RSS Fetcher Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Well its finally arrived... At the moment I have the model upside down, and assuming that Bachmann havent gone with some odd axle diameter, it looks like the conversion is going to be very straight forward. The break gear will all have to be removed (and will need to be replaced with brass to get it to fit) but other than that it all looks very easy. Not sure what to do with the cranks (I've never brought outside framed wheels for a kettle before, so I assume they come with cranks in the same way those for an 08 do?) Will reuse the Bachmann rods, and the Bachmann bogie. For the tender I'm not sure what I will do, I'd prefer to rebuild with some kind of springing, but I suspect that the masokits unit would be visible from the sides... The spare front bogie is going to be modified to remove the NEM pocket (I really do prefer manufacturers fitting them to be body so they can be removed without damaging detail!) The buffer beam will get the fictional numbers removed, and the post 98 OHLE flashes will be fitted to the sand boxes/cab roof. I havent decided if I will use Ultrascales or Gibsons for the wheels yet. A couple of years back I had no end of issues with the Gibson wheels in an 09, but the combination of improved standards on my part and on the new owners of Gibson do make me fancy trying again. A lot will depend on whether Gibson can supply the drivers for CoT on a 3mm axle (that I assume that Bachmann have used.) The Ultrascales are significantly more expensive, Nickel Silver (which I really dislike) and have a long wait, and thinking about it will still require the cranks fitting. On the other hand they are much better quality. I just wish that they had done the 20 whatever spoke patten wheel that CoT uses in steel rather than the 16 spokes they have done....... I suspect at the end of the day I will go with the Gibsons and if I have any problems then buy a set of Ultrascale's drivers. An area of concern is the tender wheels, both in that they are currently stub axles with a plastic centre (for the tender pickups) and secondly that they appear (at a glance) to have long axles) Looks like its going to need new pickups making here (a job I absolutely cant stand) but pickup on 2 axles just wont be enough so most annoyingly will have to do something about it. Also on the tender, the break gear is very very odd, appearing to be in line with the axleboxes rather than where the wheels should be. While this is an improvement on having them too narrow (like those on the driving wheels), it does seem a bit odd. I'm not at all happy with the etched number plate, given that its missing the very prominent orange lining and tbh dosnt look as good as the printed one. will either need a transfer for the lining or to find a better etch! The gap between body and chassis is much too big, so something will have to be done about that! Finally a question, Would the water scoop on the tender still be there in its current condition? Is there anything else that needs removing or adding to get to current condition on the mainline. View the full article Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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