Grasslands

My central axles are just dropped into the holes with no brushes.

You could plausibly drive all wheels but you would need a gearbox that can run across all three axles. The one that I have for my DS10 motor is just one ratio gear (fixed to the leading axle) and joins to the worm on the motor shaft. You could investigate the gear boxes at High Level Kits, but there isn't loads of room inside the chassis. 

44 minutes ago, SouthernWay said:

That sounds great, how did you get the middle axle to float? Did you solder the 1/8” axle bushes to the main white metal block? Could you maybe elaborate on what it means by floating axle for me? Surely if you solder the axle bushes to the main block then it’s not floating. 

sorry this is all new to me

Sure! 

I have the central axle floating in the slot in the chassis and I didn't add any brushes to that axle. All it means by floating is that is effectively loose to follow the rest of the wheels. The slots inside the chassis means there isn't too much excess play. I was okay with this arrangement as it is similar to how the Heljan Westerns are set up.

I added bushes for the other axles though. And yes, I soldered those, but I used a low heat solder for white metal and a variable temperature soldering iron (set to a low temperature). I got all that stuff from Gaugemaster.

I modified the original instructions (partly by mistake) and I installed one DS10 motor on each bogie and linked them together so they could pick up off both bogies. I retained the floating middle axle, and the model doesn't pick up of the floating axle (but I might change that). 

I used an Ian Rice design of pick up based around some lengths of brass wire with little bits of copper cladding soldered on them which slip behind the wheels. 

It hasn't run in a while, and I still have some work to do, but the tests went well and it runs fine. 

Hi! @ChrisA4

yes, that is the one I used. It comes with the early footplate grid-work and smaller cab windows for the sides, but it doesn’t include the square windows for the front of the cab (I made mine from plasticard).

I made one of these a few years ago using an Impetus/Dapol kit on a Bachmann O3 chassis. There's some pics in my layout thread and gallery. I've been thinking about substituting the Bachmann O4 mech like yours. Any thoughts on wether this would be a straightforward exercise?

My conversion included replacing the aging Bachmann class 04 chassis for the new Bachmann class 03 chassis. The new chassis is much smaller so will easily fit inside the body. You will need to pack in some areas of the body to get the chassis to sit properly. Let me know if you want any pictures of the interior of mine. Your layout and tram are lovely, by the way. Well done obtaining the Impetus kit! Very hard to come by.

There can be a problem using varnishes, or indeed other paints over the Halford's spray finishes, which is due to residual thinners not having fully evaporated before the other coat is applied. The original spraycan thinner slowly leaches from the surface, but is prevented from evaporating by the layer over it, which softens instead. I've found that it's best to leave the job for at least a fortnight in a warm place before attempting to apply an enamel based coat over the top.. There can also be an issue with bubble wrap, which I've found can affect seemingly dry paint finishes for several weeks after painting. Whether this is due to residual thinners, or something like plasticisers present in the wrapping I'm unsure, but worth knowing..

I like what you've done with the model thus far;- an excellent job coming together...

Thanks for these interesting thoughts. After many tragedies I try to keep my enamel paints and acrylics away from each other, but what you have said about the thinners leaching would explain the issue. I think that there are also issues with metallic paints and topping them with something else. I am really gutted, as I really liked the colour scheme. I will endeavour to return it to glory.

Twin-engined bogies are a good idea - just as well you did, as the DS10 was originally designed for N-gauge and would be somewhat overloaded on its own in a big 4mm scale model.....

Those white metal bogies are really heavy too. I am most pleased with my inability to follow instructions.

The off-centre boiler isn't that strange, as a good many American Shay locomotives were built this way to allow room for the crankshafts, etc.

It would be great to see some examples. I think in Leader's case it didn't help it's running qualities. It suffered quite a few bearing failures.

