After a very long wait I received my WADA Works Camelback last week.
Specs:
Alcohol fired;
'D' valve Steam Chest;
Stephenson Valve Gear;
Kadee Couplers;
R/C Mountings?;( I have some experience with R-C but how to do the
reversing gear has me - so far)
Tender with Hand pimp;
Also Goodall filler valve on boiler
Axle pump.
1/32 scale(appears to be very close)
Water Glass
Pressure Gauge
Appearance:
The engine is very nicely done and is close to prototypical in appearance.
The paint on the roof should have been black. The Reading Railroad had some
locos with Brown roofs, but not like this one and none of the Camelbacks had
roofs like this. The quality of the machining is very good . The setup and
execution of the reversing gear and the axle pump is very good too. The
lights are just begging to be made functional.
The tender is another story. He used screws all over the place which
detracts from the appearance a lot. The fit of the sheet metal is a disgrace
compared to the engine. The bright spot here are the trucks which are
tremendous in appearance and function. The hand rail on the tender came
through bent. I straightened it sort of. It's very difficult to handle
without rebending it. No coal load was supplied.
I have a picture on my home pageat http://home.epix.net/~ppaskos
Operation;
Roof is hinged and makes it easy to get to reversing gear and boiler
filler. The wicks are easily gotten to and are probably too long. I had
trouble with overflow of the wick cups. (my first alkie burner) Paul Quirk
showed me how to adjust the tube in the alkie tank to stop that. Problem
solved. Gets steam up easily. Cylinders load very easily and needs to be
pushed to clear. (Break In time?) Engine would not keep pressure on the
first 2 runs without keeping a bit of blower on. (Any Suggestions?) The
third run it seemed to run for a bit without the blower but then lost
pressure. Without the blower it chuffed nicely and gave a nice plume in 80
degree + weather. The third run was made with a 6 car coal hopper load and a
Pennsy(sob) caboose. Come on MTH. I need an Eastern style 1/32 caboose.
Runs were fairly long. I did not time them. The weather at PLS(Pennsylvania
Live Steamers) club was glorius Sunday with low humidty and 80 degrees.
Conclusion:
Overall I like it. It's not perfect and would not be recommended for a
beginner at all. There is no manual on literature supplied . You get the
engine and the handle for the tender pump which is fairly efficent by the
way.
Phil.P. Reading,PA.
