Photos of MÁV Class 325 Steamer Model

Pictures of the first ready-made model

Class 325 modell ready minipic The first model is painted, ready to run. The tender contains a Lenz Silver DCC decoder. This means four wires are connected between the loco and the tender, two for the rail current, two for the motor current.

Class 325 modell ready minipic The rear view. The surface on the tender is real coal, it is glued on the surface of the lead casting forming a pile.

Class 325 modell ready minipic The fireman side of the loco. The Westinghouse air pump was fixed on the model after painting the boiler. The model has been painted with Tamiya Semi-glossy acrilic paint. No basecote was applied, as I did not get it in suitable quality. Unfortunately the paint is rather sensitive this way, no hard object must touch it.

Pictures of the second ready-made model

The second ready made Class 325 model minipic The second model painted, ready to run. A Zimo MX64 DCC decoder was mounted into tender, the Lenz decoder of the first model has also been replaced by this decoder.
The second ready made Class 325 model minipic The fireman side of the second model. As the Westinghouse air pump is located on the other side, this side is almost empty.
The second ready made Class 325 model minipic This view allows to take a look into the cab. Most backhead equipment of the prototype are visible on the model too. The tender contains real coal.
The second ready made Class 325 model minipic The model's side view. This view must resemble to the prototype picture.
The second ready made Class 325 model minipic The front view. This photo nicely shows the large cylinder block and the slanted valve housing.
The second Class 325 model on layout minipic The second model on the Pellerd station module layout of the Model RR. Club Pécs. The first three freight cars are from fellow modelers, the fourth and third ones are my models.
The second Class 325 model on layout minipic The second Class 325 model on the layout of the Model Railroad Club in Győr. She hauls a train composed from wine barrel cars.

Both models together

Both ready made Class 325 models together minipic Both ready to run models side-by-side. The closer one is the new one, behind the old one. One can search for the differences. These are details that are of course different on the prototypes.
Both ready made Class 325 models together minipic The models from the other side. The most visible difference is the valvegear and its controls. But you can find other details too.

Pictures taken during the model building

Class 325 modell frame minipic The frame construction of the Class 325 model. The upper sheet shows the hole pattern made by the CNC machine. The piece in the middle is the frame cut out by piercing saw. The same part on the bottom is already filed to size.

Class 325 modell frame minipic These are the horizontal cross sheets that keep together the framesides and the gearbox sides. Their unusual shape is necessary to clean the gears.

Class 325 modell frame minipic The same steps on the gearbox. It has a more complex shape and structure than those of the Class 342 models, as this should be fully inside the firebox.

Class 325 modell frame minipic The vertical cross sheets for the frame. Their shape exactly follows the original loco sheets that also supported the longboiler.

Class 325 modell frame minipic The frame parts prepared for soldering. The framesides are kept together by a screwed distance holder rod to exact 10.0mm and perfectly aligned. The clips keep the first vertical and the last horizontal cross sheets on place during the flame soldering.

Class 325 modell frame minipic One ready made frame and another still before soldering.

Class 325 modell frame minipic The ready-made frame.

Class 325 modell frame minipic The frame front view.

Class 325 model compensation components minipic The components of the compensation. The first and second drivers run in tube bearings. These tubes have a bronze sheet soldered on the top that disables them from turning. They can tilt sideways and move vertically. The compensation beam is in the middle. Its ends lie on the bronze sheets of the bearing tubes.

Class 325 model compensation minipic The compensation mounted in the frame. The beam is not fully symmetric, its axle is slightly moved forewards. This was necessary in order to clear the vertical spacer sheet.

Class 325 model gearbox minipic The gearbox. It contains one gear more than those of the Class 342 model, as the distance between the worm and the wheel axle is larger.

Class 325 model gearbox minipic The gearbox from the front. Here a flywheel will be mounted on the shaft and the motor turns the worm from this side.

