# Royal Blue Rebuild



## Kelpieflyer

Hey all,

I am in the process of rebuilding my Uncle's 1951 Royal Blue. I have a can motor and an electronic e unit. The e unit is working fine, but the can motor is real loud and rough. It is a SNS trains motor and the worm gear doesnt look right.

I have a Timko motor with a flywheel that runs a lot better, but the flywheel rubs against the horizontal brace in the cab. Would a Timko without a flywheel be better?

I also got a new chassis, drilled a hole in the boiler for smoke and then drilled a new hole in the smoke unit a bit further back so the holes would match up. Smoke unit works great with no change in performance.

Ill get to posting some photos a bit later.



Thanks,



RM


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## flyernut

Sounds good. Pictures are helpful. I would have used a different chassis though and moved the e-unit to the tender.


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## The New Guy

Kelpieflyer said:


> Would a Timko without a flywheel be better?


Have you seen the Carl Tuveson motors? It's a standard Lionel motor on a gear plate - from all reports it's a smooth operator. Not a burner though. A more realistic speed.


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## Kelpieflyer

flyernut said:


> Sounds good. Pictures are helpful. I would have used a different chassis though and moved the e-unit to the tender.


I used a pacific chassis with a smoke unit. I am putting the e-unit in the tender. It fits and works well. I'll have to look close at the Carl Tuveson motor.


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## Kelpieflyer

Here are a few pictures so far...


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## flyernut

Kelpieflyer said:


> Here are a few pictures so far...


Looking pretty good so far.. Nice work.:smilie_daumenpos:


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## chrisallen21

Nice pics. I have a Royal Blue myself and would be interested in knowing the paint and colour you use to finish the shell. I haven't ventured into repainting an entire shell but was thinking out a touch-up possibly. I have no intention of reselling, just for personal satisfaction (and learning of the craft) so I want to start slowly by trying touch-ups first and then progress to more difficult tasks such as a full shell restore.


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## flyernut

chrisallen21 said:


> Nice pics. I have a Royal Blue myself and would be interested in knowing the paint and colour you use to finish the shell. I haven't ventured into repainting an entire shell but was thinking out a touch-up possibly. I have no intention of reselling, just for personal satisfaction (and learning of the craft) so I want to start slowly by trying touch-ups first and then progress to more difficult tasks such as a full shell restore.


Krylon has a paint for the Royal Blue, and in fact is named Royal Blue.


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## daveh219

I have a Royal Blue that's waiting its' turn on the repair bench...but I bought a rattle can of Royal Blue paint from Portline...

Krylon is probably cheaper


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## Kelpieflyer

I am also looking for a set of New Haven passenger cars to repaint in the Royal Blue scheme. Since the engine is going to be nowhere near original, I am switching the engine over to the sintered iron knuckle coupler trucks.

Having a hard time finding paint, so I'll probably go with the Portlines paint even though its pricey. I figure the time I am spending looking is worth more than the price difference.


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## flyernut

Kelpieflyer said:


> I am also looking for a set of New Haven passenger cars to repaint in the Royal Blue scheme. Since the engine is going to be nowhere near original, I am switching the engine over to the sintered iron knuckle coupler trucks.
> 
> Having a hard time finding paint, so I'll probably go with the Portlines paint even though its pricey. I figure the time I am spending looking is worth more than the price difference.


What about the krylon?? I have a Santa Fe B unit I want to paint in the Comet colors, but I'll be darned if I'm going to spend $21.50,plus shipping, for a small spray can of paint.


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## Kelpieflyer

I haven't found a Krylon that works. The color is too light and a bit too purple looking.


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## Kelpieflyer

Well, I have it painted now. I went ahead and spent the cash for the paint from Portlines. I must say it is very nice paint. I probably spent as much trying other paints that said they were Royal Blue, but were not.

I used a prewar tender shell because I thought it looked better.

Got a nice connector for the smoke and light to run directly from the tender trucks.


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## mopac

Looking great. Nice project. It will be worth it when it is done.


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## flyernut

Nice color.. Looks beautiful....:smilie_daumenpos:


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## chrisallen21

Very nice! I gather you used an airbrush kit for the repaint? If so, any recommendations for when I decide to tackle a repaint?


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## Kelpieflyer

Dont have an airbrush, I used a rattle can from Portlines. I plan on getting into using an airbrush, just have to figure out which one I should get.


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## mopac

I see you went with a DC can conversion for the motor. How do you like it? I am having
problem with my 282 motor and thinking going with the conversion.


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## Kelpieflyer

mopac said:


> I see you went with a DC can conversion for the motor. How do you like it? I am having
> problem with my 282 motor and thinking going with the conversion.


The can motor works very well. I used the Timken motor with the flywheel. It has a better worm gear and more balanced acceleration and deceleration. I also used an electronic e-unit and it works flawlessly. If you decide to run the smoke and light through the e-unit, you should run separate power leads from the trucks to the smoke and light to ease the load on the e-unit.


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## Kelpieflyer

I have the decals on the tender and boiler now. Also have the tender trucks and e-unit installed.


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## chrisallen21

Beautiful job!


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## flyernut

Very nice....:appl:


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## Kelpieflyer

Well, I am pretty well finished. I need to make a change to the bolts I used to install the valve gear. I was having problems getting the rivets to set properly, so I used small brass bolts. I'm going to fill in the screw slot and paint them blue to match.


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## Kelpieflyer

Here's a video:


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## chrisallen21

Beautiful finished product!

Quick question:
I wasn't aware there was a way to embed videos in this forum. It looks like you just need to post to something public (i.e. youtube) and then use a link to point to it. Is that all you did? It would definitely make it easier to upload a video link when requesting assistance with a repair for others to see on the forum. Sometimes pictures just don't provide what you need to show.


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## Kelpieflyer

chrisallen21 said:


> Beautiful finished product!
> 
> Quick question:
> I wasn't aware there was a way to embed videos in this forum. It looks like you just need to post to something public (i.e. youtube) and then use a link to point to it. Is that all you did? It would definitely make it easier to upload a video link when requesting assistance with a repair for others to see on the forum. Sometimes pictures just don't provide what you need to show.


That's what I did. The forum software makes it pretty easy.


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