Pennsylvania K4 Repaint

Started by ACL1504, March 17, 2020, 05:57:33 PM

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ACL1504

This loco is hard wired, meaning the tender and loco are wired so the two can't be separated. I cut the wires.



I then removed the pilot and trailing trucks. The screws holding these on were replaced as I'm not ready to remove the bottom plate and drivers at this point.



The screw holding the pilot truck is also the screw holding the smoke box to the steam chest. So now the front of the boiler is loose. There are two small screws located on the rear of the cab  below the cab deck. These were removed as well.

Now the boiler assembly can be removed.

Continued 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

Oh wow, look at this crap. The rubber coupling between the motor and gear box shafts is dry rot. And, it looks like the shafts are rusted. I'm not sure why as the shafts should never have been wet.

The red bulb is a 12V bulb. PFM sold these as a ballast light. When running the bulb would glow giving the effect of a firebox burn.

The open frame motor has been replaced, not by me, with a Sagami can motor. This was common in the late 70's to use the NWSL Sagami motors. These were referred to as 20X32s, meaning they are 20mm X 32mm in size. This was high tech in the 70's.



You can see the rear of the can motor has a PFM RF-T. This little bugger kept the radio frequency at a minimum. All this PFM junk will be removed.



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

The wire wiper and soldering pad was removed along with all the stuff shown above.





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



I also see extra care was taken to add more boiler weight. I have mixed feelings about adding more boiler weights.  Extra weight is good in that the loco can pull more cars and not so good as it also places more stress and wear on the driver tires.

I'm going to leave the weight in the boiler. This loco is already older than the prototype when scrapped so at this point what the heck.



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

I removed the tender trucks.



I then removed the tender from the tender deck.

Here is the PFM speaker and the PFM-02 or LTM (loco tender module).



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

I'll send the speaker to a friend in TN as he still uses PFM sound but the rest will go to file 13.



The tender shell is back filled with foam and this was removed also. The previous owner, Sue and Dick DeWitt, smoked. Well, Sue smoked and the foam still smells musty and of cigarette smoke.

More tomorrow afternoon.



"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

The photo below reminds me of the days when PFM Analog Sound was king. The tender on most locos needed to be reworked in order to install the PFM speaker. I'll discuss this in a little more detail later in the thread.




I mentioned that the previous owner was a smoker. The loco ran on the store display layout for several years. In the photo below, you can see where I cleaned off some of the paint around the builders plate. The yellow tint on the smokebox is nicotine staining. You can see a little of the staining on the side of the boiler.



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 a look at  some of the parts from the loco. Certainly more to come.



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

The smooth running of any model locomotive is dependent on the running gear. Refer to the following video for my thoughts on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_sV4rV8FUI
"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

All running gear has been removed.



Pilot and steam chest removed next.



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

The reversing link support bracket was removed next. One side was unsoldered so this will have to be fixed/resoldered.



Bottom plate removed from the frame.



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

The three drivers and six journal springs removed.



And finally the six brake shoes.



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

ReadingBob

Man that's a lot of little pieces and parts.  :P  I'd never be able to Humpty Dumpy back together again.   :D
Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

There's a fine line between Hobby and Mental Illness.

ACL1504

The loco frame, steam chest, pilot, running gear, springs, brake shoes, etc are all now disassembled. All 60+ parts will get either clean or paint stripped off and then reassembled.





Now its time to get out the Acetone and strip the old paint. Speaking of time, I have about 4 hours into the repainting. At $45.00 per hour, I so far owe myself $180.00. Gee, I don't even have it stripped or my paint mixed. :'(


I'll have more on Monday or Tuesday.
"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: ReadingBob on March 20, 2020, 05:12:48 PM
Man that's a lot of little pieces and parts.  :P  I'd never be able to Humpty Dumpy back together again.   :D


Bob,

This one isn't to bad and is a relatively easy one. I'll get this Humpty Dumpty back together and should have it running soon.
"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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