Corbs' Cobbling - Is it electric?

[Corbs]

Rough test of the V2 valve gear and cylinders on the P2. The cylinders are just held in with black tack, the motion bracket is in a piece of plastic tube pressed on to the P2 bracket

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Corbs

[Corbs]

Received a suitable tender in the post today and grabbed the last bit of sunlight to pose it withe the Mikado. I think the front needs to sit down a bit more.

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Corbs

[Grifter_Guru]

Looking good Corbs! In actual fact, I beleive the P2SLC will be using a similar method with the Boiler for the new-build P2 project..  IIRC, they will be utilising a boiler of the same dimensions as Tornado, merely changing the smokebox to suit. I could be wrong, but I am sure I read that is what they were doing? been so long since I looked in on it though (The website anyway)...

 

Loving the Ex-009 standard guage loco's too, they are actually giving me idea's and that is never a good thing.... LOL

*** EDIT TO ADD ***

I checked in on the P2 website and copied the following from this page of the website https://www.p2steam.com/design/

"Boiler:Although the original class P2s had 220lb/sq in boilers the overall size is identical to the diagram 118A 250lb/sq in boiler fitted to No. 60163, thus giving the option to inter-change this component at overhauls. Although the internal design is slightly different to No. 2001’s boiler, the precedent was set by No. 2006 Wolf of Badenoch which had a boiler with a firebox combustion chamber.

 

The class P2 varied in some regards to the class A1 in the area of the ashpan and grate, but these would for servicing advantages and manufacturing simplicity follow those on the class A1.

 

The locomotive will have Davies-Metcalfe pattern injectors rather than a feed water heater (removed from No. 2001 in 1938). Compared to the class A1, a larger K class injector would be selected. A pre-war Crosby chime whistle will be fitted as per No. 2001 Cock o’ the North and it is already in manufacture."

So from that, I read that they will be using a boiler the same as A1 Tornado, Rightly or wrongly as the case may be..

Edited March 26, 2017 by Grifter_Guru

[Dave John]

Thats a brute of a thing, can you imagine what shovelling coal into that firebox would be like? Nice model though... 

[Grifter_Guru]

You wont have to imagine what it would be like to fire a P2 soon, thanks to the P2SLC building a new P2 loco!

Personally? I cant wait to see it. I know my late father would have loved to have seen it too.........

[Corbs]

I'm pretty sure they got the idea from me. Life imitating art and all that....

[Corbs]

Two things arrived in the post today, destined to be the coaching stock of the TK&F....

Edited August 24, 2017 by Corbs

[Northroader]

I like the P2, just wondering about the combination lever?

[Corbs]

I like the P2, just wondering about the combination lever?

Yes it got a bit stuck, the cylinder is only held on with black tac while I measure things up

[scots region]

Corbs, do you mind me asking as to what kind of Hacksaw you use?

[Corbs]

Sure, this is the hacksaw I bought:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161711625654?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

and this is the razor saw set I usually use for plastics etc.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322395643613?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=511358503698&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

I also have a dremel with cutting saw attachment as well as the usual drills, sanding attachments etc.

[Corbs]

Today I took the plunge and decided to start converting some of my locos to RC. You may have already seen my project to fit BPRC gear to a 009 'Skarloey' which is ongoing, but I wanted to try out something bigger and useable on my current 00 layout.

The candidate was TK&F No.5, a 'Pugbash' I made which is described on my blog. This has never run particularly well, even with a new and improved set of pickups, and extra pickups to the front pony truck.

Unfortunately in the process of removing the boiler weights to fit the battery I flexed the body a bit too much and cracked the paint, but on the plus side this gave me the excuse I needed to apply a bit of weathering to it. I wanted to make it look used, but not decrepit.

 

Unlike 'Skarloey', I've taken a short cut on this one and omitted a switch and charging socket, opting instead to plug the battery directly in to the receiver. The loco body isn't fixed down so it's not hard to just plug the battery in when I want to use it.

The receiver is a Deltang Rx61-22 and this, the battery and plugs/leads were bought from Micron Radio Control, who were very quick with dispatching the parcel.

Here is a video of the loco on test:

 

Here's a pic of the setup inside the loco:

 

and with the newly weathered body on top

Edited August 24, 2017 by Corbs

[scots region]

Fascinating work Corbs.

[Corbs]

Here's another I've done in the same way since the last post, NWR No.106 'Perseus'.

When my order of micro switches arrives I'll try and install one on this loco as the body on this is securely fastened.

 

'Percy's boiler is stuffed with lead and it has brilliant adhesive weight which I was keen to maintain, so I used the smaller Rx41d-x-v5 DSM2 Micro Receiver, and did some modifications to the battery (photos below).

 

Here's what I started with - note the black-tack and styrene rammed in to try and keep the pickups in contact with the wheels.

 

Pickups removed and the area between the front axle ground out to make room for the receiver.

 

My main problem with squeezing the battery in was the length, so I carefully cut off the hard plastic 'shroud' over the end, and bent the plug around (GENTLY) 90 degrees.

