USRA 2-10-2 light rebuilt

[Schraddel]

Hello Folks!

In this thread i will report the rebuilding of an junker to a smooth running DCC equipped locomotive.
There was definitely a Monday in the early 1980's in Korea!
This is the object pictured as i got her and it seems it was made on this Monday:


Not even the headlight is bent, this loco has a severe front damage probably caused by crashing from a layout or a table to the ground. Here i have bend the cow catcher near to its original shape. Also the empty coupler box which was 45° angled downwards.
Note ladders from pilot deck to running boards.


Note irregular piping. The air pump steam exaust is leading directly into the air tank.
Also note the firebox sides below running board. On both sides they are extremely angled outwards. This was the beginning of the lateron dicovering, that the whole boilder was bent and not square.


This side of the tender seems o.k.


Note position of injector and piping to it. The piping to the check valve will reliablely hinder the rear truck to swivel.
The rear end of the loco is really higher than the front end.


Some tarnish and some minor dents. Note the missing handrails. The bores were set, but the handrails not mounted.
Note also position of injector on loco.

This was the first glance what i got. It was part of an asset and it was one of this occasions you have to decide immediately, to buy or not to buy, as there will be no second chance. So i bought her in a packet with some other stuff.
And for correctness, the deal was correct in every aspect.

Lutz

[Schraddel]

One of the first steps was closing the gap between trailing truck and fire box:


For this i made two stripes of 0.2mm brass sheet, cut it in shape and mounted it under the frame.
Here on the photo you can see my first attempt to correct the plumbing from injector to check valve so the trailing truck is enabled to swivel.
But alas look to the position of both injectors, left and right side.
They were mounted too much too far outside and were the widest part of the loco. This was a consequence of the mishaped and misaligned firebox.
Not only the firebox, the whole boiler was "not square" and really crooked.
What followed was a bending and straigthening process which i have not documented by photos. Too cruel the work, too coarse the tools (from the tractor tool box). Bending, looking, bendig again, looking again and so on until the boiler was straight and stack, sand box, dome and the middle of the cab roof were in a straight line.
Take again a look to the photo, especially the rear traverser below the cab floor.
You can clearly see how angled it is. On the main frame rear traverser there are two tapped bores for the screws which held the rearend of the boiler.
In normal case the rear casing traverser is in a 90° angle vertical and will slip fit exactly onto the rear traverser of the main frame.
Not so here. Korean monday or whatever happened on this monday ...




A look from below. Both brass sheets are forming a Vee shape to enable the trailing truck enough lateral movement.
Furthermore i made a leaf spring for the trailing truck. It has a strange shape, but it works very well and ist invisible when the loco is on the tracks.



Here i have removed the rear traverser and reposited it about 1mm backwards.
Three small reinforcement angles were made out of 0.2mm brass sheet to strenghten the mounting.
This was dome by the torch and the gold laquer was burned on several locations.
The burned laquer will lateron be removed by an rotating brass brush in my Proxxon (Dremel).
The injectors were both removed until the plumbing is bend in shape so the injectors can be positioned on the right place.


Lutz

[jwb]

Lutz, I've got to say that your projects to upgrade brass locos like these are fascinating, and I admire your work greatly. Do you do anything to test how your enhancements to the firebox and injectors, etc, affect the loco's ability to go around curves? A 2-10-2 is a big loco, of course, and we shouldn't expect too much here, but I do know that a Bachmann light USRA 2-10-2 will go around at least a 26 inch radius curve.

[Schraddel]

Do you do anything to test how your enhancements to the firebox and injectors, etc, affect the loco's ability to go around curves? A 2-10-2 is a big loco, of course, and we shouldn't expect too much here, but I do know that a Bachmann light USRA 2-10-2 will go around at least a 26 inch radius curve.

Yes jwb you are right, i do some testing. For me i set my standard, that a loco should negotiate a 600mm radius (app. 23.6 inch) as "technical minimum radius". Do not ask how an big loco looks like in such an radius.


I did the same with my Spectrum 2-10-2 and she is still able to negotiate the 600mm radius.

Here is something about funny testing:


The running gear of the brass 2-10-2 in a 415mm radius. The pilot truck made it , but the wheels touched the cylinder blocks. The rear truck not, the inner wheels got "airtime".


No and definitely no, there is no way. As you can see the flangeless drivers do no lateral movement and thus caused the rods to made a W-shaped aligment and at least binding.

