Here are a couple of photos of Shay fireboxes I built.

Nice work , I bet the Shay has some nice weight to it now.

That puts the gearbox neatly out of sight! I'll bet it runs far more quietly than the stock MDC drive! Nice work Ray!

Pretty slick , Ray !! I never thought of doing something like that , It sure makes a better looking Shay with the fire box completed. NICE JOB!! Thanks for showing us.

Ray --- how is the Shay coming? I would really like to see an update.

I hope you won't mind my hijacking your post for a bit, but I did dig out the "quasi West Coaster & some pics of a few Shays in the process of repowering & tried to show some pics of how I solved the gear mesh problem on the side gears using Grandt gears. Here goes. First some different styles of remotoring. The Round Stainless steel motors are some precision instrument motors I got a long time ago for about a buck each, they are super smooth coreless motors that will run on almost nothing. I made flywheels for them to help them "drift" when slowed down. The "flash light battery "sized motor is another surplus motor that works very well , I bought about 50 of them for next to nothing, they had been poorly stored & about 1/3 of them were junk but for about 50 cents apiece I got a lot of good ones!!
Some of these Shays have had NWSL brass Gears installed, I can't tell a whole lot of difference in performance , the big advantage of them is that to properly polish & buff the roundhouse gears (as per the Shay building books) is a very time intensive process .

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One more remotor--

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Now the "Quasi" west coaster This Shay has a lot of scratched parts on it , of course the cab, both front & rear pilots, the whole shay motor is scratched brasss & has working valve gear. the frame mods to resemble the later cast frame as used on later shays was done with brass & nickel silver narrow guage rail. I also scratched the bear trap stack , I luv em!!

I know , I'm missing some parts , I have not completely finished reassembling it , just wanted to show it off.

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OK these are hard to see well but what they are is some Grandtline gears that replace the MDC ones. The gears are some of his right angle bevel gears , the large gear has to be turned down , the MDC gear machined off & bored to allow the GL gear to be pressed into the wheel. The small line gear is changed as well . This set up works super smooth!! One more thing to make it work properly is to shim the axles so there is only about 1 -2 thousands side movement of the axles in the truck box, more than this causes problems when the engine is reversed & the axles shift due to the bevel on the axle to worm gear angle shift.

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That's some nice work Dave.
I wasn't trying to hijack this thread either. :oops:
I'm looking forward to an update from Kevin as he makes progress too.

No need to worry about hijacking the thread, as long as you guys keep the good ideas coming!

I haven't worked much on the shay in a few weeks. I got some new u-joints in the mail, and installed them, made some wipers for the wheels, and test ran it - not as smooth as an atlas diesel, but at least as smooth as a Bachmann shay I've got it close to being done, but it's probably gonna be awhile before I do much more. My car got wrecked, and after I argue with the insurance company and finally get a settlement, I will have to spend a few days with a welder and grinder in order to get things square again.

My goal for the past 2 years has been to finish the projects I have started. But somehow, my project list keeps growing!!!

I like the looks of this thing. Great job so far!! It looks like this project is taking a lot of patience to complete. That seems to be what i lack when ever i take on a project like this one. Keep p the great work and keep the pictures coming.

Thanks

Quote:My goal for the past 2 years has been to finish the projects I have started. But somehow, my project list keeps growing!!!

Don't worry, the recession (Greater Depression) that lays ahead will take care of that! I like to think of it as putting away kits etc. in the time of plenty for the time of famine when LHS shelves may be bare, if they are even still open. I know it's a bit doom and gloom, but the state of the hobby may change when disposable income isn't so disposable anymore. I think scratchbuilding & kitbashing could make a resurgance as necessity becomes the mother of invention once again. I'm glad forums like this (and modelers like you fine folks!) are available for not only inspiration, but passing on insight gleaned from years of work/fun.

Kevin, keep plugging away, and please post pictures when you get a chance. I hope the angle grinder and welder was for the auto, not the model...right?

Galen

Kevin---- Got that car fixed yet???
Still waiting for more on that great Shay build-- Pleeaaassse.

Yep, the car is fixed. I've been busy with other household and railroad projects and the shay mostly sits on the workbench. mechanically, I have it running pretty well, but I am not quite satisfied with the axle wipers I built. I may decide to re-do those later. After that, it is all detailing. I need to build a firebox to conceal the gearbox, and build one more coupler box. I broke my 0-80 tap and I need to get another before proceeding much further.

Kevin, it's looking good.
I have been unable to even get close to my workbench for months now. My youngest son had moved back to Las Vegas because of work had been staying with me & there was just TOO much new "stuff" lying about blocking my access. He has gone back to Colorado for a bit , the Banks quit financing the hotel he was working on --right in the Middle of building it!!

Dave Harris sctchbld Wrote:Kevin, it's looking good.
I have been unable to even get close to my workbench for months now. My youngest son had moved back to Las Vegas because of work had been staying with me & there was just TOO much new "stuff" lying about blocking my access. He has gone back to Colorado for a bit , the Banks quit financing the hotel he was working on --right in the Middle of building it!!

I hear ya. There is a condo building up the street from me that is the same way. It's a shell of concrete with a fence around it, and has been that way for a year. It is already an eyesore, so I think they ought to take the fence down and let the taggers have at it. Lord knows the pigeons and feral cats already have.