K-27: "Butterfly" or "Clamshell" firedoor?

A couple of weeks ago someone who had read either "The Curmudgeonly Seven" or "They Are Rioting in Silver Plume" (possibly both) declared me certifiably insane.  Below is tangible proof that this is not a new condition . . .    

About 30 years ago – before becoming active in 12"/1' scale doing anything much more than "foaming" and Gandy Dancing – I was living at my parents home in Bend, Oregon while between jobs and recovering from abdominal surgery.  To pass the time, I began to modify a United K-27 purchased ten years before into a more complete replica of RGS #461, following the Brewster plans in MR (more or less).  I moved the motor forward from the third to the second axle, soldered a backhead onto the boiler shell, and began to add detail.   As you can see from the attached photos, the firedoor, Johnson bar and throttle are all movable.  The radius rods can also move up and down in the box links, although none of this occurs without the assistance of the point of a pencil or an X-acto knife . . .

BTW, the top and bottom halves of the firedoor are connected by a linkage as on the prototype; raise the top and the bottom drops, and vice versa.   Are these called "Butterfly" firedoors, "Clamshell", or something else?

Door Closed . . .  and Open, Throttle Open . . .  and Closed


Radius Rod Forward . . .  and Reverse, Johnson Bar (above) likewise


The Whole Enchilada . . .


For photos of the waycar that this engine would have pulled between Durango and Telluride via Rockwood and Trout Lake, see [ngdiscussion.net].  These models were set aside when I returned to work, and the loco is obviously a long way from finished.  Just over a year later, through an incredibly lucky set of circumstances, I became a member of the volunteer locomotive maintenance crew traveling with the American Freedom Train, working my way up from gopher to hostler on #4449 and student fireman on #610.  Other than setting up a couple of Christmas-tree layouts for my daughter, all of my railroading since 1975 has been in 12-inch = 1-foot scale.

- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender

p.s.  The above loco has been sold, reluctantly, to a fellow K-27 fan in Denver.



Edited 14 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2022 01:11PM by Russo Loco.