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Hear, hear! :)

Bear with the rest of us, Jeff, we're living this vicariously through you. It's going to be a little while longer for some of us (send the check to Jason, wait for the check to clear, wait for Accucraft to drop ship the Decauville, wait for the package delivery service to drive clear across the USA to get to your house, wait some more because you waited all day until you absolutely had to get to the grocery store for bread and milk or your wife would file for divorce and that's precisely when the driver showed up with the package you have to sign for...).

Impatient? Heck yeah. ;)
 
Jeff, thanks very much for your report! I hope your mouth is feeling better soon.

You're absolutely right, the cuteness quotient counts for a lot, especially at public events. I was at a steamup a few years ago with plenty of well-detailed motive power, and the most remarked-upon engine by onlookers was an Accucraft "Emma", because it was cute. I guess that's why (or maybe it's because) tourist railroads put fake diamond stacks on everything.

Is the blow-down you described plumbed off the boiler or the sight glass? If it's the latter, that's a good thing, it might help (if only slightly) to make the water gauge a bit more useful than mere decoration -- a critical feature with a boiler this small.

I"m strongly considering single-channel R/C (throttle only) for this model and would want to use the space under the footplate and in the side tanks for batteries and an RX. I'm guessing from what photos I've seen and your description that putting a servo under the floor would be possible only if you cut a hole for a reach rod to connect to the throttle. Do you think there's enough space on the cab floor to put, say, a micro-servo without it being too obtrusive?

You should be able to post pictures as attachments -- there's a picture icon on the Reply to Thread toolbar (second row, fifth from the right) that allows you to insert an image.

Enjoy the new engine!
 
Green. Friday. :)

One thing I wanted to add in response to Jeff's posting is that with any new-out-of-the-box Accucraft model, you need to check tightness of nuts and bolts. I took delivery of a Countess back in 2009 and found that the majority of the valve gear bolts were loose -- and I mean loose enough to fall out.

It should go without saying that you don't need to really torque down on these -- they're tiny and will strip easily -- and it shouldn't be necessary to use blue Loctite (if a fastener's that loose that it won't take up properly hand tight, there are bigger issues). Just a better outcome than losing a uniquely sized metric bolt somewhere in the weeds, or worse still, having part of the running gear come adrift and cause damage and/or a derailment.
 
Many thanks, Jeff! This is a big help.

I have an Accucraft drain valve (their part number AP21-613) that replaces the stock valve...when I unbox mine on Friday, I'll see if there's enough room under the cab floor to fit it.

If I do fit R/C on the throttle, I'd likely opt to put the servo on the cab floor, I don't quite have the nerve to start milling a slot in that nice new floor.
 
the steel part of the burner with slots is not parallel with the brass end and mounting collar
I had a similar problem with another Accucraft loco, a "Jedrig' (and Edrig sold through John Sutton in the UK). The poker is the standard length used in most (if not all) the UK models.

There was a noticeable tilt in the poker in relation to the brass mounting plate, although not enough to cause the lighting problems already described. My solution was to gently bend the brass plate to compensate -- however, without having yet seen the Decauville burner, I definitely would not recommend trying this yourself unless Accucraft can't come up with a fix under warranty.
 
My green Decauville (No. 16) arrived this afternoon. This really is a finescale model, Jason Kovac and David Fletcher have a great deal to be proud of.

A few comments:

-- I checked the burner in my engine by sighting down the flue from the firebox end. Sure enough, it's tilted upward. However, when I lit the gas I did not have any issues with the flame either not catching or not staying in the flue. I was able to light the engine three separate times with no problem. I should note that the gas valve on this engine requires very, very little movement to get gas flowing to the burner, a matter of a few degrees beyond simply cracking it open. My only concern at this point is that if the poker is making contact with the flue, it could potentially create a hot spot and weaken the tube.
-- The headlight was an unexpected and very nice touch.
-- A chuffer is really a requirement for this engine (I have no connection to Summerlands, all usual disclaimers, etc). The exhaust is simply a straight pipe, and with a non-superheated engine such as this one, the engine, onlookers and landscape are going to get a oily bath if the stock exhaust pipe is left in.
-- Dummy coal load over the lubricator is another nice feature, but on my engine, it didn't quite fit and the (real) coal was stacked high enough to foul the injector casting on that side. Not the best thing for an item that you have to remove and replace at least once every run. I'll probably work up something myself by gluing some coal chunks down to a piece of thin plywood with some black caulk.
-- The valve gear is finescale and held together with tiny screws and nuts. The screws are probably Phillips 000, so I need to find a new screwdriver to add to the toolbox. Good news is that everything was nice and snug out of the box.

More later, as I get a chance to run the engine.
 
Dan, Carl --

Thanks very much for posting your experiences with the engine.

It looks to me that Jim Sanders of WeeBee will have a new loco to retrofit a multi hole burner.
That sounds very interesting, that's a mod I'd gladly invest in. I"ll get in touch with Jim and express interest.
 
Regarding a replacement burner that Captain Dan mentioned: does anyone have a current contact address for Wee Bee Loco Parts? I tried the address on the comcast.net domain and the mail server bounces it back.

Thanks!
 
I have one of these new engines, and it's a work of art. As I mentioned in a post on the SE Lounge, the closest comparison would be to a Wrightscale engine in terms of scale fidelity and detail.
 
I disassembled the jet and burner, blew out the jet with butane and added the washer (it's a size 1). The washer is not thick enough to make a difference, the poker still tilts up and contacts the top of the flue. The gas tank was filled and then allowed to empty.

In fact, it may be counter-productive, as after reassembling the burner assembly, I can't get it to light at all -- the flame stays in the smokebox and won't pop back; if I cut back the gas slightly, it pops back into the flue for a moment and then goes out. This is true regardless of the setting of the burner collar.

Well, it makes a nice desk ornament...:(

UPDATE 5:45PM EDT: I disassembled the works again, removed the washer from between the burner assembly and the boiler. Also renewed the teflon tape that was used -- in fact, had been over-used -- on the jet to seal the thread, also added teflon tape -- again, sparingly -- around the jet holder when re-inserting it back into the burner assembly. Note that tape was used by the factory when assembling the jet into the holder, but they used far too much and there were parts of it in the holder itself. The tape around the holder was my addition, as it was pretty loose in the burner assembly without it.

Now the burner lights normally. I don't have the opportunity tonight to bench-test the loco (not without incurring the wrath of She Who Must Be Obeyed) to see if the popping problem persists, so a full test will have to wait for tomorrow.

Yes, I understand completely that there are likely too many variables for me to pinpoint what went wrong here (and how much of it was self-inflicted), but my strong hunch is that the washer solution that was suggested for the burner misalignment is a waste of time. Next thing to check will be whether insulation makes a difference.
 
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