Ultima N-gauge coach bogies

[DavidK71]

I've built quite a few N-gauge wagon kits in my time, but I recently decided to make life harder for myself by trying something more interesting: an N-gauge GWR Hawksworth coach from Ultima. Reading through the instructions and test fitting all the bits together it all looks like it makes sense and is (just!) within my capabilities, except when it comes to the etched brass bogies I bought with it ...

 

What we have is an etched brass fret for the bogies, wheelsets, top-hat bearings and axle-box castings, all from Ultima. The instructions talk of drilling out the holes for the top-hat bearings in the bogies, gluing them in place and then drilling the bearings out a bit. What isn't clear to me is exactly how the bearings should sit relative to the bogie frame. Are they mostly on the inside, with just the tip of the bearing poking out? That would seem the most aesthetically appropriate, but testing with blue-tac strongly suggests that the bogie is too narrow for that to work. Should the bearings be mostly poking out through the bogie frame? I can see how that would work from the point of view of assembling it all, but then the axle box castings (which glue onto the ends of the bearings) would sit a long way off from the bogie frame, which seems like it would look very odd. Or have I mis-read it all and got completely the wrong end of the stick?

 

If anyone has any advice, or a photograph or two of one of these completed bogies (preferably from underneath) that would be much appreciated. I'd like to be more sure of what I'm aiming for before causing irrepairable damage with the drill ...

[Kris]

Do the castings have holes in them to allow the bogies to be recessed into them, that is what I would be expecting to see. When I build up 2mm ones of a similar nature that is what you tend to get. I would assume that the top hat bearings would go through and out the other side. Pop some photos up so that I can confirm this.

[Etched Pixels]

For the old Cav'n'dish 7' and 9' bogies and the old 'American' bogies (the brass ones) then if you are using modern pin-point axles - yes.

 

There are a couple of ways to do it, and really its up to you which you find easiest.

 

The first is to glue the axle boxes to the main etch then turn the bogie so the axle boxes are down and drill into the casting through the hole in the bogie and fit the bearing that way. The other is to drill the axle boxes before fitting them. I prefer the former owing to a complete inability on my part to mark and drill accurately.

 

(You can actually cheat and skip the bearings but just drill a small hole without too much impact - there is a bit more drag but not a lot and white metal itself is good bearing material).

 

The main thing with etched bogies is to assemble them flat and fold them up last.

 

The ideal bogies really would be the Dapol ones off the Collett coaches. They are not available as spares currently alas but I had a constructive conversation with Mr Jones of Dapol on the subject last week and we will have to see what happens.

 

Alan

(Ultima)

 

(and of course if you find you really don't feel confident building them stick a pair of Farish Mark 1 bogies on it and return the bogies unbuilt for a refund)

[BernardTPM]

Not everyone appreciates just how far out real axleboxes stick (nor the thickness of leaf springs, for that matter. If you take a look at some of the coach bogies on this site you will see that the front of the axlebox is some way out from the bogie frame. The exception to this is the modern freight bogie where, because the coil springs are either side of it, the frame itself is wide (much wider than old style plate bogies) and sits above the axlebox.

[DavidK71]

Thank you all for your help! With Alan's very helpful explanation and the photographs from Kris' thread about assembling a 2mm bogie, this all looks like it makes sense now. As I don't anticipate the finished coach being used for a lot of continuous high-speed running, I am tempted by Alan's suggestion of not bothing with the bearing. At any rate, I'm now feeling confident enough in what I'm supposed to be doing to give it a go .

 

While I am asking questions, does anyone have suggestions for what would be best to use for an N-gauge coupling for these bogies (they are, as Alan said, the Ultima / Cavendish ones)? The original Ultima instructions mention an Ultima part but that's not listed on Alan's web page, so I presume that that is not available.

[Kris]

Do you want to use rapidos? If so it is possible to glue these to a piece of brass attached to the bogie. The brass allows for the height adjustment. It's a far from perfect solution but it can be made to work.

[DavidK71]

I am intending to use some form of Rapido. I have considered just attaching a coupler directly to the bogie, but that seemed a bit crude! Has anyone attached anything like a Peco Elsie coupler to this sort of bogie, or anything similar?

[DavidK71]

In case this proves of interest to anyone with a similar question, I've now successfully assembled a bogie. I used Alan's suggestion of not bothering with the bearings: the wheels run in the holes in the cast axle boxes, and the bogie seems to run perfectly fine. For a coupler I managed to cut and file down a Peco ELC coupler mount to fit in the space in the bogie, and with a bit of fiddling (and luck) got that glued in place without getting the coupler glued too.

 

While the result isn't perfect, I'm quite pleased for a first attempt: see the attached image. (In taking the photo I've noticed that the left casting is bent: I've gently teased that back into the correct alignment.) Right, now to do the other bogie, then the rest of the coach ...