C&O K3, 2-8-2 Mikado Painting

Started by ACL1504, May 29, 2020, 06:03:17 PM

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Judge

Beautiful job on the K-3.  The class was basically a souped-up USRA design.  The K-3 was one of the largest Mikes ever built.  It was heavier than the other K class Mikes, weighing in at 731,340 lbs, including the engine and tender.  The K-3 class had 63" drivers and 67,700 lbs tractive effort, according to Stauffer's book.  Fortunately, for the fireman, it had a stoker.  A hog made for dragging freight from The Bottoms to Summit.  And the lease from the C&O was very reasonable.  Five dollars a year plus upkeep.  Not bad considering the minimum wage for labor in 1950 was $.75 per hour.   

jerryrbeach


Tom,


Once again, simply stunning.  Love the overall paint job (who wouldn't), that cab interior is especially nice IMO.  So many things that stand out like the builder's plate, glad hands, and the inside of the bell.  Yet again I am at a loss for words...
Jerry

Zephyrus52246

Another beautiful paint job.  Especially on the interior.  What color green do you use, it looks sort of like zinc chromate green, but not as vivid. 


Jeff

S&S RR

Tom


Very nice work, it looks great.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

postalkarl

hey Tom:

Just beautifully done. I think I told you before that before I started building wood craftsman structure kits I did HO scale custom painting. Wish I had A nickel for every piece of HO equipment I painted from brass to plastic. I used to paint for customers at the Hobby Shop (Penn Valley Hobby Center In Lansdale, Pa). It was A lot of fun.

Karl

NKP768

Another nice job Tom- I'm always impressed at how quickly you crank these out. I've seen a few Key Models with the open gear boxes and sprung motor mount. I do a similar mod to the older PFM Berks that I have been updating for DCC. I've been using the PSC gearbox which has a tab cast on the rear facing surface to which I attach a brass strip. The motor mount is then soldered to this strip and a hole drilled at the farthest end. A 00-80 machine screw is ran through this hole and through a like hole that has been drilled in the rear frame plate. A short piece of black tubing is then threaded over this screw and the strip secured to the frame. I believe back in the day they called this a torque arm mount. The beauty of this arrangement is two fold - the motor shaft is always aligned with the gear box pinion gear shaft and there is no solid motor mount to frame connection which results in a very quiet drive. Agin beautiful job.
Doug

ACL1504

Quote from: Judge on June 08, 2020, 04:06:07 PM
Beautiful job on the K-3.  The class was basically a souped-up USRA design.  The K-3 was one of the largest Mikes ever built.  It was heavier than the other K class Mikes, weighing in at 731,340 lbs, including the engine and tender.  The K-3 class had 63" drivers and 67,700 lbs tractive effort, according to Stauffer's book.  Fortunately, for the fireman, it had a stoker.  A hog made for dragging freight from The Bottoms to Summit.  And the lease from the C&O was very reasonable.  Five dollars a year plus upkeep.  Not bad considering the minimum wage for labor in 1950 was $.75 per hour.


Bill,

Thank you for the compliment and the extra information.

Tom ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

ACL1504

Quote from: jerryrbeach on June 08, 2020, 06:55:09 PM

Tom,


Once again, simply stunning.  Love the overall paint job (who wouldn't), that cab interior is especially nice IMO.  So many things that stand out like the builder's plate, glad hands, and the inside of the bell.  Yet again I am at a loss for words...


Jerry,

Thank you for the generous and very kind compliment on the paint job. Paying attention to the small details and highlighting them is what gives the loco an authentic appearance. The extra time it takes sure makes a huge difference.

I have a Great Northern pacific planned painting as well. I've always wanted to paint a GN boiler, cab sides and steam chest in the GN green with all other features black. It is brass PFM H-5.

Tom ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

ACL1504

Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on June 08, 2020, 07:28:12 PM
Another beautiful paint job.  Especially on the interior.  What color green do you use, it looks sort of like zinc chromate green, but not as vivid. 


