Finished my first loco kit!

[puffernutter]

Well, it's taken me almost a year to complete it, but I've finally finished my Connoisseur Models "starter kit" loco.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmRFkGsEnnM

 

I made some changes in the construction:

- I cut out holes in the frame and used Alan Gibson individually sprung hornblocks and bearings

- I used PCB bolted to the top of the frames with phosphor bronze wipers for pickups instead of Slaters sprung pickups

- I used ScaleSeven wheelsets and axles

- I have wired in a Digitrax DH163 decoder for DCC operation

- To mimick the C14 I used putty to shape large counterweights on the wheels

 

I found some things out over the course of the kit:

- I should have separated out the fold-up frames, created properly scaled spacers and rebuilt it - there's far too much slop with the wider axles and thinner tyres even with washers behind them

- Without slaters sprung pickups, the wheels have alot of slop

- I cut the holes for the hornblocks while the frame fold-up was still flat, as such they weren't perfectly identical and despite using alignment axles with coupling rods, the front axle is very slightly skewed

- You should really make the roof removable if possible, I didn't and I'm still puzzling on how to paint the inside of the cab properly!

 

Some things I'd like to do:

- Early British Railways transfers

- Possibly gloss varnish around the tank fillers to represent water spillage

- Real coal in the bunker and tank tops

- Glazing

- Blackening coupling rods

- Firebox flicker

 

Some things I wished I'd done:

- Sanding pipes around the wheels

- The proper width wheelbase for the C14, new rods/etc.

- Under-footplate splashers modelled correctly (only possible with the scale-width frames and slop reduction)

 

Anyway, it was great fun - Jim was a good guy to deal with, the instructions were very easy to follow and I've got nothing but good things to say about both Slaters (wheels) and Alan Gibson (hornblocks, replacement springs).

 

I do have one question though: What the heck is causing that buzzing? The worm gear and gear wheel are meshed and greased up, and the mechanism is free rolling (99% anyway) when no motor is attached. What gives?

 

Many thanks!

[AMJ]

Check that the wiring is ok and that it runs on DC before fitting the DCC chip. You have probably got a short to get a buzzing noise. Disconnect chip from motor and put DC track voltage accross the motor brushes.

 

Check everything for shorts with a test meter.

 

 

[puffernutter]

Hi there,

 

It does run on DC, but I don't have a controller (just a 500ma / 5v power supply that I crocodile clip onto the rails) to test it at very slow speeds and such. It sounds like the buzzing is more like a chirping and it's coming from the gearbox - if that's the case could it be that it's meshed too close/not enough?

[John_Hughes]

The old dodge - which I still use on occasion - is to put a bit of Rizla paper between the worm and the worm-gear; if that is just held nice and firm between the two components, then the mesh is good.