Mad Carew Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 Please excuse me for the entry level questions. I am an entry-level returnee. I would like to model Indian railways, preferably in 4mm scale. I have posted concerning the feasibility of hand-made track (for a beginner!) in 22mm Gauge (Indian broad gauge being 5'6" as I expect you know). One suggestion was that I checked out the Irish Railways Group. I think would be more than happy to live with a 1mm/3" gauge discrepancy if 21mm track was a more practical option. This is assuming a level of trade support in the form of track components etc, of which I am sadly ignorant. One particularly useful thing would be if axles existed for re-gauging OO models to 21mm gauge. I wondered if anyone here who might have modelled 4mm scale/21mm gauge might have any pointers or suggestions born of such experience? Thank you for reading. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 In the first instance, Scalefour Stores and AGW / Ultrascale. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dun aucht Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Problems of modelling in 22mm gauge. First suitable axles. You can machine and part your own, if you have a lathe. You will need to make both bogie and axles for driving wheels for your gauge to fit the commercially available wheels. Second problem is the lack of 22mm back to back wheel gauge. Third is suitable track gauges as you will have to build your own track. Track components are based around around BS90 or 120lb per yard bullhead rail although flat bottom rail is also available. If your preferred railway used a lighter weight per yard rail then you will have to accept a compromise. Which wheel profile are you going to use? - choices are S4 or EM. EM would run better, which will impact on your pointwork - eg. check rail clearance. You will have to make your own frame spacers for any loco chassis you build. You may be able to use wagon W irons for 21mm gauge. You mention re-gauging OO models. Problem here will be wheel clearance. OO gauge is 16.5mm whilst 22mm is appreciably wider, so the wheel splashers on OO are simply not wide enough. If you intend to work in 22mm it is certainly do-able but is much more of a modelling challenge which will require some scratchbuilding skills. A caveat being as long as you have suitable prototype information to help you build reasonably accurate models. You could do worse than obtain track and back to back wheel gauges from either the EM Gauge Society or Scalefour Society and see if you adapt them to 22mm gauge or use them as a pattern to get your own machined. If you are not in a model railway club it could be worthwhile joining one to see if someone has a lathe and can help you out. Offers of a few pints may help lubricate the wheels...... I remember seeing photos of steam on Pakistan Railways. A lot of the locos were supplied by Beyer Peacock and the 4-4-0s and 0-6-0s had more than a passing reference to locos produced for the GNR(I). Good luck in your endeavours Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castlefinn Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Couple of points,track gauges (the roller ones can be made up using various BA bolts and washers,as to a back to back gauge use a pair of vernier calipers and pick a a number.As to wheels i use mainly Gibson and just make up longer axles using either 1/8 steel bar for the drivers they work out at approx 1"long approx for 21mm depending on the bosses and 2mm for the bogie/tender wheels.I don't bother with a lathe just cut to size with a hacksaw and tidy up with a file 28mm.Wagon and coach axles are still avaliable from Gibson they just need swapping for the 00 ones,alternatively you can make your own up using 2mm steel rod and pin pointing them in a drill using an emery block.Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted March 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 7, 2016 I think the OP was asking about the availability of 21 mm wheels and track as an acceptable compromise instead of working with 22 mm. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted March 8, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 8, 2016 Slaters do a limited range of 21mm wheels + axles for Irish 3 foot gauge in 7mm scale, using 1/8" axles, very useful to me for tiny Pecketts in gauge 0. See their website. Dava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandbridgejct Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Please excuse me for the entry level questions. I am an entry-level returnee. I would like to model Indian railways, preferably in 4mm scale. I have posted concerning the feasibility of hand-made track (for a beginner!) in 22mm Gauge (Indian broad gauge being 5'6" as I expect you know). One suggestion was that I checked out the Irish Railways Group. I think would be more than happy to live with a 1mm/3" gauge discrepancy if 21mm track was a more practical option. This is assuming a level of trade support in the form of track components etc, of which I am sadly ignorant. One particularly useful thing would be if axles existed for re-gauging OO models to 21mm gauge. I wondered if anyone here who might have modelled 4mm scale/21mm gauge might have any pointers or suggestions born of such experience? Thank you for reading. Hello, I'm also an entry level returnee, still, after 4 years and a bit of a hiatus. The Scalefour Society caters for 21mm gauge and will provide what you need. I believe the EM Gauge Society does too, and might be a better bet because, if you're planning on running Indian models on 21mm gauge track, you're already compromising, so you might as well make things easier for yourself. I've a thread on some of my attempts on irishrailwaymodeller.com . (Am I allowed to mention other websites? Anyway, I've the same user name there.) But a better source of information has the user name Mayner, and models to EM standards. One issue you'll have with regauging is the length of the axles. You need 28mm axles, and they're too long for a proprietary OO chassis. I know this because I've regauged a Bachmann open and cattle wagon and they were a lot more hassle than building from scratch. A good source for 28mm axles is www.northyard.co.nz . You can get w-irons for 21mm gauge from Scalefour stores or from Studio Scale Models, studio-scale-models.com , but I recently got Bill Bedford to produce his sprung w-irons for 21mm gauge and they're a much nicer design, easy to work with, and hold the track well. The lead time can be a bit long, but worth it, I think. Before I began working to P4 I considered various other scale / gauge combinations, including 3.5mm on 18.2mm gauge track. This would open up use of HO models for you. It didn't make sense for me, because Irish models are closer to English prototypes and it would have left my rail section a bit on the heavy side, but I know the Indian railways had some American Hudsons and no doubt there would be other HO models you could use. There's a thread on here somewhere of a guy building a New South Wales 5'3" prototype steam loco to P87 standards on 18.2mm track, so it wouldn't be a first. Anyway, good luck with your model, and may the little yellow god look down benevolently on your efforts. Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 Is it worth looking at S gauge bits and pieces? There' are wheels available, and I have recently seen some very nice US RTR track and diesels that could be of use for powered bogies. S is, if I recall correctly 22mm track . http://www.s-scale.org.uk/main.htm Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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