# Building 1:20.3 Log Loader



## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

I recently completed the last 3 of 4- Russel type log cars ( http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/8/aft/111109/afv/topic/Default.aspx ). Jason Brown, right here on MLS, suggested that all I needed now was a log loader. SO, HERE GOES!!
Of course I had been already gathering plans & pictures on log loaders & cranes for some time, but now I’m ready to move forward with the planning and drawings.

Here’s my current planning for a 1:20.3 scale Log Loader:












The 2 truck flat cars are a scale 16’ 6” long by 6’ 5” wide. The open style cab is a scale 13’ 9” long, 8’ 1’’ wide at the base and 12’ 10” tall. The boom’s maximum radius is a scale 27’.
The Cab Frame members are ¼” x ½” spruce. The 3.125” circle represents the top surface that supports the turning of the cab and boom around a pivot point. The rectangular beam in the center is support for a 6-32 pivot bolt. The Cab’s overall height is 7 5/8” (base of frame to top of the boiler’s stack). The Cab frame is 8.125“ long and 4.805“ wide. The center stringers are placed 2.460” apart to match the width of the hoist motor’s frame width. A brass Bracket will be made for Boom attachment to the front of the Cab’s frame. 










The Flat Car Frame is 9 3/4“ long and 3.250” wide (not including the end beams) and is made from ½” x ¼” spruce. The 3.780” long End Beams are made from two 3/8” x 3/8” pieces stacked on one another.
Again, the circle near the center of the frame represents the surface that supports the turning of the cab and boom around a pivot point, this time it’s the bottom half of the pivot structure. The other two square pieces towards each end are the attachment points for the trucks. This bottom of the center sections will have a 1/32” thick plywood floor to hold buckshot for added weight and to lower the center of gravity. The second flat car, sometimes called the Idler Car is identical in frame dimensions, but there’s no need for the pivot point pieces. The Log Loader’s flat car will have a pair of brake wheels to control each truck’s brake shoes on each of 4 brake beams, all for show, not functional.










The Spider assembly (the pivot structure). This is the proverbial lazy-susan assembly. As shown earlier, it’s sandwiched between the bottom of the cab frame and the top of the Flat Car frame. This is an adaptation from the “spider” shown on Ted Stinson’s 1:20.3 scale Wrecking Crane, Plan set #83-B which was published in Garden Railway Magazine in Dec. 2007. Two wooden disks, 3.125” in diameter x 3/16” thick have a milled recessed area where 3/16” diameter x ¼” long dowel pieces will roll as he cab is turned. These dowel pieces act as ball bearings. Each dowel piece is drilled to accept 1/16” diameter escutcheon pin, which pass through a hole in a brass strap ring, then secured to a central pivot point, in this case, soldered to a central fender washer. The cab & flat car frames will be held together with the spider in between using a 6-32 bolt, washers and a locknut.










The boom will made from cedar doweling which will be finished/weathered to resemble tree logs. The boom is 21 feet in length and a scale 6’ wide at the base. It’ll be made to simulate 10 inch diameter logs. I’ll use threaded brass rods to secure the boom pieces in place.














As mentioned early, the Idler Car is built basically the same structurally as the Log Loader’s Flat Car. In the following drawing, I’ve superimposed the boom over the flat car. The boom’s narrow end will sit on a pedestal to keep it off the deck. At the head-end of the car, a removable stake and rail enclosure will be used to for storage of extra logging tongs, alternate hoisting hooks, and other supplies need for the log loader. The rings attached to the side of the car’s frame will be used for chain restraints. 











A set of elevation drawings for an AH&D Hoist Engine (circa 1914) will be used as a guide for the Log Loader’s power. I will be building a non-functional Hoist engine, but hopefully, with enough detail to avoid looking like a toy. This 2 cylinder version has 2 – scale 2’6” dia., x 23.5” wide drums used to control the boom elevation and logging tongs. From the top of the engine’s base to the top of the boiler’s stack is a scale 10’ 11 1/27”. The base length is a scale 7’ 8 1/2” and the width is 4’ 2”. The boiler diameter will be 3’ 3”. The ¼” x ½” spruce frame sides will be routed to simulate C-channel and finished to represent cast iron. Not shown in my planning drawing are the steam control valves, steam & exhaust piping, steam gauge, trycocks, sight glass, safety valve, and whistle, etc., but I’ll include a list of the detail parts later on. The Idler car will have one brake wheel to control a pair of brake shoes on each of 4 brakes beams, again not functional.











Even though this hoist engine will be non-functional for the most part, it’ll have drum gears to give it some realism and the drums will be made to revolve along with working ratchets. At the end of each drum’s axle will be a crank handle (normally the clutch control) will be used to control the boom’s elevation and the logging tong and can be manually operated. The 1.545” dia., 3/16” thick gears are from Stock Drive Products (www.sdp-si.com). Since they are nylon, they will be finished to represent steel. Between the Drum Gear and the Ratchet there are 2 clutch friction plates which will be cut from Balsa. The ratchet wheel is a 1.5” dia. saw blade from Ozark #5090. A little filing will make this look & work more like a ratchet than a saw blade. The center of the drum is ½”dia. x 1 5/32” long doweling drilled to accept the drum’s 3/16”dia. axle. The other side of the drum will be cut from aircraft plywood, 3/16” thick x 1.545” dia. to match the gear size. The Gypsy Heads will be turned from small wood spools I picked up at Michael’s Crafts. The drum support frames will be cut from ¼” thick aircraft plywood. The flywheels are 1” dia. hardwood disks, also from Michael’s Crafts. The cylinders are 5/8” doweling with ¼” thick basswood shaped to be the steam chest. Brake foot pedals, ratchet release controls, clutch control handle and the boiler’s diagonal support bars will all be fashioned out of brass. And lastly the 2” dia. boiler will be cut from black plastic ABS pipe, while its top cone and stack will be turned from a single piece of 1 5/8” dia. doweling.


I’ve decided to use Archbar Trucks with Sierra Valley wheel sets coming from Ozark Miniatures, # 1070. I bought the trucks on eBay from MLS member and seller Con49079.


The first picture shows what you get. The second picture shows the truck assembled where I’ve added the springs. I'll be using 24 inch (1:20.3 scale) wheels for the Flat Cars. I'll also be cutting off the coupler structure, since I'll be using Link & Pin Couplers attached to the flat car frame. 


















The Brake Beam and Shoe Assembly (Ozark Miniatures #1024) will be attached to the Truck’s upper spring beam via shaped brass rod as shown in the following drawing.











Now that I’ve finished the planning & drawings, I’ve ordered the following parts and supplies:


Ozark Miniatures Order:
Qty[/b]
*Item # / Description*

1
208 Boiler check and stop valve Qty: 2 

1
1034 Flat top steam whistle Qty: 1 

1
1019 16" brake wheel & lock paw Qty: 2 ea 

1
5009 Boiler support leg Qty: 4 

1
185 Steam gauge 6" dia Qty: 3 

1
187 Boiler water glass 

1
5008 Boiler fire door 

2
5090 saw blade small 

1
5021 Main steam valve (2) 

2
5022 Main steam "TEE" (4) 

2
5023 Main steam "ELBOW" (4) 

1
171 Large "POP" safety valve Qty: 2 

1
230 Tender water valve Qty: 2 

2
1024 8 brake shoes, 4 brake beams and ... qty: 1 set 

3
4021 1 5/8" nut on 1 " bolt NBW Qty: 20 

8
1070 Sierra Valley Wheels #3 

2
175 Small 2 pocket L&P coupler... Qty: pair


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

I wonder if using Bachmann's new donkey engine might be cheaper in the long run?


