Fitting remote control to an Accucraft Welshpool & Llanfair No. 14 / Sierra Leone No. 85

[vjoneslong]

I was asked a while back to describe how I went about fitting the R/C gear to one of my live steamers. This is how I installed a Deltang Rx102 receiver and associated servos plus DJB engineering whistle to my Accucraft W&LLR No. 14/SLR 85.

 

Here is the patient.

IMAG0476 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

The bodywork is easy to remove with 4 bolts holding it on. Two in the cab back, and one each side near the front of the tank before it climbs up.

IMAG0478 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0480 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0482 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

With the bodywork off, you can now see the pre-drilled holes for the factory fitted R/C gear. I will be ignoring most of those!

IMAG0483 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0485 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

 First task is the easy one, fitting the switch harness. I choose to fit this to the left hand tank. Accucraft have been clever by making the underside of the tank easily removable which makes fitting the harness a doodle. 

IMAG0490 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0492 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0495 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0496 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

Next up was the reverser. This proved problematic, and it took me quite a while and several attempts to get something which worked. One issue I did encounter was that my engine is very stiff going into reverse gear. I cannot tell if this is because of some manufacturing deficiency or because the engine is new and tight. I have explored and investigated as best as I can, but I cannot see any tight spots. Here are some photos of the inital setup and then one of the final/current version.

IMAG0497 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0498 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0502 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0503 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0868 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

The current setup (in last photo above) uses a HiTec HS-82MG servo, with push rod connected to the reverser lever above the pivot point. I did try drilling the reverser out higher up but my drills don't have enough umph to get through the lever. Something to be finished off when the workshop is setup I think. The servo is mounted using 8BA screws in the factory drilled holes on the right hand side of the loco.

 

For the regulator, I wanted to mount it underneath the cab floor, but there wasn't enough clearance of the pony truck and I decided to mount it in the cab instead. This was fortunate as we will see later.

I soldered up a bracket using brass, and screwed to the floor using 8BA screws. The servo is a King Max cheapo plastic servo so is easily replaced if it goes. 

IMAG0510 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0511 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0515 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

Its mounted directly underneath the burner - but doesn't seem to get overly hot - probably because it is well forward from the combustion place. I used the regulator supplied by Accucraft, but this require some drilling before I could use it. Like the reversing lever, this is made from some pretty tough steel and I had a devils time opening the hole so that it could take a posh rod link.

IMAG0514 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0867 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

Now, for most people this would have been the end, but I wanted to go further and add control for the gas. I fitted a fine control gas valve from the Train Department/Anything Narrow Gauge. I then made a bracket to clamp down a HiTec HS-45B servo mounted vertically. Like the regulator, the bracket was made from brass strip soldered together and drilled for 8 BA screws (of which I have an abundance). 

IMAG0517 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0518 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0520 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

Holes were drilled in the footplate, and the bracket and servo were mounted using 8BA screws.

IMAG0516 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0519 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

The servo was connected using a clevis and chuffed to bits lever (not seen).

IMAG0524 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

The receiver was mounted in the left hand tank, with a hole drilled to allow the aerial to stick out from underneath the tank to improve reception.

IMAG0522 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0870 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

Power was provided by 4 AA batteries mounted in the right hand tank.

IMAG0527 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

Fast forward a couple of months and I received a DJB engineering whistle thanks to Paul Bailey. This was the first one to be fitted to this type of loco. The whistle valve was mounted in the cab, and a hole drilled for the steam pipe to feed the whistle underneath the cab floor.

IMAG0766 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0767 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

The whistle is mounted using a tiny bracket which clamps to the side of the frames. In the end I mounted the whistle as far back as possible, with the resonator pushed up close to the support for the pony truck. After chatting with Paul I think there maybe multiple ways of mounting the whistle, so this was just my approach.

IMAG0769 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0770 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0771 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0772 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0774 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0775 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0776 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0779 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

I then mounted a servo for operating the whistle using the bind button on the remote. This was mounted by using a bracket fitted to the regulator servo bracket and a bracket using the the reverser mounting. Another King Max servo was used, the arm connected using some thin chain.

IMAG0867 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0868 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

Here's a picture of the now really busy footplate. Not much room for crew on there!

IMAG0871 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

My final task was to add Grain of Wheat bulbs to the front and rear lamps as I have previously done to my Joan. The one mounted on the cab was easy, just drilled through, and the thin wires carefully fed (and glued round the cab).

IMAG0881 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0882 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

The front lamp was trickier. In the end I hid the wires underneath the Accucraft detailing, drilling a small hole in the lamp side for the cables, and feeding the cables underneath the smokebox and into the tanks by drilling two tiny holes.

IMAG0883 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0879 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

To allow the body to still be removable, I used two JR connectors, one in the left hand tank with one pin for negative, and one in the right hand tank with two pins which supply positive power from a switch mounted in the right hand tank which allows me to switch between front and rear lamps. The lamps are always on as the receiver is unable to drive Grain of Wheat bulbs (but will happily fire a LED which can't take the heat of a live steamer) so this is a useful reminder that the RC is still on.

IMAG0884 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

IMAG0885 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr

 

Once complete, the engine was carefully bolted back together and briefly tested out on the open road. Other modifications include the glazing of the cab and the fitment of a Summerlands Chuffer which has given her a good voice. Here is a video of the testing as I went along with the project.

 

Edited May 2, 2017 by vjoneslong

[Narrow Minded]

Wow! Fantastic job and brilliant write-up Idris Thank you very much - excellent reference material