Lutz

[Schraddel]

The further i examinated this loco the further i came to the opinion this is a real junker.
First there was an incident damage probably by crashing on the floor which is in the resposibilty of the previoos owner.
Second this was a real "heavy" monday in Korea.
Have a look to this:


No, you are not drunken, this might been the case and cause in the 1980's, Koreans on Monday?



After much bending, straightening, drilling, milling and resoldering the smokebox front appears in this form.
There is a 3.2mm boring in the headlight drilled which will lateron take a 3mm LED plus a piece of black insulating tape.
On the right side the lower handrail holder is actually a little bit lower mounted, i will not correct this as you cann see ist only from front and when pointed to it.
The headligt was resoldered with a torch and the gold laquer quitted it with browning. I soaked the front over night in acetone, but the laquer did'nt quit and still "glues" strong on the surface. So it will remain as ground coat when the loco will be painted.



Several times i looked on this loco and tried to discover where it is actually torn and damaged. And how to correcten it.
I took an intense look on the smokebox and considered if the boiler have had to move back longitudinal some Millimetres. Then the rear traverser will be straight.
But on the front end was o.k. with the exception that it was leaned to the left side.
Here i bend until the boiler was straight.
So the repositioning of the rear traverser was one the right steps to made the loco square.
The main corrections i have made on the firebox, with the aid of coarse tools out of the tractor tool box.



A look of the other side. The injectors were repostioned.
The soldering points still have to be cleaned out.
This work could be done with an 30W electrical soldering iron.


A look from the rear.
As the borings for the screws were not square too, i filed oval holes into the rear traverser.
The photo fools you a little bit, the shell sits actually straight and square on the frame.

I hope i could do something for de-mystificationing of brass models. Expensive on such brass models are not the materials, expensive is the manpower.
Those hours spent of working on a model intil you will have the perfect model, or better said the nearly perfect model.
But perfect models will have their price. My hobby budget was always fixed on a low level, here this is possible because i have bought a cheap junker.
Either you pay for the model or made it yourself. Either you are cutting and soldering brass sheets or you are carving ten thousand 1:87 bricks into a master model for a mould. That are two aspects of the hobby, not much so far away as you believe.

Lutz

[jwb]

You're correct as far as Korean brass goes. PFM brass from Japan was to an altogether different standard. They began bringing in Korean brass in their last years, and this wasn't as good -- but as far as running and assembly quality, PFM Japanese stuff from the early 1970s was about as good as brass could get. There are other issues -- they would often split the difference in detailing steam locos for specific prototypes and get something that they may have thought would please everyone but didn't quite match any specific loco. So you still had to do some redetailing.

What interests me is that Spectrum has in fact changed details on its USRA light 2-10-2s to match specific prototypes. PFM never did this -- their USRA locos were always generic.

[BR60103]

I remember RMC reviewing a model from one importer's "Disaster Series". The least, but most visible, problem was the big thumbprint in the middle of the paint job.
I heard of another series where the sample model had been dropped somewhere after it was approved and all the production run came through with bent braces and smokestacks and other disfigurements.

[Schraddel]

Time to post the next article.


The pilot truck was not spring loaded before. So i soldered a suitable spring to a small plate of brass and this plate to the pilot truck.
A little detail which makes the handling easier is this little U-shaped tie bend out of brass wire and soldered onto the bottom plate. Before every time, when you have lifted the loco with your "five-finger-crane", the pilot truck falls down about 45° und swivels about 90° aside. Now it's swiveling is limited, but it still has enough freedom to follow the rails properly.
On the photo you also can see the non isolated brake shoes.


Here the rear part of the loco with the correctened fire box sides and the realigned injectors.



A further photo made for controlling.
Everything straight and square?
No, but you may have a look yourself.

Lutz

[Schraddel]

When i was looking to my Spectrrum 2-10-2, my #56 which was also a rebuilt and was equipped with a Trix 10000 Gal tender. Now i made the decision to fit this brass 2-10-2 with a 10000 Gal tender also.


The 10000 Gal tender a mean, still coupled to an USRA 4-8-2. This tender is equipped with Commonwealth/AAR(?) trucks.


Larton i have made a back up light at the rear. 3mm warm white LED filed down to a diameter of ca. 2,6mm, a bore in the tender backside and a suitable ring of brass tube made it.
This tender will becoupled to the 2-10-2.
And the 2-10-2 tender with 12000 Gal will be coupled with the 4-8-2.
A switching of tenders.



Here a photo of the 12000 Gal tender delivered with the 2-10-2 as bought. Note Andrews trucks.
Note missing handrails on the rear end. The bores were there, but no handrails fitted. Korean monday ...



