Barry Bogs'  1/22.5  scale Union Pacific  Big Boy  4018 Cylinders and Rods - Jan 1st, 2021

The boys in the casting shop made the masters for the cylinders, rods and valve gear. After those were finished, the molds and then the castings were made. The castings for the rods were made with steel rebar embedded in them for strength. Once the rods were made, the ends were drilled out and sleeve bearings were inserted by the boys in the machine shop. With the rods ready, the boys in the erection shop then fitted them to the drivers. The machine shop boys helped get the drivers in quarter, and tested out each chassis to make sure everything is running smoothly. Of course since each chassis bends between drivers 2 and 3, there is additional issues that arise. The connecting rod between drivers 2 and 3 has a slot in it that is hidden behind the main rod. Well, when one of the boys made the master, he got it a little too long and now it sticks out a little too far, so I am going to have them remake the rod and mold, so that it looks like it should. Oh the fun.... It feels like the boys are building two complete locomotives at this point. They are doing the same step on each chassis, so that they will both be finished at the same time. The next step is the valve gear. That is going to be tedious to get it all to work right, but that is just part of the fun?   - Barry

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Page created  1/12/2021