[Mik]

Okay, so the Climax Manufacturing Company of Corry Pa seemed to only have made a very few of these. But they are just cute as a button....


Photos of 7 ton sn #65 "The Arkansas Traveller", and 8 ton sn #148 "The Gold Bug" survive

I've found a few pics showing some details, including the engine. But if anyone has any drawings showing which way the boiler faces, and other details, Ii could sure use them.

First order of business, however, is a small wheeled power brick. Any ideas gents?

 

[jlcop]

Mik;
Check out the January 2009 issue of Narrow Guage Downunder! There is an article about a 4 wheel Class A built in 1/48th scale with a drawing based on photos.
John

 

[Mik]

I tried 3 of the places that the magazine publisher says carries it here in the states... it's sold out /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif Anybody got a copy to lend?

 

[jlcop]

You can also order back issues through their web site. www.narrowguagedownunder.com The issue with the 4 wheel Climax is #32.
John

 

[Mik]

Well, even just going by the pix, I've managed to make some progress...

The base is a HLW mini flatcar floor lengthened by about 1-1/2" with part of another one. The chassis is an Aristo 4 wheeled caboose that someone had half-azzed converted into a boxcab (I'll re-use the can motor from that as well). The wheelbase is a little long, so I will probably fix that before I mount the motor.

The open cab is basswood and coffee stirrers

The engine is mostly basswood as well. I decided I didn't want to mess with making a working crankshaft and valve gear, so it doesn't turn. Yes, this is pretty much what they looked like. I used a Climax catalog cut for reference.

The boiler is made from the plastic tube material from the center of some ancient imprinter paper I found at work. The transition a "shade" from a lamp shaped air freshener I found at the dollar store (sure beat laying out a cone!) most of the valves are just picture nails.

 

[Mik]

moved the axles inward -- by the simple expediency of cutting the sideframes in 3 parts and swapping the sections on each end. Only about 1/4" of difference on each end (1/2" total, or 1 scale foot in 1:24), but it LOOKS much more balanced now. The steam engine has been installed, and the motor mounts have been fabricated, now I just need to scrounge 2 passenger car/caboose brush holders (I have LGB brushes & springs) so I can mount the motor.

Rather than model either specific prototype, I combined the features that I liked best from both Gold Bug and Arkansas Traveller. The early Climax records are incomplete, so perhaps they did build one like this?

 

[Mik]

more progress, if anybody cares.....

Ever have a "Eureka" moment, when the modelling muse bites hard, and you just HAVE to get out of bed and do something before you forget? I built this kerosene headlight at 3am. The reflector is a turned wooden bowl.

The "backhead". Since I couldn't get the suggested magazine, except direct from Oz, I fudged it, and based the layout on a Lookout stationary boiler of similar vintage. It's a REAL tight squeeze past the boiler, I guess the poor fireman will have to scramble over the side like a monkey to get on?

Forget Elvis, Kim says the fireman looks like old Abe! And the engineer has an Errol Flynn mustache... I was going to make it heavier, but Kim said leave it alone. Figures are from that guy in Hong Kong. Yes, I need to put a lubricator on the steam line yet. The two pipes sticking up are there to route the whistle and pop valve through the roof.

 

[vsmith]

 

[Mik]

Not near as good as your stuff Vic, but I'm having fun..... I have a pair of USA brush holders coming for power pick up from the wheels. At the moment I'm torn between taking the easy way out and using the plastic roof from the boxcab, or trying to make one from thin (and rather expensive) single ply birch.

 

[tj-lee]

Mik,

Outstanding! Looking very good. Wish I could model like that.

Best,
TJ

 

[Mik]

Posted By tj-lee on 03/27/2009 1:37 PM
... Wish I could model like that.

Well you can't! -- BUT with a little confidence and some practice you could probably do MUCH nicer work than I can. (seriously, my meds make my hands shake a little, and I keep getting glue strings on stuff that are a real pain to get back off)

 

[Les]

If you mean 7/8ths scale, I have no idea. Otherwise, what about an LGB handcar? How were these driven, crank and gears, or chain? (And, I'm swiping 'em for my folder.)


