Gibson axles

[Mr chapman]

Hello. Picked up a kit for a se finecast D1 the other day and it had gibson wheels included. Had a play assembling the wheels and the axles are too long, about 22.6mm on the caliper. I assume these are for EM or P4? Also the bushings are rather long for one connecting rod but these shouldn't be a problem to trim down. I had a look around and I can't find individual axles for sale. Are these available individually or should I just buy a set of romford's? 

[Gordon A]

Why not just cut the axles to length with a piercing saw?

Measure the overall width of the wheels when they are placed either side of a 00 back to back gauge.

 

Gordon A

[Steamport Southport]

Ask the bloke who runs Gibsons now. He will sell the axles separately. Colin?

 

Beware though, if they are too long they are probably a pack of P4 wheels, rather than EM which are normally in the same packet as 00, with the P4 profile which isn't really suitable for 00 gauge track.

 

I certainly wouldn't be cutting them unless you had a lathe.

 

Personally I would be slinging them on eBay or asking on here whether somebody wants to swap for 00 wheels. Loads of P4 modellers on here.

 

 

Jason

[Mr chapman]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Beware though, if they are too long they are probably a pack of P4 wheels

 

Jason

Great catch! Yes, looking at the flanges I think they indeed P4 wheels! Coming from N I didn't notice 

[Brassey]

I have some P4 Sharman wheels where the axles have not been supplied to length.  You have to cut them to length yourself.  You won't get through them with a piercing saw.  I use a Hacksaw.

 

I've found a number of Gibson axles come up short in P4 too.

[30368]

Have a word with Colin at Alan Gibson, in the past he has supplied spare axles to me FOC although I do buy from him regularly.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[hayfield]

11 hours ago, Mr chapman said:

Great catch! Yes, looking at the flanges I think they indeed P4 wheels! Coming from N I didn't notice 

 

I would put them on eBay, you may even get a premium, then buy the correct ones for your gauge. Using P4 wheels on 00 or EM gauge track may give poor performance

[5050]

Have you actually tried fitting the wheels to the axles or just measured?  If you've fitted them and removed them then I find that they don't grip very well in a second fit. You could use P4 wheels in OO but the back-to-back measurement needs widening appreciably and overall performance will be compromised in comparison with 'proper' OO wheels, especially over commercial pointwork.

[Grovenor]

If you ordered 00 wheels and got P4, just get back to Colin to exchange them, keep things simple.

[Steamport Southport]

4 minutes ago, Grovenor said:

If you ordered 00 wheels and got P4, just get back to Colin to exchange them, keep things simple.

 

In the OP, seems they came with a non Gibson kit.

 

 

18 hours ago, Mr chapman said:

Hello. Picked up a kit for a se finecast D1 the other day and it had gibson wheels included.

 

I would just buy another pack and sling the others on eBay or here. Someone will want them.

 

If it was the other way around and he wanted EM axles I would have sent him some. Like many of us I have a few of them going spare. But I'm afraid I'm 00 myself.

 

 

Jason

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

In the OP, seems they came with a non Gibson kit.

 

 

 

I would just buy another pack and sling the others on eBay or here. Someone will want them.

 

If it was the other way around and he wanted EM axles I would have sent him some. Like many of us I have a few of them going spare. But I'm afraid I'm 00 myself.

 

 

Jason

 

Jason, I am happy to buy or swap for 00 axles

 

John

[Mr chapman]

No fault of Gibson's just to be absolutely clear. 

 

I picked up the kit unbuilt on ebay. When I assembled the wheels I took them to the track to make sure they were rolling true, that's when I saw how far out of gauge they were. I'll hang on to them in the bits box, I have considered a P4 experiment before so maybe this will be a nudge! The kit has an older chassis without the P4 spacers in any event so this one will be for 00. Replacement wheels have been ordered. Thanks for the input chaps

[Brassey]

13 hours ago, Mr chapman said:

The kit has an older chassis without the P4 spacers

 

Gibson sell P4 spacers as do Comet or you could make you own; 15mm wide.  But some older kits need a lot of fettling to get the wheels clear of the splashers.

[ianLMS]

I accidently purchased a set of P4 wheels for a 4F off Ebay. In the days when you could attend a show, I popped into the Alan Gibson stand and asked him if I could buy a set of OO gauge axles. He asked what for. Why do you need a set of axles?? I explained and he advised me that the P4 wheels are so fine that they simply would not be suitable for standard OO gauge track as the tolerances are too much and the wheels will drop all over the place when they negotiate the points etc.

 

Good for him as I immediately purchased a set of OO gauge wheels there and then!

 

Ian