Sailor Charon

Oh, just as an aside, I've finally got some plasticard, so I'll be making a start on the body for the Garratt over the next week or so.

That's really helpful and useful. I've been thinking about doing one in N gauge for some time now. Well, doing two of them in N just to annoy the purists

Your pictures are more helpful than the diagrams I've got.

It's a great book. I think it was the first source of info on locos that never were that I found...

I can't get over how detailed that strapping is (is that the right word?) Very nice. Very small.

Yes, it's looking good. I have to say I thought it looked better without the smoke deflectors... but then I don't like smoke deflectors... But yes, it's very good indeed.

I've got two spare tender tops from Britannias, and I think they're 1G tenders. They don't have ladders or handrails though, because they're the ones that come when you buy a chassis. Let me know if you'd like one.

Always nice to see a Garratt. And that's a really nice looking one too.

Looking good there.

That's a nice looking building, and yes, the tile sheet does look interesting...

Oh, I've hit a potential problem. With the cardan shafts, the motor for the front unit will end up just in front of the cab. A shame that the motor isn't double ended either...

So, I need to find a way of connecting the motor to the worm... more directly. I've seen a 6mmx10mm 6v motor, which I could always use two of, it's a case of finding a way to... maybe put a couple of prongs on the end of the shaft?

Yes, I had the same problem with mine. I don't know why they did it, but the one on the scale wheels bogie is too short.

Well, Weekday Cross, you've certainly opened a large can of worms there. [i'd rather have tuna, by the way. Actually, I did, they had tuna steaks at half price when I went to Sainsbury's yesterday...]

At the moment, my layout - I'll have to post some pictures some time - has curves of 18" radius. Apart from possibly the points, I can't remember what the radius of a medium code 80 point is.

You know, I should have, perhaps, thought about the possible increase in radius. I've never done EM or P4, but I've heard that they need bigger radii... If 18" is too small, then I need to think really hard.

Let's look at the options for the A.J. Powell 2-8-4 tank. Again, as with the Garratt, I'm assuming this would have become a BR standard type, so we can keep some of the valve gear from the 3MT tank we'll be nicking the wheels from. Of course, we can't keep all of it, because the cylinders drive the third set of drivers, not the second. [Like most 8 coupled locos, I think...]

So, we need two 3MTs at £60 a time, and then we need to chuck pretty much everything away except the wheels from both, and the motor from one. (we would have a spare motor). We'd have to make a new chassis because the wheel spacing is all wrong. So we can't use the coupling rods... And we'd need to replace the eccentric rod, and... the main one. On the bright side, we can use a 4MT body with only a small extension... So that's £120, plus the stuff to build a chassis.

Or we could go to 2mmFS. The cost will be wheels, motor, and gears rather than the 2 3MTs.

Of course, on the gripping hand, I do have a... number of steam locos that would need to be converted.

As for separating things out, and doing my scratchbuilding in OO... The problem is, that I wouldn't be able to run them.

Well, first of all, thank you to everybody who's replied. You've given me a lot to think about... Well, more precisely, you've given me quite a few ideas as to where to look next.

The first step is going to be to print out the application form for the 2mm Association, and then probably troddle along to the Nottingham model railway exhibition.

I think a Jinty was the second model I made in O gauge, and the first one with an etched brass boiler... [The first was a BR Standard 4MT tank engine...] and I could certainly do with one. I'm also drawn to the J39...[i've not had an 0-6-0 tender engine... ever] Come to think of it, maybe I could get the universal 0-6-0 chassis and stick a Farish 4F under it... I'm guessing I'd put a Farish body on the Jinty chassis... Or else maybe make my own.

Sorry that wasn't very clear.

So yes, probably either go for a Jinty chassis, or a universal 0-6-0 + tender chassis... and then think what to put on top. Or else... given it's likely to be a while before I'm ready to do it, possibly the J39.

Oh, I've just found a bow pen. £4.99 + 99p p&p. Which is nice. Now I just need to get paint that's the right shade to do the lining with...

Yes, I too will be interested... I've been meaning to get some fish vans...

Yes, I'll be using the Farish wheels/valve gear for the Jubilee - I'll be needing both Britannia chassis for the Garratt, when it eventually happens.

I can't help wondering what's happening on your layout that the army's had to be called in. Or are they UNIT? But yes, they're looking good.

