Photos of MÁV Class 327 Steamer Model

Pictures taken during the model building

The Tender

Class 327 model tender truck minipic Contruction steps making the tender trucks. On the left side you can see the 0.6mm nickel silver sheet the trcuksides are made of. The CNC machine has already drilled the holes for the rivets and other components. The metal sheet is painted blue to enhance scribing visibility. In the middle of the photo there is one side sheet cut out, on the lower right side the sheet is already filed to shape. In the background the truck sides are soldered together with the center support bridge. The etched bearing blocks and guides are not yet soldered and the leaf springs are also missing.
Class 327 model tender truck minipic The ready-made tender truck before painting black. This is the rear truck, it shows the rotation support ring. The front truck has no ring, it can freely pivot. One truck is composed from 230 components - rivets included.
Class 327 model tender frame minipic The baseplate of the tender frame upside down. The plate itself is a 1.0 mm nickel silver sheet. The C-shape framebars and the cross supports are soldered on it. The left side shows the break air tank and brake cylinder with the rod. The buffer beam is fixed to end of the baseplate. The buffers are screwed into buffer beam holes. The Roco universal coupler is mounted on a beam that is kept in central position with a spring.
Class 327 model tender minipic The ready-made tender. The etched river rows are soldered on the sidewalls, this is possible only with nickel silver sheets. The drawbar is still missing, its vertical position will be determined by the loco.
Class 327 model tender minipic The left side of the tender. The break air tank and cylinder are filed out in the internal side to clear the truck movements. In the case of the models the trucks need to turn considerably more than at the prototype.
Class 327 model tender minipic Both tenders together. They are identical, indeed. You can perhaps discover tiny differences which were resulted in by using different materials or technology.

The Engine

The Frame

Class 327 model frame minipic Making the horizontal spacers for the frame. In the picture above the 1.0 mm nickel silver sheet, drilled by the CNC machine and already scribed. It contains seven different spacers. One was not used after all, it was replaced by a longer thinner sheet. The three narrow pieces on the right side are the spacers for the gearbox.
Class 327 model frame minipic First steps in making the loco main frame sides. In the upper part of the photo you can see the 0.8 mm nickel silver sheet drilled by the CNC drill machine. The uppermost scribed pattern was the first successful one, below two unsuccessful attempts. You can also observe a few holes having no mechanical role, they help during the outline scribing.

The second and third sheets are already cut out and partly filed. The lowest one is a ready made frame side.

Class 327 model frame minipic Both frame sides of each loco were mounted together in order to give the final shape. Two pins ensure the right position, the frame ends are soldered together temporarily. The most important edges, like the bearing cutouts and the spacer openings were filed together. This way these sizes are surely identical on both framesides.
Class 327 model frame minipic One frame soldered together, the other one in parts. During the soldereing the exact position was ensured by spacer rods turned from aluminium. This way the spacers do not get soldered to the frame sides even if the solder flows down. The main soldering happened using a butane torch. The buffer beam and the cab supports were soldered later with a soldering iron. You can also see the spring compensation beams and the horizontal pins to be used later as brake supports.
Class 327-es model tubular bearing minipic The first and second drivers run in tubular bearings similarly to the Class 342 and Class 325 model. There is a brass strip soldered on the top of the turned tubes. This prevents the tubes from turning in the bearing guides of the frame and the equalization beam lies on their top. It was important to solder this strip very exatly parallel on the tube. A jig from epoxy PCB material was made for this job. The soldering was performed using a gas torch, you can see small burning spots on the jig, too.
Class 327 model spring frame minipic These small frames keep the driver axles inside the frame. They also support the leaf spring models. Remember, these stay now upside down, the leaf springs of this loco were below the drivers! They are kept in place with small pins and springs. Behind the frames an earlier version can be observed. They were not rigid enough, thus a new version was designed.
Class 327 model rod making minipic Milling the rod flutes.

This is the same technology, as it was used for the previous steam loco models. First the flutes will be milled into a sheet nickel silve using a thick saw with the CNC machine. After this the holes are made, also using the CNC machine. Later the rod contours are cut out with a piercing saw and filed to size.

The Gearbox

Class 327 model gearbox minipic The gearbox housing. One again soldered together, the other one in parts. During soldering a spacer was used to ensure exact positions, as for the frame. Of course the spacer was shorter, 8.0 mm long instead 11.0 mm of those for the frame.
Class 327 model gearbox minipic The ready-made gearbox. The worm shaft will be equipped later with a flywheel.
Class 327 model gearbox minipic The ready-made gearbox front view. You can observe the double gears, a slanted one mating the worm and a straight one to drive the wheel-axle. Unfortunately after mounting the gearbox it turned out the straight gear touched the worm. Thus it was chamfered using a file.
Class 327 model motor support minipic The ironless-core motor with its support. The L-shape support is made from 1.0mm nickel silver. It is screwed to the main frame with two M1.6 screw. The original motor has no built-in fixation, thus a small "cup" was turned from brass and glued on the motor front with epoxi. This contains two threaded holes for the fixation screws. On the lower part of the support a small electric socket has been mounted. The connector with the motor current can be plugged here.

