GTW U-4B 4-8-4 final assembly.
I thought this engine had a 'short' as I couldn't upload any data into the decoder.
I found out that the tender wheels are not making good contact with the truck's side frames.
The wheels were pre-blackened at the factory so I'll have to remove the wheel sets and clean all the ends of the wheel axles.
Used an old weight for the front of the boiler which was the 'perfect size'.
The front weight cannot extend into the open area as the motor and gear box is in the center of the boiler.
There was room at the back of the boiler for some extra weight; 2 rectangular pieces and then some 'plate' type weights over the wires.
The 'ash pan' covers up the weights.
The trailing truck had to have the screw secured from the other side of the driver retaining plate to insure the truck was parallel to the 'rails'.
After assembly the drivers were binding.
Had to detach the gear box to find the problem.
The 'piston cylinder chest' (PCC) is secured in two elliptical holes but the center hole for securing the frame to the boiler was not aligned so I moved the PCC back to align the two holes but, now, the 'piston rod' was hitting the front of the PCC.
I moved the PCC forward and then filed out the hole so they were aligned with each other.
The original screw was badly damaged on the 'head' so I had to use a Dremel 'cut off disk' to remove it. I used some of my black matte paint to touch up that area.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Front view.
Lots of work applying all those stripe decals.
Fireman's side view.
Decoder wires had to be routed through the 'coal bin'.
Will make a removable foam 'coal load'.
Engineer's side view if a duplicate of the fireman's side.
Next, the tender wheels need to be cleaned.
Strange results on the the programming track using the 'throttle' screen.
The 'throttle' screen worked until about 6 months ago.
I thought I'd try it again and it's working again (go figure!).
It's nice testing via the 'throttle' screen as voltage is low so not likely to 'smoke' the decoder if 'wiring' is incorrect.