Jeff

Jeff,

Thank you very much. the interior green is just something that pleases my eye when mixed. I have not set formula.

Here are the two brands I used. I've never seen the Zinc Chromate Green color.

Scalecoat - Southern Green mixed with White until it looks correct.

Floquil - Dark Green mixed with Reefer White until it looks correct.

Again, the white makes it lighter so keep this in mind.

Tom ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

ACL1504

Quote from: S&S RR on June 08, 2020, 09:32:34 PM
Tom


Very nice work, it looks great.

John,

Very much appreciate the kind remarks on the loco.

Tom  ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

ACL1504

Quote from: postalkarl on June 09, 2020, 12:40:55 AM
hey Tom:

Just beautifully done. I think I told you before that before I started building wood craftsman structure kits I did HO scale custom painting. Wish I had A nickel for every piece of HO equipment I painted from brass to plastic. I used to paint for customers at the Hobby Shop (Penn Valley Hobby Center In Lansdale, Pa). It was A lot of fun.

Karl


Karl,

Thank you my friend. I do remember you saying you used to paint locos for customers at Penn Hobby Center. I think this one puts me at number 394 or close to it.

Tom ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

ACL1504

Quote from: NKP768 on June 09, 2020, 11:36:54 AM
Another nice job Tom- I'm always impressed at how quickly you crank these out. I've seen a few Key Models with the open gear boxes and sprung motor mount. I do a similar mod to the older PFM Berks that I have been updating for DCC. I've been using the PSC gearbox which has a tab cast on the rear facing surface to which I attach a brass strip. The motor mount is then soldered to this strip and a hole drilled at the farthest end. A 00-80 machine screw is ran through this hole and through a like hole that has been drilled in the rear frame plate. A short piece of black tubing is then threaded over this screw and the strip secured to the frame. I believe back in the day they called this a torque arm mount. The beauty of this arrangement is two fold - the motor shaft is always aligned with the gear box pinion gear shaft and there is no solid motor mount to frame connection which results in a very quiet drive. Agin beautiful job.
Doug

Doug,

Thank you as well sir. Remember, I'm retired so I can work at any pace. That said, I think I have about 6 to 8 more to paint. Then I'm retiring from any brass painting. Some of the Key and early PFM have open gear boxes. Some I've converted to NWSL gear housing. I've not tried the Precision Scale ones.

What's good about the WOW sound is that it covers the slightest little sound. However, I like them very quiet prior to installing the DCC.

Thank again for checking in.

Tom ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

ACL1504

When installing DCC sound be it Tsunami, TCS WOW or any other, the motor must be isolated electrically from the frame. On 98% of brass I've work on, the moror (+) is wired to the brass frame and the (-) goes to the tender through the drawbar.

With DCC the Black wire from the decoder is soldered or attached to the loco frame. The DCC Red wire is soldered/attached to the tender.

With all this in mind, I needed to electrically separate the motor from the loco frame.

I traced the round motor mount onto some 3/32 thick Evergreen styrene.



I then cut and filed the styrene so it basically fit the motor mount.



More in a few.
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

ACL1504

Since the 3/32" styrene was placed between the motor mount and motor front, this moved the worm gear back 3/32" as well.

The gears still meshed but the worm gear was set more towards the rear, in fact 3/32" back.

The gear has a set screw that secures it the motor shaft.



Even after the set screw was loosened, the gear refused to move. Not wanting to damage the gear, I used the NWSL gear puller to remove the gear from the shaft.

I then reset the gear on the shaft 3/32" forward to match the top of the idler gear in the gear housing which is the original gear position.



Continued -
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

ACL1504

Here is how it looks now that the motor is isolated from the motor mount. Note I also added a small piece of .020" styrene to the bottom. This will prevent any close contact with the motor and motor mount.

The white styrene will be painted to match the rest of the gear housing.


"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

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