# scratch built 1/32 scale mikado



## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

just wanted to post these and get feedback on it looks so farl


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

pardon my typing skills or lack there of but heres a picture of the sister loco to the mike


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

looks good, keep the pictures coming and tell us how you approach problems and solve them. 

Regards, Greg


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Where did the cast cylinder/saddle/smokebox come from? 
Did you make them. 
How are they machined, as they look to be in one piece? 
These are Gauge 1 are they? 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## iceclimber (Aug 8, 2010)

Looks like diecast to me.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

all of the castings are sand cast in my home foundry... i made all of the patterns myself this is a picture of the cylinder/ saddle casting after the gates were cut off


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Now THAT is cool! I always enjoyed foundry work in high school shop class. we had a great teacher who was a master professional machinist and good at the other stuff too.


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Very nice. 
They look like they are cast in aluminum, rather than bronze. 
Since they are one piece castings, then I would imagine that you are using piston valves. 
Are you adding a liner, or just using the aluminum surface for the bores? 
Are you concerned about wear? 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

david, yes i am useing piston valves.... i am useing brass pistons and valves both on cast iron liners


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Sand casting is extremely cool. Do you have any pics and discriptions of the process you went though? Also, do you make the pattern yourself? If so pics and captions of you doing that would also be totally cool.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

here is a picture of the wheel pattern.... made of just simple pine


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

this is the sand mold used to cast the drivers


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

these are the raw driver castings for both locomotives


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Are your castings aluminum? Do you bush (sleeve) the cylinders or add tires to the wheels?


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

yes i have pressed liners made of cast iron in the cylinder castings.... no i didnt put tires on the wheels... i figure i can do that when they wear out


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Very very cool.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

i just wanted to say thanks to all who have given such great feedback.... it great to have encouragement from fellow train people


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Its an inspiration seeing your work too.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

heres a closer picture of the running gear during tuning.... was very excited to see it run on air


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

You are doing a fine job of her! I like the brass side rods. I look forward to seeing your progress.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

thank you... i was thinking of nickel plateing the rods and running gear


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

just wanted to add some updated photos on my mikado project








side view with the tender taking shape








backhead view with some fittings installed








smokebox view.... still need to soldier boiler


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice work. You are building a Heavy Mikado? A friend of mine has a scratchbuilt Heavy Mike..


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

yes its a heavy mike.... at least as close as i can get..... im building completely blind as i dont not have any blueprints


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## StevenJ (Apr 24, 2009)

I know you told me a lot about this build in private, and the mountain. I was curious, since you have the molds and everything, if you were planning on building more? I don't collect gauge 1 myself but I could see an interest in a loco like this! Good work, I hope you had a safe trik home!


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

thanks for fireing up your locos for me...... enjoyed the experiance...... yes with the patterns i have i can make as meny as i want..... keep in mind that some of the castings can be easily adapted for use on other scales also


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

I know that this is coming a little late in the game, and may not be anywhere near the particular prototype that you're attempting to model. Hopefully, you'll find it of some use to your project. Feel free to download a copy of both file if you desire.









USRA - Standard Light Mikado (PDF 3.37MB)[/b]

USRA - Standard Heavy Mikado (PDF 4.06MB)[/b]


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

thanks steve i think i can make good use of these


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

You're more than welcome, glad they'll be of use to you.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

I come from a machine tool family (none of which landed in my genes) but when a project like yours is displayed, I look upon it with awe, admiration and a great deal of appreciation. 

Very, very nicely done.....


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

thank you Stan.... beleave it or not i have no formal training.... a friend of mine gave me a small lathe about 10 years ago.... i just grabed some metal and taught myself.... made alot of mistake along the way... but ive had alot of fun!


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## iceclimber (Aug 8, 2010)

What differs between a heavy and light Mikado. Well done, btw.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

they are almost the same.... main differances being cylinder size, boiler size and driver sizes


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By iceclimber on 04 Jan 2013 10:23 PM 
What differs between a heavy and light Mikado. Well done, btw. 

