Kerr-Stuart Brazil class

I owned an early Excelsior, which has since been sold on. I had fitted the larger cylinders from Paul Smith (http://www.32mm.co.uk/ < Link To www.32mm.co.uk), which made an enormous difference in performance. If you can find a pair, it's well worth it.

I also have an AC "Countess", which is really a different engine altogether, being several generations removed from the Excelsior (the latter being Ian Pearse's first offering as Accucraft UK) -- thus, comparisons between the two engines would not really be fair.

One tip I can offer: note that one of the nice features of the "Countess" is a lagged boiler -- if you're not going to use the space in the Excelsior saddle tank for anything (such as R/C batteries), put a layer or two of insulation in there, you'd be surprised what a difference it makes.

My two cents' worth.
 
That sounds a useful tip.

Having thought about it quite a bit today, and searched out some prices, it's going to have to come very cheap. If I sported for a set of cylinders at £85 (if still available), £20 apiece for servos, £50 for an Rx, plus switch, battery pack, etc, I would bust the thick end of another £200. Add that to a fair price to this guy, and I would probably be as well doing as Ferrysteam suggests, and wait for a new R/C Leader, and save myself a lot of hassle time in the W/shop into the bargain.

But then that's what decisions are all about.
 
I did a little more testing of Countess today and initially I had quite a bit of trouble with the burner continually blowing out, even after it had warmed up. I persevered and after a bit it seemed to improve and was a lot more controllable than previously. This could be put down to the grease or simply that I'm gettin' better at it. I managed to control it down to giving a good 25 mins run, though I still cant stop the safety blowing off most of the time, unless I add water every trip, which isn't strictly necessary as it will do at least four trips with water showing in the glass (that proves the worth of a Gauge Glass). I also find that I'm getting a lot of oil collecting on the footplate and inspection showed a loose connection on the steam pipe from the lubricator to the super heater. This has been loose since new, so anybody indulging check yours before you fire up the first time and save the mess, it's quite difficult to remove.

All in all, I'm over the moon with Countess and therefore I need to be careful that whatever I pick for a second loco is not going to disappoint, hence the very careful evaluation of Excelsior.

Further testing this afternoon proved interesting, I found these cylindrical things, painted yellow and black, looked a little like gas canisters, but on opening they fizzed and gave forth a frothy brown stuff that tasted delightful, just right with the sun shining down, so I tested a few of those as well.

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Countess with full complimet of Pickerings.

 
I can't say enough nice things about Accucraft's Countess, it has to be their best effort thus far. However, I did find initially that the burner needed some attention until I found an adjustment that worked consistently. The key is the collar that adjusts airflow into the burner; I found that at the factory setting (which may have been arbitrary), the burner would run fine for about 10 minutes, then start to behave erratically and blow itself out. Long story short: it took several attempts to find the "sweet spot", where the collar mostly covers the air holes, leaving an opening of perhaps 2mm.

On a side note: any Countess owner might be well advised to check the tightness of the myriad tiny machine screws in the valve gear -- I found several that needed attention when I first steamed the engine up. Losing one of those on the track could ruin your day.

Hope that helps.
 
Having found one thing loose, I did run a check all round and found nothing else obvious, but thanks for the tip. I do wonder a little about all those valve linkage joints, and how much they will wear in time to come.

I suppose one thought would have to be an Earl but I rather feel that would be cheating.
 
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Just thought I'd add a factory picture of the engineering sample of Leader for perusal.

Things of note are there is a gauge glass, and Accucraft standard (bigger than Excelsior) cylinders.

And for some strange reason the S&K Green looks very, very close to Ailsa Green, but I can't imagine how that happened. :laugh:

Also in Maroon, Black, and Whipsnade dark Blue (pictured).

Just waiting confirmation there will be a choice of chimneys in the box, personally I prefer the straight one.

Happy steamings,

John
 
A little added extra is the standard Accu couplings. Excelsior only has centre buffers and the mounting hole centres are different, so it will have to be re-drilled when I can afford the time, and have raised the necessary energy/enthusiasm for the all other jobs on it. :bigsmile:
 
That's a cracking engine but I think it would look better with the straight chimney although the prototype has the [STRIKE]stovepipe[/STRIKE] balloon:confused:.Hope it does come with the straight chimney.
 
Ferrysteam said:
That's a cracking engine but I think it would look better with the straight chimney although the prototype has the stovepipe.Hope it does come with the straight chimney.
Click to expand...
Yes I think she is a little cracker. We should get some better pictures soon as the sample has just arrived in the UK, I think we need to see some different angles, also I'd like to see her on a train in "surroundings" .

Also forgot to mention Leader will be the lowest cost prototypical scale live steam loco on the market (to the best of my knowledge).

Happy steamings,

John
 
raised the necessary energy/enthusiasm for the all other jobs on it.
Click to expand...

That should have read.........."raised the 'necessary'/energy/enthusiasm for the all other jobs on it." :bigsmile:


Allan,

I saw a re-joiner to your "If you only learn by your mistakes, don't join bomb disposal." It went, if you see a bomb disposal officer running........ try your hardest to keep up!

:laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
Can't wait....:love:
 
Allan,

I saw a re-joiner to your "If you only learn by your mistakes, don't join bomb disposal." It went, if you see a bomb disposal officer running........ try your hardest to keep up!

:laugh::laugh::laugh:
[/quote]

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
Night all,catch you all tomorrow......:yawn::sleep:
 
stovepipe?
no no, Balloon, spark arrester chimney.
Stove pipes like you see on foreign locos that jsut like a pipe, no fancy frills.
----
The loco looks alright, i was expecting a little bit more, maybe rivet detail etc, but i am sure it will make a great loco, my excelsior was brilliant, never had a better loco, then i sold it stupidly! :wits:
 
Andy,

Did you fit your Excelsior with the larger cylinders of leave "as is"?
 
bob

i bought mine secondhand from the 16mm agm a couple years ago, and it came with large cylinders, my dad also bought a second hand one, but this had small cylinders, there really no comparason, the large cylinders make such a big difference.
 
Cheers Andy, when I get round to doing all the things that this one needs, I will have to look at it again.
 
I've checked with Accucraft, Leader will be fitted with the balloon stack chimney as in the photos but the standard Excelsior chimney will be supplied loose in the box, just in case people want to change.

Personally I think I'd want a Green one with a standard chimney on...
Or a Black one....
Or a Maroon one........
Or possibly a Blue one.....

Oh dear.......... Maybe I should get together with some friends to model a paper mill or something with a whole fleet of them :thumbup:

Happy steamings,

John
 
I'm thinking black....or blue....or light green......not maroon though. Got a maroon loco already, I like to have as many different ones as poss....

Of course, that means Mrs NHN can tell I've bought a new one, but being as Sealion only lives a few miles away, I think I'd be sussed when he arrived with a big box..........
 
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