Kozo Hiraoka K-27 engine

[SilverSanJuan]

No luck yet...

[Oilcan]

The July/August issue went into the mail on Wednesday. Some of you should be getting them maybe today or tomorrow, most should receive them early next week. I haven't received my mailing copy yet and I'm only ten miles from the plant. Of course, my issue has to go down to Grand Rapids to be sorted and the sent back up to Traverse City. I'm still amazed at the postal network and what it does to get the mail to you.

Neil

[Michel Richard]

Got my issue yesterday.

The article is an introduction and a discussion of the project. We're not building anything until the next issue, where we will start with the drivers on the engine: we're not starting with the tender.

I was a little disapointed not to have anything to build, but I did spend time studying the drawings. And there may still be enough info to start on the tender trucks, even if they're only going to be used later.

From memory: copper boiler (as expected), piston valves, brakes on both the engine and tender, tender designed to be ridden on (I think), full equalization on the engine and detailed frame, dummy air pump that I would love to make into a boiler feed pump , lots of plumbing, I think the left air tank is the whistle, no superheat, ten flues in the boiler . . . .

It's going to be a lot of work, but a nice and big engine !

Michel Richard

p.s. there 's no dimension (yet) for the thickness of the tender wheels (I suppose I could measure on the drawings). How thick should they be ? 7/16th as on the A3, and regular thickness for 3.5 inch track ?

[Andypullen]

I have purchased a set of Despatch arch bar caboose trucks minus wheels, axles, bolsters and spring planks. They are very close to size and will save time. Bolsters were rough cut out on the waterjet at work, wheels have been sawn from the round bar stock. I still need to cut the axles....that's not a problem, though.

http://www.despatchrailroad.com/

Using the drawings in the June 1973 issue of Model Railroader, I cut some walnut from some drops for the tender beams. I have brass to make the tender frame channels from.

Hopefully, my issue will arrive today.

Andy Pullen

[Michel Richard]

Andy,

How thick do you plan to make your tender wheels ?

[SilverSanJuan]

Thanks for the update Neil. I can't wait to start studying the drawings. I'm working on the A3 now, so I've got plenty of time to study them.

Michel, thanks for the quick teaser.

Todd

[Andypullen]

Andy,

How thick do you plan to make your tender wheels ?

Hi Mike,

I have them drawn 1/2" wide. Curtis Ferrington proposed standards for 3 foot gauge trains to run on 3 1/2" gauge track. Maybe, he can post it here....According to a drawing I have; don't ask me where I got it; the width that Kozo used on the driver tires is 13mm. .512"

PM me your email address and I can send you a .dwg file of what I originally drew. The diameters were bigger on mine than what Kozo made them so I have to make an adjustment to get the diameter correct.

This locomotive is being built to a slightly larger than 1" scale to have the track gauge correct. The wheels will have a protruding hub on the inside and outside. I have form tools ground up to cut the tapered dished faces.

The Despatch trucks have "brasses" that are cast to take a 3/8" diameter journal. I'm going to change those from zinc to bronze. They are flexible just like full sized friction bearing trucks. They even have "waste" to hold oil for lubrication. I'm going to bore the holes in the tender wheels .499" for a press fit on the axles of .001".

Andy

[Sandiapaul]

So what drawings are there in this issue?

Thanks,

Paul

[Michel Richard]

Drawings:

Left side of engine and tender, right side of engine and tender. Front of engine, back of tender, back of engine and backhead. Section through the smokestack, the peticoat, the manifold to the cylinders and the cylinders themselves.

From memory, I don't have the magazine with me here.

Michel

[Sandiapaul]

Thanks for the info, its more than I thought...maybe I'll get mine today!

[Stuie]

I really hope I get mine today! I go to camp mission camp tomorrow and its a two day car drive down there! It will be a really good read! I will be really disappointed if my parents (who left for Miami this morning) have held the mail for today, or if it comes tomorrow after I have left! Crossing my fingers!

[Oilcan]

Hang in there, Michael (and others). You'll have a ton of stuff to build in the Sept/Oct issue! The elevation drawings will give the builder a good idea of what this project will entail along with the overall heft of the locomotive and what you might need in the line of tools/machinery.

Neil