Alternative weights?

[Bricksmith]

Hi all,

I've been working on a 2-8-0 locomotive with Big Ben Bricks' small drivers and Zephyr's connecting rods.

It is tender driven, meaning there is very little weight in the loco itself, and as a result the driving wheels stutter every so often. I have reduced the friction as much as I can but there is still a noticeable loss of traction. The loco is just too light.

I've looked at official lego weights and they're far too big to fit in the build. Are there any non-lego alternatives that I could hide somewhere in a hollow section of the body?

Any suggestions or help will be appreciated. Thanks!

An image for reference. Taken before the connecting rods arrived:

Edited January 24, 2018 by Bricksmith
extra clarification

[ScotNick]

Hmm, something I used for my motor trucks (and which might also fit somewhere in the boiler) are nails. I think mine are Iron nails, anyway they did reduce a lot of slipping, hope this helps.

Plank Wagon - motor wagon by ScotNick1, on Flickr

[M_slug357]

Pennies for the win!!! I generally try to squeeze about 30-50 cents' worth into most of my lighter engines.

[asleepatheswitch]

I use sheet lead.  Go to the hardware store and get real small fishing lead weights or pellets for a pellet gun.

[Sven J]

It's hard for me to believe that lack of weight is the reason for your problems. If all parts can rotate freely, a non-motorized locomotive should run just like a wagon.
Have you checked if the rods can easily turn on the crank pins? Sometimes the holes are a little tight, a bit of sanding will help then.
And did you ensure correct quartering (90° crank offset left vs. right side)?

Edited January 24, 2018 by Tenderlok

[Bricksmith]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, Will certainly look at the crank pins as suggested by @Tenderlok. If nothing changes (It has a remarkably light axle loading, especially at this scale) I'll have a trip to the hardware store. @M_slug357 Annoyingly I live in Britain and our smallest coin (5 pence) doesn't fit inside a two-stud wide gap (The largest space in the model I can put something)! @ScotNick @asleepatheswitch I like the idea of using nails or fishing/lead weights, Especially the latter since they are very heavy for their size. I'll see what the store has.

Still open to any other suggestions!

[M_slug357]

@Bricksmith Another note on technic pins-- make sure you're using the right pins!! Blue & Black ones add friction while Tan and Lt.Grey ones spin freely.

Also, if your driver wheels have bricks behind them, you may want to invest in a healthy supply of Nylon washers. Placing those between the drivers and the bricks of the wheelbase reduces the chance of snagging parts.

[zephyr1934]

Do you have traction bands on the wheels?

[Bricksmith]

On 1/25/2018 at 5:06 AM, M_slug357 said:

@Bricksmith Another note on technic pins-- make sure you're using the right pins!! Blue & Black ones add friction while Tan and Lt.Grey ones spin freely.

Also, if your driver wheels have bricks behind them, you may want to invest in a healthy supply of Nylon washers. Placing those between the drivers and the bricks of the wheelbase reduces the chance of snagging parts.

I'll look into that, thanks! 

On 1/25/2018 at 7:04 AM, zephyr1934 said:

Do you have traction bands on the wheels?

I haven't actually, probably worth looking into. Big Ben Bricks wheels don't seem to accommodate for friction bands and I'm not confident enough to try and amend any; but it could be worth a try.

 

Side note: I got some weights (Zinc plated screw nuts) and hid them in the chassis. The result is MUCH better, but there is still some stutter on the corners.

[zephyr1934]

Traction bands should help a lot. Plastic wheels on plastic rails have a lot of slip. If you have some of the lego wheels with the groove for the bands you might want to try them to see if it has more traction. If so, but you like the BBB wheels better then there are ways to add grooves or paint on bullfrog snot.

[Bricksmith]

10 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Traction bands should help a lot. Plastic wheels on plastic rails have a lot of slip. If you have some of the lego wheels with the groove for the bands you might want to try them to see if it has more traction. If so, but you like the BBB wheels better then there are ways to add grooves or paint on bullfrog snot.

Ah, paint is an interesting idea. I've not needed friction bands with Big Ben Bricks drivers before, only now with these smaller ones. Unfortunately since Lego don't do them in that size there isn't much work around.  My Mallard has friction bands to counter the slight added friction of the tiles covering the driving wheels, but the Scotsman with Big Ben Bricks wheels runs just as well without :)