Has anyone ever created a chimney damper for a American Flyer. I think it would look cool to have one?
Is this an internal functional damper, to adjust the volume of āsmokeā per chuff, or an external cover for the stack?
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Visual āflapā on top of the smokestack:
A thought:
A small hinged flap or cap using thin brass, aluminum, or even a blackened plastic strip.
Mounted with a tiny hinge or use springy wire to make it jiggle realistically as the train moves.
Using small heat-resistant foil to simulate a gently fluttering exhaust damper.
Your post isnāt very clear, Iām assuming that youāre talking about an Am Flyer Diesel locomotive?
I have seen stack flaps on trucks, farm tractors and heavy equipment such as bulldozers, but I canāt recall even seeing a picture of a stack flap on a locomotive, diesel or steam, but I suppose it has been done somewhere, at some time? Possibly an infrequently used switcher at a grain elevator or something similar
Doug
Actually what gave me the idea was I saw on TV a vintage train running on a track. There was smoke coming out of the chimney and about three quarters of the way up the chimney there was a flap pushed open by the smoke and back by the smoke and wind.
When I did some research I found out that they put flaps on the chimney so when they were parked no birds and rain would not get inside the engine.
Hope this helps
Bob
This engineer probably forgot to to take off the flap.
I have no recollection of seeing pictures or videos of any steam locomotives that had such devices that would cover the stack, and be pushed out of the way by exhaust. I donāt think it was a very common practice.
-El
Yeah I never saw one like that before but when I saw this one I thought it was cool and different and thinking It would make my American flyer look cool and different 
All the stack flaps that I have seen, are at the very top of the stack, with the flap a little larger than the stack diameter, so it sits flat, when there isnāt any exhaust coming out of the stack
They are typically hinged to the side, rather than front or back, so when the exhaust pressure opens them, there is very little pressure from the slipstream, and not in a direction that would be forcing the flap open or closed
Some steam locomotives did have stack hoods, that were normally retracted, and would be used in tunnels, to prevent stack blast damage to the tunnel linings
Doug
The flaps Iām familiar with are counterweighted, so very little mass flow at what may be small velocity will open them. They may also be dashpotted in closing (so the āchuffsā near starting will not slam them open and closed.
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Quick update. As a very rudimentary test, I just taped a tissue flap on top of the AF large engine locomotive and over the chimney and I got the result I saw on TV and now to refine it
BTW Tomorrow I go for the 1st of two surgeries on my hands and so itāll be a while before I can begin the refining process. Looking forward to easily picking up all those small pieces that make up a model train again.
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Locomotive chimneys (or smokestacks) do not typically have a cap. Diesel locomotives have an exhaust stack that expels diesel fumes, and these are often fitted with some kind of rain cap or flap that opens when the engine is running and closes when itās off. This is a far cry from the classic steam locomotive chimney, and its purpose is primarily to keep rain and debris out of the engineās exhaust system when itās not in use.
In the real world of steam - if the engine is active, there is a fire in the firebox and there is active exhaust air exiting the smokestack continually.
If the engine is inactive and had its fire extinguished, the smokestack is normally fitted with at hard cap to keep things (debris, insects, animals) from going down the stack and inhabiting the smoke box and any of the other areas that lead to the smokebox (flues, steam pipes etc.)
Steam engines, in the days of steam, would always have a fire in the firebox to keep the boiler warm enough to begin to generate steam shortly after a crew came on duty to operate the engine and increased the firing rate to generate steam to do productive work with the engine.
In the steam era, there was no such thing as shutting the engine completely down for āfuel conservationā as happens with diesels in the 21st century.
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A potentially interesting aside: UP 4014 as rebuilt with the Dickens-Barker burner arrangement is capable of holding nominal boiler pressure on natural draft (without using the blower) which I consider astounding for an oil-fired engine.
The Swiss rebuilt a āKriegslokā 2-10-0, with insulation so good that they can maintain 300psi over a weekend, outside, with a circulating bypass heater of only 35KWe.
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