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## RonTeten (Feb 15, 2008)

I have been wanting to do one of these to. I was looking at the plans in Garden Railways . Looks like you have a good start.


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## R.W. Marty (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard,
Great project. It looks like you have done your homework and know where your build is going.
What prototype is this loader based on? 
The AH&D boiler and engine is a great choice with a less complicated design then some of the others like 
the Willamette. Somewhere back in the dusty archives of this place should be a thread on 
"growing a donkey engine" that I built a few years ago. It has some information on the AH&D engines and boilers.

Good luck on your project I look forward to enjoying your progress.
Rick Marty


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Mik on 01 Jan 2010 08:24 PM 
I wonder if using Bachmann's new donkey engine might be cheaper in the long run? OKAY Mik, I'll bite......where did you see a G scale Bachmann Donkey engine? I found a resin casting of a 1:24 scale Donkey engine for about $25, but on advanced ordering with no idea when they'll arrive. The ones on Ozark's website are well over $100.

So if you can remember where you saw these advetised, I'd like to check them out. 
Thanks, in advance.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard,

Mik might be talking about this one.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-...uctId=3301


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By R.W. Marty on 01 Jan 2010 10:33 PM 
Howard,
Great project. It looks like you have done your homework and know where your build is going.
What prototype is this loader based on? 
The AH&D boiler and engine is a great choice with a less complicated design then some of the others like 
the Willamette. Somewhere back in the dusty archives of this place should be a thread on 
"growing a donkey engine" that I built a few years ago. It has some information on the AH&D engines and boilers.

Good luck on your project I look forward to enjoying your progress.
Rick Marty
Hi Rick, thanks for the comments. I am modeling the 1890 - 1920 era. At best I can say this is freelance modeling, although elements of the project are protoypical. The AH&D Hoist engine is circa 1914. I got this from the Donkey Engine plan book#9 from the Precision Scale Co. and I followed the drawing closely. This also looks to be the hoist engine used by the late William Harris in his plan book entitled "The Steam Donkey Engine", published b Village Press Publications, Inc. I'd like to eventually replace my non-functional Hoist Engine with a live steam version using the published William Harris drawings. 

The Open Cab style is the Model F, AH&D Log Loader, that I found in their 1911 Equipment Catalog, which was published in Timber Times Magazine, Issue# 14. Booms made from a pair of logs came from a vintage advertisement for the McGiffert Log Loader in Issue# 36, again Timber Times. 

When I started the research for a log Loader back in July 09, I found a commercial model maker "Prototype Series Log Loaders" from which I lifted the Cab's, length, width, & heigth and boom length. For the life of me I can no longer find this resource.

So Rick, you can see, I can't call it prototype modeling, just a collection of prototype elements. At least they are all from the same era.
l


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## ORD23 (Jan 2, 2010)

Hi, I just purchased one off of ebay for $35. You can get them cheaper @ Trainworld (think they run about $26). I'm doing a class A shay and couldn't wait to pick up this donkey. Overall, it looks pretty cheap and maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of 1:24 to 1:29 scale. Some weathering will make this donkey look alot better. It comes on a skid or can be purchased for around $55 bucks with skid on a Bachmann flat car. Good luck, and I hope this helped.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard

Hope you don't mind, but I cleaned up your second table in your originating reply.







If I messed it up or missed anything let me know and I'll gladly make corrections.


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

Neat project!

Reminds me of the loader they have at the Cradle of Forestry in North Carolina. (They also have the Climax there!)


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By SteveC on 02 Jan 2010 05:33 AM 
Howard

Hope you don't mind, but I cleaned up your second table in your originating reply.







If I messed it up or missed anything let me know and I'll gladly make corrections. 

Thanks Steve, it looks great. I went back to reformat it, but it wouldn't let me back in to edit it. I got the message about the 180 minute "no more editing rule", but only 120 minutes had elapsed.
I'm wondering if the time zone difference is correctly considered in the calculation of time expired.

Appreciate your fixing the format for me.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Bruce Chandler on 02 Jan 2010 07:40 AM 
Neat project!

Reminds me of the loader they have at the Cradle of Forestry in North Carolina. (They also have the Climax there!)





Nice picture Bruce. I haven't been so fortunate to see one up close. 
Thanks for posting it.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By gary Armitstead on 01 Jan 2010 11:38 PM 
Howard,

Mik might be talking about this one.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-...uctId=3301

Yep, that's the one I have on order...I plan to build a flat car for it when 
it arrives.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By RonTeten on 01 Jan 2010 08:25 PM 
I have been wanting to do one of these to. I was looking at the plans in Garden Railways. Looks like you have a good start.
Ron, I didn't find any pull-out plans in Garden Railways for a log Loader....only a wrecking crane. Were you referring to an article onlLog loaders, if so what issue ???


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

Let me know if you need any more. I've got about 30 more.


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## RonTeten (Feb 15, 2008)

Howard you are right it was for a wrecker. I have been trying to figure out how to build a loader and I thought I could convert the plans into one! I don't have to know I can follow you along!!


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By maculsay on 02 Jan 2010 10:57 AM 
{snip}[/i] I went back to reformat it, but it wouldn't let me back in to edit it. I got the message about the 180 minute "no more editing rule", but only 120 minutes had elapsed. _{snip}_
No problem, glad I didn't drop anything or mess something up.









Most likely Howard, you got the message because I had the reply open in the edit mode when you attempted to open it in edit mode.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By SteveC on 02 Jan 2010 02:04 PM 
Posted By maculsay on 02 Jan 2010 10:57 AM 
{snip}[/i] I went back to reformat it, but it wouldn't let me back in to edit it. I got the message about the 180 minute "no more editing rule", but only 120 minutes had elapsed. _{snip}_
Most likely Howard, you got the message because I had the reply open in the edit mode when you attempted to open it in edit mode.



So SteveC, I just tried editing again, I selected one of my messages that was less than 120 minutes old and I was able to bring up the editing scene, but once it crossed the 120 elapsed time point, I got the message preventing an edit, even though the edit button was showing. Very weird!!


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

OK Howard, I'll put in a message to Shad to check it out.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Well it’s been 6 days since my 1st post on this subject and I’ve made progress in a number of areas.
My Aircraft Spruce and Ozark Miniatures orders arrived in the last couple of days which allowed additional progress.

While waiting for the orders, I made the parts for the 2 drum assemblies and the flywheel/cranks. The drilling and turning was accomplished on my Sherline Lathe. The axle and crankshaft supports shown below are yet to be cut from aircraft grade plywood. Once I build the Hoist Engine’s frame, I can CA the drum components to the axle.











