How about American powered switcher in S? Years ago I built a small car. It had two side beams. Draped on top of the side beams were two beams for truck bolsters and another pair to hold Kadee coupler boxes. An electric motor with a propeller was mounted in the middle of the car, just barely missing the two side beams. Some wires completed this air powered creature.
This was built in O Scale in about 1975. The propeller came out of a box of Trix cereal. It was about five inches across. There was no cage for the propeller. It hurt when you were hit by the spinning plastic. It could push about four Atlas O Scale boxcars up a three percent grade and thus around the room on 72" radius curves. (It probably could have negotiated a 12 inch radius curve without issue.) Pulling it could manage two but the air blast was hitting the boxcars it was pulling. The layout did not have scenery so only dust was flung by the whithering blast. It was a lot of fun to use this unit to switch cars. A careful touch was needed. It did not have any brakes. Emergencies were handled by reversing the fan or grabbing! A trip to the floor and my return to S Scale ended this model. (I still have the twisted wreckage.) Ever since I have been hunting for a propeller for S Scale. The O Scale version needed 20 feet clearance, side-to-side. I need a propeller that will fit with 10 - 15 scale feet (2 1/16" to 3"). I have not found one that I feel will hold up under model railroad conditions. The other issue is area covered. Area = pi r squared. I just can't get a small propeller to move enough air without throwing it at a very high speed. Fast propellers are LOUD! Still hoping to reproduce this oddity in S Scale, Thorin --- In [email protected], John Claudino <aztecmfg@...> wrote: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/03/schienenzeppelin/ Moderator, If this is inappropriate please remove. Thank you. John Claudino ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
