Mr Grumpy

Hi terry, I just don't know if I could face all that tedious filing again!! Don't get me wrong, I think the DJH kits are great but I'm holding out for an MMP kit to become available. I am very patient and may well die of old age first........................... Post it on here, I'm sure it will fly! if you fancy a Heljan 37, they are re-introducing their 37 with headcode box. I prefer the split head code box variety myself.

I thought I would add a photo of the inner workings of the bogies. The split axles, negating pickups can be seen. Also the very restricted clearance between the cardan shaft and bogie mounting point. In fact, the shaft must be removed to enable the bogie mounting screw to be fitted. Steph Dale has done a beautiful job on the bogies!

No, Heljan. But will be selling all my Heljan locos later on as replacing with kits. BTW heres a couple of pics of the bearing in the bulkhead. You can see the gap around the bearing. Doesn't matter now as all soldered in. Note the top hat has been countersunk to accommodate a countersunk screw due to having to use an almost flat screw head above the cardan shaft.

I have the SWD decoder in my 37. It sounds great !

Hi Terry, Thanks for the photos. Mine are now soldered in to the White metal bulkhead. It was the hole that the brass top hat fitted in to this that seems too large. As the parts are now firmly in place, it should never come out of centre in use. The hollow brass top hat type bearing that sits in to the top of the bogie has been slightly adapted on my loco to allow space for the cardan shafts. How's progress on yours coming along?

I enquired with DJH about the assembly of the bogie supports and they kindly advised: Solder and tin part number 111532 to E7 and then use low melt solder to solder in to the bulkhead centrally. Then fit parts E10 and 111525’’ Still none the wiser as to whether the loose fit in to the bulkhead is acceptable, but if soldered up will not make any difference as long as everything is centred correctly. I will get them painted and permanently installed this weekend. Hoping to get financial sign off from the boss to order the decoder soon! :-)

Thanks Brian, That's a relief, I didn't fancy nibbling the ends off the bogies!

I have a ruler and a pencil ! :-)

Thanks Terry, Any chance you could add a photo of the parts? Thanks, Richard

Sorry to go of piste Brian, I'm looking to build my loop round the garden in the Spring. I'm hoping to have a minimum radius of 11', but I may, just as you have, a 'tight' spot of just under 6' in one area. Do your DJH 47s cope with this radius? There isn't much room for those bogies to swing! Thanks, Richard.

Hi 0 gauge nut, I'm glad I don't have to bother with pickups on my bogies. I hate fiddling around with them and they always end up looking like some sort of scaffolding accident! I'm about to permanently bolt the bogies under my 47 and as you have obviously done the same very recently, you may be able to give me some help. If you look at the attached drawing, part number P/N111532 looks a tight fit in to the bracket. However, mine are very loose, how were yours? Also, did you solder the top and bottom washers to the bracket? I asked Brian Daniels, it has been some time since he built his, but didn't recall them being as loose as the parts supplied with mine. Thanks, Richard

I really like the livery on your chosen loco. Here's my little baby....

Brian Daniels gave me lots of advice on soldering the window frames. What I done was to tin the rear of the frames with 145 degree solder, then 70 degree solder. I then soldered from the front and where I could from inside the frame with 70 degree solder with the iron at around 240 degrees. I squeezed some damp kitchen roll in each soldered window frame before soldering the neighbouring one to prevent it falling off! Looking at your pics, I think your louvres may be a tad low. If they are, the long riveted etch won't fit at the correct height. The hinges should be tight into the cut out on the moulding for the header tank cover. I had to cut out a fair bit from the top of the provided louvre cut out on the body. (See first page)

....my wife had pointed out, our camera does have the resize facility...but my iPhone doesn't!!

Hi Jeff, I don't have that facility on my camera or phone. I also don't have any software on the laptop, so I just email the photo to myself and it automatically resizes, if a little too much!

Crikey! I think it took me a week just filing the windows and fan apperatures! I found I needed to leave a fair distance for the centre wheel brake shoes as there is quite a bit of fore and aft movement in the wheels. It is really important when filing the Windows that you check constantly with the etched frames AND glazing material for fit. If you try to squeeze the glazing in, it will irreversibly crease. I know, it cost me £16.00 for a replacement set!! I have mostly cut my own glazing though as I don't like the DJH offering. However, I have used theirs temporarily in a few places. If you haven't bought your couplings, CPL are probably the best. From your pics, it looks like your cabs were a better fit than mine, which took hours of filing and faffing to get a really good join. It will be good to see another DJH 47 being built, there must be loads out there, but very little in terms of anyone prepared to share their experience of the build.