The trucks have been prepared for assembly, the 16 springs have been cut from supply I already had and the 8 wheel sets have been weathered. Next is assembly of the trucks with the wheel sets and the weathering of the truck frames.









The boiler body was cut from a short scrap of 1.8750” outside diameter ABS pipe. The top-most part of the boiler and stack were turned from a short piece of 2” x 3”redwood heartwood that I had left over from another project. The rectangle piece of wood was mounted on a ¼” bolt armature and was too big to turn down on my Sherline Lathe. The initial rounding process was accomplished on several of my woodshop tools, radial arm saw and sanding disk. Once this was accomplished, the final turning was completed on my Lathe. I used my CAD software to make a drilling template for the rivets which will to be #18 (1.2mm dia) x 5/8” escutcheon pins. The rivet drilling was accomplished on my Sherline Mill. The wood portion of the boiler assembly as shown in the right picture is primed and sealed with a water soluble Acrylic Emulsion.


















The wood top slip fits into the boiler body and will be firmly attached when the rivets get inserted into the pre-drilled holes. The firebox door from Ozark was not able to be formed to fit the circumference of the boiler, so by using an appropriate sized hole saw, I cut a circle from some the same wood used in the top portion of the boiler. Then I cut a wood section from to outer circumference of the hole saw’s results, and then cut it to a size that fits the outer dimensions of the firebox door’s frame.

The boiler assembly will be primed with Rust-Oleum Self Etching Primer, an overkill, but that’s what I had on hand. The final finish, prior to some weathering, will be Dupli-Color’s Black Textured Metallic Coating. The boiler’s details…firebox door, whistle, safety valve, pressure gauge, trycocks, water glass, and piping will be chemically blackened prior to their installation on the painted boiler.




















The details I’m making myself are brass. So far I’ve completed the boiler support rods and the ratchet control handles. Next will be the fashioning of the 2 brake levers shown at the bottom of the picture, the piston and steam valve rods, the connecting rods, and the crosshead guides. The cylinders will be turned down from 5/8” dia. doweling. The steam chest will also be wood, and finished to resemble cast iron along with the cylinders.












In addition to doing the steps mentioned above, The next major step is to cut and assemble the wood frame for the Hoist Engine. These frame pieces will be finished to represent Cast Iron. I’ve experimented with the product called “Sophisticated Finishes” from a Company called Triangle Crafts. The first step is to prime and seal the wood with their Primer & Sealer. Next I will use their Iron Metallic Surfacer. Then I’ll add some weathering.
Anyway, that’s all for now. And please remember, your inputs are appreciated.


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Howard, 

Looking good, its going to be an impressive machine, I like the many, and different materials that you are using. 

Thanks for the photos, they add immensley to the already good topic.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By RonTeten on 02 Jan 2010 01:40 PM 
Howard you are right it was for a wrecker. I have been trying to figure out how to build a loader and I thought I could convert the plans into one! I don't have to know I can follow you along!!

Ron....feel free to follow along with your build and if you have any questions send me MLS email and I'll give you a hand.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By peter bunce on 08 Jan 2010 07:10 AM 
Hi Howard, 

Looking good, its going to be an impressive machine, I like the many, and different materials that you are using. 

Thanks for the photos, they add immensley to the already good topic. 
Hello Peter...thank you for the kind words. They are always appreciated.

I took the opportunity to go to your site and read your article on building the Dolbeer Donkey Engine, 
i.e. Ozark's kit and your mods. Superb work as as usual, my compliments.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

The weathering on the trucks included a good dusting of Badger’s “Rust” color to represent newer general rusting followed by a spotting of “Roof Brown” representing the older rust areas and finally a slight dusting on the truck’s lower edges with “Earth” to simulate splashed dirt.










I airbrushed Badger’s “Engine Black” color over the boiler to knock down the metallic aspect of Dupli-Color’s Black Textured Metallic Coating. Afterall, I only wanted the texture part of it. I shortened 100+ escutcheon pins to about ¼” and CA’d them in place. Then I put on a second coat of Engine Black to paint the brass escutcheon pins. The boiler is now ready for the final detailing at a later point. Notice to the right of the vertical line of rivets you can see my attempt at simulating the edge of the boiler’s steel plate.











Here’s a more detailed cylinder drawing:












I turned the cylinders from 5/8” dia. poplar wood doweling. It’s 7/8” long, including the end plates. A single turning includes the cylinder’s end plates--5/8” dia., the cylinder body--½” dia., and the piston rod gland (or whatever it's called)--¼” dia. with an overall length of 1 3/32”. 










The steam chest is made by first drilling a 1/2” dia. hole through a suitably sized piece of redwood heartwood, then with some cutting to size and sanding disk use to finish…out pops a steam chest. It is CA’d to the cylinder, ready for priming, sealing and painting. 


















See ya!!


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

I created a more detailed Hoist Engine Frame drawing. To get the C-channel shape of the prototypical Hoist Engine’s frame using ½” x ¼” wood, I needed to route in a 5/16” wide x 3/32” deep channel in the side frames. For the 2 forward-most cross beams, in addition to the routed channel, I additionally routed 2 oval-shaped clean through the wood; kind of making it look like a frame casting. I also used 1/16” aircraft plywood as the plate under the boiler. It is recessed into the top of the frame so that it’s flush. I used my Mill to do all of this. The frame pieces are shown held square in my magnetic gluing jig and secured by CA and pins.


























I glued in the plate under where the boiler will be placed. The wood frame was primed and sealed and then given it first coat of an iron metallic surfacer.
















That’s all for this evening.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Yesterday, I set out to make the Hoist Drum’s axle supports from ¼” thick aircraft plywood. The two axle supports are not alike. The rear drum’s supports also have the crankshaft’s pillow block. 
I added axle hole drilling crosshairs for accuracy and printed my patterns for cutting. With a little band saw and disk sander work, some jewelers saw work and a lot of filing, I got them done.








Next I did a fit check with the drums/axles, etc. Everything turned out square, so I disassembled the rear drum and started to do some 
finishing work.










After using an acrylic craft paint for the dark green elements, a metallic silver for the gypsy head and the Iron Metallic Surfacer for the Drum support frames, I assembled the drums and did the fit check and drum alignment with the Hoist’s frame. I haven’t decided on the drum assembly’s attachment method at this point…..CA or a mechanical connection.
































More later!!


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## snowshoe (Jan 2, 2008)

That is looking great so far.


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## Robert (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks great. Which part is called the Gypsy Head? I don't know a single techincal term and am always curious to learn.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard: Looking very nice. The extra time you are taking on the details will add up and pay big dividends.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By snowshoe on 14 Jan 2010 07:36 AM 
That is looking great so far. 


Thanks Shawn, it's been fun sofar. Appreciate the input.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Robert on 14 Jan 2010 11:06 AM 
Looks great. Which part is called the Gypsy Head? I don't know a single techincal term and am always curious to learn. 

Robert, the Gypsy Head is that pulley to the right of the drum. Its concave shape allows you to throw a couple of loops of rope around it and it will haul in whatever is hooked to the other end of the rope, but only if keep a little tension on the end you wrapped around the Gypsy Head. They are used on Sailing vessels also.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By xo18thfa on 14 Jan 2010 11:33 AM 
Howard: Looking very nice. The extra time you are taking on the details will add up and pay big dividends. 