The Pony Truck

Class 327 model truck minipic The side sheets of the leading truck. Above the nickel silve sheet, drilled with the CNC machine. In the middle you can see the side sheet cut out, below it is already filed to size. The bridge is not yet manufactured.
Class 327 model truck minipic The ready made truck with wheels mounted. The hole for the kingpin has an oval shape to allow the truck slide sideways.
Class 327 model truck minipic Fixing the truck. At the top of the kingpin you can see the fixation: a wire in a crosswise hole. You can also see the springs on both sides that guide the track back to central position. The H-shape sheet keeps the wheelsets fixed in the truck. There are lead weights on both ends of the truck.
Class 327 model headlight wiring minipic Removing the truck one can see the headlight wiring. The power comes from the DCC decoder placed in the tender. Passing through the tiny connector between the tender and loco a thin isolated wire is glued to the inner surface of the framesides. It finishes below the front footplate on a small PCB. The similar wires of the headlight LEDs are soldered here, too. The red arrow shows the LED SMD resistor, also sodered to the small PCB.
Class 327 model setup minipic The frame, gearbox, motor, wheels and the rods mounted together. The model proportions are well visible. The loco has no current collector, these are monted in the tender. Thus a test run is only possible by coupling a tender to the loco. This setup needed a long series of setups and fine tuning until it could run on the testbench.

The Cylinder Block Unit

Class 327 model cylinder block minipic The cylinder block components after drilling the hole patterns using the CNC Machine.
Class 327 model cylinder block minipic The sheets were painted to make the contours better visible for cutting. One piece of the cylinder block front sheet and the yoke are filed to size.
Class 327 model cylinder block minipic One cylinder block is ready, another one prepared for soldering. The tubes are turned with very thin walls. This makes them lightweight.
Class 327 model cylinder block minipic The unit of the mounted cylinder block and yoke contains a complex component, the upper connecting rod between the block and the yoke. In the prototype this rod is actually an I shape cross section casting. It is not straight, thus one can not model it using a brass I-profile. Thus it was soldered together from a vertical and two horizonlat sprips. In addition this rod keeps the valverod, too, it needs to be positioned precisely. The rod is shown in the bottom of the picture, counting all "rivets" it is made from 25 components.
Class 327 model crosshead minipic This photo shows the manufacturing of the crosshead. Both sides were made now by etching, this ensures exact sizes and shape. Between them there is the H-shape core, made from 1.0 mm thick nickel silver sheet. The piston rod - of course without piston - is made from 1.0 mm diameter steel rod. Its end was grinded down to 0.5 mm diameter, this is plugged and soldered into the hole of the core. In the picture top one can see the main rod. Its hole will be equipped with an isolation ring and put inside the crosshead.
Class 327 model lubricator minipic The last step in making the cylinder block unit was to build the Friedmann-lubricator. This unit is similar to those on the Class 342 model, but it has 6 outputs rather than four. Unfortunately since making the lubricator for the Class 342 loco I have forgotten the steps. Thus it was necessary to reinvent them. An additional difficulty was that on this loco the lubricator is mounted on a small pillar on top of the connection bar between the cylinder block and the yoke. To get a fix mounting two small vertical rods are inside.
Class 327 model cylinder block unit ready minipic The ready-made cylinder block unit, front view. The radius rod is a bit offset in the reverse link, as the loco runs forwards with moderate cylinder fill.
Class 327 model cylinder block unit ready minipic The cylinder block unit fromrear side. Of course the lever of the Friedmann-lubricator operating rods do not move. In the prototype they were driven by the reverse link axle. It would be too difficult to make this axle move together with the link.

The Boiler

Class 327 model smokebox minipic The first part of the boiler unit, the smokebox. The rivet rows were made using CNC riveting tool. On the left you can see the front wall disk and the ring that connects the smokebox to the longboiler. The square opening on the bottom of the smokebox, well visible on the maounted unit, was made as last step.
Class 327 model dome and stack building minipic Domes and stacks of both model. The sanddomes are the same, the steam domes show different safety valves. The stacks are also different. The first one models a single piece stack while the second one shows a removable upper part, as it was required by the Austrian-Hungarian War Department shortly before WW1.

Here you can see a collection of rejects. Unfortunately I realized too late that the drawings show the dome height sizes from the dome front and not at the side, thus the first set of domes became too short.

Class 327 model reverse rod minipic The reverse rod of the second model. This one has two supports, the first loco has only one. The rod was made from 0.4 mm nickel silver sheet. The reverse hanger at the rod end is movable. This is important as the reverse rod must be removed for painting. It is plugged into place after finishing the paintwork. The hanger part fits through the slot of the footplate.
Class 327 model air compressor minipic The Westinghouse compressor is a casting from Weinert. It is important to keep it removable for the painting, as it is impossible to airbrush between the compressor body and the boiler. To make it easily removable a H-shape support was made from nickel silver. There are holes and pins on the corners which keep the compressor on place.
Class 327 model boiler building minipic The ready-made boilers. Unlike for the Class 325 model the main frame only contains the lower part of the boiler support sheets, the upper parts are soldered to the boiler body. In addition I mounted here the horizontal reinforcement plates, too, they keep the large size air cylinder, as well.

