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Random thoughts, tidying up, (mit photographs too!)

Sailor Charon

Entry posted by Sailor Charon

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Well, first, just in case the change hasn't been flagged, I've added an updated picture of the Grange in the Part 4 entry, and added a comment too.

 

With regard to the streamlined B17... Things have been slightly awkward.

First of all, with the Dapol B17 chassis, the bit on the loco that the tender drawbar is attached to... isn't attached to anything, so it drops out. On my old B17, it was attached to the cab, but on the chassis it isn't. Secondly, the boiler is just the plastic moulding, that is, without the weight inside - that's not a complaint, just an observation. Oh, and it isn't attached either.

The good news is that suggests that it would be fairly easy to convert it using the Langley B2 body kit and just using the cab and boiler.

blogentry-3807-0-05755100-1296476977_thumb.jpg

Now, while the cylinders aren't attached to the footplate, they aren't attached to the chassis block either, and as I'm going to have to start hacking away large parts of the footplate... (Maybe the B2 conversion would have been a better bet. :)) that's a bit of a worry, as there's nothing to keep the cylinders in place.

 

What am I going to do next?

Well, I had planned to do a V2 using a Farish B1, a Minitrix A3 (for body and trailing bogie) and a leading bogie from... it doesn't matter because the Minitrix A3s I'd been keeping an eye on on eBay went for more money than it was worth me paying for them.

Other possibilities are for an unrebuilt Royal Scot using the BH Enterprises kit and the Farish Royal Scot. And yes, I know it should, technically, have a Fowler tender. Then again, technically it should have been rebuilt before 1967, so :P . There are two reasons for this. One, I'd like an unrebuilt Royal Scot. And two, I'd like a couple of Fury types (One in green, one in lined black). Just enough to suggest that it became a class (Probably called Warships :) The second one I'm thinking of calling Fearless). And the BH Enterprises unrebuilt Scot seems like a good starting point...

Other than that...

Well, the wheels are only one mm too small to turn a 3MT tank into a V1 - or an N2. They're about right for an L1/L3 too. (Which would have given me a spare leading bogie for the V2) Come to think of it, they're only 1mm too small for a 4MT tank...

Oh, and the GEM Garratt might work with the 3MT chassis, although the front loco would probably have to be demotored...

A princess would be nice, based on the Jubilee, or possibly a duchess, or possibly the Jubilee-rebuilt-as-pacific from Living with London Midland Locomotives.

Oh yes, and there's the option of turning a B17 into a B2.

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Kris
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Er, why make a V2 when you can purchase a ready made one from Farish. It's not the best model around but is far better than a lot of their oldest ones.

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Sailor Charon

A couple of reasons. The main one being the skirt under the boiler. And the difficulty of cutting Farish bodies. Now, I suppose I could have gone for the streamlined version that never happened, but even so...

Or, perhaps, to put it another way, if I'm going to have something that's not quite up to snuff, I'd rather it was something I'd done myself. :) Actually no :D

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Atso

Hi interesting bits here.

 

I've got a B17 'chassis' as well - just deciding if I'm going to make a streamliner out of it or one for the original B17's with GER tender.

 

Interesting to hear your thoughts about the V2. I think that a B1 would provide better wheels and drive than the V2 chassis but what is wrong with the V2 body? The Farish V2 uses a plastic body for the loco which could have the boiler skirts removed by careful drilling and filing. The minitrix A3 suffers from having a boiler skirt as well and the rear pony is nothing like an A3's!

 

Personally I would use a B1 for the tender drive and wheels, the V1 for the loco body and valve gear and the Dapol B17 for the tender top! I think that would produce the ultimate V2 in N gauge!

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Sailor Charon

Ah. Thanks for that. I was under the impression that the V2 was like the A4 in having a metal body. (Anybody know what kind of metal it is, because while it's a white metal, it isn't white metal.) And after the trouble (well, trouble's perhaps a bit strong) I had cutting that, I thought that the Minitrix A3 body, being plastic, would be easier to deal with.

The V2 having a plastic body makes a big difference... I suspect I'd have more luck getting a V2 to mess with too.

One potential problem - which is something I'd be wanting to sort out anyway - is working out how to take a Farish 4-6-0 chassis and stick a trailing bogie on it, and not mess up the link between the loco and tender. Certainly I wouldn't want to do it with a Dapol chassis - if only because the length of the cardan shaft would be excessive.

 

I know it seems like a lot of effort to go to when there's an RTR V2 already, but I think it would be worth it. [if only because they'd bring out an updated version as soon as I was done. :)]

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Atso

The Farish B1 seems to use a pin very similar to the pin used to connected the V2 loco and tender via the pony truck. I think that the two may be compatible just a question if the wheel base is right...

 

To answer you question about the metal used on older Farish loco bodies, I think (don't quote me here) that it is Zamak but don't ask me where I got this information as I can't remember!

 

The minitrix A3 isn't that accurate being stretched to fit the German 4-6-2 chassis. Also the cab isn't right... Is it better than the Farish A3? Well the boiler isn't hughly oversized and the detail is crisper... In conclusion to this rambling hurry up someone and produce an up to date version quick!

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Sailor Charon

Ok...

Now, I can confirm a couple of things...

B1 coupled wheelbase... is 7'3 +9'0"

V2 coupled wheelbase is 7'3 + 8'3", so the coupled wheels are closer together.

Overall, the V2 is 33'8" and the B1 is 28'0" - 2'10 longer at the front, and 9'3 shorter at the back (obviously, since it has no trailing wheels)

[Ah, the joy of RCTS books :)]

As for the Minitrix A3... I've pretty much stopped thinking about using it... if only because I can't get one. :) Oh, and they're quite pricy. (for just using the body)

Maybe I should just do the streamlined version. :) I've got a spare A4 body after all...

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