Bob, thank you for the nice compliment. As in anything one does, the details payoff, but boy do they take a exhorbinant amount of time.


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Looking good so far Howard, keep it up. 

Chris


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

More progress on the cylinder and side rods, etc.
The piston rod is 1/8” dia. brass rod. The connecting rod is fabricated from 3/32” dia brass tubing with the ends fashioned from ¼” O.D. brass washers, with edges ground off (as shown in the drawing below) and then soldered to each end if the 3/32” dia. tubing. The cylinder guide assembly is made from 3/16” thick x 1/16” wide brass bar, including a cross brace to connect to the other side’s cylinder guide. To complete the 4th side of the frame, I used a 3/16” x 1/16” L-angle. The eccentric rod is fashioned from 1/4” wide x .015” thick flat strip brass and tapered using a file. It’s connected to the steam valve stem (3/32” dia. brass rod) by a pin. The valve stem is supported near its end point by a guide support post attached to the frame.











































Now back to the trucks to finish them up. The two brake shoe assemblies for each truck were made from Ozark’s #1024. I chose to suspend the 2 brake beams from the upper bolster by two 3/64” brass rods. Using a drilling template I made, a 3/64” hole was drilled through bolster on each side of the pivot point, .420” from the center. The brass rod was pre-bent to appox. a 30 degree jog in order to pass under the axles, then CA’d in place. 

























The brake beam has a pattern cast in to represent a wood grain, so a brown shade of paint was used. The brake shoe was chemically blackened and weathered as done on the trucks.










I decided to use a 10-32 screw to secure the trucks to the flat car frame, instead of the 6-32 screw as stated earlier. I will be using a ½” brass wood insert, cut down to 11/32”, to get a 10-32 thread into the frames connection point. This allow an easy removal of the trucks….no nut & bolt routine. A nylon flange bearing will be fitted in the top bolster and is long enough to extend up ¼” into the frame structure. This gives a very stable connection between the truck and the flat car frame with little side-to-side rocking.









That's it for now!!


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Made some more progress, but the details are slow going. Lots of little nigly things.
Anyway, here where I stand on the Hoist Engine:



















I still have all of the controls to mount…..clutch handles, brake peddles, ratchet handles; and then all the piping & valves. I’ll also get started on the Cab and Boom.


That’s all for now!!


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

From a picture in the1914 AH&D Co. Equipment Catalog, I made a throttle valve and its two throttle control handles. The throttle valve housing is made from 3/8” square brass bar. Each end was turned down to represent connection couplings for the 1/8” o.d. copper tubing I used for the steam piping. The center section was milled down to a 7/32” square to represent the body of the valve, leaving 3/32” at each end at the original 3/8” dimension to represent a pair of flange surfaces. Each of the flanges are scored along their length on all 4 sides to represent the valve housing flange and cover. I did this on my Mill with a thin slitting saw. Each corner of the flange is drilled to receive a 0-90 screw & nut. The valve stem housing will be 5/32” dia. brass rod, center drilled to receive the 1/16”dia. valve stem. The housing is CA’d into a 5/32” dia. hole drilled into the side of the throttle valve. Towards the end of the 2 1/4” long valve stem are 2 throttle handles spaced for the convenience of the hoist operator, made rigid by a vertical support rod.
































Among the last of the details on the Hoist Engine portion of the project are the Brake Foot pedals, the 2 ash cleanout doors and adding Ozark’s # 0230 Tender Water Valves at the end of the Drum’s Axles to represent the clutch hand-cranks, a little stretch of the imagination size-wise, but they should look OKAY. The ash cleanout doors are 1/16” thick aluminum plate, milled to have a recessed center area to add some definition. The whistle and safety valve will be piped later, since they will sit on top of the Cab’s roof.





























The piping system was developed using Ozark’s #5022 Tees and #5023 Elbows along with 1/8” dia. copper tubing. The tubing I used is a little large, s/b 3/32”, but the Ozark fittings fit the 1/8” dia. Here I’m doing a test fit check for the exhaust piping before CA’ing them in place. At the bottom of the left photo you can see the steam pipe fittings into the steam chest. On the right, starting with Ozark’s #0208 Boiler Stop Valve which will be at the top of the boiler, are the pipe fittings for the steam pipe layout.






















At this point I ran out of 1/8” copper and it's after midnight, so I’ll call it quits for the night.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

1/26/2010
OKAY, I finished the piping and added the brake pedals. With the exception of the ratchet and control handles for each of the two drums, the exterior of the Hoist Engine is done……well maybe it’ll get some weathering after the cab and it's under-carriage and the idler car are done.


























Including the overall planning, design and drawing creation, it’s been 5 weeks to get to this point….time really goes by swiftly


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Howard,

Excellent - that is looking very good, with your timeline I'd sday it has been used to a very worthwile effect!

Thanks again for all your photos and drawings - all saved in what is goig to be a looong word document.


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

I love it. That's a lot more detail than I thought you'd include and it sure does look great. This project is also a great source for parts from Ozark - I never knew they had some of that stuff.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By peter bunce on 27 Jan 2010 03:18 AM 
Hi Howard,

Excellent - that is looking very good, with your timeline I'd sday it has been used to a very worthwile effect!

Thanks again for all your photos and drawings - all saved in what is goig to be a looong word document.

Thanks Peter...I'll probably turn this thread into a formal Builder's Log when I'm done. Unfortunately, I have to let "Life" interfere with my model building every so often







, otherwise it would probably go faster.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Bruce Chandler on 27 Jan 2010 06:50 AM 
I love it. That's a lot more detail than I thought you'd include and it sure does look great. This project is also a great source for parts from Ozark - I never knew they had some of that stuff. Well actually, I've left out some details....the more hidden ones, like an actual concentric and the drive gear on the jack shaft.
As I mentiioned in an earlier message, I will add a whistle and boiler safety valve to the Cab roof. 

Yep, Ozark has a very good set of detail parts. If you order from them, ask for their Catalog CD....it does a good job of covering all their products.

Thanks for the comments, Bruce.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

The only operable parts on the Hoist Engine are the 2 drums and ratchets. This allows the boom to be elevated and the logging tongs to be hauled-in & let out. The ratchet requires a bracket so that the ratchet pawl can engage the ratchet wheel. A small spring is used to keep the pawl in contact with the ratchet wheel unless the control handle is moved to disengage it. The ratchet frame is machined out of 3/8” square brass rod. The frame length is ¾” long. The pawl is 3/16” wide by about 7/8” long. The pawl is secured by solder to the 1/6” dia. Ratchet Release Handle shaft. For these old eyes and fingers, the machining & assembling these small sized parts turned out to be the most difficult and time-consuming step in building the Hoist Engine. The drawing is a top view, while the photo is taken from underneath the Hoist Engine.























The ratchet mechanism for the front drum will be identical to the rear druml with the exception of Pawl length, its orientation with respect to the ratchet wheel and the width of the frame. The 3/8” width will be reduced to 9/32” to fit the Hoist’s frame.






