I recently purchased the Roundhouse 2-8-0 Consolidation kit along with
the Northwest Shore Line regear kit and gear puller. I plan to start
contruction spring 2004. Are there anything problems or issues
concerning this kit that I should know about before I begin
construction? I've read the other reviews about problems with
Roundhouse Shay kits, and it would be helpful to know about problems
before I run into them. I've been modeling HO scale for 30 years and
went to HOn3 for space issues. I'm pretty good at most model
railroading items, but building locomotive kits was never one of my
strong points. Thanks. Mike in PA (Sue is my wife).
P.S. My R-T-R HOn3 Roundhouse 2-truck Shay is being returned to
Roundhouse for repairs after only ~2 hours of run time. I lubricated
it according to directions, but the drive mechanism still failed.
Thought I'd let people know.
Mike,
The MDC HOn3 2-8-0 is a fairly straight forward kit and should build up fine
as is. Since you have the re-gear kit you have already addressed the main
problem.
The two issues HOn3 modelers have with the MDC kits is that they do not
represent any exact prototype and that they need new gears to really run
well. With a few additions / modifications and the NWSL re-gear kit you can
end up with a very nice model that if not exact in every way will have the
look and character of real thing. The inside frame can represent a D&RGW C19
fairly well and the outside frame is similar to a D&RGW C-25
Some details are absent and the superstructure sits high on these models.
Adding detail and lowering the boiler is not too difficult and improves the
look tremendously. Even if no extra detail is added lowering the boiler
improves the visual quality by 90%. That hunkered down look is a big part of
the narrow gauge charm. One wonders why MDC did not design the kits that way
to begin with.
There was an article published in either the Gazette or MR back in the early
80's that showed how to lower the boilers and add detail to both the inside
and outside frame versions. These little locos caused quite a stir in the
HOn3 community and a number of articles were written about them form the
time they were introduced in 1979 to the mid 80s. There was even one that
was about modifying an outside frame version in to a K-27. Things still pop
up about them from time to time.
You might do a search of the Magazine Index at the MR site to find building
and modification articles on these kits. After you get a list of articles
you should be able to find most of the back issue magazines of interest for
sale at www.railpub.com
Just thinking about those little 3 footers gives me narrow gauge withdraw.
I'm modeling the Texas Midland about 1920 in HO right now. Still short and
funky but in standard gauge.
Bruce
There was a good article on detailing these kits to represent D&RGW
prototypes in the October 1979 Model Railroader. Perhaps this is the one
you remember. Gary Q
Just the usual. Keep the driver in quarter when you re-assemble
it with the new gear.(make a mark across the axle end while the
driver is still in it that you can line back up) or use a quarterer.
And check for binds. But this is a simple mechanism (unlike the
Shay).
Too bad there isn't more cheap or even R-T-R HOn3 to be had.
There IS the new Con-Cor Goose, though.
-John
Dear Mike in PA,
I would try assembling the engine first with its stock gears. I
have one of the standard gauge MDC 2-6-0 engines, and its gears were
perfectly good. Inspect them before you install them and remove any
flash or burrs on their teeth with a sharp knife.
Just go slowly and be careful. Before you install the motor,
make sure the chassis with all its rods will coast freely when you
put it on a tilted track. Then you can be sure the finished engine
will run well. Mine is 100% stock and runs like a watch.
Cordially yours,
Gerard P. (in PA. also)
Hi:
One word of caution. For optimum operation when regearing,
all drivers must be disassembled and requartered on the same
quartering jig, since everybody's 90 degrees are not
identical.
For an in depth coverage of pulling, mounting and quartering drivers,
see first site below.
Hope this helps.
Thank you,
Budb
Author of:
MODELRAILROAD TECHNICAL INFORMATION
http://www.geocities.com/budb3 /
PROTOTYPE TECHNICAL INFO FOR MODELRAILROADERS
http://www.freeyellow.com/members4/budb /
Moderator of:
MR TECHNICAL HELP GROUP
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mrtechhelp
COUPLER HELP GROUP
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mrcouplers
snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net (Sue in PA) wrote in message
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