Kit 3 : The front pony, coupling & connecting rods and feed pump
Lots of bits in kit 3 :o)
Axle driven feed pump, includes pump body, ram, banjos, banjo bolts,
gaskets, O rings & ball bearings which are the valves
Feed pump eccentric strap
Connecting rods
Coupling rods sets
Crank pin cap nuts
Coupling chain
Various nuts & bolts
2 wheels & axle
Pony frame
Axle bracket
Spring bracket & horizontal spring rod
Guard irons (aka cow horns)
Top nut, vertical spring rod and sliding nut
Various springs
Pivot bolt (not in photo, it's currently in the pony pivot block)
Various bolts & split pins.
I've got some little watch makers cases for the small bits. They are cheap ally tins which each contain 12 small round tinlets with clear plastic tops - ideal for keeping the various small parts safe.
I decided to fit the axle driven feed pump before painting the frames, since this also needs painting. I've decided to paint it red; the same colour as the inside of the frames. I believe that the inside of the frames were painted red so that oil leaks showed up easily.
I've made a start on the front pony. Nothing too difficult here - just three parts bolted together. I have noticed that while there are oil holes in the ally axle bracket, they haven't been drilled through the bearings. Nothing too difficult to rectify, but I'm surprised that this hasn't been done.
The stone guards (aka cow horns) were a bit fiddly. These needed the edges all filing off, and the bolts were too long and needed cutting down.
The feed pump came next, simply because I was on a roll with assembling the chassis. This was quite straight forward, just make sure that you get the banjo bolts the right way round. I didn't tighten them fully as I'm sure they will need to be loosened to fit the pipe work.
The eccentric strap and ram are also fitted.
The pump goes in and out when I turn the wheel round !! Unfortunately I can't see any way of testing the pump until I steam, or at least test on air.
The coupling rods need the cast finished taken off with emery to simulate a machined finish. This is taking ages with Emery paper. Hopefully I'll be able to find a flap wheel in a tool shop soon........
Here is a before and after shot.
The coupling rods have been attached, but only loosely as they will have to come off when I want to carry on polishing them.
I found that I had to run a 4BA tap down the holes in the crank pins before the screws would go in fully.
Now I've got the pony wheels and pony painted I can complete the front pony. My trusty Black & Decker and a 2mm drill bit soon drilled out the missing oil holes.
The wheels were easier to glue on the axle than the instructions suggested. I glued one wheel in place. When that was dry I pushed the axle through the pony. Then I applied a little drop of Loctite to the inside of the wheel, rather than the axle. Now when you push the wheel on the excess is pushed out the outside of the wheel, not inside and over the axle and bush. Clever eh ?????
Now I've discovered why the instructions tell you to put the horizontal spring rod in before fitting the wheels !! The wheels cover the holes :o(
That meant I had to remove the spring bracket, fit the spring rod, and then bolt the spring bracket back in place. That was a little fiddly as the spring rod got in the way of the bolts !! Grrrrr........ Never mind - I got there in the end.
Here is the pony fitted to the chassis.
Now I've got 8 wheels on my wagon :o) I've also got a nice 1M length of track to stand it on. Now I can push it up and down the track making chuff chuff noises (Well, it's not really long enough for that......) More importantly it means that the wheel flanges aren't digging grooves in the table top !! The track was my birthday present :- much better than slippers :o)
All I've got to do now is finish the coupling and connecting rods, and kit 3 will be completed. I'm not sure whether I'm going to fit the little bit of chain or not. It's only cosmetic and I don't think it looks that good.
I've finished polishing one pair of coupling rods. I attacked them with an 80 grit flap wheel, and then finished off with 80 grit emery by hand. This gave a ncie sort of brushed finish that looked about right to me.
Current weight : 18.2 Kgs