Or not. Sometimes I’d rather be lucky than good.
Last weekend I decided to repaint/touch-up paint 3 of my P2K 2-8-8-2 locomotives, which I dearly love, and finish making one into an accurate VGN replication, another into a Y3a or b, adding weight to all 3, and install LEDs in all three. I had a bunch of parts I had gotten from LL before the end (Thank you Lord !!!) to fix one loco, which started out as a 3rd gen undec that had recieved some really shoddy workmanship at the hands of the 1st owner (but I got it for a song, barely 3 digits !). In short order I had the bench covered with more little bitty parts than ever before.
Well, in spite of the snow and rain mix outside the painting went famously. Put all the little pieces in front of the space heater and they dried okay. Everything went apace and finally I had 3 beautifully finished little locos, with really nice headlights. Lucky strike number one, no cloudy paint in high humidity conditions.
One and two ran great, but old #3, the previously abused child, wouldn’t make it down the straight. I suddenly realized I had never ever done a “run” check, just looked at the cosmetics and ordered some parts. Shudder! And this was the one I wanted to be an N&W Y3a with the modified front cylinder plumbing, too.
It was slipping badly, clunking, and the rear engine was derailing. It looked like the rear truck was too tight.
Well, I did wait another full day so I wouldn’t get fingerprints in the paint, and then quickly set the engine upside down in a soft cradle mostly by the cylinders, so it wasn’t just luck that saved the paint job.
After much fiddling, I determined the little plastic part that holds the wiring was backwards and was holding the truck down too far. Flipped that and the rear engine now stays on the tracks and the slipping is gone. Lucky strike number two.
Found the clunking was in the front engine. After more fiddling, one set of piston rod guides was badly bent in (out of alignment actually, not re
sometimes you get lucky…in your case…miracles DO happen…[:D]…chuck
I e-mailed Walthers a while back about getting some parts for the infamous cracked axle on my P2K GP-9. It took a while, but I eventually got a friendly, non-canned response. According to that e-mail, “practically forever” should be sometime in April.
I root for the Boston Red Sox. We know what “practically forever” really means.
cw your right on that.
I don’t want to appear contrary, but I think you took calculated, or educated, risks and pains to ensure success. It seems you knew what you were doing, and took pains to make sure the odds of success remained in your favour. You had educated yourself about the mechanics and the innards of the locos, and knew what to watch for when you realized that one was not performing.
This is very much a compliment…believe me. [:)]
-Crandell
Great job!![tup][tup]
Good to know that you didn’t just leave it in a parts box when it didn’t work right, but decided to fix it instead[:D]
I agree with selector. Luck only applies to winning the lottery ([;)])…
Glad everything worked out okay.
TL
Glad everything worked out well for you in the end.
James
Virginian,
Would you mind telling me where and how you added weight? I had one of my two apart the other day, and I was not sure of where I could add any significant weight to it to improve pulling power.
I’ll agree with selector on that.
You might get it in about 86 years[:p]!! GO RED SOX!!! Tim
I added weight in the domes, in the steamchests and cylinders, in the cab, and in the empty voids in the cast body weights. You could add more along the top of the frame and maybe a little below the frame but I am pretty satisfied with how mine pull now. I will never have a big enough layout again to be able to even roughly simulate what the real ones did - and it looks a bit ridiculous to see the caboose from the engine !
Man those LEDs are cool. I can actually run in the DARK, not just dim, and see now.