Hello sportsfans!
Stuff is still going on even though I missed a couple of days.
The wheel lathe is done and sitting in the engine house.
A hand wheel fell off and I have to add another. It's not fastened to the floor… nothing is.
I also got the outside light done… Finally! That last light was the holdup having to regrow another base. I had to add a piece of 1/4" brass tubing for the connecting stem since even after two tries I still 3D printed the wrong version. I want an iPhone 11 with the triple cameras. They apparently have perfected taking night pictures with high contrast, making the camera see more like our eyes do. Next up is doing some site work to close all the gaps and finish the machine shop. I'm not in a rush for the machine shop since I'll grow parts during down times.
I had a person ask if I could make a 567 engine in HO. I didn't know, so I tried. I changed the resolution to 30 microns and made some minor adjustments to material thickness. It worked.
And I found out why the lower oil lines to the blowers kept breaking. It wasn't the resin's fault. The pipe as it continued into the blower body was only a half circle. It was a half circle for a very short distance, but just long enough to create a significant weak point. I've corrected the drawings. He was willing to buy these engines from me. He wants four of them. What's really amazing is the valve gear detail actually came out.
Re: the airplane restoration.
I built the assembly jig and it will work. I had to cut all those pieces of 3/8" threaded rod and was looking forward to using my new Harbor Freight portable band saw. I opened the box and NO BLADE! The lady that got the saw for me never mentioned that it didn't come with a blade. I had no desire to stop working and go buy it so I ended up cutting them all with a hand hack saw which is why I bought it in the first place. I took it back and got my $100 back. The jig lets me fine tune the alignment so it all goes together correctly. The parts are very heavy and needed support like this. I had to resolver that cockeyed left engine. I was one of my terrible, non-fused solder joints.
I was running into a brick wall (or should I say a bronze wall). I was unable to melts soft solder on joints that included very high mass pieces (wings, nacelles) and low mass parts. I resorted to using two torches simultaneously; a propane in one hand and MAP in the other, and couldn't get the solder to melt. I was getting desperate.
Here's the first actual solder joint.
I sent a letter to American Beauty today after a conversation with their tech support asking them if they could rent or loan me one of their high-powered brazing resistance system. One of team members at the airport had an acetylene/air torch that might be worth a try. Propane is about 1,500° F, MAP is 130° F higher, but the acetylene/air is 2,700° F. Not only is it almost 50% hotter, but it put out significantly more volume.
It worked! I was finally able to get enough heat into the bronze fast enough that the solder melted. I canceled my request to American Beauty. I'm actually able to put humpty dumpty back together again. I know this isn't about trains, but it's kind of interesting.
I 3D print new (missing) landing gear. I wanted to grow an 1/8" hole down the middle of the strut to insert a metal rod, but the resin didn't drain well out of it. When I hardened it, the resin hardened and closed up the hole and when I attempted to drill it out, the strut fractured. I'm going to make it hybrid with a resin wheel and lower control arms and brass 4" long strut. Here's my SketchUp design. There are no extant drawings of an S-38's landing gear, so I learned from watching a video on a contemporary restoration.
