swiftbeam

I know nobody asked, but here is the Mashima motor fitted and running sweetly. The original rear motor mount was adapted and an expanding bush made so the new motor was able to fit into the Hornby 6.5mm hole. The worm was fitted backwards because I had to mill off 1.5mm from the front motor mounts so the motor would fit. That meant the 'boss' of the worm was too close for comfort to the gear wheel. fitting it backwards solved the problem and the worm and gear still mesh as they should. Plastic insulator plates will be added so the wire tabs do not short out and a decoder plate will be made and bolted 6mm above the chassis to keep the gap under the boiler. A 1.5mm nickel silver plate was made and soldered into the brass chassis, cos you can with a brass chassis That's it now, everything is back where it should be. I've now got to clean all the parts, paint and resemble. Thats me done now, I'll leave you all in piece

I suspect brass can't be easily moulded under injection, so shrinkage would be a huge issue on mass production, it's melting point is way higher than Mazak. The thing with Mazak, is it can be injected at a low temp into a mould where it has to conform to the mould. Brass is not like that and as far as I know, has to be cast as lost wax or CNC made. CNC would be the way, but you'd need numbers, lots of numbers!! There are many brass casters on the net that can do this one off type work, just look in Birmingham ;-) I must be honest and say stretching the bearing recesses 0.010" was very fiddly and I'd hate to do it on anything more than an 0-6-0! The underside of the chassis looked exactly the same as the Hornby original, but I didn't take a pic, sorry.

OK Guys, As promised, the cast brass chassis finished. As predicted, there was a little shrinkage, it was about 0.010" either side of the centre axle, so 0.020" (about .5mm) over the first and third axle. I used a Dremel to elongate the bearing housing and used 0.010" brass shim to pack out the gap and soldered the shims into place. I'm not going to say it was easy, but quiet persistence did the trick. After that, it was just a case of putting all the holes back, tapping to 8BA and fitting all the fiddly stuff back on carefully. The chassis runs very smoothly and I have not lost anything in terms of detail or function. One little bonus I didn't expect was the cast brass chassis is 21g heavier, more traction :-) The original Hornby motor fits perfectly, but I'm going to do my normal trick of 'making' a Mashima motor fit (1626). I can show this in a few days if anybody asks. I'm not going to be doing this for anybody else, it's a personal project for me so I can save the 'Manor Project' and use the Hornby chassis, but my efforts prove it can be done. The cost of the chassis was £40 total. My caster charged me £30 for the mould and £10 for the casting. The mould can be used hundreds of times, so as a one off, £40 is the max cost. A quote from the above poster. "I'd suggest investing in a miller, and using extruded brass bar. That is, if you want to go down that route. Otherwise, I do notice some rather nice locomotive chassis kits from the like of Comet, & High Level. It's either slot drills & end mills, or learn to solder." Just for the record, I have been soldering for 35 years, I own a lathe and milling machine and can work them.

Oops, just seen it's O gauge, about 7 years too late for me and O gauge :-(

TMC had a weathered one in their display case, but nothing otherwise by Sunday, and trust me, I was looking hard !!!

I bought the NRM Duchess of Hamilton at Warley off the NRM stand, ABSOLUTELY STUNNING model !!!!!!! They still have stock now, so RUSH if you want one £190 !!!! I absolutely love mine, the best model in my collection. It has awesome detail, smoke deflectors, double chimney AND a beautiful semi gloss paint finish !! Pic of her on my knee on the NEC bus back to the car :-) P.S, The guy on the stand ALSO said the NRM bought ALL the spares for this model, so they can be serviced/fixed if needed!!

Hi, I have a Heljan 14 on pre-order coming next year :-) I understand the 14 has had some problems in it's past. Does anybody think Heljan will have fixed these issues for this next batch? I suspect they will, but got to ask I really am looking forward to my 14, but it's nice to be prepared. I understand they have been known to adjust models on a second batch, I'm thinking class 33 roof. Sorry if this has already been asked or offending to Heljan. Thanks.

