Scratchbuilding a Shay thought were the appropriate resistors.
And you thought you were done Of course, once I had completed the
engine, I had to place it on my layout tracks and see how it ran. It ran quite well at a top speed of 4.72 scale miles per hour. Even that’s a bit too slow and boy, was it noisy! The hollow brass fuel bunker on top of the sheet brass floor greatly amplified the whine of the mo- tor and gears. And the lights didn’t work! So I replaced the gearmotor with the coreless can motor I began with only to find that its larger size severely reduced the room available for the de- coder, associated wiring, and sheet lead weight (some of which is also in the boiler). Then, after disassembling the engine to replace the motor and light bulbs and putting it all back together again, I discovered much to my chagrin that I had introduced a short circuit in the wiring which fried the decoder. (Many thanks to Karl Siefert at Lin’s Junction in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, for diagnosing that problem.) That led me on a search for a smaller coreless motor for the Shay. (Thanks to Motor- man Eldon of Microlocomotion on eBay for supplying me with a Faulhaber 1016 12-volt motor.) I had to increase
the .030″ diameter of the motor shaft to ¹₁₆″ with ¹₃₂″ and ¹₁₆″ brass tubing by soldering a short length of the smaller tubing in the larger one and then drilling the inside diameter to .031″ with a No. 68 drill bit. Oh yeah, I had to replace the light bulbs again–this
28. 27
27 & 28: The headlight and backup lights are equipped with Miniatronics 1.5-volt bulbs. Once it was decided that everything was running smoothly, the model was lettered and weathered with a light dusting of pastel chalks and Floquil weathering colors.
time with the correct higher value re- sistors. To top it all off, with all the handling during disassembly and re- assembly, I had to extensively touch up the paint and re-weather the engine. I guess it was worth it, though. Chimney Rock Quarry No. 3 has surprising pulling power.
I started out building a second Key- stone Locomotive Works Class A Shay, but it quickly became a kitbashing proj- ect. Then, due to that pernicious dis-
ease, OCD (obsessive-compulsive detail- ing), it degenerated into a scratchbuild- ing project. How many original Key- stone parts did I use?
The truck
sideframes, lineshaft bearing caps, gear guards, connecting rods and valve gear, the universal joints, and the smokebox front. I don’t know how many other poor souls are afflicted with this disease, but at least in my case, there is no cure. I’m already casting about for the next loco- motive to build.
80
MARCH 2014
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