andi4x4

I also get mine from a local tyre fitters - I do use them regularly for various projects. The ones I have come in strips with alternating 5g and 10g weights on double sided adhesive foam. I also use a rather expensive product call Liquid Gravity by Deluxe Materials (also known as Liquid Lead by other brands) which is a fine grade shot made from some type of lead-substitute available at many craft and model shops. I find this is really good for pouring into the underside of wagons that have the chassis framework moulded in - you then just as a few drops of very thin cyanoacrylate to set it in place. Great for N gauge wagons !

You could also scuff the surface of the LED with some wet and dry or fine sandpaper ( I used a small file) to make it opaque - this has the effect of of diffusing the light. I find this very effective for lighting in buildings as it avoids the 'puddle of light' that occurs when the LED is too close to an adjacent surface, instead, you get an even distribution of light as shown below Before and after 'diffusing'.... Both illuminated side by side..... Diffused lighting with modified LED....... .....compared to light from an unmodified LED bright white LED was used for this test (done a number of years ago) but it works well with warm white and yellow depending on which type of lighting you are trying to emulate.

He probably did !

So, resurrecting an old thread, I thought an update was due. Couple of posts back I mentioned the failed house purchase at the end of 2017 - FFWD to August 2018 and we finally moved into a property of our own. A 3 story, 4 bed Victorian town house with two (yes TWO !) basement rooms for all my toys ! Railways are still packed away in boxes though (Boooo!) due too being to busy over the last 2 years working on the property, restoring one motorcycle and custom building another, occasionally racing in a couple of online motorsport events, keeping up to date with favourite threads on RMWeb, and, in amongst all that I somehow managed to find time to go to work 42 hours a week ! The itch is developing however, so it is only a matter of time before the urge to scratch becomes irresistable ! Hope you are all well.

I have been reading the forum almost daily for several years, so, I did catch that discussion, but, modelling time has been taken up with far too many other things over the past 2-3 years due to the house move, renovations of the purchased property, restoration of one motorbike and custom build of another, and occasionally competing in online motorsports championships. And, believe it or not, in amongst all that, finding time to work a 42 hour week too ! I do find, however, that the more I read RMWeb, the more I hanker to get back at it !

Ten years or so ago, I had an early Corgi B/L Maunsell 2-6-0 "N" Class that made a similar noise. I purchased it second hand from a collector who claimed to not have run it at all from new. I am aware that there were batches of that particular loco that had noisy gearboxes and there was an aftermarket replacement available if I recall correctly. Also, about the same time, I purchased a brand new Ace 'Celebration' 4-4-0 tender loco which had similar issues.

HI Kevin, I got them off a seller on ebay, Progprods, I think, but they have none listed at the mo. I think there is a seller in the HRCA Spares Directory that does them.

Evenin' All ! Update on the pannier....Fair bit has gone on since the last update, Frames did eventually get 5mm removed from the bottom edge and look much better for it, I feel. Chassis has now been soldered up solid and the ugly bolts removed, but, I have yet to fill the holes the bolts left behind. The rear axle tube has been cut and filed back to allow the motor/gearbox assembly to slot in. Front and centre axle tubes have not yet been cut - undecided on that as yet, might just drill a small hole for oiling. Still pondering on that one. You will notice that the motor sits vertically at the back of the chassis - this will place it inside the cab, as such, motor and flywheel will get a coat or two of Matt Black to hide it a little, and possibly a cab crew will take up residence to conceal it further ! Having the motor in the cab will give me plenty of space within the chassis and body to fit some extra weight to improve traction and still retain that 'view under the boiler' ! I didn't give much thought to how I was going to secure the body to the chassis when I drilled the mounting holes for the couplings. This left me with a slight problem in that the couplings were located where the chassis mountings needed to be ! The solution was to mount the body screws through both the chassis and the coupling - in effect, the coupling sits on a very short piece of tube, slightly longer than the thickness of the coupling, therefore trapping it in place between body and chassis, but loose enough to allow the coupling to pivot freely side to side. Connecting rods have been cut to length, but, still need shaping. Everything seems to run smoothly when power is applied to the motor, which has pleased me no end ! In the past, I have had no end of trouble getting finescale kits to run smooth, and is one reason why I gave up with finescale, so for this to run so well at the first try really made my day ! 😃😃😃 The ACE centre rail collector I have is too tall to fit under the loco - it is a coach lighting one and is meant to sit into the top of a coach bogie which is much further away from the rails than the bottom of a loco - so - I made one up. I had a couple of reproduction spoons for the french Serie Hornby locos, so these each got a home made mounting cobbled together and soldered to a length of copper clad board which sits much better below the loco. It also places the pickups between the wheels and makes them less obvious to the viewer. It needs some tidying up prior to final fitting, and will be painted black along with the chassis to conceal it a little. The ACE collector will go into the 'Parts For Future Projects' box ! I have also 'acquired' amongst a small collection of 'bits' purchased recently a pair of vac pipes and pair of tank fillers, so these will get fitted - just to add a little detail ! Piccie Time ! More to come soon once a bit more has been done. I have some video of the chassis running on blocks, but, will post a link to that once I have uploaded it to YouTube.

