# K-36 At Last



## fkrutzke (Jan 24, 2008)

I just finished unpacking my K-36 and will post my initial impressions.

First : Accucraft has finally hit upon a very succesful scheme for packaging their products. Other than a few lose parts due to being shaken to death by transit, ABSOLUTELY NO DAMAGE. Nor any indication of possible risk to damage.

GREAT JOB ACCUCRAFT

Second : There were a few lose screws on the loco. One screw on the Engineer side air tank had fully unscrewed itself but was contained within the tissue paper. Transit bouncing had also caused the loco coupler pin to pop out leaving the coupler and a washer also to be foung in the tissue.

Third : The tender truck side frames on one side had unscrewed themselves in shipping and the 4 screws and 4 springs were to be fouind in the tissue.

Fourth : A close examination reveals that this is probably the BEST, HIGHEST QUALITY, item that Accucraft has produced. Detail is flawless, everything fits . No loose parts, no sloppy assembly, even better than usual paint. The axels are beafey, the running gear solid, and ABSOLUTELY NO SLOP in the siderods and bearings.

Accucraft, you have outdone yourselves this time. It is obvious that Cliff's input has been taken to heart. Cliff, our hat is off to you.

This, of course is a very quick first report, but I'll report more as I get a chance to dig a little further. 

Torry


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## topshed (Jan 20, 2008)

Sounds great! (looking forward to the video!!!)


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## Anthony Duarte (Dec 27, 2007)

Torry, 
I can't wait to see some pics and video! 

I was at the warehouse on Monday to pick up a couple reefers and a water pump for my C-19, and I got a chance to see the K-36. It's a beautiful engine, and even has what I beleive to be a new feauture - a vale that blows hot steam into the tender water bath to keep the water warm! I thought that was very cool. 

I also got to see the climax and 1:20.3 SP 4-6-0 #8. Both beautiful engines, and the photos that Dwight posted of the climax don't do justice to how good it really looks. 

As for the 4-6-0, WOW. I'm not sure if I should share this, but I was told to preorder now, as the price will go up January 1st. 

I hope everyone has a great time with their winter running! 

-Anthony


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Torry
Good to have you posting regularly. Looking forward to your continued review and possible coal conversion of a K-36.


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## JEFF RUNGE (Jan 2, 2008)

Torry 
I'm a bit confused as you list several items that fell apart in shipping but in "Fourth" item you say " No Loose parts" ?? 
A bit of Loctite would keep those screws from shaking loose during transit... 
Guess there will be at least one of these at DH. I expect to see the first "ride behind" in gauge one... hehe 
What is the boiler volume on these ??


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## David Rose (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Jeff, 

Not to answer for Torry, but I'm pretty sure what he means by 'no loose parts', is no sloppy tolerances. For example, some C-19 and 4-4-0 drive rod bushings were a lot bigger than the crank pins, so they were pretty loose when you pushed them back and forth, but not ready to fall off so to speak.


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## fkrutzke (Jan 24, 2008)

Second Look - More on the K-36 

Build quality and materials is quite high. Although the cab roof is the standard etched brass with a finished thickness of .032 the cab sides, also with etched detail, finish off to a heavy .060. Being etched, not punched from the backside like the K-27 for instance, the rivit detail is CRISP. The cab roof is hindged using the now standard Accucraft system of a wire bale that articulates the roof to hang off one side, in this case the right side. The cab also has sliding side windows and, as usual, the front cab doors open. 

The steam dome is removable and of stamped/spun brass sheet. It is held to a machined collar that fits around and is held to the safety valve by a set screw. The dome is held to this collar by the front, simulated, safety valve, which when unscrewed releases the dome. 

The inside of the cab is also has simulated shelves/cabinets on both the engineer and fireman sides. One item to note, the johnston bar when in forward position, is very close to the cabinet on that side, and trying to move it out of its detent is slightly hampered by the cabinet. The quadrant the johnson bar is piveted on flexes slightly and the johnston bar will hit the cabinet before it fully comes out of its detent. For those who will RC the reverse, this will not cause a problem. 

