Pugsley's Workbench

That is looking really impressive. I always remember how impressed I was many years ago when attending aircraft model shows, such as IPMS at Telford, when examining the 1/16 fighter cockpit kits - they were so detailed! Then somone decided that having built the cockpit, someone ought to make the aircraft fo it.. so had started on a 1/16 F-104 Starfighter - displayed all in plain white plastic with a completed superdetailed cockpit all painted up - there was a F-16 too; I wonder if those projects ever got finished. Here we have something similar, a superb bogie that clearly does what it's supposed to do, and exquisite it looks - I just find myself wondering whether the 37 that will sit atop this masterpiece will materialise... and whether it, and the other bogie, will be as superb as this (let's hope so).

Superb blog to follow this one... thanks for keeping me... and others I'm sure, enthralled.

 

Jon

That's one serious power unit Martin. Bet you could get the layout/test track underneath it to move if you opened it up to full throttle. You might need to consider strapping said layout down!

Disappointed you haven't gone for the working sanding gear.... yet!

Martin - WOW! I'm going to throw in a curve ball here - as you know I'm into G scale these days and a lot of outdoor modellers use battery power...

 

The idea of adding pickups and running off traditional track power for such an engineering masterpiece seems a comprimise - have you considered an on board lith ion cell - and RC gear?

HI Martin,

 

looking good, you may have casued me to think about having a go at doing one.

 

James may have hit on a point about RC control as when i use to race buggy's the electronic speed controllers use to have a braking module built in so you could stop quicker when going in to a corner.

 

Perhaps this could be a back up to stop you demolishing the buffer stops each time you run her.

 

cheers

Simon

HI Martin, looking good, you may have caused me to think about having a go at doing one.

[evil grin] Do it! [/evil grin]

Seriously though, I can provide you with etches if you want to have a go.  You might be better off waiting until I've redesigned them though, as the Mk2 version should be easier to build, and slightly better engineered (hopefully!)  I guess I could rig up a brake system at a later date, if it proves necessary.  S7JB has already put servo operated brakes on his K2.

 

James - How could you put such ideas in my head!  It's a nice idea, and probably one that I'd go for if it wasn't for the fact that I've already decided that the loco should have sound fitted.  Now, if someone can do quality 37 sound with RC, then....

 

Andrew - I don't know if it will be as powerful as it looks, I think it'll be no more powerful than a standard twin motored 7mm loco, although I must admit that I can wait to find out!

 

Jon - Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad that you find my ramblings interesting, I appreciate that this kind of thing isn't everybody's cup of tea.  The 37 to sit on the bogies is virtually complete, construction-wise.  I've got the cosmetic sanding gear to fit, plus hoses and buffers etc.  Once painted, there's just the lighting and small details to add before she's ready to go.  The other bogie will be, more or less, identical to this one and should be completed fairly soon, as all of the hard work has been done with this one.  PS, it looks less exquisite the closer you look at it!

I refuse to believe anything about this is less than exquisite, I think it looks amazing. The articulation shot is very impressive, I hadn't realised just how much travel you'd built into the bogie - usually those kinds of shots are reserved for offroad RC buggies etc.

 

You might be able to do something like the RC cars for braking - you could use a relay or solid-state switch to connect the motors to a resistance (with heat sink!) when track power is turned off or below some threshold, and to track power when it's available. But that might be a bit too much like making the innards of an electric loco and not a diesel...

Thanks Will, although trust me, parts of it are less than exquisite once you look closely!

 

US diesels have dynamic braking, so your idea with the SSR and resistance wouldn't be unprototypical - I could put the resistance under the rad fan and make that work!

Hi Martin,

 

About batteries and digital sound, have you looked at http://www.brianjones.free-online.co.uk/index.html ?

 

Simon

Thanks for the link Simon, very interesting. Sadly, I think budgetary restraints mean that this loco will be powered by conventional DCC (with sound, of course )

Hi pugsley,

That is one seriously engineered bogie. With a lot spent on it. I take my hat off to you for going to the lengths of making all the correct physical parts that work. Did you use the original English Electric drawings for the bogies to work on, or did you produce it from photographs. Either way it's very impressive.

 

I like it.

 

Vin

Thanks Vin, the sideframes are from the JLTRT kit, so I can't take any credit for the appearance of those. All of the adaptations to make it work, and the internal etched parts and springs etc are all my own work.

 

I just need to add all the detailing parts to the first bogie, and pickups, then it's complete. The second bogie isn't too far behind, I've started on the equalising beams for that this afternoon. I've hooked this one up to an old Hornby controller and it all works - I'll be posting another update soon.

 

Sorry for not replying sooner - my email notifications appear to have turned themself off!

See Loveless are copying you now with their Deltic bogies ....

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=653494454683598&set=a.214885608544487.56921.185729314793450&type=1&theater

Thanks for pointing that out Ian, all I need to do now is to find out where to send the invoice