railroadbill

Just spotted your thread. Just a thought but you could try one of these,  a Hornby Railroad power bogie. This one has frames for a 121 but I've also used class 43 ones, they also are used in class 73 etc. it's just the bogie frame moulding that's different, the mechanism is the same one. This one is going to repower an old Lima DMU.

It would certainly fit into a van body.

Shorter wheel base but not too much shorter than this 40mm wheelbase van.

You'd just have to clip the side frames off. They are moulded in one piece with the under chassis which keeps the axles in place. They do need wiring from the pickups (on all wheels) to the motor.  I bought mine from Lendons of Cardiff, very good and helpful service, they carry lots of Hornby spares, I've had 4 wheel and 6 wheel power bogies from them.  These are a reasonable price as well.

Good luck with the project, I remember Kitmaster did a powered van to propel their plastic loco kits around (in early 1960s).  No idea how sucessful it was though.

Great, thanks!  Looked up Scalecraft and they are indeed the kits I was thinking of. They did quite a range, there was a Cessna floatplane that I had, also a Lotus racing car, plus the MTB.  Their advantage was that they gave you a good chance of assembling a working model in a reasonable time, even if the performance wasn't great.

From what I can find, Scalecraft were based in Twickenham,  started in 1950s and were taken over by Airfix in late 1970s, some of their kits may have been issued by Airfix.

From box end illustration  of Lotus F1 car kit on Brighton Toy Museum site.

Spot on, brings the operational nightmare back!  👍

I had an MTB, not Triang, made from a clip together kit in rather flexible plastic, I think.  Had an electric motor that fitted inside right at the back so the motor shaft was the propellor shaft. They also did racing cars, think Woolworths sold them but don't know the make.

2 hours ago, Captain Slough said:

 

I've got the hull from that Triang freighter with a freelance body on top that I built, as it came with a smashed upper body

 

Not clockwork but electric - large centrally mounted motor, space for D-cell batteries and a propshaft drive to a brass propeller and a settable external rudder also in brass.  Motor was also knackered so I refitted it with a modern one and C-cells, but have almost never run it for fear ,of it sailing off over the horizon. I've also got a clockwork triang motor torpedo boat that I once had to wait for an hour for natural water motion to bring to the shore of the local boating lake

Thanks for the info about the freighter, Captain Slough.   I had a Triang trawler and a tug as a child, (sorry, junior modeller), both boats clockwork which shared the same hull design, long gone.  I also came across a Triang  lifeboat in a museum, also clockwork, which looked very good but haven't come across another one since.  I vaguely remember problems with clockwork boat range, at least with batteries you had a fair chance of your vessel making it to the other side of the pond! (Unless the prop  got covered with weed).  Every park seemed to have a model boating lake once, more difficult to  find now but I'm lucky to have one not too far away for my  occasional model boat sideline.

I guess triang, original Hornby, Sutcliffe etc. boats would be another potential collection.....

From 'Tri-ang Railways in Canada and the USA' .   Site states it is ok to show content from their website as long as they are quoted as the reference source.

The freighter is in the middle. Lots of accessories but I'm not sure if they are all Triang.  Looks like the station waiting room (got that) is just in front of the freighter's bow. Also the power pylons (which you can still buy now, R.530).

From 'Tri-ang Railways in Canada and the USA' . 

Link is  https://tri-ang.weebly.com/.  as posted above by GoingUnderground.

5 hours ago, GoingUnderground said:

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but if the knurling is removed from the wheels, the loco doesn't haul as wel las it did before. I had one that was noticeably less able to pull a rake of coaches. When I checked it had smooth wheelssets, which I replaced with knurled sets, and it then hauled much better. Rovex introduced the knurled wheelsets after they introduced the dummy loco, R57, and the dummy B unit, R58, versions of the single ended loco R55, the dummy being R. Both of these use the same metal chassis, but are much heavier and have a noticeable rolling resistance greater than the TC coaches. It is possible to fit the powered chassis plus motor bogie in the dummy units to get round this problem. 

Found with my (cheap but tatty) one that it tends to spark at the wheel treads when running, has knurled wheels, may be pulling too high a current or perhaps the short wheelbase bogie is rocking from side to side while running.  Needs stripping down and lots of TLC I suspect.

On 04/05/2023 at 13:18, GoingUnderground said:

You might find this link interesting https://tri-ang.weebly.com/.

 

 

That's an interesting site, couple of good layout pics,  there's a freighter in a harbour scene that presumably is one of the  Triang clockwork ship/boats, that I hadn't seen before.

This thread reminds me that I've got this one, bit battered but it does run. Despite knurled wheels and deep flanges, it made its way around my code 100 Peco track layout. For some reason it's wired to run in the opposite way to other locos.  One front fairing is missing but I believe 3-d printed ones are available.

