Nickel Plate 762

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JKreider
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by JKreider »

NKP 700 series Berkshires had two methods of operating the whistle: a pull chord, and a Viloco air-actuated piston. The air valve was located at a convenient location in the cab near the brake stand. The whistle could not be “played” using the air actuator like it could be with the big pull chord operating handle near the cab roof. In regular service days, engineers used the air valve most of the time as the whistle was rarely “played”, or “feathered”.
Jim Kreider
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by Greg_Lewis »

JKreider wrote: Mon Apr 11, 2022 2:34 pm NKP 700 series Berkshires had two methods of operating the whistle: a pull chord, and a Viloco air-actuated piston. The air valve was located at a convenient location in the cab near the brake stand. The whistle could not be “played” using the air actuator like it could be with the big pull chord operating handle near the cab roof. In regular service days, engineers used the air valve most of the time as the whistle was rarely “played”, or “feathered”.
Jim Kreider

Too bad. Part of the atmosphere of a steamer is the moaning of the whistle. I've heard that in the early days you could tell who was at the throttle by the way the whistle was played. Perhaps apocryphal but fun anyway.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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JBodenmann
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Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Been having fun assembling and making bits and pieces for Jim's Berk. The top photo is mainly air piping, for the power reverser, and the air reservoirs. The globe valve is to cut out the air reservoirs and compressors if you should lose air pressure. Then you can operate the power reverse on steam by closing this valve and opening one on the steam turret. There is still some piping to be added to the equalizing reservoir, which is tucked under and behind the air res. Next we have a look at the trailing truck. Plenty to look at here. Lube lines with their flexible hoses and fittings running to the axle boxes and pedestal liners. I have always liked the way they ran the big waterline to the cold water pump. Across the trailing truck into that big fat ribbed hose. Very cool. Then across the side of the fire box we have a large exhaust steam line from the stoker engine. This meets up with the exhaust line from the centrifugal, or cold water pump. But on this model things are not as they may first appear. I like to hide an injector in the stoker engine and use this large pipe as an injector delivery line. There is a check valve that hides under the running board and behind the air reservoir on this side. From there forward the pipe is non functional and dissapears up into the feed water heater cover at the front of the smoke box. Much of this large piping is supported by brackets and clamps built into the running board, air reservoir supports. This is very similar to how it's done on the 3/4" scale Hudson. More to come.
Jack
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Berkman
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by Berkman »

for the pipe clamps on the pipe above the wilson blow down, do those bolts going just into the firebox wrapper or did you weld mounting studs/pads under it?
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JBodenmann
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Berkman asked about the studs holding the pipe clamps. They are #2-56 studs into the cosmetic fire box wrapper, which is 1/16" brass. There was a time when a fire box wrapper with its simulated stay bolts and such was extremely uncommon. Today it's an integral part of a fine model. Our hobby has gotten very sophisticated over the years. There is more cool stuff available than ever before, and the quality of models has improved greatly over the years.
Jack
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NP317
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by NP317 »

And the firebox wrappers you make (and everything else) remain my inspiration for the highest standards to approach.
Thanks for sharing.
RussN
Asteamhead
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by Asteamhead »

Hello Jack,
Never saw that air installation for the power reverse detailed like yours, hats off!
Asteamhead
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JBodenmann
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Thank you Russ, and Asteamhead for your kind words. I have been having fun here putting the finishing touches on Jim's Berk. Buttoning up loose ends, mainly piping. And a lot of painting. Here are a few little tips on painting. Little details count on a scale model. Here is how I deal with piping. I don't like to paint union nuts as when you put a wrench on them the paint will be chipped. So here is how I go about this. First the parts to be painted should get a good scrub with metal prep solution and red Scotch Brite. If it's a complicated part, a tooth brush will sometimes be used. Or even a brass or stainless platers brush. Then rinsed with clean water and dried with a clean towel. Hit it with a tack cloth and then it's ready for masking as in the first two snappies. I like to use self etching primer. Let it dry for an hour or so and then the top coat. Here satin black was used. This is the big 3/8" cold water line from the centrifugal pump to the feed water heater. It's mostly tucked up under the running board on the engineers side. I don't like everything to have the same sheen, so I mix things up with gloss, semi gloss, satin, and even flat black on things like piping with insulation wrap. After drying for a couple days the masking is pulled off and I use chemical blackening on the unions as in the fourth photo down. Now you can put a wrench on the unions without much damage to the finish. If the union does get scuffed and the brass is showing, you can dab some blackener on with a Q tip and Bob's yer' uncle. You might have to clean up first with some lacquer thinned as this stuff won't work on oily parts. Thats the blackener in the last photo. This is some mean stuff and blackens clean parts right now! It's from McMaster. Works much better than the stuff from Birchwood Casey, or Blacken It.
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JBodenmann
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by JBodenmann »

Here's one more tip. Sometimes when painting tiny parts they can blow around. So I stick them to some cardboard. I like to save the round cardboard that pizzas come with. So some double stick Scotch tape is used to hold them down. Here we have some pipe clamps ready for painting. Now they won't blow around when you zoom them with paint. If something is to be painted on all sides a wire hanger is used. And one last photo for now. This is the feed water heater ditch extension. These were made up today. This is where the big cold water line goes up into the feed water heater. You can just see the pipe and union at left center. The ditch covers and extensions are now pained and will be left to dry for a few days. It's always tempting to hurry up and put things together but it's a good idea to wait a few days on small parts like this. If it's something important like boiler jackets and cabs and such, I like to wait al least a week. Two weeks is better for the paint to fully harden. Details, details, details, it goes on and on.
See You In The Funny Pages...
Jack
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Bill Shields
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by Bill Shields »

I have a cheap lazy Susan bearing that I use as a turntable so that I can get at all sides of things.
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
Berkman
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by Berkman »

ever thought of offering some of your pipe clamp varieties for sale?

I think there would be interest in them as I don't believe anyone else make them.
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JBodenmann
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Re: Nickel Plate 762

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends

Here is an update on Jim's Berk. I have been focusing on finishing up the piping. The hot water pump has an exhaust line that runs forward. On the early engines it ran under the ditch cover and up into one of the exhaust ports in the stack. On later engines it ran outside the smoke box following the contour and then turning upward in front of the stack. This is the set up that Jim wanted. So here is something you may find useful. To get the pipe curved to match the smoke box a measurement was first made with the cloth rule. Then the brass tubing was well annealed, and the beginning and end of the bend was marked up as in the top photo. One end was capped off and the tube was filled with fine sand. This will ensure that the tube will stay round when it's formed. Then, the other end was capped off. I used a large bit of round aluminum just the right diameter as a form tool to bend the tube. As the tube was well annealed it formed very nicely.
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