Tyler,
I have been going through the scrap drawers I inherited from Tom's C&S, trying to locate parts Tom disassembled, and get them back into assemblies. what I want most it to put back together some Riverossi Heiesler trucks. Were I to be able to find enough of the right pieces to get two operational, crank pins could be scavenged from other Riverossi steamer parts in my boneyard to make two small drivered motors for a small articulated such as the Little river 2-4-4-2s I know you are fond of the 4-4-4-0 concept, which did not exist, but a Riverossi Heisler would yield drivers close to the size on the second, successful little river Mallet. the commercial Ho 2-4-4-2's are all models of the first Little river mallet, which had larger drivers and a larger wheel base, and did not like the track from Townsend to Elkmont, for which it was designed, and it was returned to Baldwin.
Baldwin sold it , and shipped it west, and it survived, (although in pieces) while it's smaller and more interesting and successful replacement was later scrapped. Your model looks a lot like a 2-4-4-2 to me .
Making custom side rods is an absouloute bear. I haven't done it with locomotives, but the mechanism I made for my R/C Roman warship used a similar concept in it's oar mechanism, and it took we four tries to get side rod like parts made with enough precision to work without binding, and they were eight or nine times the size of an HO side rod. I had to buy a really good drill press, and make several fixtures to hold the pieces while I drilled them. it was an ugly process, and I will probably burn in hell for some of the swear words I invented during the process
the result was cool, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTFNzLDrlHs but the mechanism was too heavy, making the model set to low in the water to get the needed effect, but I would rather take a beating than to try to make side rods for an HO model, unless I also made the frame. if you made the frame, and made a fixture to space the centers of the axle holes in the frame, the same fixture would get you the centers of the side rod holes, but not without pain and suffering.
Bill Nelson
I have been going through the scrap drawers I inherited from Tom's C&S, trying to locate parts Tom disassembled, and get them back into assemblies. what I want most it to put back together some Riverossi Heiesler trucks. Were I to be able to find enough of the right pieces to get two operational, crank pins could be scavenged from other Riverossi steamer parts in my boneyard to make two small drivered motors for a small articulated such as the Little river 2-4-4-2s I know you are fond of the 4-4-4-0 concept, which did not exist, but a Riverossi Heisler would yield drivers close to the size on the second, successful little river Mallet. the commercial Ho 2-4-4-2's are all models of the first Little river mallet, which had larger drivers and a larger wheel base, and did not like the track from Townsend to Elkmont, for which it was designed, and it was returned to Baldwin.
Baldwin sold it , and shipped it west, and it survived, (although in pieces) while it's smaller and more interesting and successful replacement was later scrapped. Your model looks a lot like a 2-4-4-2 to me .
Making custom side rods is an absouloute bear. I haven't done it with locomotives, but the mechanism I made for my R/C Roman warship used a similar concept in it's oar mechanism, and it took we four tries to get side rod like parts made with enough precision to work without binding, and they were eight or nine times the size of an HO side rod. I had to buy a really good drill press, and make several fixtures to hold the pieces while I drilled them. it was an ugly process, and I will probably burn in hell for some of the swear words I invented during the process
the result was cool, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTFNzLDrlHs but the mechanism was too heavy, making the model set to low in the water to get the needed effect, but I would rather take a beating than to try to make side rods for an HO model, unless I also made the frame. if you made the frame, and made a fixture to space the centers of the axle holes in the frame, the same fixture would get you the centers of the side rod holes, but not without pain and suffering.
Bill Nelson