I think I would go with Kozo, never heard a bad word about his designs which is more than can be said for any of the English/ UK designers. Having the Kozo books already is a bonus as they are not cheap thing to purchase. Don’t worry about too many projects on the go, I must have a dozen. If I live to 150 I might finish half of them!

I find having too many projects on the go can be overload, you never seem to get anything finished

Roy,

I have also struggled with the multi project problem. I resolved it by asking myself the following;

'If I only ever manage to build one and never get round to the others – for whatever reason – which would I regret not finishing?'

For me, the answer was easy.

Phil H

I believe the Virginia is big for it's gauge, but never seem to sell for very much on Station Rd.

Roy,

You have quite quickly made your decision regarding which engine which is a great start.

I'd get the drawings and manual (if there is one) to check the suspension issue that you might have and strip the whole thing back down to component parts. Even if that means removing/ drilling out the rivets. Why? If you don't do it now, I reckon you will end up doing it later and you will probably save a lot of time.

You might even end up re-skimming the wheels when you get round to measuring the run out, the quartering or the differences in diameter. Better to do it now than find that you can't get the coupling rods to fit properly later.

Make the frame casting pristine with a file and emery. It will take you about a day. Well worth it.

Just my opinion.

Phil H

Roy if you told us roughly where you are maybe there is someone close you could ask for advice.

Edited By Baz on 22/10/2021 14:09:16

Roy,

You may already be aware of this, but, there is an issue with the boiler as designed for this loco, so, when you come to this item I suggest that you measure and calculate very carefully.

In brief, as drawn the firebox fouls the suspension. Narrowing the firebox and raising the boiler a little 'solves' the conflict. The firebox is also too-long, this results in the blowdown valve only fitting with great difficulty unless re-sited.

You may wish to add a shoulder to the crankpins to save them scuffing the wheels.

Not sure about the cause of the conflict between your (dummy?) springs and the wheels – depending on how advanced the work on springs and axleboxes is and how-much 'reworking' you are prepared to do you may have to resort to some judicious grinding there. The options need careful consideration following a detailed look and measure.

One of the regular posters/visitors to Model Engineering Clearing House forum has built one of these locos, and I recall that another has restored one.

Regards,

Phil

Edited By Weary on 22/10/2021 17:07:18

Hi Roy,

The 8 wheeler (what the Americans used to call the 4-4-0) is a fantastic loco to model. Well worth it!

The large scale had a recess cut-out at the bottom of the boiler by the back axel-box which is easy to do in the model when you get to that point. The blower can be moved to the back.

Changing the pan heads for CSK should solve the clash you spoke of with the wheels. On the large scale these hangers went through the frames not round them, which gave more clearance. The front driver with the eccentric’s should have just enough play for suspension movement. The back can have a little more. Provided the front bogie can swivel and move laterally the loco will stay on even the tightest bends.

You need to decide early on how you're going to fit the reversing lever (Johnson bar). Some connect to the boiler and others to the frames. With our little boilers connecting to the boiler is probably second choice.

If you keen to spend a little more time on the build it is worth it (in my humble opinion) to make the suspension prototypical which is fully compensated. You would need to modify or remake the equalizer bar and replace the springs, but the loco will glide over even the roughest track.

My two cents worth…

No, the axlebox should rest on the keeper plate unloaded. Normally the running position is on the center line of the cylinders.

With the axels its up to you. You'll ask 5 different people and you'll get as many answers. Personally for my 3.5g I used retaining compound. For my 5g locos I use press fits and if I undershoot I just use a little retaining compound on that wheel. My 71/4g is keyed and press fit.

You going to find many mistakes on any build, but the fact that these locos were built is a good indication that any problem can be solved! looking forward to more pics!