Hi Andy, Looking good so far ! One question I have - All the threads I was following on the previous site have disappeared. Will these reappear as the rebuild progresses, or will I have to manually add them myself ? Some of the threads were quite old and had no new posts for several months or even years - they could take some time to find again !

Evenin' ! Brief update :- Chassis torn down, frames bolted together again and the ends cut and shaped. Still haven't decided if I should take 5mm off the bottom or not - it is not so noticeable behind the wheels now the ends are cut, and probably will be less noticeable still once painted. We'll see. Left is rear of loco.

She stands on her own two feet ! 😁 Or should that be six wheels ? (well, only five actually as I broke the end off one of the axles whilst fitting a wheel ! 😯😪) Chassis cut out, spacers made, all bolted together. Axles are currently sitting in some 3/16" i/d x 1/4" o/d brass tube I had knocking around, but seem to run freely. Sits flat and square on the track and my slotcar setup plate (which is flat) so very pleased so far. Still got lots to do yet, have to shape the chassis and trim about 5mm off the bottom (maybe), make the body mounting plates, fit motor and gearbox, dig out my supply of paxolin board to make a mounting plate for the centre rail collector, finish the coupling rods, decide whether to leave the boiler fittings brass, or paint them black, order an new axle (or two !) and some crank pins and order the coupling for the front. Need to load it up with lead, too, as it's too light to have any meaningful traction ! Oh, and Paint ! Chassis, buffer beams, wheels, etc. Looks like she is standing too high, but, this image with a Hornby wagon as comparison says otherwise ! Chassis overall view. The tubes that the axles are sitting in run right across the chassis in one piece at the moment. Once the loco has been set up with the coupling rods fitted and everything is running smoothly, I shall cut them back to a more sensible size to reduce drag. I found using this method of creating bearings worked well for me in 16mm scale Narrow Gauge locos as it makes the job of setting the bearings in line much easier. and a close up showing the frame spacers made with hollow square section brass and a M3 nut and bolt. These will probably be soldered up solid with the bolts removed and some 3mm brass rod soldered in their place, once everything has been set in place and all running smoothly, but, they are quite secure as they are now, with no frame flex or other movement, just ugly bolts ! The whole chassis has come together much better than I expected, so far, as everything has been made with just hand tools and a hand held cordless drill. More to come when some more work has been done !

Evenin' All. I made a start on the chassis last night - 1.5mm x 25mm brass brass strip. Two pieces bolted together, marked up and drilled holes for the axle bearings. I made up the coupling rods too whilst I was at it - These were drilled out first, then clamped in place over the axle bearing markings on the chassis frames whist they were drilled to ensure everything was lined up and spaced equally. Next up - Frame spacers - Either :- 22mm channel (but I would need to go buy some), Or, Turn some up on the lathe from brass rod, drilled and threaded internally (following my recent house move, the lathe is currently buried at the back of the garage, which has no power or lighting, and would need carrying into the house setting up) ? Or, M3 Threaded rod through a brass square section tube, which would be the quickest (it's on the desk in front of me !), but possibly, least accurate, option. Update later !

Hi Mark, Never even considered the fact there might be two coarse profiles ! I just asked for coarse scale and explained that I normally run on code 200 with occasional tubular tinplate use ! I have to be honest, having a quick look, they are finer than the wheels on my smaller 0-4-0 Hornby locos, but, about the same as the wheels on my Hornby c/w 4-4-0 Compound, both of which seem to run fine on both tin and Code 200. I haven't measured the flange depth or the b2b dimensions on the Walsall wheels, but the flanges look to be about 2.5mm or thereabouts. I did consider that it may have been a commercial kit when I first spotted it on the auction site, but, having got it in my hands, and further confirmed when I had removed all the paint, it is obviously scratchbuilt as the scribe marks from measuring and marking out were visible and things like buffer beams and solebars are obviously just cut from barstock. The steam dome is a turned brass casting which was intended to sit flush on top of a traditional tubular boiler, however, it had been fitted directly to the flat top of this body which, obviously, left a large gap underneath it, so I have had to turn the base of it down flat to mate with the top of the body better. Also, two other things which the original builder failed to consider whilst putting it together were:- how to access the nut holding the chimney in place (which is almost inaccessible) and fitting the chassis to the body (no provision for this at all) Still, at £40 including postage, plus about £125 for wheels, axles, motor, gearbox, 3rd rail collector, couplings, and other minor fittings, it will build up into nice, simple loco for not a huge amount of money !

