Live Diesel G Scale FA1 locomotive.

I HAVE PICTURES!!!

First off is an overall overhead shot to show the general arangement.
Then we have a view of the same area from the side.
Here's a view from the engine end.
Another from the motor end.

I also took a couple pictures of the muffler I built. Here's a low shot from the side and here's a slightly higher shot of the same.

I still have not yet bolted the motor/generator into place but I know how it will be done when I get the time. Also, the new carb and intake are still sittin in a box somewhere just crying to be installed. Once again, my live steamer is still getting what little free time I have. : )

More as it's available...

Ok, so time hasn't slowed any and my free-time hasn't increased. Net result; I've gotten almost no-where on the loco. Recently I had a bit of inspiration though and on a night where I was covering for people that weren't at work (slackers!) I brought the beast in for some mods. As I started taking it apart I noticed that there wasn't any paint where things had been in contact with the frame, this is where the left-over oil from the engine had colected. This is not a happy thing. Also, those same areas have decently large cracks in the plastic... Definately not a happy thing. After much cleaning with paper towels and Isopropyl alcohol (pure stuff I might add, it was needed) I found that the area under the weight plate the engine was mounted on and the bottom face of the bolster are completely devoid of paint and have lots of cracks running all over them. For some reason, the motor blocks were not affected by this.

Happy happy joy joy. {:( I'm starting to wonder just how hard it would be to solder up a brass frame...

Back to the good stuff though. After realizing all this and getting the resultant goo cleaned up I started in on the mods. the main thing is that the hot works now rest on an aluminum sheet which is then bolted to the plastic frame. This should give me greater ridgidity between the engine and generator and allow me a convenient place to attach other things (like a beefier fan bracket) to without having to worry about them ripping out of the plastic. :)

I also have a new Pitmann motor from NWSL to try as the starter/generator. It's spec'd at ~3500 RPM @ 12V but we'll see how it does. Being a 7-pole skew wound motor really makes me hopefull. I can't hold the shaft still with my fingers at 12V. :) Due to this new motor I'm having to get a new adapter made to go from the threaded engine shaft to the 4mm motor shaft. The old adapter didn't really fit anyway and so was shimmed, but this time I'd like to have an honest-to-goodness costum-fit adapter. I think this will help out with the reliability and vibration problems.

I also found out why the fan kept locking up on me the last time I ran. Part of the fan hub melted due to an over tighteden screw and locked up one of the ball-bearings I installed in it. Looks like I'm running on a bearing and a bushing now. {;] Locktite is your friend...

Well, I'll post more when I get more. 'Till then hang tight and if anyone has any ideas on protecting the ABS frame material, I'm all ears! I'd really rather not have to build my own. ;]

Photos comming soon! I promise!

Wow, the months have flown by! Sorry to tell you that this is not really an update, just a note that I've not really done anything to the loco and that due to having recently aquired the status of being engaged I might not for a little while. Things to do with the fiance, things to do with the car, it all seems to pile up. :] I'll get back to it as soon as I can though!

Thanks for checking in. {:)

Apologies for the absence of updates, I've been waiting for a custom flywheel which has arrived. :) With the new flywheel installed and the mixture set properly the engine runs very well and can be made to idle at fairly low RPM. Currently RPM is limited by the light weight of the loco frame as the slower the engine runs, the more vibrations it produces. More recent than that is the addition of a glass packed muffler to the underside tank area on the loco.

NOTE: Nitromethane engine exhaust is hot enough to melt 40/60 electronics solder!!!

Recently (yesterday) I took the loco out to a completed track which belongs to John Thomson. After running my new Ruby around for a bit it was decided that John should be properly introduced to the FA running frame. Jumper cords were stretched to his van and used to provide starting power and the loco was started! Jumping the generator wires to the truck motor wires resulted in the loco springing to life and powering itself merrily around the line. Just about at the point that I was feeling rather proud of myself and my engineering, the loco started making _lots_ of noise and I noticed that the smoke was no longer coming from the correct tube. This is when I discovered the heat available from nitro exhaust systems. :(

Luckily the tube that came loose was only the inlet and I don't think I'll have to rebuild anything else on the muffler. This was to be primary muffler for the system but now that I've seen the effects of the heat on solder I don't care to see what it can do to the plastic tank. For this reason I will now build another primary muffler which will be mounted directly behind the engine and be silver-soldered. This will be isolated from the frame by heat-sinks and will be cooled by the exhaust fan in the top of the carbody. It may be neccisary to replace the fan and it's supports with something that can take a bit more heat but I'll belt that bridge when I get there. } ; ]

It should be noted that we did have a succesful run 'round the layout with only the stock silencer until the engine stopped for unknown reasons. At this point I noticed that the belt-driven fan was rubbing it's mounts and decided to go back to steam-power untill I have the time to do more 'engineering' on the cooling system.