Well, that’s all this morning…..goin’ to watch a 3.75" scale Live steam Decauville tank engine steam up at LALS later this morning.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

2/7/2010
I finished adding the ratchet to the front drum during this last week. The only real difference from what I stated as differences in the last message is that I had to curve the pawl upward in order to properly intersect with the ratchet wheel teeth. Here’s two pictures, the first showing the 2 Ratchet’s control handles and second from underneath, showing the 2 ratchet mechanisms, the 2 different pawl shapes, and how they intersect with the ratchet teeth.



















Not much progress was made on the Cab frame due to an out-of-town emergency hospital stay for my wife. She’s back home and doing fine. Anyway, here’s the Cab progress. 

The Cab’s frame is 8 1/8” long x 4 13/16” wide. The frame pieces, ¼” x ½” aircraft spruce are held together using dado joinery and CA. Once fabricated, the cab’s main rotational bearing (spider) will be mounted to the ½” x ½” spruce cross piece which is CA’d between the two central frame stringers. In this cross piece a 10-32 brass threaded insert is CA’d in place in a .250 dia. hole central to the cross piece. A 1/32” thick plywood floor is glued in place between the end frame and a cross piece bounded by the 2 central stringers. This is a rear frame compartment for buckshot used to achieve a counterbalance to the weight of the boom. Here I’m showing the Cab frame pieces in the gluing jig.










The 6 roof uprights and diagonal braces are ¼” square and the top plates are ¼” x 3/16”, all spruce. The roof’s arched rafters are cut from ¾” wide x 3/16” spruce and the roof stringers are 3/16” x 3/16”. The Roof’s uprights are shown in the gluing jig. Each intersection is CA’d and escutcheon pinned, including the diagonal bracing. The next 3 pictures shows fit checking of the Roof structure, the Roof’s uprights with the Cab’s frame and the final Cab assembly.

































Next will be the alignment and gluing of the Roof structure. The entire Roof structure will be removable from the Roof’s plates using Escutcheon pins in each corner. The rear section of the Roof’s center stringer will be cut out, over which will be placed the cupola, providing space for the top portion of the boiler and piping.
That’s it for this week.


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## Robert (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard

This continuous to be a great looking project. Thanks for making the effort of posting the progress but most importantly glad to hear all is well, at least now, on the health front.

Noticing the framework forthe cab all I can say is finally a piece of the project I could probably handle! - well maybe. Your craftsmanship thus far with the the brass and other metal work just blows me away.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Robert on 08 Feb 2010 06:25 AM 
Howard

This continuous to be a great looking project. Thanks for making the effort of posting the progress but most importantly glad to hear all is well, at least now, on the health front.

Noticing the framework forthe cab all I can say is finally a piece of the project I could probably handle! - well maybe. Your craftsmanship thus far with the the brass and other metal work just blows me away.


---

Hi Robert...thank you for your concern and the kind words about the project, it's always appreciated. 

I try to document my projects in a way that folks new to modeling have enough information to give it a "go" on their own. My first visits here inspired me to "bash" a live steam Ruby kit into a locomotive in which I could be proud. I found the folks on MLS to be very generous with their help.

I'm sure you could do just fine...just do the planning and take it slowly. You'll be surprised at how well you'll do.


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Looks better every time I see it Howard. Keep up the good work. 

Chris


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard. It's coming along great. That detail is incredible. You should get a job at the Smithsonian.

Bob


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Before building the cupola and adding the main roof’s sheeting, I had to design & build the brass super structure that will support one of the 2 pulleys in the boom elevation system, specifically the one that projects above the roof. The support has two 5/32” square x 4 5/8” tube legs with a 2 5/16”long cross piece soldered at the top. Each of the legs has a foot soldered on with holes to attach the legs to the decking. Since I want the roof structure removable, the ¼” x 2 ½” square tube hinged part of the super structure, which sits above the roof and follows the boom’s elevation, will be removable by unscrewing a single hinge screw. At the end of the hinged tube is a ½” dia. turned aluminum pulley.
























A diagonal 3/32” dia. rod attached to the rear drum’s axle support connects to the top of each of the 2 legs of the pulley support. The feet at the end of the 2 legs are screwed into the decking. I didn’t have a 1:20.3 figure available, but you can get an idea of where the hoist operator stands. 



The decking is made from Poplar Craft Sticks (Michael’s Craft Store) 5 3/4” long x ¼” wide x 3/32” thick, cut down to 5 ¼” long. The decking is attached with CA. An India ink & alcohol wash was used as a stain on the frame & deck. The 2 rear-most decking pieces are left off as a space to be used to fill the buckshot, later. 
Before attaching the roof structure to the Roof plates, the Hoist engine was placed in position directly over the central frame stringers and attached in the rear from below with a miniature lag bolt, whereas the front drum’s axle frames have a foot in which I placed a screw down into the decking.










The cupola sides and curved ends, cut to match the larger roof’s curv, are made from ¾” x 3/16” spruce. The side pieces are dadoed, pinned and CA’d. The center stringer, falling within the cupola, has been cut out. Here I’m fit checking the placement of the cupola on the roof structure.











The roof sheeting is 2 layers of 1/32” aircraft plywood. The roof sheeting has been cut away so that the cupola’s entire length & width is open to clear the top part of the boiler & piping. Also toward the front, two narrow slots have been cut on each side of the center stringer to receive the pulley bracketing pivot point.
















The flat Cupola’s roof is 1/ 16” thick and has a 1 ½” dia. hole that fits the Boiler’s smokestack assembly. 


























Again, the remaining spruce is stained with an India ink & alcohol wash. That portion of the roof’s underside that is within the cab is painted with Burlington Northern Green.










The roof tops were sprayed with Dupli-Color’s Black Textured Metallic Coating.


























Once the boom is built, I can fill the buckshot cavity to offset the boom's weight and then close up the last of the decking. Also the weathering can be finished.


All-in-all, a pretty good week.


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi 

Excellent - it looks superb: thanks for all the ideas!


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## trainmaster1989 (Jan 4, 2008)

That is anawesome model. Great Job. 
In some of the photos where you are building the framing, you arte holding it together with magnets. 
Is that a set that you bought? or something you made? 

Again, simply amazing work









Scott


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## lvst4evr (Feb 28, 2008)

Howard, if anyone could make it operable WITH STEAM I'm sure you're the one to do it!!! Jim Spanier


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Peter & Jim.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By trainmaster1989 on 17 Feb 2010 02:40 PM 
That is anawesome model. Great Job. 
In some of the photos where you are building the framing, you arte holding it together with magnets. 
Is that a set that you bought? or something you made? 

Again, simply amazing work









Scott 

Thanks Scott, appreciate it.

The magnetic gluing jig is available from Micro-Mark.( www.micromark.com ) It's item# 60304, about 27 bucks. The best part is the 21 gauge steel base which is square with 7/8" flanges all around bent up at 90 degrees.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

The boom is made from 1/2” dia. Poplar doweling, 12 ½” long. This represents a 10” dia. log, approx. 21 1/2 feet long. The surface of the dowelling is randomly gouged as if an Adze was used in the process of de-barking the logs. I used Micro-Mark’s Railroad Tie and Bridge Stain to make it look weathered…here’s my test piece. This surface finishing step will be held until the boom is fabricated. 



















