Saturday workbench

(I often wonder if there should be a bit more organization here on the blog with specific features turning up on regular days of the week. Or does everyone prefer the organized chaos that we tend to have?)

Finally the lady of the house has returned the digital camera, so the Ed project can officially start. Heres a picture of the Kato 2-8-2 mech that will be our starting point.

The first job was to add the bogie's at each end.

The pony truck was quite simple with the main bar made from brass and a piece of brass tube soldered to the end at the correct distance. I made up a jig so that I could solder the 2 pieces reasonably square which was helped by putting the axle in position (if you have a longer piece here, it makes it more obvious to the naked eye if its square or not).

I also added some brass on top to add weight, and then some shotgun pellets (number 4 shot I think) to the bottom. Wheels are the Markits 6.2mm 8 spoke wheels with the axles filed down to stubs.

The bogie was a bit more involved. First up I soldered the brass tube bearings to each end of the brass bar (with predrilled center pivot hole) as before. I then had to make the coupling to the main body out of plastic as otherwise it would short across the split frame. I used the M2 nuts and bolts ( cheap from Dick Smith) to attach the 2 pieces together. I had to file the bolt down so that it wouldn't rub on the frame, and also the end off so that it wouldn't hit things on the track. The bolt and nut were finally secured with some araldite. Lead shot was added underneath for weight.

Moving to the frame I needed to remove about 2mm from the funny shaped bit at the end. Ah-ha I thought, a job for this new fangled Dremel type thingy. I found a grinding implement, inserted it into the chuck and turned it on. Once the shock had worn off I turned it off to find that spanish steel is not what it used to be. I'm starting to wonder if Dremel translated into Spanish really is 'spinning engine of death'. It never ceases to amaze me with its homicidal tendencies

"Maybe I can use it round corners..."

The job was then performed to old fashioned way with a file and elbow grease.

The 2 assemblies were attached to the mech at the correct points and the whole thing test run on my crap test track, where it negotiated my 15” radius curve happily. I was quite surprised that its worked, and I don't need to make any modifications to the build for the second one.

"Did I say it still is butt ugly?"