< Cylinder Block Covers >
The final construction of the cylinder block is cylinder block covers.
Side covers are made from 0.5 mm brass sheet. They have dummy inspection doors and holes. The center round hole is for the snifting valve.
Each door has two hinges and two latches. All of them are dummy. The hinges are made of 2 mm brass round bar and have grooves cut by fret saw and drill lathe. The backside of them are cut flat for soldering.
The latch has complicated shape. They are made from brass round bar and brass sheet. Both are cut, silver soldered and sliced to each one. After that the bush part of them are widened by hammer and molded with files. Note the bush part is a little thick at start to prepare hammering.
Assembled side cover. There are dummy flanges in the rhombas holes. Prototype cylinder block has such flanges for adjusting valve timing.
Backside view of a side cover. The side cover and the dummy doors are soft soldered onto 1 mm brass back plates that is wider than the doors. The back plates also reinforces the side covers. Holes in the back plates are for pouring soft solder. The dummy rhombas flanges stand back from the side cover. So they are screwed on stepped part of backside.
The hinges are soldered on the backing sheets. The latches are soldered on the doors with brass wires.
Rounded bottom parts of the covers are made from 1 mm brass sheet. They are made from one sheet, rounded by home made bending rolls and cut in two parts.
I printed full-scale CAD drawing and use it as a gauge for scribing and cutting.
The plates have small holes for screws and large holes to clear drain valves. The large holes are 10 mm dia. and 12 mm dia. They are cut by hole saws.
Front and back covers are cut from 0.5 mm brass sheet. Each has one hole for a screw.
Assembled covers. Each corner is fixed with brass rectangle bars inside. The bars have screwed holes so as to ease assembly. The side cover and the bottom cover are fixed with a brass band plate inside.
All of cylinder block parts were assembled. Top of each covers will be fixed under the running boards. I will cut screw holes after designing the running boards.
A famous Japanese model designer, Mr.Hiraoka introduced me a new material for O-rings. It is extremely resistant to high temperature oil and steam, called Afras or Fluoro-Power AP. I got some for main pistons and replaced old Viton O-rings with them. Its appearance is the same as Viton's.