Sorry, I think you have misread my reply. I said "That FB group sounds like my version of hell !" I didn't say it was hell. If you like that FB group, that's fantastic and I wish everybody on it all the fun and happiness in the world on it, it just sounds like it wouldn't be for me personally, it's a personal choice thing. Just to clear that up, no ill feeling intended

You are excused That FB group sounds like my version hell ! I hate small minded people that don't want to learn or better themselves.

Assuming '00' The clips are at the ends of the bogies on the outside. You'll need to get (really dig) a blade between the clip and start it spreading. Hold that spread and then leaver the the bogie off with a small flat head screw driver using the fuel tank as a fulcrum. Once the bogie bottom is 'free', unplug the two hoses. The wheel set's will unclip out. You will need to clean the bearings and the axles as the power is collected through the bearing surface! I'd disassemble the whole wheel sets, don't lose the clear spacers !!!! Polish everything, scribe the last 3mm of the stub axles for a better fit in the gears and resemble. Some debate on oiling, but if you do, make sure it's an electrically conductive oil like Labelle 107. It's not hard once your in :-)

I'm very sorry, I thought I was helping somebody if they have a wobbly 52. It seems I have simply offended people because they don't have tools. What a sad world we live in, try to help and get hit by a wave of negativity :-( Would you all like me to remove the post?

I honestly thought this post would be helpful and show people that if you have a wobbly 52 it can be fixed. Did you know you can buy small modelling lathes for under £150 that are capable of doing this job? That's the cost of one 00 model, and the lathe will last a life time and do many more jobs and increase your modelling horizons! I bought this little lathe from a show the other month for £75! I'm really very sorry for trying to help somebody.

After the second return (once to the shop, once to DCC Supplies), my 52 STILL wobbled !!!!!! So I did THIS !!! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/128228-the-Dapol-class-52-wobble-totally-fixed/ Now 100% fixed ! If you want something doing, do it yourself !!

Hi Guys, I thought I'd post this solution as I know the Dapol 52 has had big problems in the past with body 'wobble' caused by wonky wheels! I bought my 52 brand new about 3 weeks ago, and guess what it wobbled badly. I read up on it when I saw it and decided to return to the shop for a fix. A week later, and having had to pay the postage, I got it back, still wobbling. I then decided not to send it back to shop and sent it to DCC Supplies for another fix, paying yet more postage! 2 weeks later I got it back, guess what, STILL wobbling!!! I'd had enough at this point! I wanted the model, so no way going to return for a refund, and not going to pay and wait again for another fix that wasn't going to fix the problem!! I elected to fix her myself! A week ago I found this method fixed my wobbly Bachmann class 47. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/128127-a-jig-to-line-up-wheels-on-axles/&do=findComment&comment=2923522 Although the above got it better, it was still not perfect, sooooooooooo, The wheels are on stub axles on the Dapol 52 and the subs are pushed into the gears. On disassembly I found the axles were not particularly tight on the gear and the back to back was easy to move! This is how I fix the 'wobble'. The wheels on their stubs were mounted in the lathe. The lathe and tool was carefully set-up so only the top slide moved with everything else locked off. The topside was set to 3 degrees and also set so it also stopped at the exact point of the root radius. All my wheels were about 0.004" out of true so a 0.003" cut was set to skim the tread. This was enough to retread all the wheels in one pass (only just on some !) All the stubs were then scored longitudinally on the last 3mm of each axle. This made the stub slightly bigger at the score line because of the displaced metal and then gripped the gear MUCH better! 1.5mm plastic strips were made so the wheel sets could be reassembled so the gear was set exactly in the centre of the assembly, and the final back to back adjusted from there. MUCH CARE TAKEN NOT TO LOSE THE CLEAR WHEEL SHIMS!! All the wheel sets were then put back into the bogies and the bogie bottoms clipped home, pipes refitted. I can honestly say My Dapol class 52 now runs totally perfectly and with absolutely no 'wobble' at all, no matter how hard you look Maybe this can help somebody with a wobbly Dapol 52?