Class 325 model gearbox minipic The gearbox from the bottom. The axle gear is made from plastic, simply because I found a correct size gear only from plastic. But perhaps this is less noisy than the brass gears. You can observe the beveled center gear that meshes with the worm. This picture exists also in a version made by a digital camera.

Class 325 model compensation components minipic The frame and the gearbox mounted together. Here also the motor mount is visible.

Class 325 model cylinder block minipic All steps of making cylinder blocks on one picture. On the top there is the sheet for the front and back surfaces. The 10.0mm diameter hole is already drilled. Below the front and back sheets cut out by piercing saw and one step below already filed to shape. On the left the cylinder tubes, in the front the cylinder covers. In the center there is the soldering jig, right of this one soldered assemply. In the right side there is a full mounted cylinder block.

Class 325 model cylinder block minipic The jig for valve housing soldering. It is made from aluminium in order to avoid to get soldered to the brass block. It has a filed slot in the left side that accommodates the excess part of the cover sheet. This way it was enough to trim the cover sheet after soldering - much easier.

Class 325 model cylinder block minipic The soldering jig from the other side. A serious design flaw became evident after the first soldering! The soldered block captured the jig! Even after removing the screws the jig body did not fall out. Fortunately a light pulling apart helped.

Class 325 model cylinder block minipic The soldered valve housing. Here the cover sheet is already trimmed on both edges.

Class 325 model cylinder block minipic The full cylinder block. This is an experimental piece, its front and back sheets are from nickel silver. The size is also slightly bigger. After checking this prototype it became clear that I used thicker sheet for the front and back than it was indicated in the design. But this thick sheet was important, because - as seen in this picture - the valve housing edges are filed round. With a thin sheet the radius would have cut the soldering. Thus the soldering jig length was decreased to have the correct length for the valve housing.

MÁV Class 325 model yoke minipic Manufacturing the yoke. First drilled by the CNC drill machine, then cut with piercing saw, filed to shape and finally grinded.The two yokes are a bit different, the left one with the longer slot is for the model with old type valvegear. There the reverse link is behind the yoke, the radius rod requires the slot to be opened higher. At the new valvegear the reverse link is in front of the yoke, there only the eccentic rod crosses the yoke in a lower position.

MÁV Class 325 model rods manufacturing minipic The milling work to make the main and connecting rods for the locos. Five sets were made for two models, one as spare. The material is 1.0mm (0.04") nickel silver, the flutes are 0.3mm (0.012") deep.

MÁV Class 325 steamer model reverse link minipic The parts of the reverse link on my fingertip. Besides the arc two distance holders are visible. They all are soldered together with 0,4mm (0.016") wires in the holes.

MÁV Class 325 model cylinder and valvegear unit minipic The cylinder block and valvgear unit of the model with old type valvegear. The yoke is also integrated. After plugging this unit into the model only the main rod and eccentric link rod shafts should be inserted and the loco can run.

MÁV Class 325 model cylinder and valvegear unit minipic The old type valvegear from the rear. The lying C-shape reverse arm was made by etching from nickel silver. This special shape would have been too hard to make correctly by filing.\

MÁV Class 325 model cylinder and valvegear unit minipic The new type valvegear. The crosshead link and the combination lever are the same as for the old type valvegear but the radius rod is shorter and the reverse link stays in the opposite direction. The reverse link hanger is forked while at the old type it was a double rod.

MÁV Class 325 model cylinder and valvegear unit minipic The new type valvegear from rear. All components were made by drilling the holes and cutting by piercing saw and filing the rods to shape. All rods are from 0.5mm (0.02") nickel silver.

The rolling mainframe minipic The frame, motor, gearbox, wheels and valvegear mounted together. As the current collectors are in place this unit is ready to run. Indeed it runs around on the testbench. Of course this must be taken apart for fitting the cab and the boiler. But the structure is already visible.

MÁV Class 325 Model smokebox door making minipic This picture shows how the smokebox front will be made from a 1.0mm thick brass sheet. The chuck keeps a thick brass rod and the sheet brass is pushed against the front of this rod. The procedure enables only very light cuts as the sheet is not really fixed to the rod, just the friction keeps it turning.

