Adding weight to Williams brass K4

Not sure what Williams did, but HO brass often had a round weight that was inserted in the front of the boiler.  Sometimes the weight was outside the loco in the foam packing.  This was to prevent any internal damage during shipment.

Fred

You can still use lead but you will have to make the weight before you place it in the engine. Back in the day we used Cerro Bend. It melts at 158F and can be poured into the boiler without harming paint or melting solder. There are even lower melting point alloys but they cost considerably more.

https://shop.boltonmetalproduc...-5000-7-LB100004.htm

Pete

I'm a little surprised that you find it to be so light; I have several Williams brass locos, and they all came with a lead boiler weight from the factory. I do not find them much lighter than the die-cast locos - certainly well within the heavy-enough range. Some of those die-cast locos are actually far heavier than they need to be for adhesion, but it's just a by-product of their construction and materials.

I have a couple of their brass USRA Heavy Pacifics, which I imagine are essentially the same specs as the K4, but in a different party dress, and they are lighter than zinc, but heavy enough.

If you can find some plumber lead flashing, you can cut it with a pair of kitchen scissors, plus it is thin & soft enough to mold and layer to the inside of the boiler. Once you get enough molded to the boiler insides, then you can glue the whole thing into place to epoxy or J-B Kwik.

Did it slip with tires too?  Tires may stop slip, and it isn't likely to track well without them either because rails can slip into the slot and out as the slot edges climb it and fall.

Adriatic posted:

Did it slip with tires too?  Tires may stop slip, and it isn't likely to track well without them either because rails can slip into the slot and out as the slot edges climb it and fall.

As I recall, it didn't slip like this when it had the tires, and last  night I put on the last one I had left, and its pulling power improved considerably.

But the tracking is still an issue. The tightest curve on my layout is 042, and even here it has some issues. My Blue Comet has nearly the same size and type of wheel base, but it doesn't have these issues. It happens to be die cast.

D500 posted:

I'm a little surprised that you find it to be so light; I have several Williams brass locos, and they all came with a lead boiler weight from the factory. I do not find them much lighter than the die-cast locos - certainly well within the heavy-enough range. Some of those die-cast locos are actually far heavier than they need to be for adhesion, but it's just a by-product of their construction and materials.

I have a couple of their brass USRA Heavy Pacifics, which I imagine are essentially the same specs as the K4, but in a different party dress, and they are lighter than zinc, but heavy enough.

The K4 is no feather, but it is considerably lighter than my die casts. The USRA Pacific probably has the same body as the USRA Mikado. I have the brass one, and the later die cast from Lionel, and they have slight, but noticeably different silhouettes than the K4. The K4 has different length-to-height ratios, and the weight doesn't seem to spread out as well on the track.

 By tracking do you mean it is jumping the track, the lead or trailing truck coming off or what ? Back in the eighties I built a layout for my daughter out of O-27 track that I was never going to use for anything else. My Williams K4 would track well enough on the O-27. Not like a Lionel 2055 or such but considering the tight curves not bad. You just had to keep the speed down.   As for adding weight I have found that plumbers lead wool is easier to pack into tight places than anything else.  However adding weight to the boiler will raise the center of gravity and if you like to run at 200 smph the loco is more likely to roll over in the curves. I'm old now so seldom drive above 60, except in a car. They sell lead wool at HomeDepot and Lowes. Once you have formed /packed it to the space you want it in you can drench it with CA and it will hold it's shape as well as it's place in the loco. I once made some boiler weights by rolling a sheet of paper up so that the tube formed would just slide  inside the boiler.  I cut out a disk from mat-board to form an end for the tube glued the end on and stood the tube up and filled with leadshot that I had soaked with a slow setting epoxy. Let the epoxy cure and there you have it. Having said that, the lower you add the weight the better the loco will behave in the curves. You can add weight using the little lead blocks that tire stores use when balancing some alloy wheels.  Often they will fit on the bottom of the frame between the pickup rollers.  If you are really serious, form modeling clay to the shape that will fit where you want it then use that to make a mold out of plaster of paris.   Once you have made your mold pour lead shot into it and heat with a torch, as the shot melts add more till your mold is full.  Let cool, then bust the plaster with a hammer.    Almost forgot.  The plaster molds have a lot of water trapped in the plaster and will sputter and spew when you go to melting the lead and can even cause a rough surface on your casting.  You can bake the molds if you like and drive free water out. Then immediately upon removing from the oven melt your lead shot before the molds cool.  Sometime I go to the trouble to preheat sometimes not.  The larger the weight will be the more you need to preheat. Somewhere around the house I have a weight that I cast for a Lionel O-27 Alco when I was in my early 20s it is a near perfect fit in the nose of the locos. I run across it two or three times a year when looking for something else. So now I have been searching for nearly an hour to find it, next time it turns up I'll make a pix of it. While searching I did find a weight that I made about then years ago for a Pioneer PLL-1000 linear tracking turntable.  Found the table at a garage sale however it was missing the counterweight for the tonearm.  It is lead shot glued with white epoxy garage floor paint. Has a threaded rod for adjustment when on the tonearm. I finally found the proper Pioneer tonearm weight so I'm saving the homemade one for something, just not sure what.  I used a small plastic cup for the mold. I asked a couple of people online who had the same turntable to weigh their counterweight to find how heavy to make the thing.  j

Using tire on the longer outer rail (loop or if you have more of L or R) could be benificlal with a differential effect, as it has a larger diameter than the opposite wheel with no tire, and will cover more length in one revolution than the smaller. This may force it to tip more too, (? I don't know which of the wheels even have tires; front, rear, one side?, that varies widely;  but note which dirrection it performs best in curves till you get another tire.

Perhaps there is an up side to one traction tire.  I think I have stated more than one time my disdain for traction tires but regardless of my wishes they are a fact of life.  A question that keeps rattling around inside my head.  Is there a down side to having two traction tires on one axle ?  Seems that in a curve the inside and outside tire are fighting against one another. This causes accelerated wear on the tires as well as rubber deposits on the rails. Would having all the traction tires on one side of the loco make for better performance in a curve particularly in sharp curves  O-36 O-42...27      Of course I am not for leaving the groove in a wheel where a traction tire once was. I'm talking on a manufacturer level. Not that I can't imaging spring steel bands that would snap into the grooves where traction tires once dwelt. I've been making a set of those in my mind for some time now. Thinking, this strategy leaves half the rubber on the rails, than having two tires per axle, without significant loss of pulling power.   j