Disney American

[Harlock]

Always impressed by your copper forming, including the ends you did for my saddle tank. Enjoying the newfound progress on this engine.

-M

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Thank you Mike. I am enjoying working on this little tea kettle. I will be working on the American one week a month and then on the Streamlined Hudson. Too much fun. Here is a bit of progress, the fire door. It fits a 2-1/4" opening and has a really cool latch that hooks on both sides of the door. In this photo it is just sort of mocked up. The raised bosses for the mounting screws are set into cavities that were just blasted in with an end mill. That big ugly bit on the right hand end of the hinge will be nipped off after soldering. For now it's just for alignment.
Happy Model Building.
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here is one more, the back head wrapper propped up in place. This will be a model of a back head rather than a wrapper. This engine will require some sneaky underhandedness as there really isn't room for a proper fire box wrapper between the fire box and frame. The fire box wrapper will be mostly .010" shim brass with embossed rivets.
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here are a couple snappies of progress on the little eight wheeler. The simulated fire box back head has had the holes for the throttle stuffing box, the three gauge cocks and also the water glass lower connection located and made. You can also see some scribbles with the sharpie for the dummy stay ends as this will model the actual back head, instead of a wrapper, or jacket as on a more modern engine. Then there is a shot of the back head and fire door. The fire door ID. is 2-1/4". Now on to the dummy lower fire box side sheets, boiler jacket and bands.
See you in the funny pages..
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here is a bit of an update on the little tea kettle. Progress has been mainly on the boiler jacket. In this first photo we have a pattern that was developed for the conical section of the jacket. I say developed, because it required a series of card stock patterns. The first one was just a rude approximation. It was taped in place on the boiler, marked up and trimmed. Put back on and marked up and trimmed some more. Then it was used to mark up a second pattern that was a closer fit. This pattern was marked up and trimmed again and had a bit added here and there with some masking tape. This is a fiddly little puzzle as you don't know how it will fit until after you have made it. This piece is conical towards the top and has a straight section at the bottom. I got lucky and the second pattern was good enough to mark out the steel sheet for the actual conical section which you can see in the second photo. The third photo shows the jacket that fits over the fire box. This did not require a pattern as its a very simple piece and measuring was all that was needed. One thing to keep in mind when making a part like this with a big hole in it is that although it is much easier to cut the hole when the part is in a flat unrolled condition this will cause uneven rolling. So the hole was cut with an air nibbler and finessed with a large drum sander after it was rolled. The same thing applies to things such as ventilator holes in a cab roof.

[JBodenmann]

Here is something that you may find useful. These old kettles often had fancy brass boiler bands with beaded edges. I happened to have a little bead roller that was made years ago for just this purpose. Its very simple and just has one driven roller. It would work better if both rollers were geared together but for occasional use this is just fine. The top roller is driven with a crank handle and the bottom roller just floats on the eccentrically turned end of a shaft to adjust the distance between the two rollers. This is adjusted with the long screw that rotates the end of the shaft that fits through the 1" square steel piece. In the second photo you can see the roller in action. The last shot shows the rolled boiler band. This brass is 1/2" wide and .015" thick. More to come.
Happy Model Building.
Jack

[Builder01]

Beautiful! How slick is that?!

David

[Pipescs]

Your roller is fascinating. Any chance you can publish the drawings to make it?

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
I would be happy to make some drawings and post them here on the board. I'll see if I can't make some scribbles this weekend.
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here are some photos and drawings of the bead roller. First some detail photos. The main body is 1" square steel. The holes for the shafts are drilled and reamed. No bushings between the main body and shafts, just steel against steel and oil. The sole mess is just clamped in the bench vise for use.

[JBodenmann]

Here are the drawings. They are just some scribbles, but I think I have included enough info for you. The rollers are made so that they can be changed out to form different shapes.
Jack

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here are a few more. The jacket and boiler bands are mostly done. If you look closely at the back head you will notice the conical rivet heads. Those early engines had stay bolts with conical heads. They hadn't come up with hollow stays yet. The mud ring rivets were also conical. The throat sheet will get a gaggle of them. The fire box outer side sheets will also get the treatment, but as there is virtually no room between the actual fire box and the fame the rivets will be embossed into .015" brass sheet and some sneaky underhandedness will be required. Remember things are not always as they may at first appear!
See you in the funny pages…
Jack