 

This pic shows the receiver in place and the wires threaded through (note: ALWAYS pay the extra bit of money for the 'wired' version of the receiver)

 

One of the braces on the back of the motor was ground out to make room for the battery, so it sits snug against the motor.

 

This is the setup ready to go!

 

... And this is it on test. This test first shows acceleration, with inertia turned up to full. Then I run out of space and switch the inertia off to stop before derailing, and the return journey is with direct control.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Corbs

[scots region]

Not entirely sure what to make of it, are you able to maintain slow speeds? The concept of Remote control really does appeal to an electronic dunder head such as myself, no wiring to worry about.

[Corbs]

I don't think the cat knows what to make of it either! For some reason he loves the pugbashes and always runs into the room to watch them when they are working. Must be something about the noise they make.

How slow do you want it to go? It pretty much reaches full speed in the video. The inertia control alters how quickly the power is introduced. The video shows how long it takes to pull away when full power is applied along with the inertia turned right up. 

I've sacrificed the top-end speed in this conversion but on a small shunting engine that's not really important, what really matters to me is slow speed running in the yard, no more stalling on points or rail joints! No more pesky pickups or need to constantly clean wheels and rails either.
I might get some 2-cell batteries to convert tender locos with for more power and speed.

People do say that converting a loco to RC won't improve a bad chassis, but it certainly will help you get the most out of your existing one. The red No.5 has the same chassis as the green No.106, but it runs a bit jerkier at low speeds, possibly due to gunk in the motion.

[Corbs]

Hi mate, at the moment the chassis is unchanged apart from removing the shaped weight at the front (as it's shaped for the streamlined P2 and not the cylindrical boiler) and chopping the sections out of the front of the chassis. I've left the flangeless pony truck as is for the time being, the curves on my layout are quite sharp so such a long fixed wheelbase probably wouldn't work.

The main issue is the rear truck is designed to make the axle 'float'. I guess an alternative would be to replace it with a proper truck, like those on the Hornby 'Princess Royals', but this would be a fair bit of work.

Have you tried the forums at lner.info ? Someone on there must have done the flanged wheel modification on a P2, they may be able to help?

 

Looking at the underside of the Bachmann A1, I think it would be a pain to try and get it to fit, with large sections requiring cutting out to fit the P2 chassis, it would be a lot less work to get the Hornby one and fit that.

I got mine quite cheaply as a part of the cab was broken (I glued this back in). My suggestion would be to 'follow a search' on ebay, which sends you alerts when items are listed. You may be able to get a bargain.

 

Speaking of which, I managed to snag 3 Bachmann Junior 0-6-0ST locos with damaged boxes quite cheaply thanks to a search alert - ideal chassis donors!

[Corbs]

Not entirely sure what to make of it, are you able to maintain slow speeds? The concept of Remote control really does appeal to an electronic dunder head such as myself, no wiring to worry about.

Just for you I made a little clip.

A little test of how slowly I could try and get No.5 to run across the layout with the minimum of jerkiness....

 

This loco is the jerkyer of the two I have converted. I think the massive weight of the Avonside loco makes it much smoother.

 

[scots region]

Thanks Corbs, this is fantastic work. I'm no business man but I do think there would be an appetite for this kind of development should it become available on the commercial scene.

[Corbs]

Definitely, I think Acc+Ess' Protocab is the closest to a plug and play commercial version so far. The only downside at the moment is the cost but that's the case for any start-up tech really. 

The Deltang method is cheaper but does require a bit more effort. To be honest though I did the quick and dirty conversion on the green loco in an hour. Wiring in and installing the switch and charging port may take a bit longer.

https://www.protocab.com/welcome

[Corbs]

I posted a few clips of Thomas Allen and Perseus hard at work in the yard on my instagram, take a look!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSjyWzhlTv5/?taken-by=sudrianhistories

[Corbs]

Hi mate, looks like a solid start, may I make a few suggestions? Feel free to ignore them of course!

 

I think you have the body very high (especially compared to the coach), and it needs extending to fit more snugly over the chassis - the nose needs to protrude more. What I would do is get another A4 body, and cut the existing one after the 3rd or 4th boiler band, and graft on the rear half of the new body, giving you an extra band and more length. This would help it fit over the cylinders at the front, too.

The wide firebox and cab of the A4 should hopefully fit over the large chassis block at the back.

[Corbs]

On the workbench at the moment is this brace of wagons destined for the TK&F, I wanted some suitable pre-grouping wagons and these Cambrian kits are very nice.

 

Here they are halfway through painting and weathering, still awaiting suitable wheels, details and couplings.

 

Perhaps a suitable load as well...

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Corbs

[Corbs]

Nice one! It's coming together well.

 

I've been taking a break on the standard gauge front, as seen over on this thread I've been working on installing the Deltang radio control system into a Bachmann 'Skarloey'.

 

Here's a video of the loco on test:

 

Still lots of little details to add and finish but I'm really pleased with how it's come together.

 

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Corbs

[Dave John]

Very impressive.