Edit topic

Updated your discussion topic below.

Subject
Enter a subject for your topic. Maximum 150 characters.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
My Mum asked me last night, - 'What are you doing to that nice locomotive?' I often work on some of my less messy modelling projects in the living room while Mum watches the telly so I can keep her company. To Mum's eyes entirely taking apart a nice shiny New Bright loco is little short of vandalism, - especially when what will arise from the sundered parts will be scruffy and unkempt and in need of a good clean. With great pleasure I removed the bell mechanism and the enormous bell hidden in the boiler, and then to follow up I snapped off the spring steel plink-plonk noise maker strip. The jury is still out on the mechanical 'chuff' box mechanism, but if it gets in the way of the new boiler too much it'll definitely be going! [img]http://locomotiveannie.homestead.com/files/NewBrightFrames.jpg[/img] Having entirely pulled apart a New Bright loco this is what I ended up with. So what am I building? Yesterday while hunting around the www.mylargescale.com website I found their 'Masterclass' Baldwin 2-6-0 project which claimed my full attention for around an hour while I absorbed as much as I could about things Mogul shaped. The Masterworks Baldwin is a firebox-between-the-axles type of Mogul that looks like this .......... [img]http://locomotiveannie.homestead.com/files/Baldwin2-6-0.gif[/img] ......... which is not what I want as the wheelbase is too long for the curves on a logging tramway. So I'm going to be building something that looks a lot like this ......... [img]http://locomotiveannie.homestead.com/files/BLW-ng-260c-ch.jpg[/img] (click on the image to get a better look) On this wee Baldwin Mogul the firebox hangs out past the rear-most driving axle and is nice and deep which is what you want in a wood burner. So where does the New Bright chassis come in? - as it happens the coupled wheelbase on a New Bright loco is just right for the smallest version of this class of Mogul so long as you're sticking to 1.22.5 scale. The wheels work out to being 28 inches in diameter rather than the prototype's 33 inches, but I think I can live with that. I'm going to use a saturated steam type boiler as per the masterclass Baldwin drawing, but I want a wooden cab as per the official factory photo. Boilers! - I went to the hardware store to buy some PVC waste pipe in handy boiler sizes and I got what I wanted alright, BUT I do wish hardware store people would stop treating me like an idiot. Store person: Can I help you at all Miss? - I see you're looking over our range of PVC wastepipe. Me: I'm going to use this PVC pipe to make a boiler ...... Store person: You can't do that Miss it will melt! Me: (sigh) ...... Something that had me blinking a wee bit though was the list of fittings needed to be purchased for the masterclass Baldwin. Most were commercial parts sourced from various makers of 'G' scale locos, but I was highly doubtful as to a: how easily I might be able to source these parts, and b: whether I could afford them. I own a nice little lathe, it's of an English make and it's quite old, but it still does a good job of work if you're patient. I thought I might turn up the fittings I need for my Baldwin myself, or else use fabrication techiques to make them. If they turn out nicely I could use them to make a rubber mould so I can resincast some more parts should I want to build a sister loco. I'm going to make the coupling and connecting rods from sheet alloy, bu***hem with brass bearings and turn up some new steel crankpins to suit the New Bright wheels. It looks like it would be possible to use a traction tyred wheel pair for the leading drivers as well as the trailing drivers should the need arise, but I'm hoping that careful attention to adding weight over the drivers and converting to 9v rechargeable cells carried on the locomotive itself will make my Mogul reasonably surefooted. I intend to update this topic from time to time as I make progress. Wish me luck ........ Annie :-)
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
E-mail Subscribe
Check the box below if you want to receive e-mail notifications when replies are made to this thread.

Receive notifications