Building the Asia

[Shawki Shlemon]

I have started building the Asia 2-4-0 . I found some problems in the project. The first one is with the boiler , in the plans there is no blow down valve and washing plug . In Australia these are must , not optional .They can't be fitted on sides because of the wheels therefore must be front and back .That is easily done but the coupling axle is too close to the back head .The second problem the brackets for ash pan pin are screwed to boiler foundation with brass screws. This is not acceptable here as well .These plans were drawn 30 years ago , may be then this was OK but not now.
I have tackled the problem by extending the frame by 1/4" and increasing wheel base from 7.5" to 8" to give room for blow down valve and extending the brake brackets to retain ash pan pin .I am bringing these points to the attention of other builders and for open discussion . See photos .

[dscott]

Dear Shawki,

A lovely model and based on the Sharp Stuart original as is the GWR River Class that I am working on. Sometimes. I have not got round to drawing out the boiler yet which will be using mostly the simplex design as it is a published one.

Now people have told me that Les Saxby knew Maskilene who in turn when awarding a medal for the model many years ago, to him, completly forgot that it has a Pansy valve gear copied from somewhere!!! instead of the correct one. Water under the bridge, river class, oh never mind, but you could do the correct one.

I have done the cylinder drawing which is similar to my 517 class, which uses the 2" square continualy cast iron blocks. If you mess it up it dos not cost £100 to do another.

This is where I still love layout paper for drawing on as you can do up to 3 overlays and get most things to line up like blow downs, and ash pan holding up things, in the right places.

Ps. The Pansy, Metro, Boxhill, Didcot, Asia valve gear is excelent, so lets use it and have lots of fun.

David.

[SteveW]

Shawki,

This may not be related but there is a series running in the current ME on building "AYESHA II". I think it's 2-1/2" gauge but have not been following it and have missed the beginning (I've got it somewhere but not to hand).

[baggo]

Steve,

Ayesha II is an updated version of the 4-4-2 Atlantic originally built by LBSC that took part in the famous 'Battle of the Boilers'

John

[Shawki Shlemon]

Hi David
If you have a picture of the River class , I would love to see it . I have all the castings except for the brake shoes . I just checked the Australian boiler code for 1968 issue and the blow down valve was recommended but not essential .You see things change over time and we buy plans that 30 years old and we face problems , I am not criticizing Lez at all , just problems we have to overcome . The modifications I made will not be visible or noticeable . I have studied the valve gear and it appears to me every thing is OK . This project may take me 12 months or so and I will keep the forum informed . Good luck with your project , and I will be interested to see how you are doing.

[Shawki Shlemon]

Progress report
I have completed wheels ,brakes , springing , reverser and some valve gear, cross head pump. A modification to cab floor , made it in 3 pieces instead of one to give me access to link pin instead of a screw from the bottom and access to injector which is fitted under the cab






Sorry about the interference of other thing in the workshop and I should have driven the car away .I am not good as a phtographer .

[Tel]

bump

[Tel]

bump again

[paul]

Is it his birthday Tel ?

[Tel]

;D Nah mate - Shawki couldn't find the thread, he wanted to post some more on it - I winkled it out for 'im and bumped it up. No new material yet tho' I notice. Shawki?

[Shawki Shlemon]

Thank you Tel for that , I am getting on with the project , I have machined the cylinder block and some other parts for cylinders and valve gear , that is all that is left to do ,the cylinders and the valve gear ,all the rest is completed , I was just trying to find the thread to get it ready to report when I run it on air .The big question is how did you find it ? Why I failed to do so ?
I hope I will report the running on air in few weeks time .

[Tel]

I searched for posts by you mate, last 200 days - came straight up

[Shawki Shlemon]

Tel , I am no computer man , I must have done something wrong . Thank you for your help .

[Shawki Shlemon]

Tel I tried again to use the search ,Just for curiosity, I am always getting the standard result ,No Matching Results . How do you do it ? What am i doing wrong ?

[Tel]

Aw mate, you've jinxed me now - I just tried again so I could explain it to you and got the 'no matching results' twice

[Boadicea]

Is it that you are not searching far enough back. At the bottom it puts in a default of 7 days. Try changing that to 700.

Just a thought.

[baggo]

The search facility does seem to be a bit iffy. It seems to work better and produces more results if you search for Threads (collapsed) rather than Posts (expanded)
For me, searching for Asia by posts only returns the most recent posts whereas searching by threads returns all the Asia posts plus a load of others containing the word Asia. Occasionally it throws a wobbly and comes back with the no posts found message and I have to restart my browser (firefox) before it will work again.

John

[Shawki Shlemon]

Thanks guys ,next time I will try harder .

[Shawki Shlemon]

Time to report progress on this project , cylinders ,valve gear and cross head pump fitted and engine tested on air , all went well .Now I have to assemble and finish bits and pieces for final steam test . In the next few weeks i will not be doing much as I will be going to the annual convention in Victoria and on the way back we will be visiting one or two clubs . I am taking the Manor for the convention .I am painting the engine deep Indian red ( not the correct colour but that is what I want ) . See the photos below , any remarks welcome ( good or negative ) .

[ausdan]

looks good and pretty dam tight in that valve gear for working on.

Im also going over to the convention as a spectator, my Hunslet is still in repair.

Shawki, what club will be on your name tag and are you taking a loco, I will try to locate you and say Hi..

Danny
Penfield Model Engineer Society

Any other Aussie lurkers from these forums heading to Cobden for the annual convention

(looking forward to leaving the state, we have just hit 10 consecutive days with a temp over 35 degree celsius most have been 39 or 40)