Re: the running quality and price issues that John Degnan legitimately
brought up, Bob McCarthy and I are VERY aware of such issues. In our minds,
both have equal importance as we're designing these engines. I have never
owned, not even seen, any of River Raisin's fine work so cannot comment on
the running quality; I just read what others say. John and I both come from
HO where brass steam built in the 70s and 80 ran poorly ... if they ran at
all.
As with most modelers on limited funds, brass steam prices keep us out of
the "buying market". Personally, I'm a "diesel man" but do have a fondness
for small and medium engines (2-8-2's and Pacifics on down). However, also
being a design engineer, building good-running steam using my CAD/RP process
is intriguing. All the credit for this idea goes to Bob McCarthy, who
called me last week to throw out the idea. I'm sold . it's a GREAT idea and
there is pent-up demand for a variety of wheel arrangements with
interchangeable parts and a pre-assembled mechanism. We're going to give it
our best shot and, with everyone's apparent support, this should really put
a spark in S scale.
Andy Malette's comments re: the amount of time it takes to build a brass
engine (100 hours, I think he wrote) plus another 20+ hours to paint, gives
all of us a clearer understanding as to the resulting sticker price. For
example, the boiler is wrapped and soldered along the bottom seam, then
course bands are soldered to that. Everything is assembled from sheet,
etchings or lost wax castings, when working on superstructure parts. The
cab and tender body are done the same way. Now consider how our proposed
steam engines will be built: the boiler, cab and tender body will all be
1-piece urethane castings with as much "general" detail as possible included
ON the casting (a supplied weight will be inserted in the boiler by the
modeler during assembly). What our process greatly reduces is manufacturing
time, the root of all high costs, even when built at a much lower hourly
rate than what you can find in the US.
I don't know which engine Bob wants to offer first but it appears the USRA
Light 2-8-2 is a logical candidate. Only time and available material for me
to design from will dictate the first offering. Based on the success of the
"first out", I suspect there will be MANY small and medium engines, along
with a detail line that allows a wide range of customization, to pick from
over the next few years.
Jim King
Smoky Mountain Model Works, Inc.
www.smokymountainmodelworks.com
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