In short, IT'S ALIVE!

The different motor idea didn't pan out. I'm a bit too much of a cheapskate even though the Astro-flight 640 looks to be more than ideal for my application. Maybe I'll use one for the RS3 I'm hoping to build. } ; ]

Started the engine last week. I've discovered four very important things about this whole adventure as a result.

• I need exhaust gaskets.
• I need a _much_ heavier flywheel.
• The heat issue is going to be with the exhaust, not the head.
• The motor draws even more current and produces more torque when hooked to a 12V car batery!

What a mess, I've got a puddle of caster oil in the garage! Main oil mess problems stem from a bad muffler seal (make that a lack of seal.) The 'silencer' which can be seen in the photos is only held on by two grub screws and has no seal whatsoever, concequently, it leaks like a sieve! I've picked up some RTV gasket maker and am going to fill the space around the header. Here's to hoping that it can handle the heat! I slightly melted the frame with the silicone tubing I've been using to route the exhaust, I had no idea the tubing could handle that much heat! I've now gotten some stainless tube to bend up my own metal exhaust. This way I can precisely guide the tube around the more delicate plastic frame members and heat shielding should be much easier.

It seems that the dinky aluminum flywheel I've been using (from a .21 two stroke) just isn't enough for this engine. Idle doesn't go below a guesstimated 3-4K RPM before the thing dies, not to mention the way the loco shakes all over the place due to exessive vibration because the engine won't run smooth. I'm currently commissioning a custom flywheel for it that should help both of those out and I plan to add weight to the frame to aid in the loco's stability. Loading the generator with the truck motors at this speed does not affect RPMs though (loco takes off down the tracks however!) I'm definately not worried about a lack of power. : )

The starter/generator produces plenty of torque for starting when a battery is used instead of a charger. It seems that the 10A charger was dropping volts badly. I'll be buying a 12V lead acid battery and 30A automotive relay this week to act as the starter. :]

Removed flexible coupling between engine and generator. Need to pick up some hardware to mount the generator bracket in the new position but it looks like this will work better.

Also am checking on different motors to use as generators. it has recently been brought to my attention that the electric airplane field remains untasted. A taste test is in order. } : ) Current motor/generator will turn the motor over with a 12V source, but it draws over 15A and gets a bit warm. It's designed to take this but I'd like a bit larger margin of error to keep parts breakage down. More turns=better! If I'm unable to find a more suitable motor I may break down and rewind one of the current ones myself.

Currently, the engine and starter/generator are temp mounted awaiting final alignment.

At least this is the idea. Currently I'm gathering supplies to animate the beast and make is a reality. Plans call for a small four stroke nitromethane-burning airplane engine to turn a generator to produce electricity to power the standard electric trucks. The engine to be used is an O.S. 26FS, the smallest offered. It will be turning one or two 65 turn Bo-Link electric R/C racing car motors (depending on current needs) by a shaft and belt system. This is not an attempt to copy the Wada GP-9, though I have nothing but respect for the work put into that product. The ideas started flowing after reading a post asking about such an engine on a web forum. Only after deciding on the basic setup did I find out about the Wada loco. This is acceptable to me however because I believe I can supply myself with a dependable, fun, and interesting machine for much less than Wada-san's asking price.

This site will loosely document the progress that is made on the loco and it's drive systems.

Current bits are a new ALCO FA1 supplied by Aristo Craft. The O.S. 26FS and drive bits are purchased and will soon begin break-in/fitting/testing.

Details of the project aren't finalized but the idea is to provide a constant voltage for running the motors. These will be radio controlled through an electronic speed controller and reversing switch. The engine throttle will be servo opperated and controlled through a feedback loop from the generator with battery backup. This will allow throttle regulation and constant lighting without the need for extra control channels from the radio. Different opperation modes may be added later though as simply switching leads from speed controller to servo would provide easy motor control.

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