I've always used model strip, especially when taking the paint of my Hornby Dublo Duchesses, it seams the be the only thing that works, but after looking at your results I may try superstrip

I would agree with Jon, that Superstrip is much more aggressive than model strip. It was removing all of the colour off the label of the bottle when a small bit dripped down the sides. It was very easy to take the rest of the paint off. I would strongly advise having a clear space to do the cleaning, even a splash from this stuff will make the paint run.

There is some truth to the M7 rumour which is discussed in detail in both of Kevin Robertson's books. The initial designs were of a much smaller loco which was proposed as the replacement for the M7s, but as development continued the design got bigger and bigger There is a great picture in one of the Robertson books of two men attempting to fit Leader under a water pump.

Happy to have a crack at Pledge, what type of finish does it give, satin or gloss?

If you do ever get a tacky paint problem getting the model in to a warm place can help. on top of a radiator for a couple of hours or in and airing cupboard. I guess it must help to drive off the solvent. Car sprayers use huge ovens or portable electric fire type things to set paint quickly. You do have to be careful not to get things too hot though as model trains do melt a bit more easily than cars! I once hair dryered a white metal kit too much, melted the solder and it just collapsed!

Thanks for the heating advice. I think it was too thickly sprayed in places and i made the mistake of topping a metalic finish with varnish. Somwhere in my dark modelling past, I remember this being a bad idea.

Good ideas, My workbench is back in service now. It's first job last night was running in a Dapol Western on the rolling road and unscrewing some die-cast cars from their stands.

It would have been a truly wonderful sight. Sunshine lettering would be very eye catching.

I Wish this model still looked like it does in the pictures. I have stripped all the paint back off it again to manage the tacky paint issue. I hope to have it back up to standard again later this year. Fingers crossed.

Looking really nice that is

Nice work

Thanks, i'm glad I got as far as I did, but I would like to get the left-hand skirts on tomorrow.

I had forgotten about the gloss black. It would have looked very attractive in this colour.

Have been considering one of these. I've just become a whole lot more interested. It is looking great.

Very interesting, Grasslands.

 

My own Craftsman 07 has been runnable for some years but I never fully completed it because one of the wheels has an annoying wobble and all attempts to fix it have failed, to date. I also want to convert it to DCC. Your idea may provide me with a workable solution to both my problems.

Glad to know that my blog is useful to someone . Feel free to message me or ask any questions if you need any thoughts on how to proceed.  

When writing (or editing) a blog entry you should see a 'Post options' on the right hand side bar with 'Follow this entry' below it. Clicking on the box next to 'Follow this entry' will set up notifications for you.

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Once you could recieve notification of new comments via email but that seems to have dissappeared.

 

Paul.

Hi Paul, sorry it took a while to see this comment (for obvious reasons ). The box seems to be ticked for me to follow this blog, but i don't seem to have the option to recieve email notifications (as you have mentioned).

This GT3 is looking nice. My decision over Christmas was between taking on my GT3 kit or my Class 13, but I opted for the 13.

Will look forward to seeing more of this one as it develops. I am still soldering up the etches.

Did you cut down the coupling rod shaft for the centre coupled wheels? Mine is still the the original length for the black 5.

The slave unit could have retained it's motor, no problem. I just decided it would make life easier. To fit the chip in the Bachmann model you need to remove the small circuit board in the nose and cut the lugs off.

found it here from page 11 but the photos were on fotopic i will try & dig the out & put them on to flicker

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=60&hilit=gnr&start=250

on your old topic someone mentions a flashing light? Do you know whereabouts it was?

that would be great, cheers

They look great. You can really tell the difference in detail between the Hornby and Bachmann models. Did you have to remove that box from the running plate, near the front of each unit?

looks nice, can i ask what you did with the 03 body ????

 

drop me a pm if you would like to get rid

apologies for not replying, I'm not too sure how to set up my account to receive notifications of comments to my blog. I still have the body, haven't really decided what to do with it, but I know my father has been eyeing it recently.