2-8-2 - THE BUILD

[Steamtrains]

OK...So I finally got around to getting this beast out of the box and onto the rails.....

First step....Filing all that flashing off...It's no fun to hold onto an odd-shaped piece full of sharp edges and grinding it off...
After a few days I managed to clean all the pieces up and ready for the next step. (Question...The cylinders have a couple of bracket-like features on the bottom "corners" which can clearly be seen in the pic. Are these supposed to be there, or are they more flashing that needs to be filed off? While I'm asking, what is that gizmo just in front of the sand dome..??)




Every piece, including the tender trucks had to be cleaned up...I've never seen such sloppilly cast pieces. They're probably using the same molds they made when this loco first came out...Probably in the late 40's or early 50's...

In that second pic you can see the frame with wheels and connecting rods assembled, and the motor mounted. The logic is this. This loco has a long history of being a bear of a runner. I want to make sure the loco runs as close to perfect as I can get it, so I'll assemble the whole running train and tweak it as required before proceeding with the "cosmetic" aspect of the build.

Next...Putting the valve gear together. This is such a fun job, I may well have reserved a place in H..l for myself from all the cussin' that got done. Actually, it wasn't as hard as I had anticipated, it's just that I'm all thumbs...

A pic of all the trinkets that need to be assembled...


The job wasn't made any easier as there are two sets of drawings and instructions, each one different, and no indication as to which version is to be built.... :evil: In any event, I managed to sort things out and got the pieces assembled....

Note that I took great care in making sure I built a right and a left hand set. Don't ask why I went to this extreme...

I assembled the RH set, installed it to the frame and wheels, and tested it.



It ran OK but the main connecting rod had a lot of "slop" where it attaches to the driving wheel pin causing the movement to transmit all the way to the gear hanger. I fixed this by cutting a razor-thin washer out of a styrene tube (from the junk box...) which fit very nicely over the driving pin, and re-assembled it. Slop is gone....
I have yet to finish assembling the LH set since I ran out of rivets....I didn't make but a couple of boo-boos, and some that went flying off to destinations unknown...

So, while I wait for the spare rivets to arrive, I turned to prepping the boiler for its cosmetic "enhancement'. I sawed off the light "tube", and ground off the generator on top of the boiler...


I was kind of hesitant to start butchering up the casting, but things went really well, and I' m looking to perhaps do more "enhancements" than I had initially contemplated. We'll see. I did for starters order the W'ton FWH, which I hadn't wanted to replace. So I'll get back to knocking it off, as well as the bell mounting stud.

Well, that's where she sits now. I'll post some more pics as this project slogs along....