MÁV Class 325 Model boiler making minipic The assembled first boiler. The middle section is made from nickel silver simply because I did not have enough thin brass sheet. The nickel silver is easier to solder too.

MÁV Class 325 Model boiler making minipic The first boiler is already mounted, shown from the bottom side. You can observe the bottom opening that is needed to be able to put on the motor which is inside the boiler. The second boiler's smokebox is already mounted but the middle section is only rolled, not soldered. On the  picture top you can see the "prototype" smokebox. This was made from a rivet-punched sheet where the rivets were incorrectly aligned. I made two openings on the sides to clear the steam tube covers there. The difficulties when cutting these openings to size forced me to look for another solution, just solder the steam tube covers around the smokebox, as seen on the previous picture.

MÁV Class 325 Model cab making minipic Both cabs, still without roof. You can see the rear part of the firebox is separate and placed inside the cab while the front firebox part is soldered to the longboiler.

MÁV Class 325 Model setup minipic The first picture about the loco with boiler and cab. Now it looks very "locomotive-like"!

Air pump of the Class 325 model minipic Why to build a Westinghouse air pump? Several manufacturers offer investment castings! But there were a few problems with those components. The Class 325 had a rather old type air pump, without cooling ribs on the compressor part. Although this type castings are also offered, they were all considerably bigger than those on the Class 325 loco. There was no other way than build one myself. On the left one ready-made pump model, on the right side the main components.

Air pump of the Class 325 model minipic The Westinghouse pump as it will be mounted on the boiler side. Counting all rivets and bolts it contains 20 stand alone components. The job was performed during one foggy weekend.

MÁV Class 325 steamer model boiler minipic The longboiler of the Class 325  model in almost ready state. All nut and bolts are added. The boiler here is supported by the sand tubes. The Westinghouse pump is removable, this is necessary for the painting. It would be a too hard job to airbrush behind the pump unit. The safety valve rod will be masked during the paint job.

MÁV Class 325 steamer model boiler minipic The boiler from the driver side. Actually this is the same boiler as above, but the former picture was made in automatic camera setup, this one after setting the white balance. None of the colours are authentic! But on this photo one can observe the central longboiler part that was made from nickel silver. The other parts are brass.

MÁV Class 325 steamer model boiler minipic This is the same firebox-backhead from two views merged into one picture. I hope the majority of the handles and wheels available on the prototype have been added. You can try this small quiz to find out if you recognized all these parts. It might be useful to take a look on the longboiler, some rods continue there and their function can be found this way.

Class 325 model tender parts minipic The first steps for the tender. It is very similar - actually the same type - as the tender of the Class 326. The main parts have also the same shape, but I changed the design a bit, this new one is easier to build. The main difference will be, however, that the Class 326 had a tender drive, while the tender of the Class 325 is a simple car.

Class 325 model tender frame minipic Soldering the tender frame. The vertical framesides are fixed together with two distance rods turned from aluminium. They secure the framesides in parallel position for the soldering. This structure is fixed to the soldering baseplate using a C-clamp. Another clamp fixes the horizontal framesheets in position. The soldering happened with a butane torch.

MÁV Class 326 model ready w/o paintwork minipic The ready-made model before painting. The window sheets are of course missing, they will be glued into the frames after painting the walls.

MÁV Class 326 model ready w/o paintwork minipic Well visible on the picture, several parts of the model are not from brass but from nickel silver.

MÁV Class 326 model ready w/o paintwork minipic Many components on the boiler, like the safety valve gear need no paint. They were masked by Humbrol Maskol fluid. It is easy to remove after painting.

MÁV Class 326 model ready w/o paintwork minipic This view allows to observe the boiler backhead. The tender is the same as on the Class 326 model, but the cab is larger and the boiler is longer, thus the backhead better visible. Here all handwheels were masked before painting.

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This page was updated last time on November 16th 2023
© János Erö