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Greetings!

Can anyone help me figure out why I can't seem to get the smoke unit in my RialKing Challenger to align with the stack? When I put the shell back on, there is smoke coming out of the top, but now its also coming out of the bottom of the boiler, above front drivers. 

IS there any technique to align this? I feel like the smoke is getting between the unit and stack exit.  

 

Thanks!

 

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I just put an old PS1 smoke unit into a PW rebuild that I did.  I took advantage of some existing holes and a few brackets I had laying around, and the smoke unit aligns about halfway back the stack in the shell.  There' enough exposed area for me to fill the unit using a syringe, and there's enough smoke coming out that it's satisfying.  

But it's just enough interference that when I'm under full power, the smoke does start to escape down around the steam chest at the drive rod level, which I actually really like!  Seems like there's a bot more realism there. 

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HEY  Rest,

I've worked on the smoke on Railkings.

Only four things I can think of.............                                            1) WICK....... the wick sometimes is partially blocking the funnel opening or the blower fan opening.

  2) GASKETS....... when replacing the smoke stack if you have removed and replaced the inner funnel......make sure the gasket  (I think red ) did  not get squished over some of the opening  Make sure the larger gasket between the smoke unit and smoke unit cover is bolted down well.

  3) WIRES......hopefully there is not one of the electrical wires for the marker lights caught between the metal boiler stack pipe and smoke unit funnel  openings.  If so, reposition it before a short 😨 develops. 

 4) ALIGNMENT.......make sure the alignment is good between the smoke unit and the boiler opening like Rick O mentioned above. 🙄

Good luck , have fun and be observant 🤓

@RWillSr posted:

I thought about leaving it, but the smoke coming out the stack isn't forced and just seeps out. not the best look

Now you've said something that resonates.  I think the smoke unit needs a little maintenance!  Sounds like either the smoke motor isn't work, or the impeller is loose on the shaft.  If you hear the motor pulsing for chuffs, and you don't see a nice plume of smoke coming out as some velocity, it's very likely you need a new impeller.  You can try a little CA adhesive on the shaft of the old one, but that's not a permanent fix in my experience.

I lined it up as best as I could.  It looks like it is right. Maybe a little forward? I don’t know.  There’s a groove and a gasket on the inside of the boiler at the smoke stack where to smoke unit funnel meets the boiler shell.  My hunch is that there’s a gap somewhere in that area and it’s leaking the smoke.  

thanks for talking me thru this. 
 Maybe a need a new gasket?

HEY RW,

my suggestion #4 would be a tough one on the dual stack Challenger if you try to align everything by looking  down the boiler openings.

It sounds like you are doing the best by observing the situation from the inside.   I'm not sure what kind of material you might safely use for sealing.

If I remember right the Challenger smoke unit has a bolted down funnel so it wouldn't be something that would have been bumped down by accident.

Is the top of the smoke unit funnel smooth with no chips or dents ?       If the alignment looks " a little forward " is it possible the smoke unit screws are loose or is the smoke unit support bent ?

My confusion stems from the fact that you said it works great with the shell off.  Yet, with the shell on, and clearly seeing the funnel under the open stacks, it doesn't work.  That  suggests to me something is affecting the smoke unit operation, not that there is some leakage.  If the funnel is right under the stack and the smoke unit is working normally, most of the smoke will still come out the stack.

RW,

Outside of the fact that a not to good oily residue building up  in the internal area of the engine , the video of the drifting smoke made me think of the real Challenger.  🤓

However, the smoke in your video makes me think of what GRJ mentioned in a different post about filing the smoke stack area to even out both stacks  performing equally....................there isn't any obstruction in the stack is there ? 😨

 

..

The unit has always ran without problems. I just can't seem to align it properly so all the smoke comes out the smoke stack. The smoke coming out the front whole seems to have more force than the smoke coming out the rear hole even though it's coming from one smoke unit. 

well let me amend this statement....

The unit would smoke some, the reason I took the shell off to start was to check the smoke unit wick. It was on the dry side so I added a good little bit to re-prime it. The smoke really started coming out. The the alignment problem come about putting it back together. 

Last edited by RWillSr

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