Thinking about your Victory, there is a view that some live steam locos (eg Aster) can just be run r/c with just a servo on the regulator & the blower cracked slightly open.
Yes indeed - albeit One Direction. It can also be done with single cylinder slip-eccentric engines such as the Project design. In theory, these are not self-starting, but in practice they only occasionally stop at Dead Centre. Which means that a train stopped at a station can mostly re-start under r/c. And for those occasions when it doesn't, one spots the driver at the back of the train, giving a gentle shove, rather than at the front, fiddling with hot little valve handles.
Some folk simplify the installation by linking the Blower to the Regulator, so that you don't need two separate controls to keep the fire alight when the blast pipe isn't chuffing, while avoiding having an always-open blower. Depends on the engine of course.
Actually, I quite like having the blower open a crack as it squirts you when the boiler is full
Which reminds me that other folk have automatic boiler level control, which is better done "Bang-Bang" than Proportional.
I guess it all depends whether you want to shunt with the Victory
Yes, I do indeed. More specifically, live steam on End-to-End layouts is a Game Changer, given the bulk and ridiculousness of a 'roundy roundy' track in today's micro-gardens.
In harmony with Accucraft Policy, the gas is designed to run out before the water when going 'roundy roundy'. This isn't an absolute necessity, given that the boiler is simple and robust, and that there's a water top-up valve under the dome, but it saves beggaring the paint. It also avoids a panicking driver adding water to a hot dry boiler, which is Not Good. People tell me they get a nice 20 minutes on one fill, but it's hard to refill the hot engine.
Now if one is fiddling around with an engine, shunting or end-to-end, a large proportion of the 20 minutes gas-time can go to waste. Not only that, but a large proportion of the boiler water goes up the Safety Valve, because steam supply necessarily exceeds demand when the train is going nowhere.
The Plan is to apply control (automatic or remote) to the gas tap as well, in order to reduce gas consumption whenever steam consumption is low. This should conserve water as well as gas.
There are several ways to do this, and Victory will be one of the test-beds.
Other ways to prolong running include a removable or adjustable exhaust throttle, and Jay Kovak's sensitive valve spindles (regulator and gas). Neither of which require modding the stock engine.
I am in the fiddly process of attempting to install r/c into a G1mCo Brit. Problem is, unlike most 16mm locos, they were not designed to take r/c & there is so much less space than in a 16mm cab!
Well the simple answer to space problems is Gauge 3 . . .
Whether you decide to get d-i-y bits from a trader like Fosworks or wait until a full kit is released is of course up to you.
It's as long as it's tall, Steve, cos it's Fosworks that would be offering the 'full kit'. After all, the tricky bits are all the brackets and baffles. Before you ask, Mr Fos has got the Design sorted out but not enough orders to go into production yet.
When Peter Spoerer lifted the cab roof on his own r/c Victory to show me the r/c, my eyes popped because I couldn't see it! It's all in the side-tanks and under the footplate, and the only visible signs in the rather full cab are two link ends! Externally, the visible signs are the switch and charger socket below the rear headstock.
It's all very neet, in the meticulous Spoerer manner, but it did take him a lot of time to get right. Which is why I favour waiting for the kit as opposed to starting from scratch.
On the other hand, Graham Langer tells me he found the installation much more straightforward.
Since both men report their r/c Victorys are delightful to drive, I have high hopes.