Links for the next parts of the saga:

14 - Done it! (well sort of)

14A - Done it 2! (well sort of)

15 - Stepping up a notch

16 - Oh bu**er!

17 - Paying the (sand)piper

18 - BOGIES!

19 - Lining up ducks

20 - (Traction) motoring on

21 - Getting closer but a long way to go

22 - Monkey in the well

23 - You stud!

24 - Tanked Up (and Boxing)

The focus for the next stage of this project is going to move from the blog section, to the normal forum bit as the additional interaction is going to prove useful, I think. I'll still put the occasional post in here for construction that isn't related to the bogies and certain progress milestones, probably.

This is the drawing I've used to prove that the concept is sound, using the dimensions of the parts that I've found so far. It all fits in the space I've got available, which is a good start!

The original copy is to exact scale size, the diagram above is enlarged for clarity.

The dark blue bits at the top of the image are the chassis rails, on the floor moulding, that project downwards. The red box around the bogie is the maximum height allowable to ensure that the buffer centres are a scale 3' 5.5" above rail level (24.21mm), although I could allow myself an extra mm or two if required, there's variation in the real thing, after all

The hornblocks are from Slaters, and the inner frames will be etched from either 0.70mm brass or nickel silver, I haven't decided yet. One thing to note, the wheels haven't come out very well in that picture, the larger floating green things you can see are the axle mounted gears, with the grey rectangle underneath being the rail. I'll upload a better diagram at some point.

Now that I'm satsfied that the concept works, and I've found the right parts for the job, next job will be to finalise the motor and gear positioning before deciding on the design for the frames and motor mounts. What I learned when designing my class 455 etchy bits is going to come in handy here!

The best part is, now that it's public, I'll have to get on with it and make it work!

The adventure of the springy bogies will continue Here

Edit - I've just noticed that this is chapter 13, I do hope that's not some kind of omen...