Best Of The Overland/Wiseman brass Western Maryland Shay thread

[u18b]

Tender Electricity


I then moved to improving the electrical contribution of the tender. 

In the stock configuration, the tender provides a SMALL juice pathway from the metal drawbar because the frame is charged.    But the pathway is spotty because the drawbar is loose. 

But that spotty contribution only applies to the frame/charged side and nothing is provided from the insulated wheels.

So there is a lot that can be done.

The drawbar fits into a slot in the rear of the locomotive and is retained by a screw.     The first step is to give the drawbar more electrical contact.  I like to solder (on one end) a phosphor/bronze piece with a bend in it.  This places constant pressure and makes better continuous contact between the tender and the locomotive.



I then turn my attention to the insulated wheels.   

I had an extra pick up assembly in my parts bag.  The tender had no cross-brace on the underside of the truck.  So I added this piece which has an insulated tab for touching the insulated wheels.



The pickup is sandwiched between little plastic insulators and held with a screw.

A wire is soldered to the tip of that tab and I run that wire to the main chassis.  There is a slot under the rear bumper.  I run that wire in there and temporarily solder it to the little circuit board by the motor.



On my other Shays, I’ve not had an extra piece like this.  For them, I just made my own pickup.

I took a thin copper clad board and cut phosphor/bronze sheet (or pick ups I harvested from other old/dead locos).  The pickup was soldered to the board.  I then superglued the board to the truck crossbrace as shown here.



Before adding pickup to the tender, the motor drew current from only 4 wheels on the insulated side.   Now it draws from all 6- so the electrical conductivity is increased by 50%.

This vastly improves the running reliability of this locomotive.

[u18b]

Weight


I like to add weight to the nose of my Shays.  In the past, I have hand-created a weight but wanted to try something different.

Since I had an old extra body shell that had been stripped, I decided to make a custom weight casting for the nose.

I prepped by super-gluing the shell halves together, installing two screws in the bottom, and making dams at both ends.







I then heated up some alloy.  I have two alloy choices.  I used the higher heat one (about 158 degree melting).  I bought a little brick a while back called Cerrobend.  It is harder and I have used it before to make gearbox castings.




I heated some up and poured it through the sand dome hole.




Unfortunately, it didn’t work.  I couldn’t get the weight out.
I did not anticipate the surface tension of the molten alloy. 
It hung together instead of easily pouring out.

Thus my weight was far more than half way high and locked in.   I had to reheat everything to melt the alloy out.

I tried again with lower dams and still failed.

I then tried the very low temp alloy.  It rates melting at 136 degrees.  Walthers used to sell it as Temp-Lo.    It was easier to work with.




The third time worked.  And since I made the castings with screws in place, it was already drilled and threaded for the shell.



I had to do a good deal of work with a file to get the weight to fit inside fairly easily.  You can see I removed just a little too much from the nose end of the weight casting.



But it worked.   The weight is retained by a screw in the back. 




Note- this screw placement  is not stock- but the hole is a stock hole.   However, I’ve never seen this hole used on a Shay.  It makes me wonder what OMI planned for that hole.  But I’m glad it’s there because it is just right to hold the weight.

I added solder reinforcement to the seem and tapped the hole for an M1.4 screw.  Here’s a better view.



Here is the whole cast weight with a headlight mounted to it (more on that later).

[GM50 4164]

Fantastic work Ron! It really is looking nice. Hoping to see the shay at Cass this weekend!

[u18b]

Benjamin, please report back.

Last I heard this Shay was sidelined.   It was outside for a long time.

See if you can post some photos when you go (assuming it is even accessible to you).

Some day I want to go to Cass, but obviously when the Big Six is running.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This is like watching a model railroad olympian doing their thing. Wow.

[u18b]

Thank you Ed.



A Weighty Idea

Since we are on weights…. let me revisit an idea.

I am unlike most people.  Almost everyone who has a Shay has just one – though I know a few that have more than one.

I had a scrap shell laying around and could use it as a mold.  But I’m probably the only one in this unique situation with a junker spare shell.

So let me go back a ways and talk about weight in the nose- which I mentioned earlier in this thread.

I theorized that you could just pour a weight into the nose.



That would obviously be a lot easier--- as long as you didn’t want a working headlight.  It is an easy way to add weight to the nose of a Shay.

But pouring alloy into the nose becomes a lot harder when you want a working headlight.  You have to have an LED and maybe a circuit board in the nose.  How will you deal with it?  The liquid metal can’t touch any electrical contacts- so you would have to make some sort of dam around the electronics. 


Well, here’s how I would do it.

First a word of WARNING:  You would really want to do this about last.  For example, if you end up needed to remove or add a detail with solder- you would melt this weight.   So do this step near last.

With the smokebox front door off, run two wires (a blue and white- typical dcc colors) through the shell with lots of excess for both ends.  Coil the ends in the nose and tape it to the top.  Then, as much as you can, tape all the wires to the inner roof.  Or at least tape the opposite end which will be near the motor.  You want the wires high.

