34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 I have recently been exposed to the Triang TT system and have been pleasantly surprised. The steam loco chassis construction which I took to be very similar to their OO range from exterior appearance, turns out to be rather more sophisticated. The chassis block is mazak with screw attached brass frames. The motor is integral to the chassis, and has a moveable worm end bearing. I suspect that the motor magnet is of higher grade than used in the OO models, and the pole pieces are significantly better. The wheelsets run in recesses and are retained by a keeper plate. The keeper plate is a two piece unit, and the pick up wipers trapped in a shaped recess, well isolated from contact with the live chassis block. As a result, not only do they run well after over thirty years stored only needing the tyres cleaned and a little light oil applied; their owner has used the features to selectively substitute Romford wheelsets, and to fit lower ratio gearing to very good effect. (The locos on original wheels trot along with the familiar happy smell of spark erosion on the sintered iron tyres, which the installed capacitor does nothing to quench!) Why oh why didn't Triang/Triang-Hornby think to offer this better construction on a premium OO line? BMWABS, it would have been popular in the 1960s when there was a paucity of choice in RTR chassis to power our whitemetal and scratchbuilt loco bodies. Although most of this TTis going to be sold, (but I need access to a digi camera to put it in 'classifieds') I am going to retain at least one chassis on 14mm Romfords: with 16.5 axles it will be an ideal power unit for the small industrial that I don't think we are going to get RTR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spet0114 Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 BMWABS.... ??? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted August 9, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 9, 2013 The BMW as with most modern cars can have ABS Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 10, 2013 Author Share Posted August 10, 2013 ??? Perform an indecent act upon me using a common building material oriented for maximum discomfort. There was this fellow from the Forest of Dean at the MRC I was involved with in my early teens, and he shed a very exciting non-home counties perspective on country life (well 'loife' actually). Other gems I recall included 'Parkend lads is men, and Parkend sheep is frightened', Oi can't read, Oi can't write, but that don't hardly matter, for Oi come from Ruardean, and Oi can drive a traaactor'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spet0114 Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Perform an indecent act upon me using a common building material oriented for maximum discomfort. Ok, I see. I was rather hoping it meant "Brian May Wants A Bacon Sandwich", though I was at a loss to see how that fitted into the OP.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Indeed, the Tri-ang TT engines I have run very well indeed. If you widen the back-to-backs slightly, the original wheels will even go through Peco HOm points. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted August 10, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 10, 2013 I think some early OO chassis also had brass side plates - I'm sure I have a very early Jinty (unlined, open couplings?) which has such a chassis? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted August 10, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 10, 2013 Memories. I reckon I could strip and rebuild a T90/T95 chassis in about 10 minutes, as I did that many. All you had to do was make sure the end ball bearing didn't go walkies. The brass side plates could wear badly if the loco was not regularly oiled. The same chassis design was also used for the other steam locos, such as the Castle and Prairie. The Brit and MN had the separate XT60 motor. I fitted a few with a Woking Group 5 pole armatures which made them run exceedingly well. 31/A1A power bogies were also relatively easy to strip down, but you had to be careful not to over-tighten the keeper plate afterwards. The DMU power bogies with the plastic chassis sides were a bit more temperamental and required a more care. Cheers, Mick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 10, 2013 Author Share Posted August 10, 2013 Thanks for that, haven't really looked at the Brush 2 or DMU yet. The Brush 2 ran with just a touch of a PP9 battery, the DMU unresponsive; I will be duly careful in attempting to find signs of life. There appear to be three steam loco chassis, 3FT/08 0-6-0 unit, Prairie/Castle unit, Brit/MN unit? Variously adapted these have been fitted to most of what GEM and BEC made available in TT loco kits. Regarding built up Triang OO chassis, all I have seen were steel plates screwed or riveted to mazak blocks, never seen one in brass. My impression is that this form of construction was succeeded by one piece cast mazak blocks from about 1960? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted August 10, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 10, 2013 Thanks for that, haven't really looked at the Brush 2 or DMU yet. The Brush 2 ran with just a touch of a PP9 battery, the DMU unresponsive; I will be duly careful in attempting to find signs of life. There appear to be three steam loco chassis, 3FT/08 0-6-0 unit, Prairie/Castle unit, Brit/MN unit? Variously adapted these have been fitted to most of what GEM and BEC made available in TT loco kits. Regarding built up Triang OO chassis, all I have seen were steel plates screwed or riveted to mazak blocks, never seen one in brass. My impression is that this form of construction was succeeded by one piece cast mazak blocks from about 1960? The chassis for the T91 Castle/T99 Prairie is a larger version of the the T90/95 for the Jinty/08. Same side plates, larger chassis castings? IIRC, the T97 Britannia and T93 Merchant Navy had brass sides, but with a seperat motor - I cut down a couple for BEC Standard 5's. This may be useful: http://www.tri-angtt.org.uk/ChassisIndex.htm I think I built virtually all of the BEC kits - Standard 5 4-6-0, Standard 4 2-6-4T, 4F, J11, J72, E2, 94xx, Q1 (complete with whitemetal Boxpok wheel overlays) - I later built a 3SMR chassis with ECM type 2 motor for it. I remember that I didn't build a G6. Class 47 with 31 motor bogies. I even painted one in XP64 to go with some original Tri-ang blue-grey Mk1's - now they were definitely rated as rare! I also built a K's 97xx, GEM 57xx, A4 and King. I never could get the 43xx chassis to work with whitemetal coupling rods! And the GEM 14xx was a right pig to balance. Other TT memories - making a Class 13 by using two 08's - the slave unit had a cut-down and reversed chassis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 Yes, the 43xx has a home brew attempt at crossheads and connecting rods, very much a work in progress. Even more so the 14xx which is only part constructed. Looks like there's an all whitemetal kit, and then a hybrid kit with plastic vac formed parts to make the back end light enough to balance. Unfortunately the class 47 casting has been compressed lengthwise while in storage, (kit not built) but it does look like it would have made a very good model. The modeller apppears to have 'downed tools' at some point in the early 1970s would be my guess. There's a decent group of completed loco models which have all clearly been run - and a lot of lifted track from a layout - and then a half dozen 'works in progress' left incomplete. Likewise with the Kitmaster coaches. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted August 11, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 11, 2013 May be my memory about the sideplates being brass, I haven't seen that particular chassis for about 20 years! As they're in the loft still packed after our last house move 11 years ago I'm not rushing to find it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spet0114 Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 I think some early OO chassis also had brass side plates - I'm sure I have a very early Jinty (unlined, open couplings?) which has such a chassis? Also the early OO gauge '08' diesel (which was basically the same chassis). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT3 Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Have been having alot of fun with Triang TT and just about to restart the layout building process. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/4759-3mm-scale-in-the-spare-room/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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