Added after posting: Does anyone else have problems with the whole thread not loading? My answer above was based on thinking I was the first to reply. After I posted, the rest of the entries popped up. This is the second time this has happened.

 

[Mik]

Les, I think an LGB handcar brick would be too short, A HLW Mack brick might work, but the wheels are a little big. By happy coincidence I remembered that the disaster of a boxcab was hiding in a tote under the layout (It was completely hideous, badly done with big glue goobers and thick paint with sags. I've been cannibalizing parts off it for years -- a very well spent $15, I think... lol) The wheels are B'mann metal freight car wheels.

Climax engines had a spur gear 2 speed open gearset that turned a pair of driveshafts connected to bevel gears on the axles. Here is a link to a Climax catalog that has cuts showing a lot of details
http://www.climaxlocomotives.com/catalog/

 

[Les]

Mik, well thanks for answering my whacky post. What is the L x W x H of this build? Wheelbase? (Don't need exact numbers.) Thanks for the site link, it's now in my folder.

Les

 

[Mik]

Sorry Les, I didn't mean to ignore your questions, I was 'sidetracked' for a couple days playing with snowplows. Wheelbase is 4-1/4" length is 7-1/2" to the beams (not including couplers) width is a smidge over 4", height will be determined by how tall I make the spark arrestor, but guessing around 7". The peak of the roof is 5-3/4"....

The brush holders arrived yesterday, so I wired it today at work. When I got home I filled the boiler about half full of BBs and white glue for weight. About 10PM this evening she made her maiden run... She has a lot of slip starting with 2 cars, but part of that could be filthy wheels (Remember, unlike the prototype this thing is only driven on one axle, and if that boxcab was run in the last decade, I'm a baboon....). The only significant problem discovered is that Mr Brilliant (me) somehow managed to wire the motor backwards! (I run G standard, not NMRA!) I'll uncross those 2 wires tomorrow....

I ran out of time tonight so these pics are "mid-weathering", please ignore the grey spots, they'll be gone (blended in) when I'm done.

My 16YO daughter saw it yesterday, and she tried to lay claim to it as well. I'll let her and Kim settle it between themselves. (My bets are on Kim, unless Mairi resorts to smuggling it to her mom's house)

 

[Les]

Mik,

Don't be concerned about ignoring me: I've been married 38 years. I don't even notice it, anymore.

Those dims are the general ones for that type of machine, which I am getting nearer and nearer on starting on. ('Scuse the english.)

And, the weathering is adding a lot of--what's that fancy word?--ambience? Whatever, it's lookin' kinda natural-like, like it's been around awhile, 'worked hard and put away wet'.

Les

 

[Mik]

All done, except for redoing the loktite on the axle for the driving wheelset. Spark arrestor is made from a couple washers and some screen from a dollar store "splatter guard"... Nuthin like a high tech solution, lol. I also lowered the roof/canopy/whatever by 3/16" so now it's just a hair shorter than the roofs on my daughter's LGB Euro coaches. I did this to make sure everything would clear on my layout. I finally added the displacement lubricator to the steam line and an ejector beside the engineer's seat. (An ejector is used to fill the water tank from groundwater when no standpipe or water tank is available).

And yes, the vertical boiler Climax engines were designed to run water tank forward... it's simply easier to see over the tank than around the boiler. On that note, one of the interesting things I read while looking up info for this was that when they redesigned the class As for the Tee boiler, it was made to be run "normally", ie boiler first, like a regular rod loco, BUT they left all the controls in the old spot... So, if you ever see a model of a Class A Tee Boiler Climax with the engineer right, then it's wrong....

Anyway, pix

 

[Les]

Great job, Mik. Uhh...what if you took a black magic marker and blackened the chimney screen? (Sorry, Smokestack).

Les

 

[snowshoe]

That came out great. Thats my kind of engine along with the dunkirks. When do we get to seei t in action.

 

[Mik]

Les, it's the flash, the screen WAS already painted with Polly S 'Oily Black', inside and out (same glossy green/black color as the 'creosote' runs on the sides of the transition piece and stack... trust me, if it was still bare stainless it would look like it was glowing