Who are they from, BTW?

Second-hand copies of R.J.Essary's book on the UK Garratts is available on the Bookfinders website, and probably on Amazon too. Cheapest about 27GBP.Usual disclaimer!

Thanks for that. I'm not sure it'll have the one I'm building in it - if only because it never actually got built. But that's a book I very much like the look of... if only for future reference. (I will make the 2-6-0+0-6-2 LMS Garratt at some point. When I can figure out what chassis to put under the Langley body kit)

Hi,Re the Garratt; would it be possible to use a double ended motor mounted centrally and drive both chassis via the cardan shaft? The motor could be slung underneath the boiler - sorry I don't have a copy of your book but looking at the LNER Garrett it should be possible to hide a motor under the boiler...

Thanks for that. Yes, there should definitely be room under the boiler - as far as I can tell - the drawing I've got of it isn't so good because, while it is to scale (6' = 5mm.) there aren't a whole lot of measurements on it. It looks like the boiler is 7'6" diameter or thereabouts. The only real question is whether... yes, there should be, thinking about it. I was going to say, whether there was room for the cardan shaft to pass under the smokebox unseen. So that's definitely a possibility.

I had, at one point, considered just powering the rear unit

On making a drawbar for the rebuilt Jubilee, I'd use a piece of 40thou plastikard with two holds drilled at each end. Two pieces of brass (or other metal) wire could be glued to the drawbar to provide current between the loco and tender split pins...Just some thoughts...

That's probably a better idea than the one I had, which was to add an extra hitch further back, probably a plastic bolt with two bits of brass attached (one to each side) that the drawbar would fit on. And then wire the new hitch to the old one.

I know this is going to sound weird, but last night I was looking for something to use as weights, and I found a box of little bolts. While they were no use as weights... they are exactly the right size for attaching the bogies. Now I need to get some nuts. [Not in a Marathon sense ] Which means I'll be getting on to Eileen's Emporium to get them. As well as some liquid lead. And some straight wire for the handrails. Hopefully .31 won't be too thick.

Yes, the front of the B17 is too far forward. There's a small clip on the chassis that needs to come off, and then it can move backwards. I was so relieved to get it at the right height that I took my eye off the... forwardness.

With regard to airbrushes... thanks for the advice. I'm going to have a look. I've tried them before, well, cheap ones that used cans of compressed air, and quite a while ago now. But yes, the pictures make the brush marks look very visible...

Thanks. I was wondering what to do, because it came with a pair of bolts with funny heads, that wouldn't fit through the bogies by quite a long way. I think the expectation was that they were supposed to self-tap into the pivot box. Then again, they may have been for anybody using Graham Farish bogies.

I'll take a bogie along and check some bolts out...

I have to say that the black line looks fine to me, even in close up. But yes, that's looking really nice.

Ok...

Now, I can confirm a couple of things...

B1 coupled wheelbase... is 7'3 +9'0"

V2 coupled wheelbase is 7'3 + 8'3", so the coupled wheels are closer together.

Overall, the V2 is 33'8" and the B1 is 28'0" - 2'10 longer at the front, and 9'3 shorter at the back (obviously, since it has no trailing wheels)

[Ah, the joy of RCTS books ]

As for the Minitrix A3... I've pretty much stopped thinking about using it... if only because I can't get one. Oh, and they're quite pricy. (for just using the body)

Maybe I should just do the streamlined version. I've got a spare A4 body after all...

Ah. Thanks for that. I was under the impression that the V2 was like the A4 in having a metal body. (Anybody know what kind of metal it is, because while it's a white metal, it isn't white metal.) And after the trouble (well, trouble's perhaps a bit strong) I had cutting that, I thought that the Minitrix A3 body, being plastic, would be easier to deal with.

The V2 having a plastic body makes a big difference... I suspect I'd have more luck getting a V2 to mess with too.

One potential problem - which is something I'd be wanting to sort out anyway - is working out how to take a Farish 4-6-0 chassis and stick a trailing bogie on it, and not mess up the link between the loco and tender. Certainly I wouldn't want to do it with a Dapol chassis - if only because the length of the cardan shaft would be excessive.

I know it seems like a lot of effort to go to when there's an RTR V2 already, but I think it would be worth it. [if only because they'd bring out an updated version as soon as I was done. ]