Hi Bob, Styrene is indeed an option, and I do have a suitable stock of it ! I used to build 16mm scale Narrow Gauge locos from styrene, but, they had batteries and RC gear inside which nicely increased the weight. I would need to add a substantial amount of lead to do the same with a track powered loco ! Definitely under consideration though !

Blimey ! You don't hang around ! Getting closer - I think maybe loose the buffers but mark the centre point for purposes of locating brass or whitemetal ones. I am looking at building to coarse scale standards myself, so, not too much detail as I would like it to fit in with my pre-war vintage tinplate collection, but don't remove it all ! You also mentioned a couple of other 3d printing sites that were somewhat cheaper than Shapeways, would it be possible to buy it through one of those ? Lets see how little we can make this loco for ! Wheels and axles will be about £40, Motor and gearbox + flywheel £45 -£50, smokebox door casting and dart £5, frames, cylinders and coupling rods / valvegear may have to be scratchbuilt, unless you are planning to 3d print them, as I have not yet found a supplier for those, but, I will keep looking ! Another option for the running gear may well be a Faller 0-4-0 chassis - will investigate that also. The other thing to note for a vintage/classic coarse scale loco would be couplings - these tend to be of the Hornby / Bassett Lowke style which would require a slot in the top of the buffer beam as the couplings are mounted by a pivot behind the beam so the detail for the draw hook would not be needed either.

Hi Simon, Yep, already checked the website and they are definitely an option, however, the 'scale' frames may distract from the 'vintage tinplate' appearance I am hoping to achieve. Definitely on the 'possibilities' list though !

Thanks Bob, Me too ! Might have a 'mock-up' this evening, just to get an immpression of the finished thing !

That's interesting, It makes it an affordable project ! Chassis and running gear would not cost too much, so the finished loco, in 7mm scale, could possibly be built for under £150, depending on where the parts are sourced. How much of the added detail is printed ? Things like handrails and handrail knobs, smokebox door handles, etc would not be needed as I would be looking to fit brass ones, possibly even smokebox door also. Rivet detail would be nice though.

Hi Kevin, I agree, more vintage/classic/coarse scale O gauge is needed ! Wheels can be profiled as you wish, just need to stipulate the required profile when you order. I stated that my locos are all run on code 200 rail, but, may, on occasion be required to run on tubular tin plate track. Not compared the profile to Hornby wheels yet, will have a look later and update !

Lol ! Not quite expecting that response, but thanks for the positive ! I guess you'll be following then ?!

Hi Folks, I bought, on ebay, this scratchbuilt, tinplate, low detail, 57XX style pannier body with no chassis or running gear and painted in quite a thick coat of what appeared to be Humbrol green enamel. Simple and low-tech, almost naive, I felt it would fit in well with my Hornby O Gauge collection. So, into a plastic bowl, along with the contents of a can of Mr Muscle oven cleaner. Good soak and a scrub with a clean toothbrush (the wifes, not my own of course 🤭 ) removed all traces of paint. Cut slots in the buffer beams for the Hornby style couplings and filled in the original drawhook holes. Treated a few areas of rust with a suitable rust remedy solution then gave it a coat or three of primer. Resulting in this :- Overnight curing on a hot radiator and a couple of coats of matt black later brings us to how she looks today - now awaiting BR decals to the side tanks , red to the buffer beams and a coat of laquer to finish off prior to final assembly. The body came fitted with dome, chimney and safety valve cover, all coated in the same nasty green paint, but, they turned out quite nice as you can see below ! Modern motor and gearbox will be fitted, spoon collectors for 3rd rail pickup, cast steel/iron, coarse scale wheels on quartered axles ( flangeless centre pair for tight curves ) supplied by Walsall Model Industries. All I need now is chassis / frames and connecting rods so I can make a start on the running gear. Oh, and a lot of lead weight - it don't weigh very much ! More later when something else has happened !

Hi Vanguard, Spotted your thread earlier today and I am curious if your W6 could be upscaled to 7mm scale ? I have a plan for a coarse scale model ! Regards Andi

Off topic again, I know, But just in case anyone was interested - Here's that Goon show Bob mentioned ! Merry Christmas One and All, hope you all enjoy the holiday period running/reading/wearing all those lovely train related items you are all getting wrapped in all that colourful waste paper ! I will be finishing a night shift Christmas morning so will probably be spending most of Christmas day asleep - waking up just in time for Xmas dinner - and the customary post Dinner Nap !

Posted Today, 13:01 Andrew P, on 18 Dec 2018 - 12:55, said: I have to agree - find yourself another insurer Andy - I had my car insured with Direct Line for over 20 years - when I moved house earlier this year, I called them to change my address and I was told it would cost me an extra £380 on top of the £500 odd I had already given them so far for that year - and I had only moved a mile down the road ! The company I have my bike insured with now insure my car - for less than a third of the price D/L wanted ! Getting back on topic - Been following the trials and tribulations of TOPS - intrigued to see where it is heading !