PDK 04 Tender with Alan Gibson wheels & bearings

[deepfat]

My first go at builoding in brass was inspired by an ebay auction becuase it seemd that eveyrhting needed was in the box - a brass kit (PDK Merchant Navy series 1) what looked like the right ALan Gibson wheels, an engine and a 2 stage gearbox.

However is you look at the picture attached (let me know if you can't see it) and the bearing supplied are so big that they are big for the frame i.e. they would not be holes but crescent shaped cut outs.  However there are essentially two chassis frames under the tender and I can't see why I can't discard the inner frame completely and have the tender bogies on pin point axles perhaps with brass pin point bearings inside the supplied white metal axel covers.  It also occurs to me that this might make it difficult to replace the wheels so can anyone offer any advice as I wanted to start with the easy bit which I tho0ught would be the tender!

thanks in advance @deepfat

[N15class]

Hi you answered your own question there. You use an inner frame to hold the wheels as it does a few things. 1 make the wheels removable, 2 makes it easier to assemble, 3 ease of painting.

 

Glad you are having a go at loco construction. I would of recommended an easier prototype to start with. Hopefully it will not be too hard and put you off.

[N15class]

Forgot to say if you do hit snag ask on here as you will be bound to get the problem solved before you make a mess.

[Siberian Snooper]

Is there anyone you know, who could turn down the bearings to fit.

[nerron]

I have often encountered this problem with etched loco and tender frames. I enlarge the holes with an appropriate sized broach. Work carefully and slowly checking the fit of the bearings as you go.It is certainly worth persevering with the inside frames for the reasons already stated.

[Steamport Southport]

As stated in post #5 they often make holes in etched kits smaller than needed, That's so that you can open them up yourself to the required size. Much better than them being too big and a sloppy fit.

 

 

A good guide to building loco kit chassis is the download on the Comet website. Click on DOWNLOADS, and scroll down to Building Loco Chassis The Comet Way.

 

http://www.cometmodels.co.uk/

 

 

 

It describes about opening the holes in the chassis and fitting the bearings. 

 

 

 

 

Jason

[david.hill64]

Something like this:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverline-Repairmans-Taper-Reamer-hole-enlarger-hand-deburr-panels-dril-S282637-/201803186346?epid=537189930&hash=item2efc6840aa:g:wMMAAOSwHnFVoTEh

 

is very helpful.

[Jol Wilkinson]

What inner diameter is the hole and what outer diameter are the bearings? Opening out the hole is okay if you only need to remove a small amount of metal.

 

The etched inner frame spacer looks a bit thin at the lower edge, so it may be worth getting some smaller OD bearings if you have to remove too much to accept the existing ones. Markits list a 2mm ID, 3MM OD bearing. London Road Models supply a 2.0mm ID, 2.6mm OD bearing in their kits, possibly supplied by Alan Gibson Workshop.

[deepfat]

Thanks all my point was that I now bearing holes have to be broached but the bearings are 4mm or so and making the holes that big would cut through the frame so as Jol Wilkinson says I need different bearings and PDK have promised to send me them.  I have the Ian Rice work on chassis building , low temp solder & flux  from DCC Concepts, and if push comes to shove some 2 pack epoxy used by Augusta to glue Merlin helicopter drive shafts together so ready to get stuck in.  I will also blog this as the weak point of this project is too much assumed knowledge in the instructions.

 

I wanted this kit as I want a wartime black Peninsular & Orient Merchant Navy and no one makes anything like the photos I have of her as she would have been in say 1943-44