Rich,
I think we have two different variables working here. We have the gas control and how hot the fire can be, and the throttle which controls how fast the engine runs or doesn't. If you turn the flame down , and run the engine at a lower presssure settting you will extend the burn time. However the water in the boiler is still the controlling factor in how far the engine will run. When the steam supply is exhausted the engine will stop whether or not the engine is out of gas. My thinking ( right or wrong ) is that the gas nozzle is running leaner and is stretching out your burn time . I also know that my Mimi had about 5 hours run time on blocks before I took it out to run on rails after fitting the new cylinders. It seemed to run better after the breakin period and would self start using R/C control. It could be that after a run in period for your engine you will find that it will extend the run time and still have water left over.
All of the above is just an opinion and may not hold water ( or Steam ) . Good luck on your project , looks good , waiting to see how it all comes out.

Charles M SA # 74

Great. I can stop feeling guilty about hanging on to mine!


I think all Accucraft locos do this.

Mine has a Goodall valve in the cab instead of the filler cap, and I pump in some water after pressure comes up, and add some more after 10 mins.


Home Depot (etc.) sell a 'Simple Green Extreme' cleaner, which claims it was invented for the aerospace folk. It works - just spray your loco, leave it a few seconds, and hose it off. [There's a thread here somewhere from Larry (?) about a hose-down station he built for post-run clean-up.] I don't particularly recommend the hose, but I've has success with that stuff spraying the areas that are grungiest, putting them under the tap and running water over them. It's easier to hold a Ruby under a tap than a K-36!


It's often suggested that the butane can pressure will do the job. Just point it into the jet and give it a squirt (outdoors, preferably.)


Yep, that's almost certainly burnt steam oil. Accucraft errs on the side of caution and allows far too much oil into the steam pipe. [The new 4-4-0 has a metering valve.] The emulsified oil bubbles out of the chuff pipe (I assume you put yours back, Richard?) The oil globules also aeem to block the airflow in the stack and put the fire out - there's threads in here about that too!

Pete,
I not going to let you off that easy,,, yours is still a better match
The chuff pipe is out while I am affecting some modifications. I treat all the parts like an American Express Card, "I don't steam up without them",,, I'm too green to make assumptions about what can be left off or needs to be on as far as the boiler, the cylinders and the valves are concerned.
I got my Ida stack today. It needed a lot of cleaning up and a new paint job. I also got the bell, but I'm eager to get to Marks Steam up Sat and I'm just doing the minimum to put her back in running order and test run her before I get to Marks.

Gettin Ready for Saturday

I painted the stock Ruby cab brown so that it wouldn't look too bad, but its just a temporary cab. The Pilot beam and rear beam are also just on temporarily to I can run her on Marks layout tomorrow without being too embarrassed about her appearance.
Before putting everything back together I decided I should tune her up. I figured that at 1:20.43 scale time, I had already run her 24 hours straight, so I checked the timing, and the valve adjustments and put her on compressed air.
I was surprised to find out that she ran better in reverse, than she did in forward. I tried tinkering around with the valve adjustments, but nothing seem to work. I noticed that as she moved in forward, the cylinders were actually moving on the frame front to back. Something was loose. It turned out to be the lower platform member. I tightened it up and eliminated the movement, but forward, though better, was still not good. I tinkered with the valves again. I assumed that since the cylinders were actually moving around during the adjustment they might be off. They weren't and so I reversed the timing. She now runs great in forward. Except, the Johnston bar looks like its going in reverse.
I but the boiler, the oiler, the fuel tank all back on the chassis and prepared to try her under steam.
I cleaned out the fuel tank a week ago and on Jason's advise I put a little steam oil on the o ring on the throttle control needle.
Someone else suggested cleaning out the jet. I did, but it looked pretty clean to me. Not trusting my compressor to deliver a sterile stream of air I used the fuel tank as someone else suggested.
Boy, did that maintenance show an improvement. The throttle is still touchy, but at least I can back it off without loosing the flame now.
I also noticed that the sound of the flame changed considerably. Instead of this staticy low roar, it was a clear roar,,, and HOT!!, The flame popped into the flue alright, but it also shot out of the flue like a torch. I backed of a gnats eyelash and watched at the torch flame disappeared into the flue.
Thanks for the tips folks.
With the tune up and the fixes to the tank, she ran for 26 minutes from start to finish. She had steam within the first 5 minutes and to my amazement ran for 21 minutes with a boiler pressure of 50 - 60 psi.

