Art Dent Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 Looks great! Such a shame that you've had to do all of this "engineering" to fix a problem that should never have occurred. Still, it is probably a more "robust" solution - given that Heljan seem to use spit & hope to fix some parts. Would love to know your opinion of the EC Buckeye couplings. I've yet to fit the new Slater's wheels to the front bogie - I caught Covid on 26th for the first time and I'm just about 80-85% at the moment (on Day 15). Just grateful I've had all the jabs & boosters - dread to think what it would have been like without them! Art 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted January 9, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2023 4 hours ago, Art Dent said: Looks great! Such a shame that you've had to do all of this "engineering" to fix a problem that should never have occurred. Still, it is probably a more "robust" solution - given that Heljan seem to use spit & hope to fix some parts. Would love to know your opinion of the EC Buckeye couplings. I've yet to fit the new Slater's wheels to the front bogie - I caught Covid on 26th for the first time and I'm just about 80-85% at the moment (on Day 15). Just grateful I've had all the jabs & boosters - dread to think what it would have been like without them! Art Thanks :) The design is frankly awful. If I had paid the original price it would have been straight back. The daft thing is, ignoring the lack of bearings for the tender, it wouldn't have taken much to design it to be a LOT stronger. The tender is packed away now and the loco out - removing the body was straightforward if a bit fiddly, although the plastic tube that glues under the codfish door that is used to hold the body on fell straight off. I've gently run it on rollers and it does work - but there is a HUGE amount of slop in the various joints in the motion, and I can see it getting tangled up easily which may explain so many slipped drivers? I expect some movement is needed to cope with trainset curves but surely not as much as it has... That's bad luck with covid - my Wife picked it a couple of weeks before Christmas, also for the first time. Which is frankly amazing as she has been working on "hot" wards since late 2020 - we think she caught it at a job interview! Likewise fully jabbed and I dread to think how she would have been if not. How she didn't pass it on to me or our daughter is another mystery. Hope you're well on the mend now. I'll be fitting the EC couplers to the coach I have too so will report back at some point on that. The feel good quality, and by hand couple nicely, but not really sure how you are supposed to uncouple them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted January 10, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2023 (edited) I wasn't going to post anything else until I had decided what to do with the loco and at least partially done it. But I was rather cheesed to find the crankpins had next to no hold so I can easily see them coming loose with use causing mayhem. Just for good measure as well, two of the three screws holding the driving wheels keeper plate in place had stripped threads which made removing them "fun". Fortunately they are M2.5 and that's the only size v-coil (helicoil equivalent) I have so have repaired those. I might do the 3rd one pre-emptively although it's a blind hole. The centre axle is sprung like Zebedee but the outer two are held in brass bushes which is good to see. I will probably leave that as-is, and just see if anything can be done with the motion to keep things in check. Edited January 10, 2023 by Bucoops 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Hal Nail Posted January 11, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 11, 2023 20 hours ago, Bucoops said: I was rather cheesed to find the crankpins had next to no hold so I can easily see them coming loose with use causing mayhem. Isn't the number of returns being sold off cheap with detached rods something of a clue here?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted January 11, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2023 40 minutes ago, Hal Nail said: Isn't the number of returns being sold off cheap with detached rods something of a clue here?! And ones with a scattering of tender wheels... Doesn't mean I can't be surprised at just HOW bad these things have been assembled (and in places, designed) are. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Eaton Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 (edited) may be of interest ? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155345323778?hash=item242b4d8702:g:XMsAAOSw2Xpjj1Li Its Johnny Cash selling it ''one piece at a time'' Edited January 11, 2023 by Peter Eaton Mr Cash added Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted January 11, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2023 1 hour ago, Peter Eaton said: may be of interest ? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155345323778?hash=item242b4d8702:g:XMsAAOSw2Xpjj1Li Its Johnny Cash selling it ''one piece at a time'' The driving wheels sold for £15 a week or so ago so does seem to be doing that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted January 12, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 12, 2023 Me again :) I've been running the gear train without wheels to make sure it's nice and smooth. The huge motor is predictably "coggy" but does run reasonably smoothly and keeps cool. The gear tower however shows again the models being built down to a cost. It reminds me of the gearboxes in the little toys you get in Kinder eggs... Too much slop on the idler axles and side play. Not a lot to be done without extensive work so I think I'll probably just bed it in for an extended period without the wheels and hope for the best! I may try shimming the gears as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Dent Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 (edited) @Bucoops, At least the gears are metal and not nylon! Another "annoyance" I've encountered. The front guard irons - that should (on the model at any rate) be fixed to the drain cocks/cylinder pipes and the lower front valence - were loose, being attached only to the cylinder pipes. On fitting the new wheels to the pony truck (correct terminology?) then putting the loco away, I noticed that there was a guard iron and an attached piece of cylinder piping on the table! Why are these parts so fragile that merely by looking at them, let alone handling them, parts fall off? Looking to figure out some way to fabricate the guard irons out of brass and find some way of fixing them (to the bogie?). However, some research indicates that between Dec 1952 June 1954 the large guard irons were removed and consequently the cylinder drain pipes cut back to a point level with the centre of the leading bogie wheels. So, my loco would appear to have aligned itself with the prototype! Att Edited January 16, 2023 by Art Dent Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted January 16, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2023 2 hours ago, Art Dent said: @Bucoops, At least the gears are metal and not nylon! Another "annoyance" I've encountered. The front guard irons - that should (on the model at any rate) be fixed to the drain cocks/cylinder pipes and the lower front valence - were loose, being attached only to the cylinder pipes. On fitting the new wheels to the pony truck (correct terminology?) then putting the loco away, I noticed that there was a guard iron and an attached piece of cylinder piping on the table! Why are these parts so fragile that merely by looking at them, let alone handling them, parts fall off? Looking to figure out some way to fabricate the guard irons out of brass and find some way of fixing them (to the bogie?). However, some research indicates that between Dec 1952 June 1954 the large guard irons were removed and consequently the cylinder drain pipes cut back to a point level with the centre of the leading bogie wheels. So, my loco would appear to have aligned itself with the prototype! Att This is true - the gears seem quite well cut and well attached to the axle (there, I've jinked it!). My pipework (ooer) is the same - attached to flappy loose guard irons. The cylinder drain cocks and pipes do pop out - I've removed them whilst I'm beating it all back into shape. Not looked at guard irons yet. One thing that crossed my mind was it has a speedo drive - I don't think they were fitted until BR days? So may leave that off. I've not thought about the bogie wheels yet - what's the reason for changing them? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micklner Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Speedo drive was fitted pre war A4's also a Oil drive from the rear offside driver . Both are fitted to the current Hornby A4 e.g Mallard R2339. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Dent Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 2 hours ago, Bucoops said: I've not thought about the bogie wheels yet - what's the reason for changing them? Well, having run well for 25-30 mins including hauling 5x Teak coaches, it lost a bogie wheel at a curved point. I could have araldited the wheel back on but it seemed better to get some "proper" wheels. The axle diameter on the Slaters wheels is larger than the Heljan axle - so the bogie needs drilling out to accommodate the replacement axle. A tad tricky, even with a pillar drill! Art 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted January 16, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 16, 2023 5 minutes ago, Art Dent said: Well, having run well for 25-30 mins including hauling 5x Teak coaches, it lost a bogie wheel at a curved point. I could have araldited the wheel back on but it seemed better to get some "proper" wheels. The axle diameter on the Slaters wheels is larger than the Heljan axle - so the bogie needs drilling out to accommodate the replacement axle. A tad tricky, even with a pillar drill! Art Ah sorry yes I remember you saying now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Dent Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 No problem. If you're thinking of the Slaters wheels, the correct set is Slaters 7838G and I got mine from Holiday Hobbies (link here) but they are currently out of stock. You will need to open up the holes in the bogie frames as the Heljan axles are of a smaller diameter. Art 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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