Each of the two 12 ½”long pieces was secured, one-at-a-time, to my radial arm saw tabletop using a full-size printed template mounted on a thin flat board as a guide. I set the radial arm to +6.65degrees off-perpendicular. A single cut at the top side of each of the dowels provided the flat area at the correct angle for joining the dowels together. Now for taking a quick peek for perspective.
















Once temporarily joined using just a spot CA, I mounted the Boom on my Mill bed at a right angle to the bed in order to drill top-most 4 holes, 2 for securing the 2 dowels and 2 for the pulley axles. Each of the 4 holes was shallowly counter-drilled to provide a flat surface for #2 washers and hex nuts.





















Using .086” dia. brass rod, I threaded each end of the 4 pieces needed for the holes just drilled. The lathe was used to align the 2-56 die perpendicular with the rod. The die was held in my die holder and chucked-up in the 3-jaw chuck. The brass rod was held by a small drill chuck mounted in the tailstock and hand fed into the die by advancing the tailstock while I hand-turned the 3-jaw chuck.











The same template was also used to cut the cross braces & to fabricate the brass x-structure. The soldered x-structure brass pieces are 3/32” brass rod. The cross braces are .086” brass rod with a 2-56 thread on each end to receive #2 washers & hex nuts with 1/8” dia. brass tubing acting as a spacer between the booms. The boom is attached to the Cab frame by a fabricated brass bracket/hinge. The .086” hinge rod has a 2-56 thread on each end and secured with #2 washers & hex nuts.


















Two pulleys were turned from aluminum rod. The pulley for the boom elevation system is 9/16” dia. x 5/32 wide. A 7/32” wide slot was milled into the Boom to fit the elevation pulley. The larger pulley is 7/8” dia. x 7/32” wide with a 3/16” dia. A 9/32” wide slot was milled into the Boom to fit the logging tongs pulley. At this point, I applied the surface finishing and applied the stain and sealer. Once I attached the Boom, an approximate balance was achieved by filling the rear frame compartment with buckshot. At this point the last decking pieces were CA’d in place.




























The under-carriage is next.


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## therbert (Sep 18, 2008)

Howard, a really great job on the loader so far. A friend and I built the 1 1/2" scale donkey from Bill Harris' plans ( I say we built it, I built the frame, the boiler parts, the gypsies and bored the cylinders, and then had to step away for a while, and he finished it up!) It's amazing how much power it has -- it will drag a full-size cinder block for as far as it has winch line, and fitted with the A-frame, it will lift 20 pounds with ease.

Anyway, I wanted to ask, if you don't mind, what are you using for the truck springs? I bought a batch of the trucks from the fellow you mentioned, and have found some springs from McMaster that I think will work, but I haven't ordered any yet.

Thanks!

Tom


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By therbert on 20 Feb 2010 06:12 PM 
Howard, a really great job on the loader so far. A friend and I built the 1 1/2" scale donkey from Bill Harris' plans ( I say we built it, I built the frame, the boiler parts, the gypsies and bored the cylinders, and then had to step away for a while, and he finished it up!) It's amazing how much power it has -- it will drag a full-size cinder block for as far as it has winch line, and fitted with the A-frame, it will lift 20 pounds with ease.

Anyway, I wanted to ask, if you don't mind, what are you using for the truck springs? I bought a batch of the trucks from the fellow you mentioned, and have found some springs from McMaster that I think will work, but I haven't ordered any yet.

Thanks!

Tom

Hey Tom, nice hearing from you....and thanks for the compliment. I have the Bill Harris plans and I might change it's scale and build it myself. I'm just not too sure how well it will scale down...that'll take some study. 

I saw three 1 1/2" scale Donkey engines operating at the 2008 National Summer Steam Up in Sacramento, and they were really powerful.

Anyway, as for the springs, I acquired a foot long spring to cut to the length I wanted well over a year ago, maybe two and I don't remember where I got it. I'll dig through my receipts and see if I can dig up my source.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By therbert on 20 Feb 2010 06:12 PM 
Howard, I wanted to ask, if you don't mind, what are you using for the truck springs? I bought a batch of the trucks from the fellow you mentioned, and have found some springs from McMaster that I think will work, but I haven't ordered any yet.

Thanks!

Tom
Hi again Tom...I found my receipt for the spring material I bought back in 2007 and here are the particulars:

Polly Model Engineering Ltd (includes Bruce Engineering)[/b] 

Email: [email protected] Fax +44 (0)115 9727251 
Web: www.pollymodelengineering.co.uk Telephone: 0115 9736700


Catalog Page 72 in their downloadable catalog (.pdf file) 


*Stainless Steel Springs 5/32” x 23swg.* 
It comes in bulk lengths from 12" thru 24". The 18" piece I bought cost me 2.55 pounds sterling. I used 7 or 8 coils as the length of each spring for the Delton Trucks. 

Outside dia. 5/32” 
Wire Dia. .024” 
I/D .106 
Coils/inch 20

Hope this helps!!


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## therbert (Sep 18, 2008)

Thanks very much!


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## therbert (Sep 18, 2008)

In case anyone is interested, I found almost the identical spring at McMaster-Carr, wire diameter is .028" instead of .024", in plain steel rather than stainless. They are 1 3/8" long, which means you can cut all four springs for a truck out of one spring, and they come in a pack of 12 for $6.29. So, one pack will make all the springs for 12 trucks. The part number is 9657K64. They also have them in stainless, but they're quite a bit more expensive, and since I don't generally leave my rolling stock outside, it shouldn't matter.


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## Eric M. (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Howard, I think one of the three donkeys you saw in Sacramento was mine. David Wegmuller, Henner Meinhold and myself actually built four of them over the course of 5 years, as you can see in the photo:







The scale of our donkeys is actually 1:20.3. Most people model donkeys smaller that the correct scale. For example the new Bachmann donkey looks tiny-- I would say 1:29 or even 1:32 scale. When we built our machines we wanted to give them the massive feel you see in many historical photos. They had huge sleds too. The skids were often carved from large logs and would overhang the ends of flat cars.







There is a good book out there called "In Search of Steam Donkeys" that shows many photos of these machines and how huge they were. My favorite picture is actually in the book "Railroads in the Woods" It shows a donkey pulling itself and tethered to the donkey's sled is another wooden sled carrying a 60 ton Heisler. That donkey was strong enough to drag itself and that locomotive all the way out into the woods. These were large and powerful machines. This is the EXACT reason we were inspired to model them in live steam. Anyways if you have any questions should you decide to steamify your project, let me know. We have some pretty good documentation of how we made them including some CAD drawings.








 
Our donkeys are pretty powerful. they can easily dead-lift a 2" x 12" solid redwood log with a single part line. We really haven't tested dragging the machines under their own power, they are a bit heavy but I suspect they could do it with a multi-part line. Please keep up the updates I am really enjoying the progress of your fine project! 
 
