Indecision & Decision

 When I sought batches of junk locomotives, I would occasionally find items that had once been of prize importance to me. In previous early H0 plans, one such locomotive was the LifeLike "Teakettle" 0-4-0T. This was actually a plastic version of an even older diecast model imported by Aristo-Craft, manufactured by the Japanese company "New One". 

Some months back, I found a seller who had that latter version, sans motor. They made me a great offer, just a few bucks, for the unpowered locomotive. 
When it arrived, I discovered that the later motor that LifeLike had used would not work in the diecast design. It was set aside while I would occasionally search for the correct parts. 

And lo! The correct motor appeared!

It came with a box of parts, which included another motor and parts to another Aristo-Craft/New One locomotive, their 0-4-0 Camelback switcher, listed as "parts".

Once the boxload of parts arrived, after taking a circuitous route (thanks to Mike Sullivan of Wandering Iron for the great service), I discovered that, in fact, most of the parts to the Camelback were there. 

There was just one problem.

Some previous owner had cleanly cut the boiler shell in half, just behind the front of the cab. I am unsure what they were doing. 

Regardless, the motor needed a little work, but would mostly fit in my Teakettle. I needed to trim a piece off the brass mounting strip, however, but instead of being fastidious I simple bent the piece back and forth until it snapped. 

That was when a problem became apparent. 

The worm gear is mounted further down the shaft on this design, with the end result being it wouldn't sit properly in the Teakettle's frame. Either I had to drill out the well in the frame, or dismount the worm gear and reattach. 

Which presented another problem. 

The Japanese model workers, much like their American and European counterparts at the time, would solder these gears into place. In my experience, the Japanese solder was found to be a higher temperature mostly silver variety. 

Makes for a strong connection, but makes replacement a chore. 

I considered raising the motor's mounting location up a little, perhaps with washers or metal shims. However, this now presented another problem - space. It would be pressed up against the cab roof of the Teakettle, probably resulting in shorts. 

And shorts are bad. 

There was another motor in the parts, also apparently from New One, but it has a universal of sorts. There was a long shaft in the parts and another set of gears, but I think these will be set aside (I really want to know what these parts came from). 

Therefore, planned work on the Teakettle came to a halt.

My attention turned to the Camelback. 

One thing to note about these two locomotives. They used identical motors, these squarish, squat, powerful little Japanese open frame DC motors. This motor was a derivative of a universal ("AC") motor that the Japanese had been using in their H0 gauge models. But Japanese H0 isn't the same as everybody else's H0. Instead of being 1/87, the Japanese models were (and still are) 1/80. 

This is known as HOj. 

If these models had been made to proper H0 (3.5mm = 1'), they'd have been too small. They are actually closer to HOj, and in the case of the Camelback, probably closer to 1/76 - 00 (it could probably be regauged). The Reading Railroads A4 and A5 classes really weren't that big, and this model is oversized, specifically in that cavernous cab.

Yet... it appealed to me.

Using aluminum shim stock to shore the pieces up, I used E6000 silicone glue and reassembled the two parts. Part of me is wondering if these are even from the same casting, as the fit wasn't quite perfect. This is something that calls for J-B Weld, which will be deployed tonight. 

In short, the Teakettle will wait. I'm going to see what we can do with this Camelback.