Sorry to sound facious... but the heavy versions were heavier than the light versions! When the U.S. govt. took over the RR in WW-1 the administration got all the big designers together (major manufacurers and RRs that made their own) to design a "standard" locomotive to take advantage of commonality of parts. But there is no ONE design that fits all needs. They came up with 8 wheel arrangements and 4 of those were designed with 2 models, a "Light" and a "Heavy" so there were 12 designs total.

Some RRs could not handle a heavier engine, but needed the wheel arrangement for the power they needed. Other RRs could handle heavier engines but had different power requirements that necessitated the bigger engine.

If a "Light" or "Heavy" model was by itself, only someone familiar with locomotives would be able to tell the difference. If they were parked next to each other, most people might be able to detect that one was smaller and the other was bigger. Even looking at the numbers that denote size, there was not a lot of diffference between them... adhesive weight of a Light might be only 10 or 20 ton less than the Heavy. The Light Mike was only 8 ton less than the Heavy Mike. Cylinders might only have a 1 inch difference in diameter.

See: http://orion.math.iastate.edu/jdhsm...ususra.htm

Appliances (generators, injectors, bells, lights, etc.) could be interchanged amongst some of the engines so there was a small amount of commonality across all the designs, but the big thing was that any manufacturer could build any of the class of engines to deliver to the RRs and they would be substantially the same locomotive from each manufacturer and due to the common design the RRs didn't need to have hugs stocks of wear parts (brasses, piston rings, seals, etc.) for locos from several manufacturers.

The ironic thing is that the 1st locomotive of the designs (B&O Light Mikado #4500) was delivered just 4 months before the war ended. But the designs are so good that the RRs continued to order the models long after the war was over with only minor alterations, and later designs often followed the same principles as the USRA designs.


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## Nutz-n-Bolts (Aug 12, 2010)

Very Impressive endeavor Pickleford. Thanks for sharing your great work. Ive been hoping to venture in to some sand casting myself and seeing yours is very inspirational. So much for a lack of serious build threads here on MLS, this will be another great one! 

PS: Thanks for the PDF's Steve. Those are great.


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

fitting the backhead in that tiny cab


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

finally got my boiler all soldered up








after a soak in the pickleing solution
















testing the alochol wicks.... so far so good... no leaks








starting on the johnson bar assembly


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## Mk (Jan 7, 2013)

That looks so cool! 
Are you planning on putting a feed water pump on the axles? 
How are you going to regulate the steam to the engines? 
With what metal have you made the frames? 
Now after I've seen someone cast alu wheels I'm going to try it myself


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

that is the throttle valve located right above the johnson bar.... just havent hade a handle for it yet..... the frames are made from steel.... no im just going to have a feedwater pump in the tender....simplifies the plumming alot


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## Mk (Jan 7, 2013)

Do you have any photo's of your progress on the valve gear, with what did you make the valve gear? 
Nickel plating the rods will look nice. That will be one impressive loco when it's finished!


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## bille1906 (May 2, 2009)

Beautiful work 
You can use Liquid Tin on the rods which is a tin plating solution used to tin plate printed circuit boards prior to soldering. 
It is sold at electronic stores. It has a nice low sheen finish which looks very natural. You just dip the rods in the solution for 3 - 5 minutes and rinse off. 
You can see it on my Uintah build log on this forum page


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

thank you bill i think ill look into that..... i thought it looked really good on your locomotives


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

marinus.... i dont really have any good pictures of makeing the valve gear... but ill take a few closeups for you...... the valve gear is all made of brass


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## Mk (Jan 7, 2013)

I will appriciate the pics I've been searching on the internet for a Mikado and found this one http://www.sidestreetbannerworks.com/locos/loco69.html 
Now I know why the backhead is so complicated, because it really is that way  I think your'e loco looks great!


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

finaly got ho hydo test my boiler.... no leaks cant wait to steam it up








started brass work on tender








close up of one of the tender trucks








here it is with both trucks..... decided after alot of thought to buy the wheels from accucraft.... saved me alot of work


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## pickleford75 (May 3, 2012)

marinus..... i will get those pics posted for you.... right now i have the locomotive disassembled to finish up a few small things i can take some pics for ya when i put it back together... anything specific you would like pictures of?


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