[abernat]

Folks,


I have begun a second Mason Bogie. My first one was eventually powered by Fletch's laser-cut chassis and it runs well. In the forum archives is my log describing that build. I am one of the few to have received a chassis from Barry so decided to work on another locomotive. This time I'm building option 4 - long tender (to hold the Airwire and sound systems) and Congdon stack (because I love them). I had already accumulated most of the commercial parts to ease the way.


At this point it appears exceedingly unlikely that anyone will receive a chassis from Barry, whether they paid for it or not, due to the long period since he has responded to inquiries.


The chassis from Barry that I received leaves much to be desired. A number of holes were either not drilled or were drilled in the wrong location (based on Fletch's drawings). The axles are not square to the chassis leading to a pronounced tilt of the boiler and a chassis that is not actually parallel to the track. The only real fix is to remove the axles and to bore out the axle holes for bushings. Without my late lamented machine shop, that's not feasible. A friend milled down the lower chassis extrusion so at least the boiler will set horizontally. I also had to loosen up the fit of the rods to the wheels to eliminate misalignments and bindings.


Andy 

 

[abernat]

Now on to some photos.


The new Bogie with her older sister.
 

 

 


For the headlamp, I decided to go a little nuts and I milled the curved top in steps on my Sherline mill (not quite the Bridgeport I used to have 

) - I stepped in 0.02" steps and then sanded smooth.
 

 
 

 


For the Congdon stack, I was able to find more of the bottle that gave me the upper cone shape - using the lower part of this bottle right below the Method name is an almost perfect fit. However, this time I had to order them online and it seems to me that they are closing out this bottle for a flat one. So, if you're looking for a Congdon upper cone, you might want to check out Method products. Shipping was the most expensive part because I could not find it locally any more.

 

 

[peter bunce]

Hi Andy,

Welcome back I have not seen you posting for a while! The new Mason is looking good, what color are you thinking of please?

Thanks for the photos, its always good to see such nice work.

 

[David Fletcher]

Terrific Andy,
Excellent work so far. Really nice to see just one more Mason model come out of the class. Its a real shame about the BBT drive, and so much disappointment all round, especially considering the work put into the class. But the models finishes speak for themselves and another fine model on the way.

Thanks Andy,
Keep posting mate,
David.

If interest is there, and people are looking to build models again, I'm more than willing to run another class.

 

[placitassteam]

Nice job Andy!!
I'm glad to see another Bogie in the works. You will probably have 2 done before I get my first completed. I'm hoping to have mine done in time for the Garden Railroad Convention in July. It is all in pieces now for painting. David's chassis is definitely the way to go.
David , are you being affected by all the fires?

 

[abernat]

Peter - I'm thinking the dark green or brown. I have gold decals in hand.


Yes, the laser chassis the way to go folks. But I've got the Barry chassis so am using it. 

 

[alcashj94]

Andy - good to see another one being built, I bet this will go faster than the first one!

I see you are thinking of a green or brown livery so you obviouslly prefer the 'older' schemes but have you considered using the newer square window cab and possibly one of the other stack styles? I think it is always nice to have differences when you have more than one of a class.

Looking forward to more pics!

Allan.

 

[abernat]

Allan,


what can I say - I like the older style better. Plus I have a cab kit waiting to be put together. And to me it's got to be a Congdon stack. In a previous life I worked on the DSP&P, at least my wife is convinced of it and I like to think it's true.


Andy 

 

[peter bunce]

Hi Andy,

Nice choice, that pair of colors seem to be very well liked, as Accucraft will use them if they get their 'proposed versions' built.

The electric versions maybe, don't know about the steam versions they will be complicated as Winn has been showing us!

 

[astrayelmgod]

Andy --

What did you do for a head lamp reflector? I found instructions for making a hemisphere, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it.

For those who can't find the Method bottle that Any mentions, it's pretty easy to make a cone from scratch. I made a Nesmith stack by starting with a Bachmann stack, and making the inner cone myself.

 

[peter bunce]

Posted By astrayelmgod on 02/16/2009 10:29 AM
Andy --

What did you do for a head lamp reflector? I found instructions for making a hemisphere, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it.

For those who can't find the Method bottle that Any mentions, it's pretty easy to make a cone from scratch. I made a Nesmith stack by starting with a Bachmann stack, and making the inner cone myself.

Hi,

I think mine was made from the measuring spoon that came with some plant fertilizer, it was that or the measuring spoon that came with some powdered baby milk!

 

[Matt Vogt]

Beautiful start, Andy. We all be watching.

David, I have to admit that building a Bogie is near the top of my project list, as soon as I get a little experience at scratch building under my belt. I would be interested in details, at least.

 

[abernat]

I confess that I can no longer remember where the headlamp hemisphere came from - I'm guessing that it was off of some personal care product! I just hunted around with a piece of paper with the required diameter until I found something. Since I'm used to people staring at me like I'm a little strange, it wasn't too traumatic.


In any case, my Bogie can now blow some smoke; the wavy pattern is sanding on the original silver stack and on the used-to-be dishwashing bottle:

 

 

 

[Torby]

Wow.

As a 21st century brat, I have to admire those 19th century craftsmen.

 

[chuckger]

Hi Andy,

Good start on #2, Stack and headlite look super.

Chuck

 

[abernat]

Done a little bit more work. The bell bracket is from Jim. Drilling through was interesting. The bracket was cored from each end, but the cores were not centered. I drilled into each end hoping to meet reasonably closely in the center. Got a better feel for those folks who built tunnels hoping to meet somewhere in the mountain! I then drilled out the hole wider than the bearing so that I could center the bearing. Filled in the gaps with epoxy.  Of course the curvature of the bracket doesn't precisely fit my boiler and had to fill in some gaps. And this time I went with Jim's handrail castings as well.

 

 

 

[chuckger]

Looking good Andy.

Chuck

 

[Rich Schiffman]

Andy,

Jim never meant the bell bracket to be cored, but rather just shallow drilled. Of course, Jim is a bit off too.....

 

[abernat]

Interesting on the cored ends. They may have been just not filled in the casting process as they were over 1/4" deep. I didn't remember that from the previous bell bracket. If I had thought things through, I would have used an end mill centered on the bracket end as end mills don't care about what's already there.

 

[placitassteam]

Looking good Andy, glad you are making some more progress. Yes, drilling through the bell rig was quite a challenge!