Best Of SP&S 4-6-2 #626 Project

[Cajonpassfan]

Max, I'm speechless; unflipin' believable!
You've taken n scale steam modeling to another level!
Keep 'em coming!
Regards, Otto at.

[RWCJr]

Beautiful workmanship!!!
Robert

[robert3985]

Excellent work Max!  The "three-foot-rule" is now officially dead!

[VonRyan]

Whelp, I think I'm gonna call it a day... Forever...

Max, can I put you on speed-dial if and when I start my A5 project? 
I would never think of some of the things you do for detail parts.


-Cody F.

[SkipGear]

It's amazing how much heavier the loco looks after adding the piping and details. I always though it looked a bit thin and underwhelming for a steam loco before this. Now it looks like it is ready to do some work.

BTW - Guitar string.....genius idea for jacketed lines. Beats the heck out of wrapping fine wire around a core endlessly.

[mmagliaro]

Thank you all, sincerely, guys!
The details being made of chopped-up bits of HO castings is something I've been trying for about 3 engines.
The HO parts they are coming from are completely wrong, and I am making "stand-ins" to be sure.  But
the size is small enough that as long as the basic body size is about right and it has connections going
where they are supposed to go, I think I can get away with it.   And until somebody starts making
serious, clean, neat metal steam detail parts (like, oh, um, say... BLMA... please???)
this will have to do.

I am thrilled with how the guitar string looks.   I know people have used plain banjo or guitar strings for
handrails and things like that.  That's what got be thinking about it.   And I play guitar, so of course,
I'm familiar with the wound strings, which I think would also do the job.  But when I was looking
at pictures of them on-line, I noticed the flat-wounds.  They are ground flat after winding... quite nice.

Tony, I hear what you are saying.   It is a "very light" Pacific.    Another thing is, it has that Belpaire firebox,
so I have been conditioned to seeing a big ol' beefy Pennsy boiler in front of it.   But yes, now that all the "stuff"
is starting to hang on the outside, I like the proportions better.

This now officially starts the "sprint to the finish".   I have about 50 detail parts to put on there, and then it will be
ready for paint.   I'm able to do a handful per night, depending on how hard they are (sometimes 1, sometimes 5)
Maybe by Thanksgiving, it will be done.

Thank you again, everybody.

[Chris333]

I'll have to look at this later when I'm not on a small phone. Those small plugs in the firebox are wash out plugs.

I might have to print these out full size and hang them on my bedroom walls 

[peteski]

I tried not to post yet another atta-boy in this thread, since I already posted few (and this is the Railwire, where we don't gush too much), but Max, over and over again, comes out with some very creative solutions and superb macro-photography!

OUTSTANDING MODELING MAX!!!

[Chris333]

The linkage on the one side only might be a lubricator (just a guess) they had small levers going to them and would pump as the valves cycled.

[mmagliaro]

The linkage on the one side only might be a lubricator (just a guess) they had small levers going to them and would pump as the valves cycled.

Chris, thanks for the tip on the washout plugs and yes, this is a very good guess about that extra linkage thing being a lubricator.
I am trying to confirm it, but so far cannot.  My GN drawings show only the right side of the engine, so it wouldn't be on there.

EDIT:
More data:
I have found photos of the left side of PRR K4's that have a mechanical lubricator right up close to the
cylinder, mounted under the running board, with it's linkage connected to the crosshead.
The captions and text clearly state that it is a lubricator, and more than one reference explains that these
were added later, and were sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right, but only on one side.

Next, I noted two photos of SP&S 626 in my "Steam Locomotives of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway",
Vol 6, by Ed Austin, showing the engine just after it was delivered to the SP&S from the GN and another
one about a year later.   As delivered, the left-side running board actually steps up a little higher just as it gets to
the left-side cylinders, and there is clearly a mechanical lubricator, similar to the device in the PRR K4 pictures,
in there.  The later SP&S photo has the running board straightened out, the lubricator is gone from the cylinder
area, and this mysterious "device" appears back by the eccentric link and radius rod connection (where I have it).

Chris, while I can't be 100% sure, I am sure enough that you are right.  It appears they moved it back, and they
poked a hole in the running board to make room to mount the lubricator without resorting to raising the running
board, and then put a sheet metal cover up and over the top of the lubricator to protect it from getting stepped on.
This does not appear on the other 6 4-6-2's that the SP&S had.   It almost looks like it was a
one-off home-made job they did on this one engine.

Thanks, Chris!  I would never have figured this out if you hadn't spoken up.
 (Once again, "We learn something new every day")

But I did find

http://www.multipowerinternational.com/picture/8pipe.jpg

These guys make replacement parts for steam locomotives.  They also rebuild them and will sell you parts or a whole locomotive.
(I had no idea anybody was actually in the business of refurbishing and selling steam locomotives in the US!)

[LV LOU]

 Max,outstanding job!!!  Can't wait to see it finished...

[chicken45]

I, too, can't wait to see it finished. That means Max can move on to his Q2 project. 

Max, this is simply amazing. I can't tell if this if I'm inspired or demotivates, haha! Got a long way to go and a lot more tools to get to your level. What really impresses me is your knowledge base, and using that knowledge to come up with practical and creative solutions.

[mmagliaro]

I, too, can't wait to see it finished. That means Max can move on to his Q2 project. 

Max, this is simply amazing. I can't tell if this if I'm inspired or demotivates, haha! Got a long way to go and a lot more tools to get to your level. What really impresses me is your knowledge base, and using that knowledge to come up with practical and creative solutions.

Thank you very very, much, sir.

Oh boy... I certainly intend for this to entertain and motivate!   The tools I use, other than the milling machine,
which I very rarely actually use, are all simple hand tools that I bet everybody has - pin vise, Xacto, files,
Dremel, some pliers and tweezers, a small vise, and an optivisor.  That's about it.  As for being creative,
well, maybe it's just that I've been doing this a long time since I started out with my relatively crude (by today's standards)
kitbashes with Rivarossi engines.

Q2?  You mean   

W5

...I'm sure that was just a typo.

[randgust]

Max, wonderful, wonderful work, and some leading-edge applications there.   The rivets, first rate, piping first-rate, the rings around the washout plugs....unbelievable.        I know 12"=1' inspectors that will miss that detail....hmmm...where did those go, they're around here somewhere.....do we really need those?

If you think getting Chinese-made parts from Atlas is fun, try Multipower International.  They are basically the 'English-speaking' arm of all the leftover steam parts, locomotives, etc. left in China.    They do have some parts that are almost otherwise unavailable, but 'Buy American' regs on steam locomotive rehab frequently gets stuck on them.   For the 'real thing' like first-rate injectors and valves try my buddies at Strasburg: 
http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/machine-shop-freight/historic-railroad-reproduction-part/

Linn Moedinger, the president, is also an outstanding modeler, with feature articles in RMC.  Works in D&RGW and EBT HOn3, so if you want to see models built from actual leftover crankpin brass, do a search on his articles he's written.

[mmagliaro]

Today's update is the full detailing of the boiler.   Last time, I showed a spreadsheet listing all the detail parts that I needed to
apply to the engine and tender to complete the model.   I have completed the list for the engine only.  I will be working on the tender in the coming weeks.

So, here now, all the boiler detailing.   After this, the tender, then paint.