Lower in this picture you can see the "reject collection" again. The double folded nickel silver sheet of the firebox front made many troubles. Its folding, its shape and the cutout for the longboiler bottom must all fit.

Class 327 model boiler building minipic Bottom view of the boiler unit. The frames are well visible, they model the similar frames that are part of the main frame on the prototype, here part of the boiler assembly. In the centeryou can see the main air reservoir which hase no bottom in the model as it should clear the equalizing rod between the first and second driver axle. The small air reservoirs on the footplate model the auxiliary air reservoirs.

The Cab

Class 327 model cab opening grinding minipic The front panel of the Class 327 cab shows a 45 degree "streamlining" chamfer. This was common on the Hungarian fast train locomotives designed between 1905 and 1920. On the model these sheets are soldered on the back side of the side sheet edges.

After soldering together the side walls and the front the front opening was fitted to the firebox shape. This was a difficult job. With file and small cutting disk the shape was formed until the boiler easily slided into the opening.

Class 327 model cab filing minipic

The roof was put on the top as last part. The surfaces of all sheets were etched a bit before cutting and forming in order to ease later painting. Thin, 0.15 mm bronze strips were soldered on the inner edges of the front sheets to protect the etched surface while filing.

Class 327 model cab minipic The ready made cab. The injectors are mounted on the bottom of the baseplate. The only missing items are the handles of the injector control inside the cab.
Class 327 model cab minipic The cab from the back. The firebox is not visible here, in this model it is a stand alone component. It is fixed by two M1.6 screws to the frame, the same screws fix the cab, as well.

The Firebox

Class 327 model firebox template minipic To solder the backwall of the firebox in exact 78 degree to the bottom plate a jig was made. This keeps the backwall in correct angle during the soldering process. After fixing the backwall to the plate it was unsoldered from the jig.
Class 327 model firebox grindig minipic The backwall edge needed to be grinded to size while keeping the 78 degree tilting. This was made by fixing the assembly to a heavy metalworking prism and touching this way to the gringing wheel.
Class 327 model firebox minipic The body of the firebox, in front the components of the second one. From left the backwall made from 0.8 mm nickel silver sheet, the frame that will be soldered to the backwall to give enough thickness for the rounding of the edges. On the right side you can see another frame which gives correct form to the firebox on the front end. In the front there is the 0.3 mm nickel silver sheet that will be bent to cover the firebox. The surface of both nickel silver sheets were etched a bit in order to better keep the paint later.
Class 327 model firebox minipic Inside the firebox body. Here you can observe the front and back frames. The bottom rod of the second frame will be removed later as the firebox will be pulled over the gearbox. The task of this rod is to fix the form of the firebox during the building phase.
Class 327 model firebox minipic Both fireboxes, one before mounting all handles and small components, the other one ready made. Around the left one you can see components to be mounted. One piece from each components type, there are some pieces missing, though.
Class 327 model firebox minipic The firebox with all parts from both sides. You can try to find out the name of the handles!
Class 327 model lead weight minipic Casting the lead weights. The masters were made from wood, plexiglass, the cylinder section was turned from aluminium. These were cast into plaster to get a mold, adding a small conical part to form the sprue. The lead was molten in the kitchen ladle - a steel one! All this was made in open air to avoid harm from molten lead.
Class 327 model lead weight minipic Here it is well visible: in order to weight down the back side of the model all available room should be filled with lead. Here around the gearbox, but a small part was even fixed below the roof panel.

The first ready made model

First Class 327 model ready, unpainted minipic The first ready-made model before painting. This photo nicely shows the perfect proportions of this old steamer.
First Class 327 model ready, unpainted minipic The model from back. One can take a look at the firebox inside the cab.
First Class 327 model ready, unpainted minipic The left side of the model. This shows an older prototype. The typcal detals are the balance security valves, the single stage Westinghouse air pump and the automatic control device for the superheater. These were removed from the prototype soon after their early operation as they had no use. The stack is still the single part one.
First Class 327 model ready, unpainted minipic The left side as rear view. The connection rod to the tender is longer than the prototype, thus the distance between the loco and the tender is visible bigger. This is necessary as the model should negotiate smaller curves than the prototype did.

Painting

Class 327 model wheel painting minipic Painting the wheelsets. It is better to paint them as set, without removing the wheels from the axle, as it is easy to destroy the paint when pulling on again. In this case it is important to protect the tube-bearings. If paint remains between the bearing and the axle it can block the wheelset. A square paper sheet was put behind the wheels that masks the axles during airbrushing. This can be easily removed after painting with a pair of scissors.
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This page was updated last time on November 7th, 2011
© János Erö