I had an unpainted version of Sherman in the cab the whole time to see if the temperature would affect him. I put a meat thermometer in there to keep him company. The cabin temp never exceed 110 F and Sherman don't look bad in the cab, but he is sort of any the way when I want to work the Forward and reverse.

So much for heat resistive paint
I sprayed the smoke box with this darker heat resistive paint in the hopes that I wouldn't have to insulate the smoke box. I insulated the door, but with all the steam oil that gets in there, I didn't want to insulate the smoke box because it would be too hard to clean up.
Well, about 6 minutes into the test run, I noticed the steam oil caught fire in the smoke box. I opened the door with a kevlar gloved hand and as you can see from the pick above, some of that heat resistive paint came off as well.
I put the fire out with a gentle puff of air and lowered the fuel again. This seem to work. I'm not going to worry about the paint for tomorrow. There are so many mistakes on this engine already, its the least of my problems.

I did some work on the bell stand in between paint coats on the cab.

I learned a lot at Mark's Holiday steam up yesterday, and met a lot of good people. What I learned is; as much fun as it is to be hands on when you are going in 4 ft circle it is not on a bigger layout like Marks. That is due mainly to the fact that my Ruby, throttle was hard to reach when navigating bushes and people. I am definately installing R.C., but with a twist. I want to try to come up with a modular design that can be removed when I'm on a layout that is easier to reach the controls. My back can't take bending over like it use to
As I watch her going around the track I also realized that I cann't settle for those domes being so large. Next to the K28s and 4-4-0s those domes looked massive. I'm going to do another tank and this time, I'm going to modify the stand dome to look like the steam dome and turn it to make it closer to 16" instead of 19".
I'm going to fabricate a sand dome from some 27/32" brass rod I have and get it as close as I can to 15".
I'm also going to move the fuel tank to the tender I am making.

• Scratch build a johnston bar that looks more prototypical
  
• Purchase a 1/2" steam pressure gauge
  
• See if I can't design and build a more prototypical throttle
  
• fabricate a cover for the back head that will look more like the actual back head on Kauila (if I succeed in doing he above)
  
• Make the cab permanently mounted to the deck with a removable roof
  
• Find some ingenious way to install a Goodal valve in the saddle tank
  
• See if I can't create a water bath in the tender to mount the fuel tank in
  
• Redesign the FnR linkage so that it runs in the center of the cab and I can put leaf springs on the frames
  
• Design a whistle that has a resonator that will fit into the top of the steam dome in one unit.
  

I'm glad I got a chance to attend Mark's steam up before I got too far along on the Ruby modifications. I saw a lot of beautiful models there that did not sacrifice detail and the performance was superb.
I also got a real close look at all the engines I have been admiring for so long.
I have a recommendation to anyone thinking about doing live steam for the first time like me; Find a group of people that live near you who have been doing live steam for a while. Go to their steam ups and watch and learn and be inspired

Richard,

I was very impressed by your Ruby yesterday - excellent work and I can't wait to see the finished product. For the RC install you should talk with Seth - he did one of the nicest Ruby RC installs I've ever seen. Let me know if you need his number. Eric is the man to talk with regarding pluming/hiding goodal valves, water baths, etc. I believe the 2 of you spent some time reviewing his modified Conrad. Of the tasks listed above, the whistle will be your biggest challenge as the ruby boiler is very small and will make operating a whistle very difficult.

Keep up the excellent work!
Mark

Thanks Andre,
Good luck on your new shop. As it is, I'm working in half of my Garage and wishing I had a shop again!

