3/4" Scale J1e

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JBodenmann
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Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2003 1:37 pm
Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Now that the cylinder heads are mostly done it's time to make some acorn nuts to hold them in place. Just some simple little baloney but I had fun making them, and you might too. In our first photo we have some scribbles. Most things start out with a pencil and some scribbles. I knew I wanted a #2-56 acorn nut with a flange around the bottom. A #2-56 nut is 1/8" across the flats, so 3/16" material would allow approximately a .030" flange around the edge. The next photo is a look in the drawer at some lathe bits ground up from many previous jobs. I'm sure there's something in here that will do. The third photo shows the selected lathe bit in action. It is being used to cut the round end of the acorn nut. The last two photos here show the work piece held in the spindex with a 5C Collet. A spindex is a very handy trinket to have. For years I had a cheap Enco spindex and it worked just fine for most jobs. I recently bought a better one and gave the old one away. This is a tool that I use frequently, so I want a good one.
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Acorn1.jpg
Acorn2.jpg
Acorn3.jpg
Acorn4.jpg
Acorn5.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by JBodenmann »

Here are a couple more. The acorn nut in front has had the shoulder chamfered and the one at the rear hasn't. Little details like this make a difference. It was just one more lathe operation. Then they were parted off and the held in a 1/8" hex collet for drilling and tapping. I use collets for everything I can, only use a chuck when there is no other way. And the bottom photo shows our little acorn nuts sitting on the cylinder head covers. I only needed four of them but I went ahead and made eight while I had things set up. The extras may come in handy later. The cylinder heads will be getting the old hack & whack, as they are so close together that some of the lip must be cut away for clearance.
See you in the funny pages...
Jack
Attachments
Acorn6.jpg
Acorn7.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here is something the UPS man brought today. 3/4" scale diamond tread. It's brass, it's beautiful and is .040 thick before etching. 12" x 12" sheets. Now I can finish up the ladder steps alongside the smoke box and start the running boards, at least alongside the smoke box. Too much fun!
Jack
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Tread1.jpg
Tread2.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here are a few snappies of the steps. They were made of diamond tread material and formed around a die. The top photo shows the cut and sized tread blanks along with the forming dies. The next photo shows the tread blanks stacked up and the corners are being nipped out using the mill. This is a pretty fast and accurate way of doing this on tiny pieces as we have here. The treads were all annealed, and then clamped between the form dies and whomped over. In this shot one side has been hammered down with a plastic mallet. The backs get formed upward. Some steps had both sides formed down, and some got one side up and one side down. You'll see why in the next bunch of photos. The last photo shows the steps all formed along with the sides ready to be stuck together.
See ya later alligator...
Jack
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Steps1.jpg
Steps2.jpg
Steps3.jpg
Steps4.jpg
Steps5.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Here is some baloney that was cobbled up for the little Hudson. The ladder-steps were finished today. These were a most delightful little puzzle. As shown earlier, a die was made up to form the steps. They needed to all be the same size and this is the easiest way to accomplish this. They were assembled with #00-90 x 3/32" round head brass screws. The full size ones were riveted. Once I'm sure all is good they will get some soft solder to beef them up a bit. As you can see the side rail of the ladder got the old hack and whack. This is on the inboard side of the steps to allow access to the compressor. I always thought this was a cool feature of the J1's. The step side rails on the Nickel Plate Berkshires had a crescent shaped cut out, mainly to allow access to the shuttle valve. On the J1's I think it was to allow access to the piston rod packings. Now that the ladder-steps are finished up we need something to attach them to. The lower ends of the steps perch on a platform cantilevered off the back of the pilot beam. And at the upper end they attach to the front edges of the running boards. Time to start the running boards that run alongside the smoke box. The edge of the running boards had tee section material riveted on to stiffen them up. This tee section scales out to 5/32" x 5/32" with a 1/32" web. The web actually scales out to 1/64" but that is not practical to rivet on. I had some 5/32" brass square stock so it was milled to suit. The next three snappies show the process. I made six feet of tee section in about an hour. Easy peasy! Tomorrow I'll start the running boards. Im looking forward to getting the smoke box area finished up. Still to be made are the branch pipe casings, the conduit between the handrail junction box and the class lamps, the blower valves piping, and control rods, the air compressor steam valve, piping, and control rod, one more tiny junction box that goes in the handrail alongside the smoke box on the engineers side with a conduit that runs down under the running board. I have no idea what it's for but it's a pretty prominent detail so it's got to be there, and the flag holders on the smoke box and also on the pilot beam. Heavens to Betsy no shortage of things to do! At this point I have just over 300 hours on the Hudson, and this is just the smoke box area. :lol:
See you in the funny pages...
Jack
Attachments
LadderStep.jpg
Tee1.jpg
Tee2.jpg
Tee3.jpg
Asteamhead
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Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:59 pm
Location: Germany, Duesseldorf

Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by Asteamhead »

Hello Jack,
Always inspiring to watch your site, thanks for posting 8) !
You guess it - same methods a working well with my model, too :D
Carry on!
Asteamhead
Andy R
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Location: So. Calif.

Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by Andy R »

Jack,
A sheet of that 3/4" scale diamond tread will be ultimately needed for my P-7d and the C-16, so if you had any extra made let me know how much $ to send for one?
Thanks.
Andy
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JBodenmann
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Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
I have a few extra sheets of diamond tread on hand. They are .040" thick and 12" x 12". Price is $215.00. I will sell half sheets for $110.00. Here is a bit on riveting with tiny rivets. The Tee section brass is 5/32" x 5/32" and is held in place with .035" shank brass pins. I have a couple different air riveters but I use a different method for these tiny rivets. To set them an automatic center punch is used. The tip has a pocket to match the rivet head ground into it. The rivet shank is .035" and the drill used to make the holes is .035" also. The rivets are a very snug fit and the rivet is snipped off with only about .020" to form. If it's any longer these tiny rivets will lay over sideways. They are given a couple hits with the center punch. Also shown here are a couple vise grip pliers that were modified to hold things such as this Tee section brass and also brass angle. These are pretty handy.
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Bds.1.jpg
Bds.2.jpg
Bds.3.jpg
Bds.4.jpg
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JBodenmann
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Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by JBodenmann »

Here is a bit more. The running boards are just set in place for now and haven't been fastened down. I may make the bell next. These engines had a unique bell that was very squat and fit in a recess on the smoke box. The New York Central had pretty tight clearances. I have a 3/4" scale bell set but it is incorrect for this engine. After that I may start cleaning up the rods and valve gear. They are not badly made but need a little work. Giant cotter pins and such that will be replaced with castellated nuts. Then they will get sent out for electroless nickel plating.
Happy Model Building
Jack
Attachments
Bds.5.jpg
Bds.6.jpg
Bds.7.jpg
Asteamhead
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Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:59 pm
Location: Germany, Duesseldorf

Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by Asteamhead »

Hello Jack,
Always a joy to look at your tools and the pretty results!
Asteamhead
FKreider
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Location: Massachusetts

Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by FKreider »

JBodenmann wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:57 pm ...and the flag holders on the smoke box and also on the pilot beam.
The question is where to get 3/4" scale flags? I have looked recently with no luck. Might have to come up with a way to make some?
-Frank K.
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NP317
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Re: 3/4" Scale J1e

Post by NP317 »

Find an online flag image and print it scaled to your desires.
RN
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