Regards,


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## snowshoe (Jan 2, 2008)

That loader is looking great.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Eric, thanks for the great inputs, pictures and offer of help if & when I attempt to build a live steam version.


You are right about the Bachmann Donkey, I have one. It measures out to about 1:29 as you suggest. I took a picture of my 1:20.3 model next to the Bachmann Donkey for direct comparison, and yep, it’s tiny.











From the drawing package I have, I can’t easily determine if the Bachmann Donkey is patterned after one of the circa 1914 AH&D or circa 1920 WISCO models. My guess it’s patterned after the WISCO, because of the cylinder/main rod details and the left side placement of the Drum Gear.
As for power, it’s amazing how much can be lifted with 20 - 30 HP. The write-up I’m looking at states the single line lifting capacity of a 20HP donkey at 7000 lbs. 
Anyway, thanks for your comments....and hopefully I'll again have the opportunity to see you fine Donkey's in action.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Shawn V.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Now onto the Hoist Cab’s under carriage and Idler car’s frame structure. These are basically flat cars with design of the 2 frame structures is basically identical, so I did the length cuts and joinery cuts all at once. The frame is made from spruce ½” x ¼”. The side stringers are 10” in length. The end frame pieces are 3” long and dadoed 1/8” into each end of each side stringers. The central stringers are 9 ¾” in length and 1” apart and are dadoed into the end frame pieces 1/8” deep. Where the 2 trucks and spider are joined to the frame, a 1 ¼” long x ½” wide pivot frame piece is dadoed into the central stringers 1/8” deep. Again, I used CA and escutcheon pins making the joints strong. Each of the 2 Truck pivot point beams are drilled for a 10-32 threaded insert (1/4” dia.) on the topside, and counter-drilled (17/64th” dia.) to receive a Nylon Flange bearing on the bottom side. Here the frames are drying in the gluing jig:











A 1/32” thick plywood floor was used to create compartments between the center 2 stringers for holding buckshot, adding weight below the center of gravity. It was at this point I added the threaded inserts and test fitted the trucks. In my haste earlier to expand the width between the 2 central stringers in order to get more weight, I miscalculated the needed wheel clearance. So I milled a recess to the outside edge of each central stringer, adjacent to each wheel.









The End Beams are made from two stacked 3/8” square x 3 ¾” long spruce pieces, physically distressed and stained with an Alcohol/India ink mixture. The beams are wrapped with pair of form-fitted ¼” wide x 1/32” thick brass straps. To simulate 4 threaded rods joining the stacked beams, NBWs (scale 1” bolt, 2” hex nut & washer…Ozark #0029) are glued in place at the top and bottom of the 2 brass straps and 2 other places. A hole was drilled to receive the coupler’s stud at the correct height and counter-drilled from the rear to recess the nut.











At this point I decided to work on each of the flat cars separately. The Hoist Cab’s flat car’s frame was stained using an Alcohol/India Ink mixture.
Using CA, I attached the End Beams to the frame. Two Brake Wheels were mounted horizontally at each end of the cars on the side frame. At the end of each side frame, a simulated 5 hole re-enforcing plate is CA’ed in place with its 5 NBWs (scale 1” bolt w/2” square nuts…Ozark#0028) inserted. The trucks, sans the brakes, were attached using 10-32 bolts along with a Nylon Flange bearing fed up through the upper Bolster.


























Next I will be the building and mounting the Spider Bearing and adding the decking.


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Howard, that keeps looking better and better every day 

Chris


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Thank you Chris.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

I decided to revamp the design of the Spider Bearing. Instead of what looked to a be difficult & imprecise fabrication based on the original Ted Stinson design, I’ve chosen to use 1/8” thick aluminum plate as the basis for not only the top and bottom plates, but additionally for the central disk that serves as the mounting plate for the 8 bearings and their axles. The top & and bottom 3 1/8” dia. plates have a 1/16” deep recess milled within 1/8” of the outer edge to act as a race for the bearings and to reduce the overall height of the Spider Bearing assembly. This central disk was accurately edge drilled for the bearing mounts on the Mill using my Rotational Table. The 3/16” dia. bearings are turned from ¼” dia. Delrin rod mounted to the central disk by 1/16” dia. escutcheon pins acting as axles. The pins are secured in the central disk’s drilled holes using the blue Loctite Threadlocker #242. Here’s the new drawing:











Having said that, I happened to be ordering a clock kit from www.klockit.com as a gift and found they carried a 3” dia. Lazy Susan Bearings (stock# 57082) for $1.29. A dollar twenty-nine, what a find…I couldn’t pass it up!! And it turns out it has a slightly thinner profile than what I was in the process of building. So, I took the quarterback fake at this point and used the commercial bearing. I decided to still post my Spider Bearing design for anyone interested. I still used the central 10-32 screw to attach the Hoist Cab to the Flat Car, but will screw down the Bearing to the Flat Car to keep it from shifting position. The steel bearing plates are primed with Rust-Oleum’s self-etching primer and finished off with Rust-Oleum’s flat black. Since the Bearing sits directly on and secured to the frame, there’s no decking, so the buckshot compartments are filled with buckshot and surfaced with the 1/32” thick plywood.











Well, I couldn’t wait any longer to see how it looked together, so I installed the Hoist Engine on its Flat. The Cab’s frame’s pivot point was centered over the already installed Bearing on the Flat car. A 1 5/16” long 10-32 bolt reaches all the way through the Flat car’s frame, up thru the Bearing and screws into the 10-32 brass threaded insert, already installed in the Cab’s frame. You’ll notice that I’ve also the strung Elevation cable, simulated by a black colored 1 mm dia. leather bead cord. Good‘ole Michael’s Crafts.
















The decking for the Idler Car is the same stock as used in the Cab’s decking, but just 3 ½” long. The Idler car is entirely decked, so the buckshot-filled compartments are contained by the decking. At this point, any exposed wood not stained got its shot of the Alcohol/India Ink mixture and the End Beams were added. Three ring tie-downs are secured to each of the 2 side frames using cotter keys w/split lock washers for rings on the end opposite the stakes & rails. Ozarks #0001 double U-bolt stake pockets were attached for securing the stakes & rails to the side stringers. A Brake Wheel was mounted horizontally at one end of the car on the side stringer. At the end of each side stringer, a simulated 5 hole re-enforcing plate is CA’ed in place with its 5 NBWs (scale 1” bolt w/2” square nuts, Ozark#0028) inserted.











The Idler car has a stake & rail structure around the front half of the car to secure the items to be carried on the deck. After a drawing revision, I produced a gluing/pinning pattern from the Idler Car drawing and proceeded to cut the wood stake and rail pieces and T-pinned them to the pattern.

















The stakes (1/4”x 1/4”) & rails (1/4 wide x 3/32” thick) are poplar, CA’d and pinned. The stakes will fit into the stake pockets shown in the Flat Car picture.

























Near the end now!! 
At this point, I finished stringing the simulated cable for the Logging Tongs. For this cable I used black 3 mm dia. cotton twist bead cord. Then whole model got some weathering, the end beam’s brass straps, all NBWs, the couplers, stake pockets, ring tie-downs, and re-enforcing plates were airbrushed with Engine Black touch-up, a little Rust color for new rust and then a touch of roof brown for the old rust. And lastly, a scant amount of Earth color on the lower part of the truck side frames to represent splashed up dirt.






