As part of this opreation the hand rails were made out of 0.5mm hard brass wire. I oriented me with the diameter of the handrails to those already fitted on the front end.
Then the trucks were switched. The 12000 tender was fitted with the Commomwealth/AAR(?) trucks and a back up light.
Also the electrics were fitted as there were tender pick ups, NMRA 8-pol socket for DCC and loco - tender connections.





Two photos for comparison.

Lutz

[Schraddel]

Remember this?


As you can see the crosshead guides were not exacty horizontal, facing upward on the rear ends.
Yes, thought light minded, harmless, some bending will do it to straighten it out.


So it looks like after demounting the boiler. The Koreans have in their despair filed oval bores to fit the valve gear assembly.


When i unscrewed the valve gear assembly there was an considerable tensison. And parts of the cylinder blocks fell off here micro soldering points have failed.
The crosshead guides were then aligned and squared. Only in this way the crossheads will move without jamming.
Then i searched for the cause of the tension. At least the valve rod of the southern valve gear was not in a correct shape for this model.
So when screwing the assy onto the main frame the valve rod were bent and created the tensions. Some bending of this rods so made a correcht shape and fit eliminated the tensions.



Here a look onto the revised connection between motor and gearbox. Gone is the rubber tube.
Instead there is an short shaft with two universal joints.
A torque arm was made and a joint enables the axle mount gearbox to follow the necessary sprung movements of the drivers.
The gearbox itself was demounted, cleaned an lubed up.

Then the running gear was reassembled, with temporarly weights ballasted and test running was done.


Next was the shell.
There were some incorrect plmbing. E.g. the exaust outlet of the steam cylinder of the air pump leads direct into the air reservoir


The lop-sided air pump was rightened and missing plumbing connections were made out of 0,8mm brass wire. And the steam exaust was correctly led into the smokebox.


The new air plumbing:
- pump air exaust -> cooling coil -> air reservoir 1 -> air reservoir 2 -> over the top of the boiler -> air reservoir 3 -> cab controls


Here i completed the the rods for the regulating valves of the injectors.
Some spots are still coverd with burned laquer, this will later be removed with the aid of an brass brush in a Dremel.



At least a further controlling photo.

[modelsof1900]

Lutz,
you make a really good job here with all the additional detailing and correcting the mistakes for getting a very good detailed and running engine.
I'm enjoyed to see this "Monday" model in a better and better condition. Please try to find a good model painter to get a really fine model!

[doctorwayne]

It's really enjoyable for me to watch a craftsman at work, and a great demonstration of patience and perseverance.

Wayne

[jwb]

Regarding paint, since this is an "as built" version, I think one of the most interesting paint jobs they got was the one in many builders photos, with the large "US" on the tender and the road name in smaller letters on the coal space. I don't think I've ever seen a model painted this way, although Champ had a set for this scheme.

[Schraddel]

jwb,
i believe Bachmann printed a series of their Spectrum 2-10-2's in this manner with big "US" capital letters. In anywhere, it will be an interesting thought to apply this lettering scheme onto the tender of my USRA 4-8-2. The 2-10-2 this thread deals with, will be lateron fully integrated in my 1940's theme rolling stock.
The 4-8-2 will be a little too big in seize for my planned passenger service. Here i think, a 4-6-0 or a light 4-6-2 will be the better seize.

Before i go further, allow me some hints on LED lighting.


This is the way i made a complete loco headlight from scratch.
- a piece of aluminium tube of suitable diameter, you also can take brass or styrene tube if you like, will make the casing.
- a piece of plastic tube which fits into the casing a hold the LED
- a 3mm common LED, the colour is important, more later
- a piece of clear styrene sheet, here in Germany everey business shirt you buy in a package has stiffened his collar by pieces of such clear styrene sheets

Cut pieces of suitable lenghts of the tubes.
Glue as pictured.
Glue a coarse cut of the clear styrene on front of the headlight an let is dry completely.
Then cut of file the surplus material of the clear styrene until you have a perfect front glass.
In this case the headlight was intended to fit on top of the smokebox of an plastic boiler, so nor further insulation was needed.
If you have a zinc or brass boiler, you have of course to insulate the wires of the LED. I did this with pieces of wire insulation of suitable diameter.


The ready mounted headlight. Some decorative elements were added too.

will be continued later, sunday meal is ready...

O.k. let`s restart.