OK, I officially give up. Whats the point of writing when nobody reads. See post 544 on page 22. Good luck, I'm out of here.

Why don't you buy the W14 non DCC and buy your own 21 pin decoder that you 'know' will turn off the BEMF? Edit, Seems W14 is DCC only. You can always sell the Dapol decoder and buy your own?

Don't over pack with grease !!! You will, over load the Motor, UJ, Worm, and drive the amp draw right up, that could then overload the wires and/or decoder!

For those that want to disassemble the drive bogie. Unclip the top of the UJ housing, Drop bogie from body, Pull off sides, Unclip bogie base Undo the two screws, Pull sides appart. And your in.

This has all been said before, Post 572! Has anybody offering advice on this topic since my 572 post actually taken their model totally apart like I did and worked their way through each part of the loco? I say again, "like i did". My model came with thick sticky grease in the gearbox, maybe the ones that 'don't hunt' have more grease than mine, thus giving more resistance to the gears?

Simple, sloppy gears! Mine now runs perfectly on a Black Beetle using Dapol electrics and Zimo decoder and power collected from the trailer. DC, DCC, makes no difference, all runs well through Dapol PCB and decoder. So you now also know it's nothing to do with PCB or the black coating on the wheel backs for the pickups (I've now hooked up the Black Beetle to collect power). Electrics are not the problem here. How can they be when a Dapol PCB disconnected, PP3 battery to the rails and fitted Mashima motor STILL hunt? Black Beetle can be bought, you just have to buy Direct from Steam Era Models. All sizes available. If you want one, buy one, test it, if you don't like it, send back for a refund. I very much doubt having it 'fixed' is going to to do anything.

Hi, *****Now ordered new from supplier.***** Looking for a Britannia Pacific Tamper, the one with a roof like these pics. Please message me :-) Many thanks.

edit.

Fair enough, my mistake, sorry for calling you "pedantic".

If you have a wobble, this may help. I've only just thought of it today when another new model arrived with a slight wobble (not a Dapol!) If my Dapol 52 still wobbles when she comes back from DCC Supplies, I'll be doing it myself this way. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/128127-a-jig-to-line-up-wheels-on-axles/&do=findComment&comment=2923522

Hi Guys, If this does not belong here, can a Mod move it please :-) I had a new model today, and although quite good, it did have a slight wobble. I'm a bit super sensitive about wobbling locos, so I racked by brains on how I could get all the wheels better fitted on the axles. This is what I came up with and it works. I'll not go into huge detail, but basically you'll need a dial indicator and mount, plus a strip of brass to make a wheel mount. Fold up the brass into a 'U' and file a 'V' into each side so the axle assembly can be mounted. Screw the 'U' to a piece of wood, clap the wood to a flat surface and setup the indicator so the wheel tread is just moving the dial. With a thin steel rule, hold the wheel set down firmly and turn the opposite wheel with your fingers that is not being measured. Decide on if you will mark the high or low spot and with a very small dot of white paint, mark that point on all wheels. Once you have a dot on each wheel, rotate the wheels so the dots are at the same point on all wheels. If you have any wheels that run perfectly true on both sides, that axle would go in the centre of the bogie. A little mix and matching maybe needed if you find some run true and others don't. Make a note of the 'run out' on each wheel and match up each pair. (all my wheel sets ran out by 0.004", so was just a case of a small twist to line up the dots) When fitting back into the model, assemble so all the dots line up. Now my model runs nice and still. If you want to be fussy, I guess my model is now bobbing up and down by 0.004", but you really can't see it if it is !! This may help somebody with a wonky model, even if it does mean buying tools, and I know how that offends some people! Nothing here is expensive and all can be found on Ebay. You'll want the type that needs the arm to be pushed back, NOT the plunger type! The tools will last a lifetime and in the long run it's cheaper than return postage constantly and never really getting the problem fixed. The dots do line up in the last pic, just the camera bending the image! Trust in yourself, fix yourself :-)