Best Of The Overland/Wiseman brass Western Maryland Shay thread

[u18b]

Superdetailing:  Tumbling shaft
Part 3


Now we need the linkage to the power reverse arm.  It goes in the empty space to the left of the rocker arm.



I milled a brass rod fairly thin and bent it.





Since the power reverse arm sits right up against the air canister, I added solder to the arm to give it strength.




The little tiny piece was then soldered to the tumbling shaft and the power reverse arm linkage.




This all attaches to a brace on the frame under the cab.
That brace is too long and sits in front of the linkage.  I’ll give that some more thought to that.  The linkage is supposed to sit in front on the right side.




This is all a definite improvement.

[u18b]

Pipes and Canister[/u[

Now that all of that work is finished on the tumbling shaft, I went back and added the piping for the air tank behind the ladder.   

I ran .008 brass wire through hole in the tank and then soldered it to the tank.

I then directed the piping and soldered it to the flooring plate for the bottom of the cab.




Below all of this, there is a small air canister of unknown function  that only has one line (that I can see).

Once again, this was made with a small piece of brass tubing soldered to the frame.  A .008” wire pipe comes out and goes off into the nether regions to the upper left.

[u18b]

Superdetailing:   Cylinder piping

The number one detail that I felt I needed to add was originally present on the sample Shay Overland received from Korea.

If I had to guess, this is an oil line that goes equally to all three cylinders.

The line is very prominent.

I shaped and then soldered the pipe in place at the base of the cylinder heads.    On the left side, the pipe curves behind the rear cylinder.

 

The cylinder castings have the tiny tubing going into the cylinder heads themselves.  So I just needed to cut little short lengths of rod to fill the gap from the main line up to these cast lines.

And even then, I only needed two since I just bent the rod up on the first cylinder.   

Needless to say, it was tricky holding and soldering such a tiny piece!

[u18b]

A Horrible  (but Amazing)  Error

I’m a “roundy-round” operator.  That is…. I like some switching, but I mostly like to turn trains on and let them run.

When I do this, I try not to leave them running when I leave the room.  I once repaired a Kato F3A truck for someone.  The loco was left running unattended.   The front truck derailed at turnout and melted (not sure why overload protections didn’t work).

Recently, I was getting ready for work, and enjoying this Shay working its way around the track.  I left at 7 am.

When I got back for at 1 pm…. I was astounded and embarrassed  to see that I had accidentally left the Shay running!   It was so quiet, I didn't even hear it running when I was leaving.

So…. It had been running at 4 scale miles per hour for 6 straight hours!  No derailments and no stalling.

I was so amazed I measured it's speed and took a short video with my phone before I stopped the Shay.

This short video is exactly what I saw when I got home.

Reminder to Self:   Do NOT leave such a fabulous locomotive running unattended.

(and always clean your track!).

[peteski]

A Horrible  (but Amazing)  Error
  The loco was left running unattended.   The front truck derailed at turnout and melted (not sure why overload protections didn’t work).

Recently, I was getting ready for work, and enjoying this Shay working its way around the track.  I left at 7 am.

Smooth as butter, and quiet too!  Nice!

The likely reason the circuit breaker did not trip was because the short  wasn't really enough of a "short".  For whatever reasons, there was enough resistance between the parts that created the electrical bridge between the rails (that also includes rails themselves, and all the associated wiring back to the throttle or command station) that while it passed current high enough to heat up the pickup plates inside the truck (and melt the plastic), the current wasn't quite high enough to trip the breaker.

This type of a "short" is unfortunately not uncommon occurrence in model RR (in DC and DCC).

[u18b]

Superdetailing:   Grab irons

Another prominent detail is the large grabirons on the cylinder frames.

I bent thin brass wire and soldered them in place.

This is a must-have detail because it’s so prominent (and they are so huge on the prototype).


 

[peteski]

When you solder the grabs to other pieces that are already soldered, do you use lower-melting-poinit solder, or the same stuff used on other parts?

[u18b]

When you solder the grabs to other pieces that are already soldered, do you use lower-melting-point solder, or the same stuff used on other parts?

No.   I use same stuff.  That's a good question.

I'm aware of that technique.   But I just use heat sinks as needed.

Those grab irons did not require it.  That thin wire only required a quick touch.
And the cylinders are rather bulky and act like heat sinks themselves. 

[u18b]

Superdetailing:    Pilot brace

Because a Shay boiler is offset in order to make room for the cylinders and lineshafts, the front pilot is unsupported directly by the frame on the right side.  So a brace is added.  That brace is missing on the model.

Following photos, I added a brace between the main frame and the back of the pilot.

I had to drill the hole in the frame such that it would not hit the pilot casting which is almost right behind this spot on the model.

On the back of the pilot, I chose to not drill a deep hole (I didn’t want to go all the way through anyway).  Instead, I chose to drill an indentation and soldered a dab to that spot.  This won’t get a lot of wear and tear, so it should be strong enough.

[u18b]

Superdetailing:    Brake line hose

Since I was in the area of the pilot bracing, I saw there should be a brake line there.

It was in this process that I discovered an error on the OMI model.

On many locomotives, the brake hose is to the right side of the coupler when facing the coupler.

And that position is correct for this Shay on the rear of the tender.

But NOT on the front.   The reason is because the Shay workings are all on ONE side- the right “action” side.   

So the brake line is on the right side of the locomotive, running under the pilot brace….






So I therefore had to move the brake hose to the left side of the coupler so that it would connect to the brake line!

[Missaberoad]

Air lines on the engineer's side seems common to many steam locomotives.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This thread is like watching that diver who got multiple perfect tens.

[mmagliaro]

I love watching it run.  At super low speeds, it really creates the appearance of "heft" like it should, and you can really enjoy watching all the moving parts!
Excellent achievement, sir.

[u18b]

Superdetailing:    Canister on Air Pump

Another detail in the front area of the frame is attached to the air pump’s right side.  I have no idea what it is.

(someone chime in if you know what it is).

You can clearly see it here.



It was hard to make.   I first made the lower curved piece on the pump (looks like a coffee cup holder).

I then cut another curve and soldered a short tube on the end of that.  But I had to add heat sinks so that the lower curve would not come off in the process.



The upper piece is angled to the back.

[mmagliaro]

Ron,
Nice addition of that canister to the air compressor.  As for what it is, that is a filter on the air inlet line to the compressor.
Here's a page that has some close-up photos and a mention of it.
http://nelsonslocomotive.com/Heisler/Brakes/DesCompressor/DesCompressorI/DesCompressorI.htm
-- Max