Popular Post Mark Posted June 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted June 8, 2020 (edited) I have recently completed a P4 conversion of the Hornby 72xx using an EasyChas from Brassmasters. I scratchbuilt a new hybrid pony truck to utilise the Hornby casting but that might warrant a better solution at some point. I used some double sided copper clad to give me a base to locate pickups and the image shows the phosphor bronze strips that connect to the system Hornby have. The pickups are small coil springs wound from 0.3mm phosphor Bronze mounted on 0.9mm carriers. Here are some images: Mark Humphrys Edited June 8, 2020 by Mark 10 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1466 Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Impressive work ! Are those Ultrascale wheels ? I doubted my ability to do the Brassmaster’s conversion full justice so contented myself with a straight EM conversion with Gibson’s wheels . Are there significant improvements to ride , adhesion and electrical pick up ? I’ll look forward to seeing more . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 58 minutes ago, 1466 said: Impressive work ! Are those Ultrascale wheels ? I doubted my ability to do the Brassmaster’s conversion full justice so contented myself with a straight EM conversion with Gibson’s wheels . Are there significant improvements to ride , adhesion and electrical pick up ? I’ll look forward to seeing more . Thanks. Yes the wheels are Ultrascale and I have locked them with a pin which runs in a groove in the wheel and along the axle. The chassis took about three weeks of evenings and weekends to do. I wouldn’t describe it as a beginners kit but following the instructions to the letter helps avoid too many issues. I only really deviated from them in the way I did the pickups. I have added some pictures of the bodge I did to improve the front appearance of the pony truck. It improves it quite a lot over the Hornby version. Regards Mark Humphrys 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted June 8, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 8, 2020 It looks great. So is there any springing or compensation in the chassis, Mark? Have you any notion of the minimum radius that the loco will achieve, with the Brassmasters chassis fitted, please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 49 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said: It looks great. So is there any springing or compensation in the chassis, Mark? Have you any notion of the minimum radius that the loco will achieve, with the Brassmasters chassis fitted, please? Yes it is sprung using the Brassmasters system with coil springs above each Hornblock. The pictures show the location for the spring. I also made the sandboxes removable so the wheels can be removed without damaging the sand pipe. It should go round 4’ without too much difficulty. I found there is plenty of clearance on the chassis and the issue is more about clearance behind steps and the cylinders. Regards Mark Humphrys 1 1 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted June 9, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 9, 2020 Thanks for that, Mark. It looks too good and robust a job to not have been soldered, yet I believe that the EasiChas system doesn't require any soldering? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 7 hours ago, Captain Kernow said: Thanks for that, Mark. It looks too good and robust a job to not have been soldered, yet I believe that the EasiChas system doesn't require any soldering? It is supposed to be able to be assembled without solder but I preferred to solder for strength and because that is what I am used to. Regards Mark Humphrys 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
97xx Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Outstanding work I must say! Can I ask how you paint such a chassis and avoid gumming up all the moving parts, and/or seeing them expose underlying metal as and when they do move about? I've just restored a (very simple) brass scratch built chassis I made in the 1970s and as it was brass I resorted to chemically blackening it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killybegs Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Don't know how I missed this Mark. Great stuff. Will come in very useful when I get around to doing mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted July 17, 2020 Author Share Posted July 17, 2020 On 15/07/2020 at 08:35, 97xx said: Outstanding work I must say! Can I ask how you paint such a chassis and avoid gumming up all the moving parts, and/or seeing them expose underlying metal as and when they do move about? I've just restored a (very simple) brass scratch built chassis I made in the 1970s and as it was brass I resorted to chemically blackening it! I have built it in such a way that it can be broken down into sub assemblies so painting should be fairly straight forward. It can then be reassembled after the paint has been removed from places it shouldn’t be. Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted July 17, 2020 Author Share Posted July 17, 2020 On 15/07/2020 at 09:00, Killybegs said: Don't know how I missed this Mark. Great stuff. Will come in very useful when I get around to doing mine. I am sure you will put mine to shame when you do yours. Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killybegs Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 I doubt it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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