locomotive work shop, hiawatha engine kit

Even when complete, the instructions for this probably would have only be a few pages long and would have consisted of such statements like, "Assemble the mechanism", "Assemble the boiler and cab", etc.  Any drawings would have been minimal at best and possibly impossible to actually achieve or replicate, and there was some expectation that the builder would provide for the remaining small details as needed. 

Before doing much, I'd check to see if the drivers are actually round, concentric with the tires, and that they are centered (and not shorted out, too!).

After that, the adventure begins!

Don't despair, LWS kit have been built!  

I have a friend who did a pretty nice job of building a high drivered NYC 4-4-0 from an LWS kit.    But as MWB says, they are craftsman kits.   

My friend's kit did have very nicely machined ddrivers and enclosed gear box.

I had to re-insulate every driver and file between every spoke of every driver; drive system that was intended/supplied by the kit for the H-1 was physically impossible to install.  Replaced with NWSL gearbox and direct drive off a small can motor.  Tender trucks were also an impossibility - way too long wheelbase; ended up adapting some On3 sideframes from PSC that were actually fairly close.

And, I wish that I had another of these.......although my doc's do not recommend it.

Might have some very nice coined drivers.

I really liked Jan, but his kits left something to be desired.  I bought a tank car from him in the 1970s.  The tank wrapper made ideal boiler bands, the only thing that made it to a tank car were the domes.

As Harmon says, some of his coined drivers are quite good, but beware - after he had his stroke, he had all the axles and crankpins plated, then jammed them together on a hydraulic press.  The result is vastly varying crankpin distances and eccentric, wobbly wheels.

If you really like Milwaukee streamlined steam, the Weaver Hudson is a spectacular model.  I am not wild about the upside-down bathtub era.

Hi guys

Thanks for the info, the kit came with the drivers installed in the frame and tied to the motor, hooked a tender to it and it ran great around the test track, no problems, got some of the boiler solder and glued together, the cab and boiler do not fit right, looking for info on what Jan had in mine on that one. It looks like the back and front of the tender are missing. The kit came with two axle trucks and I have replaced them with a set of three axle trucks. I have a MTH Hiawatha Hudson that I had converted to two rail and I'm using that for referance but a set of instruction and drawings regardless how bad they are would still help.

I found some glue at the hardware store made to glue copper pipe together rather than using solder, they claim the glue is as good as or better than solder, I wonder if anyone has tried it.

Interesting.  Name of?

And, please post up some pictures of where you are starting from and your progress!

Bought a bottle of the stuff this AM, it is called "Just - For Copper " will be doing some test samples this weekend to see if it has any application for building in brass.

Will post some pictures on the Hiawatha as soon as I figure out how to do it.