Gresley's V4 Locomotive 'in the making'

Cylinder Drain Cocks.

Ok, so I've finished messing about with the recently obtained Simplex.
I've sorted it's problems for now, and it seems to perform well, well enough to take it down the club every week and have a bit of fun passenger hawling.
Having spent ages looking to see how I could link up a mechanism for the V4 cylinder drain cocks, without success, I have decided to make some automatic drain cocks.
The members of my club swear by them.
I used the drawing from this forum at this address -
modeleng.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=4894&page=1#47778
and scaled them down for 3 1/2" by using 3/16" square brass instead of the 5/16" hexagonal recommended for 5".
They seem to look OK, so I also had to start on the cylinder lagging before I screw them home for good.
It's a bit of a game lining up the holes in the lagging to match the drain cock centres.
The screws are temperary, it's a shame to cobble up small head hex screws at this stage, they can go in later.
Chris

Careful when you are doing that Chris. One of our Club members ruined a good pressure gauge doing this. Think it went round three times!

John

Axle Pump Test Rig.

So here's this evenings lash set up.
I've been trying to think what appliance I might have that carries a higher pressure gauge that I can rob.
It would be interesting to have a pressure gauge that reads up to a much higher pressure.
Any ideas?
Chris

the administrator Andy Clark wrote -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Following a recent update you can now post images directly to this site without the need to host them elsewhere - there's a maximum size of 1MB, you just use the "browse" button on the "attachment" line to locate your photo and Bob's your uncle.'

Any ideas why this doesn't work for me?
Chris

DrJohn, just hold the Ctrl key when you click on the thumbnail, it will then open up the picture in a new tab or instance of IE but keeping the original thread for you to carry on purusing.

That may be dependent upon which version of windoze you're using though.

Smifffy

Blower - 3 hole or 1 hole.

I've made the smokebox ring so that it can be removed with ease.
It is secured by four socket cap screws that are easily accessible with an allen key.
It'll make for easier access when plumbing in the pipework.
Now - the blast pipe. Do I have one blower jet or three?
Is there advantage to having three holes in the blower?
My previous loco's only have one blower jet and have
steamed very successfully.
Is there anyone out there who has experience of a comparison
of the efficiency of the two methods?
Thanks Chris

Looking Like a Loco.


Ok, so here's the next.
I,ve gone for the 3 hole blower which is integral with the blast pipe.
The blast pipe looks quite high though, and leaves only about 1/2"
from the petticoat pipe. I'll have to check the drawings to see if there is a mistake.
Now it's starting to look like a locomotive.
Chris.

American Gresley, Oh no.


Nice idea Ian, but -
I don't think Sir Nigel Gresley would have given his approval.
I already stray away from the prototype and, 'Do my own thing'.
It gives the 'rivet counters' fuel.
Chris

Hi Chris - you could try making it like a spring, then cutting the rings off that.

Looking excellent though.

DJ