Another brass loco project - repairs and painting.

[ACL1504]

The USRA tender is very plain. I wanted to add more details to the coal bunker. I added a coal slide and coal pusher to the back side of the tender coal bunker.

I purchased a sheet of brass stock from K&S, stock #252, .015 thick and 4" X 10".

I next took a file folder and cut a pattern for the coal slide. I cut the pattern to the same width as the inside of the bunker.



I then held this pattern on the brass sheet. I used the back side of an Xacto #11 blade to trace the pattern onto the brass sheet. I cut the brass sheet slightly larger than the pattern.



I took the brass coal slide and used a file to slowly and carefully file the sides of the brass until I had a nice secure fit.

Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

In the old thread, I said I wasn't going into detail on soldering brass on this addition. However, for this thread I'll tell you what I did. It really isn't hard but does require a little patience.

I soldered the coal slide to the sides of the bunker and then soldered the coal pusher to the slide.

First here are the two photos of the new coal slide and coal pusher.





Time for a Diet Pepsi break so continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

I decided the height I wanted the slide and used CA glue (super glue) to "tack" it in place. I used the Micro Mini Torch from Micro-Mark to solder the brass to the inside of the tender bunker.



I used Tix Solder and Tix Flux in the soldering process. Both are sold by Micro-Mark. the small piece on the rifght is all I needed for the soldering. I brushed on a little flux, placed the small piece of solder in the corner of the two pieces and touched the torch to the solder.




In the next photo you can see the small piece of solder on the already soldered bunker slide.



Bob Parrish mentioned in his thread he used wet cotton balls as a heat shrink so the surrounding pieces of brass don't get hot and come unsoldered.

I didn't use wet cotton balls, I did use a wet paper towel and pushed it up behind the area of the bunker I was soldering.

I hope all is clear.

[ACL1504]

Now, I'm up to date on this thread. This afternoon I drilled the holes in the tender deck for the sound.



Drilling from the one side caused a lot of burrs on the opposite side.




To remove the burrs, I used a larger drill bit and by hand twisted it to remove the burrs. The larger bit will also give me a little rounded edge around the holes.



Now I have a smooth tender deck.

[ACL1504]

In removing the side rods and other stuff, I discovered that one of the eccentric crank screws was broken flush on the eccentric crank.




In the above photo you can see the small screw on the right and not one on the left. This isn't a problem in that I just need to back the main crank pin out of the driver.

Another issue is the fact the running gear, waist sheet, and main side rods are all attached. Actually I can remove the main side rod and piston but it's just as easy to leave it all together.

The issue is that I'll have to paint all the brass parts by hand. I've done it on prior paint jobs so this is no different.



Notice where the tooth pick is pointing? All these parts are attached by a small rivet and don't come apart.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

A little fast forward here and all the parts that I could remove and take apart are all in order on the foam mat.



Fast forward a little more, like two hours, and all the parts are cleaned and ready to paint.

[ak-milw]

Lovin' this Tom!

[martin.ojaste]

Tom, Nice touch.  Now we know where you hide your $100 bills.

[ACL1504]

Lovin' this Tom!

Andy,

Glad you are having fun. I'm excited to finally get this one painted. I believe you'll like it.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom, Nice touch.  Now we know where you hide your $100 bills.

Martin,

Thank you, much appreciated. Oh, the money. Well, you only see half the story.



Tom

[ACL1504]

I started painting the heavy 4-8-2 this afternoon. I forgot to mention that when painting the tender trucks when the wheels are removed you should cover the journals with tape to keep the paint out.

When painting brass I usually get in the mood to do several at the same time. Over a period of weeks that is. I have several going on now. It started with Erieman's and now I'm doing a few of mine and one for the Judge.

Here is a photo of the Judge's Sierra RR 2-6-6-2. It will be stripped and repainted for the Atlantic and Southern. The bobber caboose will also carry the A&S road name.

This loco just came back from NWSL for a new motor and regearing.





The A&S has both coal and oil fired steam locomotives.



I've already stripped the tender on the 2-6-6-2.

[ACL1504]

The next brass project will be a 2-10-2.



The Judge and I purchased this loco from Howard Zane last year when we visited his layout. The Judge, John Siekirk, Bob Butts and I spent several hours with Howard the day prior to last years Expo.

The best I can tell is it an old Akane, early PFM with an unknown manufacturer's Vandy tender. The Coast Line did have 2-10-2's on the roster including the short two wheel Vandy tender.



Continued in a few.

[ACL1504]

This ACL 2-10-2 has the silver colored hearld and stripes. The ACL only had the silver hearld and stripes on the Northern type 4-8-4's.

Here is the ACL R1 with the silver hearld and stripes. All other ACL steamers had the white hearld and white stripes.

[donatode]

Tom, You've got some brass ______ !!!!     

[jbvb]

You're posting right along, Tom, but I'll rewind a bit to point out that Tix solder melts at 275 F where the tin/lead solder the manufacturer probably used melts at 360 F.  So, anyone following along should either stay exactly in your tracks and use Tix, or be extremely careful when soldering near an existing joint made with the same kind of solder.

Back in the day, the serious brass workers who published in MR frequently used three different solders; high-melting-point for basic assemblies like the frame & boiler, eutectic tin/lead for sub-assemblies and Tix to fasten the sub-assemblies together.  Looks like magic if you don't know the trick...