Motorising an Airfix/Kitmaster/Dapol 04 kit - advice wanted

[flyingtardis]

Hello all,

so as the title says i'm looking at motorising the class 04 kit and i was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on what wheels and bushes i'd need to get for it, ive an idea for a motor/gearbox and can bodge some pickups but i'm just mainly interested in finding out what the best bushes would be alongside wheels and rods.

i am aware i could just buy an 04 RTR or considering i want to tramify one get a motor bogey but it's not quite the same thing, would rather have it running on all 6 wheels rather than 4, plus if all goes well i can consider another project or 2 i have floating around in the old noggin

Cheers

Mr. Morris

[33C]

Check the 'bay for a Kitmaster, "Perfecta" kit like this. Made especially to motorise the Drewry 04. This is a very smooth runner. Or, with the "Nellie" chassis to tram it up! (lower pic.)

Edited April 22, 2021 by 33C
added detail

[Moxy]

Branchlines make a chassis kit for the Airfix Kitmaster 04, their details are here https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/suppliers/40005-Branchlines

 

You will have to ring them, they don't have a website.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

https://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/product-page/br-class-03dm

 

IMHO, the only way to go.

 

Mike.

[Hroth]

Doing it on the "cheap", if you're going to have tram skirts, would a Dapol/Hornby Terrier chassis suit?  Inexpensive, robust and if you get a Dapol version, you're keeping it in the family... 

 

 

[drgj]

I have often wondered if it would be possible to simply fit bearings into the plastic chassis  of a kit like this and then use some adjustable length connecting rods. If there wasn't enough space between the frames for gears due to thickness of the parts  maybe to simply copy the side frames in brass?

 

Dave

[Mark Saunders]

1 hour ago, drgj said:

I have often wondered if it would be possible to simply fit bearings into the plastic chassis  of a kit like this and then use some adjustable length connecting rods. If there wasn't enough space between the frames for gears due to thickness of the parts  maybe to simply copy the side frames in brass?

 

Dave

If you want cheap and cheerful any chassis will do even the number of wheels if you can’t see anything for the skirts!

[stewartingram]

What about a secondhand Mainline (later morphing into the Bachmann 04) 03 chassis? There were a number of updates on this chassis design but any should do it.

 

Stewart

[Clive Mortimore]

Over the years I have built many 04s, both Airfix/Dapol, the Vulcan/Gibson kit, used Craftsman conversion kit on a mainline 03 body and even purchased a Bachmann 04 model. Plus I have built Hunslet, Barclay, and Hundswell Clark models. I even have a Silver Fox class 07 running on a 03/04 kit chassis.

 

I have found that we as modellers have a wide choice of suitable chassis, there is the Mainline/Bachmann split chassis, there is the newer Bachmann chassis, I whole raft of suitable 0-6-0 shunter kit chassis as as well as building your own. I have also used the Nellie chassis to power my Drewry tram engines. One I haven't mentioned, mainly because to date I haven't used it on another model, the Heljan class 05 chassis, to me this would be a daft thing to do, well a 2 bob plastic kit on a £100 chassis.

 

From reading the OPs post it sounds like he wants to build his own chassis, I would go for a kit, and use Markits wheels.

[flyingtardis]

cheers for the responses, i'm not really wanting to go down the RTR chassis route if i can help it, especially the mainline/Bachmann 03/04 chassis, if i'm to get one of them i may aswell just have the full thing.

i just wish to add bearings to the plastic frames to then put wheels in, as i'm curious to see if doing that is all that's needed to make it work to have a motor and pickups fitted to then run, trying to keep it a little bit cheaper if i can

Also 

2 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

use Markits wheels.

which wheels would you recommend? the only ones i can find are romford ones

[Steamport Southport]

Articles on these used to be a fairly common article in the magazines. Usually under the name of something like Motorising The Brewery Drewery

 

 

 

For wheels, do you have a preference as Gibson do the correct type and they also have suitable bearings, crank pins, etc.

 

They're also a lot cheaper, but some people don't like them, preferring Markits/Romford.

 

DRIVING WHEELS FOR DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES FITTED WITH OUTSIDE COUPLING RODS

 

4842DD 3’6’ 14.0mm 12 spoke Class 03 Bevel IL 9’ 3.00mm

 

 

http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/

 

 

Jason

Edited April 23, 2021 by Steamport Southport

[Barclay]

Gibson will also sell you 1/8" axle bearings, but they may or may not be a good fit in the plastic frames.

 

Regarding this, it's not really good practice to use the plastic frames but if your bearings do fit tightly in the holes and can be glued in place then it should work as long as you are able to set the length of your coupling rods to exactly match the wheelbase of the loco. I would seriously consider the Branchlines chassis though - once made and set up it will run for ever. It is £19.50 for a chassis kit with jackshafts, rods and spacers so if you are intending to buy coupling rods anyway (Gibson make a universal set you can adjust the length of) then it won't be a lot of difference cost-wise.

