A Drain of Thought - Bullied WC/BB cylinder drain pipes (again?)

[Right Away]

I'm sure this has must have been raised before - but here goes!

 

I had been putting off doing something which had been bothering me for some time, namely the lack of cylinder drain pipes on the Hornby original Bullied Light Pacifics.

Rather than use the proprietary etched versions which are available, I decided to make my own using 0.45mm nickel silver rod obtained from the excellent Nairnshire Modelling Supplies.

 

Clamp 3 lengths of 0.45m rod together onto a small piece of plywood, gently clean up with a fibreglass pen and place solder on small sections (2cm) along the rods, leaving sections unsoldered. This will provide ample material for fabricating the pipes for two locomotives. Working from a well exposed photograph, and correlating dimensions from the model, the rods were formed to represent the cylinder drain pipes which were then painted copper. Drill two 0.5mm holes in the cylinders, a touch of superglue and you're done.

A further task would be to fit the operating rod in front of the cylinder - but I'm probably getting dangerously close to the old "rivet issue".

Please see attached pics for comparison.

Hope this was of some use.

[JeffP]

Does the front bogie wheel not touch them when it swings?

[roundhouse]

I have used this method for a couple of locos. Just bend them out a bit to suit the track radius you are using this on.

However, I then used the RT models etches on the remainder of my spam cans as having quite a few the process would have become very laborious. After weathering the etches aren’t so noticeable compard to the soldered rod method.

Edited February 20, 2018 by roundhouse

[Right Away]

I should have stressed that the provision of cylinder drain pipes would not suit tight curves, my sharpest being a minimum of 48", which present no problems.

[SRman]

On the couple that I have added the drain pipes, and also on Hornby 'Arthurs', I have cut the pipes short of the steps to allow them to be pushed outwards by the leading bogie wheels if necessary. It's a compromise, but looks better to me than not having the pipes at all.

[Dunsignalling]

If your layout viewing distance and angles suit it, you can get away with fixing them to the bogie rather than the cylinders.

 

They aren't radius dependent and it makes re-railing a darn sight easier, too.

 

Again, they may need to be cut short to clear the steps, though.

 

John

Edited February 20, 2018 by Dunsignalling