Rickster 4'' RL latest

I recieved kit 8 today
Brake shaft has the red painted keyway, no brake lining material for me either so must be coming at a later date.

Says the top step for the tender is to follow too ,in a later kit I guess.

As for painting the rear wheels I fall asleep dreaming of spokes,spokes and more spokes !
After brush painting them and all that rubbing down thats all i can see!

needing to think about lining the wheels soon ,what colour ,how much and how im going to do it,its making me nervous thinking about .

Kev

1. there is no "old stock" on this model as we have never made it before. i would suggest that one of the shafts missed the modification op. we do have one in stock so if you would like to return it we will get one out to you as soon as

2. the possibility of a brake lining was an after thought. if and when it happens it will either be in the next available kit or will be sent out when done.

3. top step castings have been delayed by our suppliers. when they arrive they will be done and sent out straight away.

4. we have done everything we can on the next kit (ash-pan and cladding) but we have been let down by the laser cutters so cant finish it at the moment.

5. next kit is a cylinder payment... very easy for us

6. don't panic, as soon as the large machine is plugged in at the new factory, mark will be chained to it and cylinder blocks will start.

I'll probably split all the posts about the brake shaft into another topic at a later date, just to keep the original topic clean

While brake shafts are still news, I have noticed that when I wind the brakes on, the right (offside) brake is on the wheel rim while the left (nearside) still has a few mm to go to make contact. Thus, at a later stage, when the brake material is attached to the wood blocks, I'll make up a spacer to even things up.
I will say at this point that even with only one wheel braked with just the wood block, the engine can't be moved!! So with two set up correctly, I wonder if additional linings are actually required?
Has anyone else tried their brakse?
Regards Tony

Wait until the loco weighs in at 1000Kg. Then try and stop it.

Can't at the moment remember the formula to work out how much energy has to be absorbed by the brakes to bring the loco to a stop.

Good point Lynn, however The brakes don't have to work as they do on a car where you have high rotating speeds & these blocks work at a very large radius, plus there is a brake on the fly wheel as well!!
Actually, that's a question someone may like to answer for me, when driving the engine & one wants to slow down faster than just shutting of the steam, which set of brakes is one supposed to use?

I helped a friend of mine improve his brakes on a Clayton roller(12 tons) by nailing brake material (woven type) onto the wood blocks as it has more bite that just the wood on steel. It worked very well, as for how to stop quickly, pull the reversing lever right back quickly. It's only for emergencies as it puts a strain on the motion work but the engine stops almost on the proverbial sixpence. You can use the reversing lever for slowing as well down a hill by just nudging it back. The key to traveling downhill is not to go too fast in the first place! ensure the descent is clear to the bottom, wind the band brake on a little to take up the slack & proceed slowly all the time having one eye on your water level.

Tony King wrote:Good point Lynn, however The brakes don't have to work as they do on a car where you have high rotating speeds & these blocks work at a very large radius, plus there is a brake on the fly wheel as well!!
Actually, that's a question someone may like to answer for me, when driving the engine & one wants to slow down faster than just shutting of the steam, which set of brakes is one supposed to use?

First stage for slowing down if closing regulator is not enough on a decent, pulling back reverser towards mid gear.

If you are on a steep hill and that does not have enough effect then need to open drain cocks and carry on into reverse - cylinder acts like a compressor - drain cocks open to reduce chance of sucking debris down blast pipe

Flywheel brake also to be applied if you have one rather than rim brakes, more effective with the reduction effect through the gears

I would only use wheel brakes as parking brake unless you only have rim brakes - agricultural engines. Plus on a slope you obviously need to chock your wheels too if your going to take it out of gear to change gear.

This is from limited experience decending steep hill during NTET driving weekend last year, all the experts already owning an engine can chip in now and shoot me down



Brian

bjwlancashire wrote:

First stage for slowing down if closing regulator is not enough on a decent, pulling back reverser towards mid gear.

If you are on a steep hill and that does not have enough effect then need to open drain cocks and carry on into reverse - cylinder acts like a compressor - drain cocks open to reduce chance of sucking debris down blast pipe

Flywheel brake also to be applied if you have one rather than rim brakes, more effective with the reduction effect through the gears

I would only use wheel brakes as parking brake unless you only have rim brakes - agricultural engines. Plus on a slope you obviously need to chock your wheels too if your going to take it out of gear to change gear.

This is from limited experience decending steep hill during NTET driving weekend last year, all the experts already owning an engine can chip in now and shoot me down



Brian

That is good advice....just dont forget to close the drain cocks when you reach the bottom of the hill or you will have an empty oil pump pretty quickly!

Graeme81 wrote:[That is good advice....just dont forget to close the drain cocks when you reach the bottom of the hill or you will have an empty oil pump pretty quickly!

Good point, maybe I will remember that bit on the intermediate course in May. Hopefully I get to drive down the big hill instead of steer it. Mind you, me driving up it was excellent last year - Marshall 6NHP single barking up in full forward and full regulator.

