A Long Term Project

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Steve Goodbody
Posts: 219
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 7:16 am

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Steve Goodbody »

Here are the last few pictures....
Image 18 Small.jpg
Image 17 Small.jpg
Image 19 Small.jpg
Best regards
Steve
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Greg_Lewis
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Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2003 2:44 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Whoa! Too pretty to run! But it surely will run as good as it looks. Congrats.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
Glenn Brooks
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Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:39 pm
Location: Woodinville, Washington

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Splendid Build and noteworthy thread! I love these old Hunslets.

Any Chance you could post some general dimensions of the loco? Such as,overall length, width, and height to top of boiler and cab roof?

Maybe also boiler diameter.?

Thanks much,
Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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Dick_Morris
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Location: Anchorage, AK

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Dick_Morris »

Beautiful!
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NP317
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Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by NP317 »

Beautiful!
RussN
Rwilliams
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Location: Central California

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Rwilliams »

Got to looking at the valve hand wheel castings on the turret valves. They are just smaller versions of a standard design that was popular on both sides of the big pond it seems. A simple yet elegant design that looks as good today as it did a century ago.
Steve Goodbody
Posts: 219
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 7:16 am

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Steve Goodbody »

Thanks all.

Glenn, the loco is to 3 inch scale, 7.25" narrow-gauge, and the major dimensions are:
- Length 44"
- Width 18"
- Height to top of chimney from rail-head 28"
- Boiler diameter 7"
- Cylinders 2" bore x 2.5" stroke

Here's a picture with yours truly included for scale!
Image 1 Small.jpg
Best regards
Steve
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NP317
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Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by NP317 »

That Steve Guy is HUGE!!!
RussN
Pontiacguy1
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Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:15 am
Location: Tennessee, USA

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

That is quite a display of workmanship and patience. Congratulations on a job that would make any craftsman proud! Now... go get it dirty!
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diddler
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Location: Sebring Florida

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by diddler »

Awesome work Steve
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Benjamin Maggi
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Location: Albany, NY

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

What did you use for paint for your engine? Your frame looks perfectly finished in red. How did you paint and then assemble it all without scratching it all up?
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
Steve Goodbody
Posts: 219
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 7:16 am

Re: A Long Term Project

Post by Steve Goodbody »

Hi Benjamin,

The short and not-very-helpful answer is - with a lot of planning, a lot of patience ,and a lot of mistakes along the way!

The very best tip I can suggest is to purchase Chris Vine's book "How (not) to Paint a Locomotive" and believe everything he writes. It's superbly written and, even though it's written for a UK audience and hence many of the products aren't directly available in the US, the principles and practices apply completely. I re-read this book whenever I'm going to paint and then I re-read the applicable chapters along the way so that I can almost recite it in my sleep. Even then, a brief loss of concentration and I'll still screw things up - painting is very unforgiving.

I've done the painting in two distinct phases, each of which took nearly a year. The first phase was the chassis and boiler (disassembled and painted about 12 years ago) and the second phase has been everything else (taking the last 10 months or so). I strip everything down to the component parts except those where re-assembly would be impractical or impossible once painted.

I've used Rustoleum paint for just about everything. I use their rattle-cans for small parts, and their oil-based paints (sprayed with an HVLP gun) for larger parts or where the finish needs to be ripple-free. Rustoleum oil paint is not the easiest to use, and it takes a very long time to dry hard, but it has the advantages that their color-consistency is excellent across products and from can-to-can. It's readily available, and I can buy the same colors and paints today that I used 12 years ago and they're identical. Additionally, with the right technique, and preparation, it's possible to achieve a really good finish with the stuff. I know folks look down on Rustoleum, but I'm pretty pleased with the results.

As an aside, and knowing my pace of progress, I deliberately selected colors that were available in both rattle-can and oil-based form and which were sufficiently basic as to be unlikely to be discontinued over the long-term. I'm very glad I made that decision.

Regarding the process - after a really thorough cleaning - the most important step - I use a couple of coats of etch primer as an initial base. Originally I used KBS etch primer but nowadays Rustoleum has a rattle-can version which I find to be just as good and more convenient. I then use a couple of coats of the appropriate Rustoleum primer for the topcoat, followed by at least two topcoats. Except for the etch primer, I rub down between coats using 2000-grit or 3000-grit paper used wet.

One of the downsides of this process is that the ultimate total paint thickness is high. This is not really a problem on a large-scale loco but would obscure too much detail in the smaller scales.

Last, but by no means least, I have arranged the workshop so that the entire central area can be transformed into a fully-enclosed spray-booth. This keeps the dust out and vents the fumes to the outdoors via one of the windows. You've probably noticed some of the plastic sheeting and flexible exhaust ducts in the pictures and recent video. Two of the paint-booth's shower-curtain walls also double-up as my photography backdrop!

Hope this helps,
Steve
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