The backhead is fitted with the usual controls but includes a whistle valve, looks copied from Bob Weltyk, that has a hose connected to it that can feed steam to the tender tank to help warm the water around the butane tank. The boiler is VERY LARGE, 85 mm Dia. X 390 mm long. It has 2 burner tubes and should easily steam the locomotive. The smoke box door is hinged and opens and closes smartly. The smokebox is very large with a sizable square hole in the bottom. The smokebox front removes with the typical 3 small screws, one on top and the other two at about 4 and 8 o'clock positions. 

The drivers are very stiffly sprung with a large amount of verticle travel. The trailing truck is loosly sprung to keep weight on the drivers while the leading truck is more heavily sprung to guide the loco through curves. The pilot, while being more sturdy than that on other Accucraft products, should NOT BE USED to lift the loco. The buffer beam, though is very sturdy, and together with the cylinders a good place for lifting. The rear of the locomotive has a rod/bar that runs from side to side just in front of the drawbar. This bar can not take any load, and mine was broken on one side, Whether I did it unpacking and initially lifting the loco or it was done in shipping or packing at the factory, I can not say. By the way, replacing this bar with a piano wire would be a great way to hang the grates for a coal fired version. 

The tender is also finely detailed. Tender sides, also etched, finish out to .041. It contains a moderately sized butane tank, a well made and smooth operating tender pump. The water tank takes up the front 2/5 of the tender and the back wall is not removable. The tender tank also has a hollow tube running through it from the back side of the water tank and exiting the front wall. This is, I presume , to allow for running RC wiring. The cover over the back portion of the tender is removable by two screws on its sides towards the front. It could probably use a screw or two in the back also, and this would be easy to put in. See photo where I am lifting the back edge.

As mentioned before, the fit and finish are supurb, other than a couple of items where screws shook lose in shipping, everything fit tight and correctly. 

Attached are some photos, in no particular order, showing the loco and reflecting some of the coments above. 

Torry


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## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By fkrutzke on 30 Dec 2009 03:38 PM 
Second Look - More on the K-36 


The inside of the cab is also has simulated shelves/cabinets on both the engineer and fireman sides. 





The "simulated shelves/cabinets" are provided as shrouds for throttle & j-bar servos. They're a little big as cabinets to allow the Engineer and Fireman to properly sit next to the windows


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## ETSRRCo (Aug 19, 2008)

Wow that is massive. Do you have any pics of the whole locomotive?


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## Anthony Duarte (Dec 27, 2007)

Posted By Chris Scott on 30 Dec 2009 04:43 PM 
Posted By fkrutzke on 30 Dec 2009 03:38 PM 
Second Look - More on the K-36 


The inside of the cab is also has simulated shelves/cabinets on both the engineer and fireman sides. 





The "simulated shelves/cabinets" are provided as shrouds for throttle & j-bar servos. They're a little big as cabinets to allow the Engineer and Fireman to properly sit next to the windows











Yes, that's what Cliff told me as well. He said those "cabinets/shelves" were put for easier RC control installation.


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## fkrutzke (Jan 24, 2008)

Today I finally found the time to go over the K-36 and tighten the several bolts, etc. that had shaken loose in shipping. One of the truck screws would not grab its threads, the cast truck frame had a wallowed out hole and the screws are relative short. This was resolved by threading the hold deeper and using a longer 2mm countersunk screw. 

The rod that extends from one side to the other just in front of the drawbar, appeared initially to have the threaded porton and nut on one side broken off. Instead this piece is threaded with a nut on the left side only. The other side has a small portion turned down to a smaller diameter that fits into the right side bracket with no nut. Simply straightening the rod solved the problem. 

I also had the opportunity to take some detail photos of the loco. As mentioned earlier, the etched detail, simulated appliances, piping and general quality of assembly is exquisite. 

I'll post some of these under a new thread shortly. 

Torry


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## FH&PB (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the all the good pics, Torry! It looks really, really nice. 

And yet, they are still shipping $5k locomotives with an empty headlight shell. I just don't understand that.


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