as my […]

Percy and the mega-print

With Percy now coated in primer, it is easier to see and comment about how that single big print went. Truthfully, it was two prints because the first one had the cylinders too high. While I wouldn’t consider it a failure, the single big print was not the best decision. I knew I was in […]

Percy gets ready for the paint shop

I had the day off yesterday so I could take the kids for a VR game on their last day of March Break. The game itself only took a couple of hours including travel time, which left the rest of the day for play time for me! I spent it on good old-fashioned modelling. I […]