Hi Jeff, I think mine probably would too. Unfortunately, as I soldered the brake gear with the wheels in place, they picked up some rust and paint on the treads. In the process of cleaning I took the decision to remove the black finish from the treads as some was removed in the cleaning process anyway.

In terms of soldering, this is my first attempt at a white metal/ pewter kit, apart from a DJH 1366 pannier in the 80's! For paint, I used cellulose from an aerosol, but in future would definitely use my airbrush for greater control. I like this model so much, I may strip the paint and have it professionally sprayed later this year. As for the bogie centres..... If your bogies are fouling the tank assembly, is this one end only? If so, perhaps your tanks are not quite where they should be, or the correct way round, so double check your measurements. If your tanks are in the correct position, you definitely will not need to move your bogies inward. If you need to, I achieved this by soldering the cabs to the body and instead of bolting the bogie mountings flush to the rear of the body, fixed them against the bolts holding the cab rear etch, bought some spare bolts and 'sandwiched' the bogie mounting between the bolts, so as to move it inward aprox 2mm. I think the photo explains it better than me! Considering the colossal weight of the loco, personaly I think two motors is the way to go. I recon each bogie weighs more than a 4mm class 47! I spoke to ABC gears, and they were confident their motor bogie would be capable of moving the 47 and a few coaches using the smaller decoder. It is a really nice piece of kit. This was going to be my preferred option. I had a chat with Steph Dale about split axles to negate the use of pickups, and the bogies you see above were his creation. In cost terms, for two bogies I think it was a little more expensive, but I have two powered bogies. I'm hoping my 47 will pull 7 Heljan coaches. I could have possibly got away with using the smaller decoder, but I sought advice and for a more powerful sound and the 'stay alive' feature will use the XL and Clif Williams 35mm speaker and possibly his large square one too. Looking forward to seeing your 47!

Hi Lee, I Just used a fibreglass brush. It only took around 1/4 hour to do all 12 wheels. Also, I soldered all the brake gear on with the wheels instu, so following extremely careful washing down afterwards, the wheels still picked up a little rust. All are now fine, no shorts with the shoes and wheels so happy days! I think this is going to be quite a powerful loco......

.....Here are some pics of the bogies. As previously mentioned, they run beautifully. However, Steph had chemically blackened the wheels, and I did remove this from the treads. Only a few hours work left now: Fit out second cab and glaze, install SWD decoder and Cliff Williams speaker, bolt on the tanks and bogies. (Sorry for the Heath Robinson wiring lash up, Steph has wired them perfectly, just keeping it all out of the way. I asked DJH to send me a PDF of their class 31 instructions a while back, looks very nice but that will have to wait until I have built my MMP Dogfish and MOK 9F!! (But if the MMP class 33/1 comes first...........) I will post an update once the work is complete.

Hi 0 gauge nut (love the name!) Are you soldering or glueing? Also are you aware of the incorrect bogie centres? Easy to adjust though. Play time has been heavily restricted of late, so progress is a tad glacial! Still, the bogies are complete and look really nice. Steph's work with the gearboxes etc had paid off and they run very smoothly. Slowest speed is a little fast, but once I have the decoder wired in, I guess I can experiment with the start voltage. I'm really looking forward to bolting the bogies under the body and giving her a really good run! I need to re-size the photo, but I will try to post later.

I had the same dilemma. I wanted to build a DJH class 47. I had reasonable experience of building with etched brass, and a smidgen of white metal components.I reasoned that if: A, I splashed out a considerable sum of money to buy the kit, B: commissioned some one to build a couple of split axle Cardin shaft bogies, costing almost the same as the kit, C: posting the build for all to see, D: failure was not an option! Once I got my head around the fact that unless I done something reasonably daft I wasn't going to melt anything and basked in positive comments, my confidence was boosted and I really enjoyed the build (although 3-4 hours work left). I did get some excellent advice, and was informed when the Serck louvres were installed incorrectly. But, I really felt I upped my game because people were interested to watch my progress!

This should get you there.... However, I think Steph's 47 motor/gearbox he done forme is a one off at present. You can buy the components and do yourself, Steph would split the axles though. Mine are here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106181-djh-class-47/?p=2138886 This is Steph's site: http://www.euram-online.co.uk/stephdale/index.html

The ABC bogie looks very nice.......

I'm now the proud owner of a pair of embroidery scissors.... Now to start up a cross stitch thread! (See what I done there?!!)