Well, it has been 10 weeks since I started. Except for the asundy items to be placed on the Idler Car, like a supply of wood for firing the boiler, crates, barrels etc. and a Hoist operator, I’m done. Thanks for all your encouragement and support.


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## Grimm (Oct 5, 2009)

Howard, that looks great!! Now it would be really awesome if we get to see a picture of it being pulled in a train.  

Jason


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Grimm on 09 Mar 2010 01:42 AM 
Howard, that looks great!! Now it would be really awesome if we get to see a picture of it being pulled in a train.  

Jason 
Yep, Jason, I'll be doing that soon. Thanks


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard, as usual, nothing but the most superb craftsmanship congratulations on another fine model. Below is a link to the PDF file that I created from your topic.

1:20.3 Log Loader (file size: 24MB)[/b]


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Thankls Steve...that was very nice of you.


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## Terl (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard 

Excellant build. I really like your use of the lazy Susanne bearing. Thanks for sharing with us. 

Terl


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

To the Idler Car, I’ve added a wood supply, built a wood water tank, patterned after Tom Beaton’s Portable Water Tank in Issue #14 of Timber Times Magazine (1996), a couple of Crates, a Barrel and some rope & chain hanging from the Stakes. 


The central post towards the front of the car is the resting post for the Boom. It keeps the Boom from swinging out when it’s going around a curve.




















I’ve also ordered a 2-man saw, an axe, a sledge/maul and some wedges for splitting logs. All of this is for keeping a good supply of wood going for the fire. 

I’m experimenting with the figures I happen to have to get the scale right. The little Bachmann guy I have with the poseable arms worked pretty good, but he’s a little short. Here he’s got one hand on the throttle….looks good. I have some 1:20.3 figures on the way.













More later!!


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## CapeCodSteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard, when I look at this model, I can almost hear it, job well done, off the hook!


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Terl on 12 Mar 2010 03:40 AM 
Howard 

Excellant build. I really like your use of the lazy Susanne bearing. Thanks for sharing with us. 

Terl 

Thanks Terl. The lazy susan bearing was a lucky find since I wasn't even looking it. It's funny how things work out.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By CapeCodSteam on 12 Mar 2010 11:22 PM 
Howard, when I look at this model, I can almost hear it, job well done, off the hook! 

Thank you Kent, I never thought of it that way, clever way you put it!!


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

I received the saw, axe, maul/sledge, etc. today. After blackening and painting the handles, I mounted the 2-man saw on the inside of the Idler car’s top rail. The rest of the tools were placed in a crate to secure them.

















The water tank’s hose was made more manageable by stringing annealed copper wire through it. It now it sits coiled up at the front of water tank. The wood stacks were all pinned down.











To the Cab’s frame I added a 3" x 10” scale walkway in order to place yet another stack of wood. The walkway is attached to the cab frame by fabricated brass supports.









Well that’s it. I have nothing else planned for this build. Now to get it all out on some track pulled by my Ruby Forney.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Not having a Garden Railroad here at home, I improvised


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## CapeCodSteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Howard, 

That photo showing the full train is great. Have you thought about weathering your loco?


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## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

Man o man. I was pretty proud of my loader/wrecker until i saw yours. job well done sir. job well done.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By CapeCodSteam on 21 Mar 2010 07:15 PM 
Howard, 

That photo showing the full train is great. Have you thought about weathering your loco? 
Sorry about not answering your question!!

It's pretty well weathered through lots of normal use.....anyway that's my story and I'nm sticking to it. 

Actually I just haven't gotten around to it.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By paintjockey on 21 Mar 2010 07:38 PM 
Man o man. I was pretty proud of my loader/wrecker until i saw yours. job well done sir. job well done. Thank you very much.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Howard:

I'm a little late to the party, but that's among the very finest detailed postings I've seen. One of the things I want to try my hand at is a loader.

Les


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

That's a great log loader! Very well done! 

The tip about the 3" lazy susan bearings was timely, too. I had just recently decided I needed something like that.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Les on 23 Apr 2010 03:54 PM 
Howard:

I'm a little late to the party, but that's among the very finest detailed postings I've seen. One of the things I want to try my hand at is a loader.

Les
Les...I'd be glad to answer any questions you have, if I can. I have lots of detail pictures, if that helps? Good luck on your "Loader" build project.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Ray Dunakin on 27 Apr 2010 12:17 AM 
That's a great log loader! Very well done! 

The tip about the 3" lazy susan bearings was timely, too. I had just recently decided I needed something like that. 


I was lucky to find it, and it was within about 1/8" of the diameter needed....what luck!!
I'm glad my good luck turned out to be helpful to you.


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## Chrisp (Jan 3, 2008)

Outstanding modelling Howard. The level of detail is just great and the overall effect is jsut right - I especially like the shot of it in the train with the skeleton cars.


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

I finally got some real track time on May 8 for my Log Loader and Log cars. I'm pulling them by my Ruby-Forney.

Here's a link to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfrXWCA7zBY 





Again thanks to all for the nice comments.


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

Great job Howard, details, details, details, and looks like you paid attention to em!! Regal


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Nice movie Howard, keep up the GREAT work!!


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## maculsay (Jan 2, 2008)

Chris and Jerry.....thanks for the compliments.


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## d_sinsley (Mar 29, 2011)

*Jumping in way late*

I was doing a search for McGiffert Log loaders and came across this project. Beautiful. I will be liberally using the part on the donkey for the McGiffert when and if it happens.


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## hunteman (Dec 27, 2007)

If you are considering using the B'mann donkey as the engine for your loader, you might want to check the dimensions. I have several of the B'mann donkeys and they are all too small for 1:20.3. They seem be close to correct size for O gauge. I compared the size to an HO scale Dolbeer drawing by Bill Roy and the 1/2 scale drawings of WSL Dolbeer donkeys by AL Armitage. I believe the Ozark donkeys are also a bit small for 1:20.3


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## d_sinsley (Mar 29, 2011)

Huntman,

I haven't even begun to look into this yet. just came across the photos on a Giffert Loader and knew someday I would model one. After reading this thread I think your right in that the Bachmann being to small. That is why I have bookmarked this thread because this Donkey is better scaled. There is even a comparison. I will be copying the one here. 

Thanks for the advice


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Back on page 7 or 8 is a link to a PDF that SteveC made of this article. You might want to download it just in case. We've lost many really good threads over the years to forum crashes, software change-overs, and the like.


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

Dwight, I think we are already too late for that. I tried to download it yesterday and all I got was a blank page. It didn't matter whether I was logged or not. I also cannot locate an 'Articles' link as there used to be. Maybe if we are lucky someone who did download it in the past will offer it up again.


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## d_sinsley (Mar 29, 2011)

Yeah no luck for me either. I did copy and past the photos. though and book marked this thread. Its a nice donkey and could be used for all sorts of applications.


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## BrianTFowler (Sep 20, 2012)

Any chance of republishing those drawings again?


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