Restoring my Katsumi HO scale Shay.

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hey all! Today, on the first real summer day, this came in the mailbox:

A Shay in HO of Katsumi manufacturing! But it has been in kept in the foam … for maaaany years apparently.

Lots of tarnish, discolorations and these small foam pieces and oil everywhere! Good that I only paid $50 for it. The buffer beam had come loose, but was luckily found in the foam in the box.

So much dirt and crud are there…

After some washing it looks a little better.

A whole lot to do, but I think it might look okay when finished. [:D]

2

Cool! What size is the shay? Keep sending photos as you progress in your project. Simon

3

Graffen, one of my “other interests” is restoring old turn of the century hand torches. They are mostly brass, and in very bad shape. To remove the dirt and rust I soak the parts in a 50/50 solution of molasses and water. I does an amazing job. Hopefully your shay just has surface grime and oxidation with no pitting.

Good Luck

Steve

Sometimes I have to let parts sit in it for a week depending…

4

Graffen,

Some tips:

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/brass

Take Care, Good Luck!

Frank

5

For a job like that, I use the Badger sandblaster, with baking soda as blasting material. Simon

6

Graff:

Given your modelling skills of course it will look OK. The challenge will be to turn it into a good runner!

By the way, those gears look worse than the bottom of my BBQ! Good luck!

Dave

7

Thanks all! I have cleaned it with acetone on the body, alcohol on the trucks and motor. I have also sandblasted the body. The test drive was good, but the motor needs replacing…

8

Sandblasted and tested.

Sorry about the bad pic, will shoot a better one.

9

Oh, come on, Graffen - you are taking the mickey out of us! It´s a new one!

[(-D]

Excellent job of restoration!

10

**Good Grief!!!**I had to put on my sunglasses.
Very [8D] [tup]

Cheers, the Bear.

11

Any pitting??? I have noticed that some colors of the old foam pit worse than others, might be the chemicals that form the colors. Love the shay and I do own one of those and they run great, unfortunately I paid $200 for mine, still a great price but I love your deal!!!

12

It did clean up good! It had some pitting, but nothing that the sand blasting couldn’t handle…

13

So the gears are in good shape? What motor will you put in there? Will you put a decoder in it? Will you paint it first?

14

It seems to be in great condition, gear wise. I will put a flatcan motor in it, probably a Mashima MH 1224… I will try the motor- and decoder install before painting it!

15

Graffen:

The bottom of my BBQ cleaned up better than I expected too!!![swg][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]

Seriously, great work and I like the price!

Dave

16

Thanks! The main reason I will replace the motor is that it has a major problem besides being high in current: It is reluctant to start! Which is a problem I have seen many write about with the Katsumi Shay… The magnets are so very weak, and there is no advantage of rebuilding the original OF motor.

17

Changing the motor is practically a must if you want to add a decoder. Will you use a flywheel? I find that they really make a difference… Simon

18

Flywheels make no difference if you have a BEMF decoder…it only confuses it. I have removed the flywheels on my DCC equipped engines. I ordered the motor today, a Mashima MH1628! It is the biggest motor I can fit and still allow space for a Digitrax DZ126 decoder behind it.

19

Interesting comment about BEMF and flywheels. I had never heard that before. I set my BEMF at 0 when they do strange things. But I don’t have grades on my layout.

20

The BEMF will have to counteract the flywheel continously, and it is very exaggerated on grades.