UPDATE

So far, I've turned a new steam dome (- the plinth)
A new sand domed
Hammered out some reflectors for the head light
And sized the Brass for a new tank.
I feel a less urgent need to be hasty now that I'm the new owner of an Accucraft 4-4-0. I now have another engine to steam up while I make modifications to the Ruby. I no longer need to worry about getting her ready to run in between modifications.
The new 4-4-0 is for the DRGW road and will need some cosmetic changes like a Hunter Radley Stack and some new lettering, but I can worry about that after I've finished Kauila.
I'll show some pics of the domes when I get time to take them.

You could fit a much bigger resonator inside the saddle tank rather than trying to squeeze it into the dome. You would just need a longer pipe connecting the resonator and the whistle aperture, running up through the dome.

Richard,
Thanks, I'm finding that out too. I have made two whisles but the smaller ones that fit in the dome sound tiny. I was thinking the next step would be the saddle tank.

In the foreground you can see the reflectors that I have made for the headlight. I still need to shape and drill the bulb holder.
Behind those are the new domes and the old sand dome. Behind them is the tank with the HUGE steam dome. You can see the difference right away in proportions.
I made the upper part of the steam dome from a 27/32 brass rod I had in my brass junk box. The plinth (base of the dome) is an old garden hose connector.
The sand dome is a combination of an orphaned drawer pull and a copper reducer.
I turned everything on my drill press except the reducer. It came looking just the way it does.
I need to solder all the parts together, then I will move on to the tank and then cut the bases. I'll need to turn another water cap, then I need to chrome plate the reflectors.

RKapuaala,here is a Whistle I made for a Ruby      http://www.weltykswhistles.com/Vide...bsp;   it work well
Regards Bob

Thanks Bob, but I don't run quicktime on my computer because it wants to be a tsr and will not let me run it when I need it.

I think it's just easier for some folks to let politicians and quicktime do what ever they want. I can't do anything to stop the politico from bailing out those irresponsible and inefficient creeps. I can't stop the creeps from turning around and using that money to reward some of their worst performers under the guise of a retention bonus (RETENTION my A,,, get rid of them), but at least I can choose not to install QT

Wow,
My 4-4-0 arrived today. Huge box. Came with this metal carrier. I attached the necessary parts and ran her. What a difference in performance. Right out of the box and she runs great and steams up fast. Now that I have this engine, I will be able to focus on the Ruby without putting her together and taking her apart every time I want to run her.
Since I didn't get the black, unlettered one, I've got a few modifications to do to the 4-4-0 after I finish the Ruby.
I will replace the cab with a more modern cab. Do the running boards in wood. Modify the front pilot platform and cow catcher. Put a cowled stack on her and longer smoke box.
But the hardest part is going to be removing the lettering from the tender!

Oh,,, Mele Kalikimaka kekahi mau `o hoa aloha apau!

I was gonna say "Same to ya, fella!" but now you have edited it and I gotta go figure it out again.

Whoops typo, I had a little to much egg nog mixed with okolehao. Mele Kalikimaka ko`u hoa aloha apau.
Merry Xmas to all my friends here

No drink and drive yeah!

O.k. Finally got some time to work on the Ruby today. What with the holidays and me running off to run the 4-4-0 at Chris's I hardly did anything to her. I did manage to remove the original smokebox and replace it with a copper pipe that scales out to 30" only 6" bigger than the original smoke box. I also moved the boiler back about 1/4" so that the domes line up better over the axles. This lowered the boiler a little more so that it now sits at just about 7/16" above the chassis a hole 1/4" lower than the original model.

I also reduced the width of the grove for the chuff pipe and steam pipe so that I can make a narrower smoke box pedestal for her.

To break the monotony of working on the smoke box, I built a new pilot beam. Anyone know where I can find a link and pin coupler like the one pictured below?

I'll need to raise is to standard height and mount it in a dadoo on top of the beam. BTW, I've already tried Ozark Miniatures and they don't have it.

Looking good Richard. Not sure who stocks a coupler like that - have you considered casting it?

-Mark