Scrapheap challenge - part six

Work on the 2-6-4 tank (the one I expected to scrap) has been completed.

The front of the valve gear has been painted black and the chassis paired with a spare GWR body.

This is the final result:

One down, three to go...

I had already identified that the armature was completely fried and ordered a replacement (but ordered the wrong one) so the incorrect armature is fitted to the 2-6-4 tank above. I still needed a resolution to this one but with Christmas fast approaching, I'm conscious of not spending too much money.

I have previously rewound armatures, with varying degrees of success so I decided on a slightly different approach.

First job was to remove the existing wire from the damaged armature, my assumption that this thing had been fried wasn't far off the mark, there were large blobs of melted lacquer and little wonder that the armature resistance was below 1 ohm between each segment. It took over an hour just to remove all traces of wire and lacquer before I could even consider rewinding.

This picture is taken under the magnifying glass:

Now it's time for some creativity.

This will be the end of my armature winding tool:

A leftover JG Speedfit plumbing adaptor. The end of this was cut to accommodate my armature, it was then attached to the rest of what will eventually become my armature winder!

And here's the winder itself - no manual hand-cranking here, this is in fact an old dynamo (generator) from my old Volkswagen Beetle. I'd played around with an old dynamo from a tractor as a kid so I know that these things will work from a Duette controller, albeit slowly, which is exactly what I need to wind the armature. No speed required here and minimal torque.

The original key for the pulley was removed and the first self-tapping screw locks the adaptor to the shaft of the dynamo. The second screw allows me to secure the armature for winding.

Here's the armature being (carefully) wound:

It's far from perfect, the dynamo needs a casing and requires securing into position but even in this basic state, it did the job.

After cleaning up the soldering to the commutator, I refitted into the chassis and tested on the desk: 

Once satisfied, The finished body was screwed into place ready for a quick test around the loft track.

Job done!

I now have nine 0-6-2 tanks.

Technically this loco has cost me nothing to restore - the paint and transfers were all leftover spares and although I did purchase an armature, as it was the wrong one I'm not counting it towards the cost of this restoration. The coil of wire for the armature was also purchased several years ago when I first began experimenting with armature repairs. 

So the total cost is NOTHING!

Two down, two to go...