Building Fred

[4156df]

Arnold,
Great job! Fred is really something to be proud of. Thank you, too, for taking the time to document and post your build.
Dennis

 

[ozzie46]

Arnold, Enjoyed the ride. grandpa will be proud.


Ron

 

[GailInNM]

Arnold,
It's been a fun ride. Well worth the ticket price. Thank you.
Gail in NM

 

[PhillyVa]

Arnold,

Very nice...I enjoyed the journey with you. ;D

Philly

 

[arnoldb]

Zee, Sam, Bob, Vernon, Dean, Jim, vascon2196, putputman, Joe, Dennis, Ron Gail & Philly, once again thank you ;D

Today's steam-up wasn't without problems...
Initially, I couldn't get Fred to even do a full lap of the track...
I finally tracked the problem down to the one big end rubbing against the wheel side, and that I'd set the clip retaining the pistons against the engine block waay too tight. Swapped over the pistons, and the rubbing disappeared while free-running. I also slacked off the retaining spring, and that had things going a lot better.
Too well in fact; at one point I got a bit reckless with opening the regulator, and that engine took of at such a rate of knots that the one coupling rod mounting pin came loose off the flycrank :-[

So I settled for a run without the coupling rods; no time to repair it today - here's the video:
[youtube=425,350]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZN9riV4q3SM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZN9riV4q3SM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

During subsequent runs, I noticed that I get a lot of blow-by on the one cylinder when the loco is rounding bends; more rubbing of the big-end against the wheel because of the shaft shifting. So Fred's done for now, but not yet DONE. At a later point I'll sort out the little niggles; That's part of the fun ;D

I also took a couple of better photos with natural lighting before starting todays runs; those are below. I knew the first steam trials would take a toll on the finish of the loco; heat & water & oil drippings go everywhere ;D.

:big: - I was already asked "What's next ?" - so to preempt more of the same - a holiday, and then tidy up the shop; that will keep me busy for a while . After that, I don't know yet; there's a couple of builds on my list; some depend on getting suitable materials, and others on some tooling updates.

Regards, Arnold
(Who cannot dance and had better stick to his day job!)

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Most excellent Arnold.
That's a great looking locomotive. I have enjoyed your thread immensely.
Be sure to show your grandfather the video too! I'm sure he'll enjoy the dance!

 

[4156df]

Arnold,

Fred looks great and as you said, it's fun to sort out the little problems. They always seem obvious after you find them, don't they.

You mentioned the possible effects of the steam up on your finishes. How bad was it, particularly as regards heat? Any permanent negative effects? I'm asking because I want to start thinking about finishes for my model and can't decide on what paint to use.

Regards,
Dennis

 

[Deanofid]

The grin on your mug says it all, Arnold.
Again, well done!

Dean

 

[tel]

Very impressive build Arnold. This is one project I'm been thinking about for a while and you've convinced me (or shamed me into it). Of course, I will have to modify mine to suit 45mm track, any thoughts on that?

 

[arnoldb]

Zee, thank you ;D - and Gramp Fred will definitely see the video ! - as well as a live steam-up ;D

Dennis, thanks I used "very high temperature" black paint; suitable for fireplaces and so on; the heat did nothing to the paint, but condensation in the cylinders causes quite a bit of hot water and oil mixture (I over-oiled the pistons) to spew out, especially if the engine is still cold. The only adverse effect on the paintwork is scratches when I was over-eager to refill & re-fire the boiler; other than that, nothing major. I did overfill the meths tank at one point, and that caused quite an amount of flames overshooting the boiler bottom; the paint held up 100%, but the overshoot caused some scorching on the insulation on the main steam line... I also think the damage to the paintwork would be a lot less if I left the paint to dry out properly for a while, and fully treated it in the oven as suggested by the manufacturer; it became sort of tacky and easy to scratch. Proper treatment would most definitely be better-wearing.

;D Thanks Dean - now people have seen my ugly mug, I think I should keep it safely away from cameras :big:

Tel, thank you I can't shame YOU into anything; perish that thought immediately! You've done a hell of a lot better than I have :bow:.
As to my VERY INEXPERIENCED thoughts for 45mm: Scale the loco up suitably, especially the boiler. Fred's boiler is smaller than on the original plans, and just does not deliver continuous "oomph". For the wider track, you would get a lot more clearance on the big ends as well. In retrospect, I should have used smaller diameter con-rods; that would give a lot more steam volume for the "up-strokes" in the engine.

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[Paolo]

Hi arnoldb
..Bravo!!!! That's a great looking locomotive. I have enjoyed to see your thread . My compliments!!
Paolo :bow: :bow: :bow:

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Arnold, the mini loco came out just great. I don't think anyone has ever built anything that didn't have teething problems. Little tweaks here and there are all part of the building process.
George

 

[kvom]

Love it! Great build and well documented.

 

[ariz]

very very very nice loco, as the final happy dance

thank you Arnold!!!

 

[rake60]

Great build Arnold! :bow:
Congratulations of a fantastic runner.

Rick

 

[firebird]

Hi Arnold

Just brilliant :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

Good luck with POTM.

Cheers

Rich

 

[seagar]

th_wav th_wav woohoo1 Thm:Just great.

Ian(seagar)

Coffs Harbour.
Australia

 

[arnoldb]

Paolo, Thanks very much ;D

Thank you George - you provide a prime example for beginners like me to strive toward :bow:, and it is good to know that teething troubles are to be expected. From the few engines I have completed, this one presents the most little problems, but it is also quite a bit more complex than the previous ones. I'm actually looking forward to ironing out the problems; I consider that part of the challenge!

Thanks a load kvom ;D

Ariz, thank you - as you can see I'm not very good at dancing! - Hopefully I'm slightly better at engineering ;D

A Double Thank You Rick ;D - For the compliment, and for starting HMEM; you've mentioned before that you were surprised at how the site took off; I believe it is the spirit which you instilled when you started HMEM. I hope to learn a lot more here, but I'll also try and invest back on what I learned. A year ago I still had a little 6-year-old in me wanting a steam loco; today, 31 years later, I'm a 6-year-old at heart with that loco and a big grin to match, and a major part of that inspiration came here from HMEM.

Thank you Rich ;D - I don't think its brilliant, but I am happy with the result As to POTM; that was a completely unexpected side effect; I've had my fun and reached a personal goal - that is reward enough for me. And while receiving POTM would be an honour, as far as I'm concerned anybody who starts and finishes a build is a winner.

Ian, Thank you! ;D

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[NickG]

Arnold, superb job all around, build and write up.

Annoyingly my computer is so slow I can't run any videos without it stopping and starting damn thing. As I'm typing this I have to wait for the words to appear on the screen, it's using 100% CPU doing nothing! Probably got some virus or something, it's going to get formatted!

Anyway, Fred looks splendid, I only hope I can produce something of that quality one day.

Nick

 

[arnoldb]

Thank you Nick ;D

I only hope I can produce something of that quality one day.

Of course you can! Thm:

I'll be a bit quiet on the forum for a while; I'm getting packed up for my visit to South Africa ;D Lots of driving; 2000km each way!
Kind Regards, Arnold