I can see I have alot to learn & remember, infact the more I learn, the more I realise that there is alot more to steaming a "simple" traction engine than I ever dreamed!!!
Thanks for driving lesson guys!!
Oh well, for the time being, I'll concentrate on getting all that metal & paint polished first, then worry about getting steam up, then concentrate on running it, hopefully under guidence of someone who knows the ropes!! It's a SHOWMANS so it'll be standing arround quite abit "looking stunning", I'll kit it out with polished brass coasters for all you RL guys!!

bjwlancashire wrote: Mind you, me driving up it was excellent last year - Marshall 6NHP single barking up in full forward and full regulator.

Its hard to beat the single cylinders on the incline especially pulling a nice load - thats why we need to convince the powers that be to make the 6" scale (or even 4") 7nhp RSJ single traction engine once the DCC road locos are finished!!

how do the 6" scale (or even 4") 7nhp RSJ single traction engine compare in size to the 4" DCC road loco?

It's been a while since last photos. The block was a pig to fit. Had to open out the gasket holes to get the studs through so off it came after fitting about a third of the studs.

Then had to drill the block out with a 9.5m drill to get the studs on the last two of each side of the curved section and all the ones along the sides of the block to line up with the boiler holes.

All done now though, and made up a seat unit so I can utilse a rear lamp. I used the fairlead rollers to make supports in between the towing bracket and made up towing pins to make it easy to get on and off - pull the two pins and off it all comes.
Next job is to strip off the belly tank, touch up the chipped paint and fit the cleading. I'm considering whether to just check for fit, then paint and leave it off until the end, together with the belly tank, as it does make things more difficult to get close to the motion without damaging any of that precious paintwork. Anyone know if this is do able or not ?

Here's some pics...

Cheers

Rick

Hi Rickster

Is that a bike hoist I spy under the engine?

Hi Lynn,

Yes it is indeed. Makes a world of difference to my back - just gives that extra bit of height, 'bout 6". Trouble is it's now too heavy to use the hydraulic ramp to lift it right up - it was fine up to putting the block on, so I might take the rear wheels off to get it up in the air until it gets too heavy again!. Lifting capacity is 500kgs - it's done well up to this point.

cheers

Rick

This will make you smile ! Looks nice now we have some twiddly bits to move about. It's still stiff and will have more work tomorrow evening. I've had to chamfer the radius' a bit more on the inner face of the bearing and take some material off the flanges on the inner and outer face to make it move.

It's a bit fiddly to get the adjustable part of the bearing to sit straight down onto the lower part of the bearing and after taking Steve's advice I found it much easier to file a 45% chamfer on the bearing housing bit that holds the pad. Then found I had to really tighten the bearing bolt and then tighten down the bearing housing then finally releasing the bearing adjuster to allow the crank to turn.

I will try and get round to putting the belly tank back on and do the steering measurments to check all is ok now the cleading is fitted I will get an accurate idea if there are any issues.

Here's some pics to wet your appetite ..........

Hi

Looking good. Got my crank so will be fettling this weekend. Did not get at it last night as I was felling and converting to chips a very sizable tree

Yep, it's looking very good. Can't wait to get mine installed in it's new home.
It's actually stopped raining here, so got to do "other stuff" before I lock horns with the crank!!
As you say it's good to get a bit that can be "twiddled"................... Boys "n" toys
Tony

Tony King wrote:Yep, it's looking very good. Can't wait to get mine installed in it's new home.
It's actually stopped raining here, so got to do "other stuff" before I lock horns with the crank!!
As you say it's good to get a bit that can be "twiddled"................... Boys "n" toys
Tony

and GIRLS

Haven't posted any photo's for a while, but I thought I'd show you the latest progress. I found the cleading a very taxing kit to fit. Steve's piece on managing expectations on lining up the motion was more relevant to my build on the cleading.

The piece round the cylinder was too short so had to cut a piece off the old bit and silver solder a bit on then fill and sand it all back so it wouldn't show. I also bought some foil backed boiler lining which was more bulky than the standard consequently it made for a much more closer almost touching the belly tank. I also made brackets for the boiler bands as per full size.

The motion is away being plated at the moment but hopefully I will have it all together in the next two weeks. Needs a good clean now with nearly two years of dust on most of it !

Looking superb with the cleading all lined and painted, it will be quite a line up when they all are finished and eventually stood together.

What do you mean regarding the boiler bands?

Hi Brian,

With the boiler bands, I wasn't too keen on the turned up ends where the bolts go through. I looked at Ex-Mayor at the open day and if you look at the pictures of President also they have a what I can only describe as L plate fixings attached to the ends where the bolts go through. So I cut the upright bits off and made up these "clasps" - you can just see them in the first two bands nearest the tender.

cheers

Rick

Very well done Rick, looks bloody amazing & that's a real compliment from a "showman's" builder!!
Regards,
Tony

Hi Tony,

Looking at the quality of your build, that's a hell of a compliment, thank you. It's not in your league, how you've managed to get it as good as that I don't know. I made the mistake of covering the engine over with cotton covers, which has of course kept the damp atmosphere in against the engine.

On the smokebox I can see signs of moisture being trapped in so will have to paint this again - much better to let it breathe and get dusty in my opinion, if your garage/workshop doesn't have heating, unless anyone has any ideas ?

A question for you, or anyone - is it possible to plate just the outer parts of the valve chest covers, so I can paint the rest black ?

cheers

Rick