Beefy Shay

[Dave_D]

I suddenly have time do do things I love doing again!

I was going to join the challenge but then noticed it ends Saturday the day before I officially retire.

No matter, I'm just going to make it my personal challenge.

I choose to finish up some things I have started, God knows there are enough to choose from.

At the top of the list are my diesel critter and this.

I don't remember starting a thread on this but I was fiddling with it while I was also working on the Junk Yard Dog.

So............

Long ago, in a Galaxy far far away, I dabbled in some 1/32n whatever.













































Well it sits on a Shay chassis and as I had no intention of pursuing the scale I decided to do a bash of this bash....so to speak.

A fellow modeler, Keven Spady, posted some photos of his layout which I believe is called the Puddin River Lumber Co.

One of the photos was of a Shay he had bashed using the boiler from a Bachmann Climax.

I knew right away I HAD to have one of my own!

I stripped everything back to the chassis and started hacking at an old climax cab I had in my parts box, as well and making an oil and water tank out of
a piece of Oak scrap wood, and some sheet and tube styreen.







This was pretty much where I was at with it at the time.





Everything there was pretty cramped up there ,and I didn't like how the scratch built cab front was going then Covid hit and I went all work very little play.

I decided to shelve the cab idea I had and turned to a Banta laser cut cab.

I have some photos of my progress from here but need to resize them before posting.

I'll try do do that later this evening.

Cheers!

Dave

[CNE1899]

Dave,
Very cool! I am taking up several seats in the front row so I can stretch out and enjoy the build. I like both versions so far.

Scott

[TRAINS1941]

Hey buddy good to see you back with us.

Beautiful work as usual I'll be following for sure!

[k9wrangler]

Interesting project, enjoy it…we will

[Rick]

Dave, good to have you back and playing again.

[Dave_D]

Hi Scott, glad to have you with me.

Jerry my friend, always good to know your about and keeping me on my toes.

Karl, Build it I must! There is no try, there is only DO! lol
I never knew you were up dair by Manistique!
My first route was out to Naubinway,St. Ignace, Cedarville, Pickford, Kinross and up to Sault St. Marie. on the first day, I did the 2 stores
in Manistique on my way back to Escanaba on day 2. I loved that route.

As I said earlier I went with a Banta Model works Climax cab.

The Shay cab has that large square opening. In hindsight I should have used it, as I ended up making a patch for this one anyway. Oh well.


I trimmed the lower left corner on the front and lower right corner on the engineers side so it would keep the Shay
cylinders exposed which you will see coming up.
As I'm using the forums server for storage I'll try to keep photos to a minimum or at least not as many as I used to.







As it is a Shay I wanted/needed to keep the boiler offset to allow for how the engine is mounted.So I had to trim the opening
to allow for that. I ended up nicking the window but there was no helping that if I wanted the cab to sit square to the frame.
I'll hide that later.





That also meant that it opened a gap on the other side of the boiler.

I had the boys in the shop make up a patch for that as I mentioned earlier.
I mounted it just below the center set of windows.
I also made a cylinder cover but the brass bar stock I have on hand was too narrow, Ill have to get some wider stuff or just
leave them out in the open, I have no problem with that.





The rest of the cab went together as instructed.







I taped off the floor to keep the wood color of those boards and sprayed Vallejo Hemp on the interior walls, let that dry then packed the cab with torn tissue and sprayed the outside of it with rattle can flat black primer.

Something tells me I'll be getting some grief some some of you for using "Hemp" won't I Jerry.




Cheers everyone!
Dave

[Larryc]

Dave great job so far....should be an interesting build. If I recall the "Junk Yard Dog" was a pretty sweet engine when you were finished. Looking forward seeing how this one turns out.

[Dave_D]

Thanks Rick! It's really nice to be back playing.

Larry, Thanks!

That one is not complete yet, still need to wire it up with sound and lights. Soon!

I painted some trim on the cab with the Hemp color this time using a brush, as well as finishing the roof.







For the roof I used black construction paper sprayed with flat red primer and dry brushed with sandstone colored craft paint.






Some of the bits I plan to use on it.

The whistle, bell and air tank I reclaimed from the 1/32 bash.

By turning the air tank 180° you can't see the dents and such which I don't want on this one.
I may just make another longer one.

The steam generator, compressor and lever chain binder are Wisemann castings as well as the reclaimed whistle, large bell and round kerosene can, toolbox and valve.

The headlamp and mount are extras from Loco # 50, a 4-4-0 resin kit from Cumberland shops. ( a future project. )

Everyone knows where the Jerry can comes from and the small bell and pop valve are from a Bachmann 2-6-0 I used for my 2-6-2T locomotive.






Here it is mocked up with some of the parts including a spark arrestor I soldered up with brass tubes, sheet and craft store brass screen.






Back to the bench!
Cheers,
Dave

[Dutchman]

Good to see you back at the bench (and the Forum), Dave. I'll be following along.

[Philip]

Danger Will Robinson! The original diagonal boiler patch was something!

New version looking great!

Happy Retirement Dave!

[Dave_D]

Bruce and Philip, Thanks guys! Glad you dropped by.

Busy day today with appointments and errands so not a whole lot of time at the bench.

This evening I had some free time and, after studying some shay photos, I was able to do some plumbing for the compressor.

I used .35 and, .20 bronze wire that I bent and formed with a needle nose pliers and massaged with my fingers.









I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

Lots more time available tomorrow.

Cheers!
Dave

[slimrails]

Excellent work, Dave!

[Dave_D]

Thanks Slim, much appreciated.

This morning I tried my hand at scratching together an exhaust pipe.



I grabbed a bit of a parts spur.




I marked out where I thought the bends should be with a pencil and
using a heat gun, I slowly warmed it and made bends at those marks.







Then I channeled Jack Work as well as I could and made the impression of elbow Joints
by cutting 1mm thin strips of painters tape and wrapping them around on themselves where I thought they might be.






I'm hoping the paint will seal the tape and dry brushing them will add to the illusion. Fingers crossed!









The air tank is hiding it a little more than I want. I might make another a little smaller in diameter and save the other for another time.



Enjoy you day everyone!

Dave

[friscomike]

Dave, the detail parts are really setting this kitbash apart. It is good to see someone detailing locos and making the parts. Persist! ~mike

[CNE1899]

Dave,
The cab looks great, nice colors! I like the construction paper top, gives it a nice texture.
The details look good and the plumbing is very precise and straight, with good bends.
Nice idea you borrowed for the pipe joints.

Scott