So in this manner i have enlighted my older rolling stock. Also i replaced those pissyellow LEDs the manufacturers often have had mounted.
When you have plastic headlights there is no problem to replace the bulbs or yellow LEDs with LEDs which have an correcter shade of colour.


In the most cases when you have superdetailing parts they are made out uf white metal or brass and are not cored.
Here i drilled the casing and the smokebox front with an 3.2mm drill.
The next step is to paint the inner of the casing silver.


Here is an sortiment of LEDs i use.
From right to left:
- 5mm LED
- 3mm LED without collar
- 0603 Type LED with stranded wires
- 0603 Type LED with super fine stranded wires
- 0603 in a scratch made casing for an back up light


A closer look without the 5mm LED.

And there it is important to choose the right LED colour.
- Pure White is the brightest; it is correct for some modern Diesel and Electrics who have mounted actually LEDs and für simulating flourescent lamps.
- Sunny White are good to simulate halogen lamps in modern equipment
- Golden White is the right colour for steam engines and first generation Diesels
- Super Golden White is for older steam engines which simulates the glow of 25W incandescent bulbs or with an higher resistor still further dimmed for kerosene lanterns

And do not forget the resitors!
Otherwise your LED will do a single flash and will stay dark in eternity.
As a rule of thump i used resistors of 1.0 kohm and 1.2 kohm.
For more information on LEDs: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED</a><!-- m -->


An example for GN "Sports"-headlights. Sport because it is an sporty challenge to core them and to mount LEDs inside without a short circuit. Remember brass has electric konduktivity
In this case the only way was to use the 0603 Type with super fine stranded wire.
- coring, here it is possible to drill with an 0,8mm drill
- painting inner silver
- make a round "headlight glass plate"
- glue the LED onto the center of this glass plate
- after glue has set,
- slide the wires through the bore
- glue glass plate LED assembly onto casing.



Back to the 2-10-2.


Here the LED lights are mounted on the 2-10-2.
The wire colours are matching NMRA rules.
Blue = common
White = front headlight
Green = Aux 1, here cab interior light
The resitor for the front light is mounted in the smokebox. For the cab light it is soldered here on the end of he wire. You can plug the resitor dirct into the socket shown in below photo. For the other wires there i have soldered short pieces hard wires, cut off surplus of the resistors wire, onto the end of the stranded wires.
On the phote you can also see i have made weights out of roofers lead.


That is the wiring to the tender. The small socket is not visible on this photo, so take a look on the photo below.
I have made a wire order and a stoker engine. The stoker engine is only a stand-in untill PSC will deliver ... (This century?)


I have had made no special photos for the wiring on the 2-10-2. But it is done similar like this one.
The 3 sockets on the motor top are for the 3 wires shown in upper photo; Common, front light and Aux1.


The tender wiring the same as here.
An 8-pin socket according to NMRA rules is glued onto the tender floor. So you can simply plug in the decoder of your choice.

Lutz

[Schraddel]

A photo of the underside of the loco with the pick up system and the bad braking gear. Bad because it is not insulated and prone to cause short cirkuits



A closer look. The 0.3mm bronze spring wire was partially insulated with wire insulation. You get it by simply uninsulate a wire of suitable diameter and instead to throw away the insulation, reuse it here.
So some critical points prone to produce short circuits were eliminated.


Both tender trucks also get pick ups. In this case they are of the fully equalized type.

Then all the wiring was soldered and connected.


Like as shown here.
A ESU Lok Pilot Basic was plugged in and the loco was set at first onto the programming rail.
This is a safety device, if there is any wrong connection, or interrputions or a short circuit, my DCC controller (Digitrax Zephyr) will not be able to read the decoder. This will the "magic smoke" kept well inside the decoder.
If you cannot read the decoders adress, first search for the cause(s).
If there is o.k. the controller will read on new cedoders the address 03

Ant then you can put the loco to the test rails.
Try if it responds on address 03.
Running forward and backward according to the choosen direction on the controller?
But before:
Lights working in correct manner?
It lights are working correct to giveb direction, but loco runs reverse you have to change the polarity of the motor by resoldering the wires.

It everything is o.k. here, then you can start test runs.



When i made the first test runnings there was a light bind at everey rotation of the drivers. Especially when the loco moves backwards.
At least if was the first pair of drivers which did not have the correct 90° quartering.
So they were removed from the loco.
One of the drivers was pulled off the axle, the exact 90° quartering was made and the driver refitted onto the axle according NMRA measurement of inner wheel space.

Now the loco runs without any binds and hesitations.
The next steps will be the DCC programming.


Lutz