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Dirty limpet: Scratchbuilt springs


Will Vale

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I thought I should man up and have a go at paring the Bachmann leaf springs off the TTA underframe and replacing them.

 

scratch-springs.jpg

 

So armed with a new scalpel blade I set to. It's really fiddly work and quite tedious, I would guess it took me about an hour to get rid of all the mouldings and clean up, and of course I managed to make a few small gouges in the chassis which oughtn't be there really. Then another hour to make new springs from styrene and curve and fit them. That was a lot more fun :) The new springs are 3 strips of 0.5x0.75mm styrene, with 2.5mm U channel on the front only for the bands. They're a bit heavier and there should be more than three leaves, but they look reasonable and will probably paint up OK.

 

I can see the point of doing it - it's a visible difference - but I have another dozen 4 wheel wagons sitting on the shelf waiting for couplings and weathering, and I think maybe this is one job too far. I'm still in two minds about whether to just leave the leaf springs, or fit the "fake Bruninghaus" spring ends as per this one. Trimming the bottom off the leaf springs is almost as tricky as paring them off altogether though - I found it hard to get a clean edge. It would be more straightforward if the axle guards could be removed from the chassis, but they seem to be part of the core moulding - presumably this is why Bachmann haven't wanted to alter the chassis to offer the more modern springs?

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I honestly don't know where I'd get them from over here. On the web, Nigel Burkin had some in his shop for a while, but I think they were out of stock and have now disappeared. One option might be the Cambrian plastic ones on their "compensation unit" pack though.

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I've got examples of both the Cambrian and S Kits examples for fitting to some TTAs for the new layout. I reckon I might get a load of plastic strip and make my own for the rest of them.

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Thinking about the springs again, one thing that might work to get a bit more depth is to run a file or the edge of a scalpel along the strip to bevel it before cutting the pieces out. Although thinner strip would be better since there should be four leaves not three.

 

Look forward to seeing your TTAs. I'm waiting for Bachmann to do another batch of grey + red ones so I can model a rake of four I've seen in pictures of Ipswich fuelling point.

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