Slowly coming along

AzRob · Slowly coming along

I am still in the process of restoring/modifying my Mamod SL1 (I think it was a kit). It is completely tore down and I have almost stripped all the paint. I just have the frames and the rear buffer to strip. While I was cleaning off the steam feed tube on the wire wheel, the wheel grabbed it, made a sound like a gun blast, and shot it across my garage in the area of my raft. It whereabouts are still unknown. Dangit. So I may have to try and fabricate a new one, or buy one, as I cannot fathom where it has got to and may be ruined considering the force it shot out of the bottom of the wheel with.
Other modifications besides an American-style superstructure are being considered.
How is the Mamod loco boiler made? Is it extruded like the TE? I don't see an end cap on the sight-glass end. Is the other end silver-soldered? Doesn't look it.
On the far end of my wild ideas, I might want to replace the boiler entirely...

johnreid

I do not think it is silver soldered, the New Mamod is though. I believe that Dream Steam should be able to help you out with any missing pieces. I believe that the steam line is just 1/8" copper so you probably could make one yourself. Even unmodified, as my SL3 is, they can be a fun and great running Loco, but I highly recommend that you get a three wick meths burner

AzRob

johnreid

I do not think that pipe is soldered at all. it fits into an O Ring in the dome and into a compressed O Ring in the Reverser block.The gas burner on my New Mamod Train Loco really lets it put out the steam, but the boiler is larger on it. I also believe that Dream Steam has High Pressure Boilers, silver soldered etc.

tmuir

It is just a 1/8 copper pipe and on some it is soldered into the boilers and others it is just held in by an O ring as John said.
I wouldn't try to silver solder the pipe in though as you will likely desolder the bushes and the front end cap as they are just soft soldered, not to mention the boiler is very thin and dead easy to melt if you heat it up hot enough to silver solder.

If you are really worried about it coming desoldered I would recommend getting one of dream steamboilers as they are silver soldered but are expensive and involve some modifications to the body work.

I would first just try to soft solder the pipe in first and see how it goes.

AzRob

Well, due to budget issues I've decided on holding off on any major mods and just get it running again (and start saving my pennies for a Ruby). Got the smokebox, pistons, and wheels all put back on the frames. Will be painting some this weekend, and then more assembly. I also intend to start making the cab and stack.

AzRob

First coats of paint are on the boiler, the smokebox, tanks, and firebox. They should be done being painted tonight or tomorrow, depending. I'll start work on the cab tomorrow and hopefully have some stuff actually screwed together come Monday. No pics yet.

johnreid

You will be happily surprised at how well an unmodified one can run

AzRob

It ran like a demon last time it was together. It was super fast and it kept flying off the rails. Hopefully I can figure out a better way to control this beast when she's all together this time.
On a positive note, all the bits that needed paint have been painted (except for the cab, which I will be fabbing up shortly). I had a little paint peeling on the smokebox, but all-in-all I am mostly pleased. I didn't end up stripping the wheels of their red paint, and I'm not sure if I'll end up regretting that or not. Mmm. Anyway, pics it a bit. Off to deal with laundry and the cab first.

AzRob

I have gained far far more admiration for all you craftsmen out there this last afternoon than I thought I would.
Painting went relatively well. A couple minor issues cropped up, but nothing I haven't handled before on other projects. So I got out my brass sheet and my template and got down to work transferring my template to graph paper and then to the brass sheet.
Here is what the paint job and mock-up of the tanks looked like before I started doing the cab:

Then came the brass. I figured "no big deal." I've been building models my whole life. I just finished restoring (well, okay, I need to re-time it, but it is really done) my 1948 Farmall Cub.
Cutting the brass was irritating, but I expected that. What I didn't expect was how hard it was to keep things even after you start cutting through your pattern. Needless to say the cab doesn't fit like it is supposed to. Then came the folding. It did not go well. I have no idea how to make a 90 degree angle on a brass sheet. I got bends, not crisp edges. I tried using different surfaces to get the brass to follow the contours. No luck. Brass apparently is sinister, as it bends almost to where you want it and then stays just out of alignment. How on earth do you get a decent bend in brass without buying some fancy-schmancy hydraulic machine? I mean, people have been working metal for thousands of years. Most of that time people have been making right angles without hydraulic presses.
I tried hammering it with a soft-ended hammer. That made the brass ugly but didn't sharpen the bend one iota. Ugh! This part of the project has soured me to building in brass. I know I can do woodwork, so if anything needs customization on something in the future (such as train cars), they will be done in wood. The next engine I buy will be how I want it cosmetically (expect for maybe paint-wise, I can handle that). No more new body work for me unless I can outfit a real shop and not be working out of my kitchen table, or the parts are screw-on, with no fabrication required.
So here is where Number 2 stands at the moment. I need to get more brass (augh!) to finish the roof. I tried to roll some brass into a tube to make a stack. Hah! That went...poorly to say the least. I'm buying a bit of copper piping to cut and paint for the stack. I'm going to make a cow catcher, but I think that'll be wood. Anyway, I present Number 2, Red Rocks Railroad's first (and at the moment, only) locomotive.

Why is there paper still on the brass, you might ask? It isn't because I'm trying to hide its ugliness from you, I want to keep the template for the windows in place. Well, why I haven't I just cut them out, you ask? If I could figure a way to cut a square hole in a flat piece of brass, I would have already...

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AzRob

On the up-side, I found the steam feed pipe today in the garage.

johnreid

Drill a series of small holes and then finish off with a file. If the brass is thin enough a chisel can cut square holes.