Jon Fitness Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Well I've joined the masses and bought one of the delightful Ixion Hudswell Clarke 0 gauge saddle tanks. Like most of them, it will spend its operational time pottering around sidings, shunting a few wagons. As myself and 3 link couplings don't really get on where shunting is concerned, I've fitted most of my locos (and quite a bit of rolling stock) with Dingham Auto couplers. Up to now all my locos have been kit built and I've fitted the couplings as I've assembled them but this one is of course RTR...and plastic. to fit new couplings the bodywork must come off the chassis and it's not like an old Hornby loco where you remove one screw and the whole thing comes off! There's lots of bits to dismantle before you can access things like the motor and the pick ups etc... The supplied instructions for taking the loco apart are IMHO a bit basic so heres a few pics I took as I dismantled mine. I hope this is of some use and not too dull! Before destruction commenced First remove the tank filler. It just lifts off, revealing a screw head Remove the screw.. The handrails are made of a fairly robust flexible plastic. Release all the handrail knobs from the tank. The injector mouldings are also pegged into the tank. These take a bit more effort to release and care must be taken not to damage them or the surrounding paintwork. At the same time, the injector feedpipes and a little pipe into the side of the smokebox can be released. The tank top can then be removed. There may be some lugs at the back of the tank that fit into holes on the front of the cab moulding but the majority of them were removed at the factory as unnecessary! Once the tanktop has been removed this exposes the electronics connection where the DCC chip fits. This is resting on a plastic peg and can be lifted off. For safety, I unplugged this, and put it to one side making a note of which way up it fitted. 3 screws holding the lower half of the tank are now seen. remove these and take off the tank Release the remaining pipework around the safety valves Turn the loco over and stand it in its box or in a loco cradle and remove the 2 screws from under the cab. The cab can now be lifted away from the footplate. If the smokebox is loose (mine was) this can also be removed. Finally the footplate/running plate can be lifted away With acces to the couplings now available, the small coil spring can be carefully uncoupled(!) from the coupling and the coupling pulled through. The spring is retained on the plastic peg with glue and can be left on for use with the replacement Dinghams. Whilst the loco is in bits I took an opportunity to apply a bit of black paint along the bottom of the tanks to try and disguise the "skirt". (the area under the tank should be open but is closed to hide the mechanism). I also painted the polished wheel rims to tone them down. It's not an exact colour match but will do under the weathering that will eventually be applied! More soon Jon F. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 A pair of Dingham couplings were assembled and the tails at the back trimmed to fit between the buffer beam and the spring peg. I left the Ixion coupling pocket intact on the buffer beams as I may want to fit the original couplings at a later stage. (This is one of the advantages of Dinghams; no major alteration to stock is necessary and conventional couplings are compatable and can be re-fitted if necessary) I also soldered a coupling pocket to the dingham to keep them square against the buffer beam. The couplings were fed through the buffer beam and the spring re-attached with tweezers. Dinghams are best fitted rigid and as they were a tight push fit with no glue, the spring will act only as back up should the coupling work loose. A little mod was required to the dingham to allow the iron wire dropper to fit/swing freely and once this was fitted the loco body was re-assembled. Now you're probably going to think "cop-out" here but re-assembly really is a reverse of the of the dismantling procedure. A few points to remember though... Make sure none of the handrails are trapped anywhere as you re-assemble. Make sure each part locates properly before tightening it's fixing screws. Do not attempt to "pull down" any part into alignment using the screws as you will very likely strip the threads. Do not overtighten any screw as you may strip the threads. Ensure the decoder connector unit is plugged in the right way up and none of the wires are trapped. Check that the rear guard irons haven't fell off! Once the loco was re-assembled the couplings were tested on a test magnet and a bit of red paint applied to the coupling pocket. As it seems to be ok it will now be taken to the layout and shunted in and out of every siding (purely for testing purposes you understand!) and then brought back for detailing and weathering. (which won't be covered in this thread!!) Cheers Jon F. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
81A Oldoak Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Jon, We met at the NEC. This is a brilliant article. Would it be possible to obtain a pdf copy that we can post on the Ixion website? Regards, Chris Klein Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 Jon, We met at the NEC. This is a brilliant article. Would it be possible to obtain a pdf copy that we can post on the Ixion website? Regards, Chris Klein Hi Chris, Nice to hear from you! The loco is a little cracker now I've sorted the little quartering problem with it. . I'm not sure I know how to convert it all to PDF but if you can do that, please feel free to use any part of this thread for your website. Yours, shunting happily, Jon F Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
81A Oldoak Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Jon, I'll try to create a pdf and let you know how I get on. I have been reading your formum on construcing signals. It is superb and has inspired to attempt fitting lighting to my 7mm scale signals. Glad the HC is running well. Regards, Chris Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 Hi Chris, Thanks for that! Good luck with the signals and I'll keep an eye out on the website for the article! JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Hi Jon, Thanks for posting this thread - it's not at all dull - which was your initial concern...It really is most usefulI too purchased one of these little beauties It's a delightful model, and runs well,but I wanted to add a sound decoderAs you underline, taking it appart isn't as easy as you might first thinkand is definately over-simplified in the instructions.....Those injector mouldings were really tight fitting, and I thought I was going to break mineWish I'd seen this thread firstThanks for posting - it'll be a useful reminder,as I'm going to try to install an additional speaker (or get a pal to do it!!!)CheersMarc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hartleymartin Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Thanks for the instructions. I was a little baffled how to get the lower part of the boiler and smokebox off! Mine is getting a new paint job and detailing work in due course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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