HO Roundhouse Shay Kit
homer
kit and was wondering if anybody could give me some input on the quality
of the kit and also how well it runs. It seems like a fun project.
Thanks, Harald.
Reply here for any other interested people or privately.
Scott Andrew McGhee (Scott A. McGhee)
model itself is nice, and if you just want to look at it, then it runs great.
The gear boxes for the trucks tend to bind/break apart while the
locomotive is in motion. A lot of this has to do with the proper
alignment of the line shafts.
However, you can get it to run one direction perfectly, change direction,
and watch it blow apart. Spend another hour readjusting, and you will
gain the other direction, and don't try to reverse directions.
I have built two shays. One in HO and the latest in HOn3. Neither has
been painted yet because the engineering needs some work.
Scott
Fredric W. Dabney
problems are well known, often discussed on the list. At least some of
their problems are resolved with NWSL parts, also often discussed here.
Fred D.
Gordon Helbert
ho...@accessone.com says...
>
>I was just considering buying the Roundhouse 2-truck standard gauge Shay
>kit and was wondering if anybody could give me some input on the quality
>of the kit and also how well it runs. It seems like a fun project.
>
of the kits that get sold never get running. OK, no flames on this one,
just passing it along.
Here is what I did to mine:
1. Can Motor. Get one that is as wide as the bunker and nearly as long.
(I replace the orig open frame motor, understand current ones
have better quality motor as OEM)
2 Get the NWSL gear kits. TWO! One is the gearbox bull gear, second
kit has the drive shaft gears.
3. Use only one drive shaft gear per truck. This makes tuning and
tweaking MUCH easier.
4. Wire the trucks closed so they will not come apart when running.
5. Use Labbel or other plastic lube.
Lots of tweaking and tuning. BUT, mine has been running flawlessly for
years (first production run model). It is a real gem.
Gordon
David Cochrun
<Pine.A32.3.91.951108...@harp.aix.calpoly.edu>,
smc...@harp.aix.calpoly.edu says...
>
>I have built many a roundhouse kit, <snip>
What kind of luck have you had with the other Roundhouse Locos? They
seem to be reasonably priced. How well do they run? How difficult are
they to construct? Any pointers? How about a suggestion on which one to
start with?
Dave...
coll...@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
can not get these locos to run acceptably.
1 The new can motor in the current kits is a Sagami can and is very good.
The earlier one was an open frame Sagami, which mine is and I find it more than
acceptable.
The main problem was after the motor, mostly within the drive train.
2 Replace all the plastic gears in the gearbox with brass ones from
N.W.S.L.
3 I used both the gears on each truck and haven't had to much of a
problem.
4 Yes I also found that I had to wire the trucks together to keep the
keeper plates in place as the little plastic tabs were almost useless and broke
off after the first atd bothtempt at dissassembly.
I
5 Any good light grease is fine.
6 I also replace the M.D.C. universals with standard Athearn ones as I
found these to be smoother and helped this loco to run better.
Consider the challenge and have a go,
liGraham Collins.mit and about ten on the straight and flat.
Mike Davison
>What kind of luck have you had with the other Roundhouse Locos? They
>seem to be reasonably priced. How well do they run? How difficult are
>they to construct? Any pointers? How about a suggestion on which one to
>start with?
l've been fairly pleased with the "old-timer" Consolidation, model number
480 I think. The price is reasonable and it offers a good starting point
for a circa 1900 NP loco kitbash. On the downside, the tires are brass,
the details stink, and it takes a bit of work to get it to run well. There
is some on-line information about assembling a MDC kit. Take a look at
http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/bowdidge/railroad/rail-mdc.html.
cheers,
Mike
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mike Davison dav...@cs.utk.edu http://www.cs.utk.edu/~davison/ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Fredric W. Dabney
: In article
: smc...@harp.aix.calpoly.edu says...
: >
: >I have built many a roundhouse kit, <snip>
: What kind of luck have you had with the other Roundhouse Locos? They
: seem to be reasonably priced. How well do they run? How difficult are
: they to construct? Any pointers? How about a suggestion on which one to
: start with?
Conventional wisdom suggest the same remarks for all the MDC steamer
kits. New motor, re-gearing kit from NWSL makes a great improvement,
otherwise they go together fairly well, look OK.
Keep in mind that not all of their kits repesent anything beyond generic
locos of a given wheel arangment. Also, the present line does not
include a couple of models they used to offer, including a "Santa Fe"
Atlantic and a Prairie as well as a "Harriman" 0-6-0 switcher which had
all Zamak boilers. The present models a quite a bit different, using a
Zamak slug with the boiler cast in styrene over the center slug.
On the other hand, they do seem to respond well to tweaking, can be
nicely detailed (The Walthers catalog still lists hundred of steam
detailing parts) and represent a good value.
If you like Pennsy prototype, between the MDC engines with the Belpaire
firebox and the Bowser (ex-Penn-Line) you can build up a nice roundhouse
full of their engines, even if quite a few aren't quite correct. And
some of the MDC power is pretty small if you are looking for branch line
power.
However any of that may be, they fill a niche that no one else comes
close to.
Fred D.
Mark T. Ganzer
>l've been fairly pleased with the "old-timer" Consolidation, model number
>480 I think. The price is reasonable and it offers a good starting point
>for a circa 1900 NP loco kitbash. On the downside, the tires are brass,
>the details stink, and it takes a bit of work to get it to run well. There
>is some on-line information about assembling a MDC kit. Take a look at
>http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/bowdidge/railroad/rail-mdc.html.
One tip from an old Model Railroading article (Jan/Feb 85) that I have
never gotten around to trying with the "old-timer" was to replace the
brass drivers with Mantua drivers, which have a nickel plated rim and
look better. The Mantua part numbers are as follows:
2 flanged drivers - p/n 25150
1 blind driver w/ gear - p/n 25145
1 blind driver w/o gear - p/n 15156
6 short crankpins - p/n 7159
2 long crank pins - p/n 7165
They also did a number of different things from Northwest Shortline
gear replacements to cutting the boiler in half, removing the metal in
the rear half of the boiler and dropping in a Sagami 1630 motor and
NWSL enclosed gearbox (NOT something I was up to at the time). Showed
the performance that each configuration gives.
My old-timer has a Sagami 1225 motor, 2 Timewell 1/2" flywheels and
the 72:1 NWSL gears (use the large motor set and a NWSL bushing
between motor and worm gear) per an old Model RailroadER article. Runs
nice, except one of the MDC drivers is not completely round. I've just
never gotten around to replacing the drivers.
I loved the old Model RailroadING magazine (the Robert Schleicher
era). It had had lots of articles on how to make inexpensive
locomotives run well.
-Mark Ganzer
gan...@nosc.mil
TMichales
too had a big problem getting it to run smoothly. It assembled well, but
would cog up while running. He got so frustrated with it, he sent it to
Roundhouse asking for a refund (he's not very mechanical and I recall
helping him quite a bit). Surprisingly, they sent it back to him -- Fixed!
It's worked like a champ since.
I only wish someone would make a Shay in N scale! (at least a reasonable
one anyway...)
Tom Michales
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