USATC S100

spikey faz

spikey faz

Western Thunderer
Having more or less finished building the Airfix Land Rover, I was feeling suitably energised to crack on with the valvegear. But..... not sure if this bodes well.

20240813_181944.jpg20240813_182014.jpg

It looks like the return crank is too long. I'm going from the plans published in the September 1995 edition of Modelling Railways Illustrated, but I've also been peering at prototype pics and I'm convinced the return crank etchings are too long. I guess I'll have to see if I can shorten it, unless anyone can offer an alternative plan.

Mike
 
spikey faz

spikey faz

Western Thunderer
By my reckoning the return cranks are 2mm too long (centre to centre). :rant:

What to do? Try and source some more of the correct length or modify what I have. Going to sleep on it I think.

Mike
 
spikey faz

spikey faz

Western Thunderer
simond said:
If you modify, silver solder will be your friend.
Click to expand...
Never attempted silver soldering. Something I'd have to do outside in the garden as I don't fancy setting fire to our spare bedroom/workshop/home-office! :))

Anyway, I've made a start on cutting out some replacements from scratch. Not something I envisaged doing. :( But I feel more confident doing this sort of thing now than say ten or fifteen years ago.:)

Mike
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
@adrian did a couple of posts about it a while back which helped me.

you can buy the stuff as a paste with flux in a syringe, and you can get some kind of heatproof tiles with holes in that you can pin your parts to, though I use an offcut of marble tile which I drilled holes in with TCT drill bits.

its crucial that you heat the whole job to bright red in a single go, and it “flashes” through the joint, if not, clean up and try again!
 
daifly

daifly

Western Thunderer
simond said:
@adrian did a couple of posts about it a while back which helped me.

you can buy the stuff as a paste with flux in a syringe, and you can get some kind of heatproof tiles with holes in that you can pin your parts to, though I use an offcut of marble tile which I drilled holes in with TCT drill bits.

its crucial that you heat the whole job to bright red in a single go, and it “flashes” through the joint, if not, clean up and try again!
Click to expand...
Or go here for Adrian’s full article.
 
C

cctransuk

Active Member
spikey faz said:
By my reckoning the return cranks are 2mm too long (centre to centre). :rant:

What to do? Try and source some more of the correct length or modify what I have. Going to sleep on it I think.

Mike
Click to expand...

Perhaps the return cranks were intended to be - cranked; ie. reversed bends in order to space the rod away from the wheel.

If so, that would account for the apparent excess length.

John Isherwood.
 
spikey faz

spikey faz

Western Thunderer
cctransuk said:
Perhaps the return cranks were intended to be - cranked; ie. reversed bends in order to space the rod away from the wheel.

If so, that would account for the apparent excess length.

John Isherwood.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but I've had a good old look at pictures of the prototype and I'm not seeing cranked cranks! ;) But it's a fair point.

I think the easiest option is to re-drill said part. I'm not going to loose sleep over it.

Mike
 
spikey faz

spikey faz

Western Thunderer
I have now discovered that the slidebars are about 3mm to short in comparison to published plans. To compensate for this it appears the manufacturer has extended the length of the con-rod by about 5mm. No wonder I was having problems aligning the various parts!

Decisions. Do I bin this? Seriously, as it really is starting to wind me up. :(

Mike
 
timbowales

timbowales

Western Thunderer
Mike, my thoughts, for what they're worth.
Does it work as it is? If it does leave well alone.
Can you ignore the manufacturer's "bodges" or is that too much of a personal compromise?
 
spikey faz

spikey faz

Western Thunderer
timbowales said:
Mike, my thoughts, for what they're worth.
Does it work as it is? If it does leave well alone.
Can you ignore the manufacturer's "bodges" or is that too much of a personal compromise?
Click to expand...
Had I spotted the issues before construction had commenced I'd have made an effort to try to correct them. But at this stage I'm not too keen on dismantling and starting again. Besides, my other half has told me to just keep going!:D

This is where I am at at the moment.

20240823_195003.jpg

I keep modifying bits as I go to retain visual consistency (even if it doesn't measure right), so I'm probably not going to be able to provide precise details on what's been modified. But feel free to ask anyway!!;)
Mike
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Mike,

I guess the kit “goes together” and builds a chassis that runs.

If that’s ok for you, I suspect few others will notice, and so you can plough on.

if it’s not ok for you, put it in a box until either A) it is ok, or B) you have the mojo to fix it.

or I guess, sell it.

frustrating. I sympathise.
Simon
 
spikey faz

spikey faz

Western Thunderer
simond said:
Mike,

I guess the kit “goes together” and builds a chassis that runs.

If that’s ok for you, I suspect few others will notice, and so you can plough on.

if it’s not ok for you, put it in a box until either A) it is ok, or B) you have the mojo to fix it.

or I guess, sell it.

frustrating. I sympathise.
Simon
Click to expand...
The chassis actually runs really well! I will persevere, but I think my approach will be to do little but often. At least that way I can come back to it with a fresh approach for the next session. Well, that's the plan, but currently I'm chilling out by listening The Rolling Stones and enjoying a glass or two of Dalwhinnie Winters Gold. :eek:

I'll be back! :cool:

Cheers
Mike
 
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