Then add clay or playdough to the roof under the smoke stack.  You are both protecting the wires and creating a pocket for a future light board.

Then seal the front smokebox door on.  You could use a little superglue since it can be dissolved in acetone to break free later.

Install the shell screw all the way in the bottom side of the nose!  If you forget, this will be a major error.  You must be able to screw the boiler down when finished.

Then melt some alloy 137.  This could be melted in a cup within a cup of boiling water.  That way it won’t get too hot (you don’t want to melt the insulation on the wires).  With the shell body standing on end, use some kind of spout and pour the alloy in the body cavity.  Don’t add too much.

Let the alloy cool.

Get the front smoke box door off.   Remove the clay.

You will now be able to get at the wires and deal with installing a light.

I may try this sometime in the future.

[Chris333]

I find a bunch of tungsten rod on ebay used for welding electrodes. Most of the time you can find it in a size you need precut because you ain't cutting tungsten. Then you can melt the other weight in around it.

[u18b]

Great suggestion Chris.

More Electricity

I made the rear truck under the cab modular by adding a TCS micro socket to the crossbrace.  Once again, this allows for easy disassembly with no wires to unsolder.  It also adds a place for a wire for added power from the tender.

I only needed two pins, but the 2-pin sockets are too delicate for the rough work they do here.  I unplug and plug wires into mine all the time.   So I used a 4-pin socket.  The extra pins make the socket much more sturdy.

So what you are looking at below is another thin copper clad board superglued to the brace.  A 4-pin micro socket is then soldered to the board.



I then had to make a new jumper wire with a single pin that plugs into the truck socket, then goes up top into the motor well and is soldered to the clad board up near the motor. 



On the tender, a black wire is soldered to the insulated pickup and then plugs into the truck under the cab with a single pin.

I can now remove and add the tender repeatedly by only unplugging and plugging in a wire with one pin (no soldering).  I use curved tweezers to get up under the axle to  these single pin plugs.

[u18b]

Ladder Steps

Time to mount the steps.  I waited until a lot of the rough handling of the loco was over.  These ladders obviously break off easily.

The one on the right side mounts to the edge of the flat plate under the cab.
 


Just like the prototype, the right ladder is bent way out to provide clearance for the spinning lineshafts and safety of the crew.



The ladder on the left side mounts to the frame and is a bit harder to work with.

 

By the way, I don’t know what the problem is, but I have seen a couple of Shays with only three steps.   I don’t know if they were broken off and repaired (probably), or if someone trimmed them for some reason.
But the prototype has 4 steps, not 3.

Now, I discovered something I wish I had discovered a long time ago.

The ladders have little fingers for the handrails.



In the past, I have seen those little fingers bent around the rail.
This makes a good grasp, but it also makes replacing the shell a challenge as you try to thread the handrails through these four holes.

I have seen Shays with the fingers bent around the rail…. and I have bent those little fingers myself. 

But these ladders from my parts bag were new and uninstalled.  And I realized (DOH!) these fingers do not need to be closed down at all.

The key is the angle of the handrails.  The rails just need to be naturally bent INWARD as seen here.



Then they can simply be tucked into those fingers and the tension holds them.  Wow this will save a lot of grief in the years to come.

[u18b]

Locking the Cab Down

It is common for the cab on this complex locomotive to not site perfectly.
The shell is retained up front with one screw under the boiler.

There is also a screw under the cab on the right side.

But all this tends to leave a gap at the rear of the cab on the left side.
My Wiseman Shay had a screw there, so I decided to put one on this one.

First I added extra solder to the corner of the motor well because it will get more stress when the screw is tightened.

I then drilled a little hole in the corner.
I’ve drilled out the hole as far outward to the outside edge as possible without damaging the frame detailing on the outside (which is VERY thin).




I countersunk the hole on the underside.   This is where the screw will go.




The tricky part is soldering the receiver in the shell.  A small K&S brass tube is just right to receive the screw (about an M1.2).    The screw self-taps if you work carefully.

Unfortunately, I could not get the screw in properly because of the angles.

I saw on my Wiseman Shay that he had shimmed the tube as shown here.




So I tried again.  This time I mounted a tube within the next size tube.  Soldered them together, tapped it, then installed it in the shell.    The extra thickness got the receiver in a better position.
I used extra solder to hold that thing in place.



Now I have a tight fit at the back corner. 



Here is the screw mounted.  I still need to shave the head down flatter so that it is less visible.



I will add that in retrospect, I think the flat shims (the way Wiseman did it) are better than the way I did it.  The problem is that the brass wall of the coal bunker is VERY thin- and the cooling solder can warp it and cause little distortions.   I think this may be minimized by using the K&S  L-angle next time

There was a loose end.
You can still see a very small gap forward of the door.

I thought about living with it but it bugged me.

So I shimmed the small gap.   Here I have soldered the shim in place, I then cut the excess solder off with an Xacto knife.

[u18b]

More Miscellaneous

The front plow was missing some details which had been broken off from this replacement frame.   I added a brake hose from Miniatures by Eric and soldered it in place.  It was pretty close to what OMI used.