 

By the way, Markits make Romford wheels so they are the same thing. They are Markits wheels now really but we still call them Romfords.

[Clive Mortimore]

17 minutes ago, flyingtardis said:

cheers for the responses, i'm not really wanting to go down the RTR chassis route if i can help it, especially the mainline/Bachmann 03/04 chassis, if i'm to get one of them i may aswell just have the full thing.

i just wish to add bearings to the plastic frames to then put wheels in, as i'm curious to see if doing that is all that's needed to make it work to have a motor and pickups fitted to then run, trying to keep it a little bit cheaper if i can

Also 

which wheels would you recommend? the only ones i can find are romford ones

Depending which series of 04 you intend to make

Either, early locos, IND 13/10, Barclay 3' -3" (13mm) 10 Spoke

Later locos, IND 14/10Barclay 3' -6" (14mm) 10 Spoke

 

Or Scale link

13mm wheels SW1312D

14mm wheels SW1412D

[Steamport Southport]

Also try Wizard as they often have the bits and bobs in stock. Nothing worse than ordering something and then having to wait months for an item you could have got elsewhere.

 

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/

 

 

 

Jason

[roythebus1]

EAMES used to do a motorising kit that came complete with wheels with axles that fitted into D shaped holes in plastic bushes to quarter the wheels. It needed a Triang XT60 motor to make it work. I used to have one but haven't seen it for years, maybe it got sold?

 

As others have said, it's possible to bush the plastic chassis and make something runnable, but why bother when an etched chassis would run far better. 

[flyingtardis]

i know an etched chassis would run better, its not about being better its kind of an experiment into seeing how much of the cheap kit can be kept as a full kit while making it powered

plus if i do do an etched chassis i'd rather tackle a smaller loco like one of those tiny LNER y engines (Y8? Y7? little 0-4-0 side tank thing) as its less to muck up, so its far better for a first crack at that sort of thing than what is essentially an 0-8-0 with 2 of the wheels missing 50% of its mass, putting bushes and wheels in the plastic kit seems less daunting, especially having built an O gauge loco in card (mountboard)

either way i thank those of you whom have suggested wheels and the like, i shall be looking through the options over the next few days, will likely follow up on the thread (or make a thread elsewhere) when ive made a decision and made sure the project can go ahead

the last thing i'll say, well ask, what brand are most similar to slaters? i like the slaters 7mm wheels and i'd rather stick with something i know (such as square pegs for auto quartering and a nice end cap with a little opening for a tiny alan keyto tighten them up) then look into the others as ive seen romfords before with the weird screwdriver attatchment thing which i'm not too fond of, will be fine for the tram type but for the open type i'd rather go for something a bit like the slaters offerings

 

[Barclay]

4 hours ago, flyingtardis said:

i know an etched chassis would run better, its not about being better its kind of an experiment into seeing how much of the cheap kit can be kept as a full kit while making it powered

plus if i do do an etched chassis i'd rather tackle a smaller loco like one of those tiny LNER y engines (Y8? Y7? little 0-4-0 side tank thing) as its less to muck up, so its far better for a first crack at that sort of thing than what is essentially an 0-8-0 with 2 of the wheels missing 50% of its mass, putting bushes and wheels in the plastic kit seems less daunting, especially having built an O gauge loco in card (mountboard)

either way i thank those of you whom have suggested wheels and the like, i shall be looking through the options over the next few days, will likely follow up on the thread (or make a thread elsewhere) when ive made a decision and made sure the project can go ahead

the last thing i'll say, well ask, what brand are most similar to slaters? i like the slaters 7mm wheels and i'd rather stick with something i know (such as square pegs for auto quartering and a nice end cap with a little opening for a tiny alan keyto tighten them up) then look into the others as ive seen romfords before with the weird screwdriver attatchment thing which i'm not too fond of, will be fine for the tram type but for the open type i'd rather go for something a bit like the slaters offerings

 

In 4mm scale the only wheels that have automatic quartering are the Romford/Markits. Gibson and Ultrascale are better looking but use plain axles so you have to quarter them yourself - Not as hard as it's sometimes made out to be!

[Steamport Southport]

Closest to Slaters would be Gibson. They even have the same numbering system but with the first number being a 4 rather than a 7.

 

 

 

Jason

Edited April 26, 2021 by Steamport Southport

[5050]

Axle end covers are available for Romford/Markits wheels or just punch them out of thin shim with some 1/8" steel rod.  A dab of Evostik to hold them and they can easily be removed if necessary.