I also added the large grabiron and the cut bar.





 A Micro-Trains 1016 (long shank) coupler was then added.



On my previous Shay, I used the shorter 1015 coupler.   This forced me to trim the cut bar lifter that hovers over the coupler since it was vastly too long.
But now I’m wishing I had not done this.  My adaptation is all too short.

The long look is actually more prototypical (within the constraints of the overscale coupler).   It should stick out a good deal- though the bar that extends out over the coupler is still a bit too long.




I then turned my attention back to the tender.

Based on my sad past experience, the tender needs some solder joints reinforced as well. (I have a spare tender that is falling apart).

I removed the four screws and removed the frame. 

On the bottom side of the main body, you can see the floor of the tender is held on by a few TINY solder joints.  These can break loose.    So I added a good deal of solder (a line of solder) to the middle portion of the floor sides.




Experience shows the solder joint for the long tender brake hose often comes off of the frame, so I added extra solder to the back side.



The tender frame itself is only two pieces,    The rectangular frame casting and then the rear pilot.

The pilot is consequently only held by two solder joints- which are subject to breaking.

So I scraped and cleaned, fluxed and added solder in the only available hidden spots for that joint.
This is the top side of the tender frame.  Much stronger now.



I added a missing detail to the tender pilot- a large grabiron above the cut bar.

Actually, you can see, this pilot has already  been repaired once.  Little bendable fingers hold the grabiron and the cut bar.  But they are delicate and sometimes break off.  The right side of this cut bar has a liftring used instead.
It is pretty noticeable in this macro shot, but not to the naked eye- especially when painted black.

 

That coupler was sitting a little low so I worked on it to get it up tight.

One last thing.  The drawbar screw is a problem.
Like many locos, the drawbar pivots and the screw works it’s way out.




I disassembled the tender.



I clean up the surface where the drawbar moves because I want electricity to flow through there.

Then I install the drawbar and get it to the tension I want- snug, but still movable.

A little spot of superglue on the end of the threads will hold the screw in place.

The tender can then be reassembled.

[randgust]

A little late back to the party, but this still might be useful.

On the weight issues.   I had a similar problem with my D16 project - really needed to add weight to the boiler - which I had scratchbuilt from brass tube, but just pouring weight in there wouldn't work.   I wasn't exactly sure where the weight had to be in the boiler to properly balance the locomotive on the drivers, and with a 4-4-0, not a lot of room for error.  I'd pounded up some soft lead for initial testing but that was still kind of crude and it wasn't filling up the space, as well as it either was a force fit or rattling around.

I used the next smaller size brass tube that would fit in the boiler (easily) from K&S, and filled that tube full of Type 160 metal (160 degrees) and filled it right up with cast metal, cut it to rough length, and pushed it in the boiler.   The advantage there was two things - the entire weight could still slip right back out of the boiler, and the finished weight could be drilled for headlight wires, and milled for various clearances, as that was the other problem.   I can still pop the weight out so that I can get in there if I have to, it turned out to be a squeeze fit.

[u18b]

That's a great suggestion, Randy.

Thanks.

[u18b]

Operating Headlight


Like many brass steamers, the Western Maryland Shay headlight is empty, dead and lifeless.  Let’s light it up.



Resistance soldering gets the headlight casting off.



I remove the pin carefully with a motor tool.



I also need to remove that excess pile of solder on one side of the shell.



Here, the pin has been removed and a hole drilled.



I then angle the hole toward the rear.

 

Now I can get some 20 mil hobby fiber optic through the hole.



The hole in the shell has to be angled as well.



Now the modified light is re-installed.



The fiber optic now goes all the way through.

 

I can now trim it and melt it when needed- after the model has been painted.

I’ll light it up after I install a decoder.

The tender has a light too.  But I decided to leave it alone.
It is quite another challenge to get a light back there.
The lead weight would have to be removed.

Then, if analog, an LED  with resistor and diode will need to be installed. You would also need to run power to it through the floor of the tender.

If using DCC, you now have TWO extra jumper wires that have to run between the body with the decoder and the tender (the blue and yellow wires- of course, you would use black wires instead).

To me, that’s a lot of hassle just for an occasional backup light.



I’ll probably just add an MV product lens.  Or melt my own with fiber optic scraps.

[u18b]

Class Lights- part 1

My mind began turning to an important detail for this Shay.

The class light are very prominent.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1071646

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=211593

The Western Maryland Shay appears to use Pyle-National class lights.

Check out this great page:
https://www.jeffpolston.com/classificationlamp.htm

The class lights look almost like a ball with large lenses.

So…… as I often do…. I go rummaging through my parts boxes seeing if there is anything I can use.

And then this caught my eye….. it’s a detail group for a Kato passenger car.



Those antenna rings look awfully spherical overall.  A possibility.



Two of the holes are already present (the front and back), I would only have to add one more.



I spent a lot of time experimenting.  Some successes, some failures, and in the end came up with a winner.