My plan was to paint it up like this A70 class. (Seen in Melbourne in 2010).  OK, the A70 is a co-co but it would just have been a representation...  would be my only piece of pseudo-Australian stock, although I could run an RDC (not in the right livery and Ahern rather than Triang).

This has made me spend too much time on the internet, but here's some more on this....it does lead on to complicated stories from these references!

As the war ended, the UK Fedden mission, the US Operation Lusty,   Russian and French missions searched for advanced German equipment like jet aircraft and research facilities. (Eric "Winkle" Brown's excellent book "Wings on my sleeve"  has a lot on finding and testing German aircraft at the end of the war).

This all further led to Operation Paperclip (US)  Operation Osoaviakhim (Russia)  and similar British and French  operations which were to "aquire" German scientists and engineers who'd worked on nuclear weapons, rockets, and advanced aviation such as turbojet engines and swept wings. This is by no means an exhaustive list, there were a lot of other technologies involved.

This led to the US and Russia having thousands of top German engineers and scientists working for them.  (The British and French not so very much).  This all came from agreements about German post war reparations at the Yalta conference.

(If you google Operation Epsilon or Farm Hall there's a lot about the British program to learn about  German nuclear weapon development).

So when we see both the Sabre and MIG 15 have wings swept back at 38 degrees it's due to design inputs from similar designers and data...

Messerschmitt P.1112.   Woldemar Voight,  (head of the Me design staff) who worked on the Me 262, also worked on this also never built  tail-less design.  He ended up working for Chance Vought in the States.  One of his first designs was the F7U Cutlass which has a lot of similarity to the P.1112 design.

21 hours ago, johndon said:

A couple more shots of the 183, that's five aircraft in a row I've built now, perhaps it's time I got back to railways!!

 

 

 

John

 

That cockpit detail is really good, plus ace finish as well. Very matt.

On 03/05/2023 at 15:43, TT-Pete said:

 

After the war the designer Kurt Tank (where the "Ta" designation comes from) went to Argentina and further developed the design as the "IAe Pulqui II". The Russians on the other hand claim that the very similar MIG 15 was an entirely indigenous design and not in any way influenced by the Ta 183. Yeah, right.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Ta_183

 

Interesting article, one thing mentioned was that the SAAB 29 Tunnan fighter also used German swept wing research, obtained from Switzerland whence some German engineers had fled....

21 hours ago, johndon said:

 

Lovely work, an aircraft I've always wanted to build as my dad flew back from Libya in one when he was in the airforce.

Your dad would have had an interesting flight!  I rather like Shackletons, when I was young we went on holiday to Cornwall at a time when these were still flying and I remember them lumbering along the coast. My intention is to hang the model over one end of the loft layout, as a memory of that.  Went to the Morayvia aircraft museum near Lossiemouth pre Covid with a friend who had moved to Scotland, very good museum and they had quite a few models including Shackletons on display so this was influenced by that visit as well.

Many years ago I went to a talk by someone who had flown them and he said the worse part was the risk of going high-tone deaf due to the noise level....

16 hours ago, johndon said:

With the addition of two of the missiles and a very simple base, the Ta183 is finished...

 

Looks very good, also the swept back wings and tail of this proposed design don't look that diferent from the later KDA-1 (Q-2A) FIREBEE drone model you're building so maybe the aerodynamic  research was captured and applied later by the US?  Could mean the "Ta 183" would have flown ok as the drone worked....

On 24/04/2023 at 16:41, Barry Ten said:

 

It's as if they said to the designer, can you make it a bit more Gerry Anderson?

If it had a couple of rows of cabin windows, dark blue flashes and "transatlantic hypersonic airlines" lettering it would be perfect to be rescued by thunderbird 2 after the inevitable mishap....

Actually it is a very sci fi design!

13 hours ago, TinTracks said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234944790150?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=CjwKCAjw0N6hBhAUEiwAXab-TXoZM-7-n0uLWDMSgWb8Jvb5EYk_T5K-Yi9PZr0

 It was about 65 years ago but mine had opening doors too. Just like this one.

 Regards, Rich

Thanks Rich, that looks like it! You turned the handle to unlatch the door I think. There was a good play value with Hornby, (the water tower you could fill with water being one!)

Regards Bill

My memory fails me!

11 hours ago, woodenhead said:

You were like a coiled spring with that reply😀

That's the key to it. :-)

This is where it started for me as the 2 locos are what my dad bought when I was 4 or something like that except we had the green tender loco and black tank. Not so much goods stock but the brake van looks familiar, think the doors opened?  We didn't have quite so much track either....

It all got replaced by Hornby dublo 3 rail.

Thanks for video, very nostalgic!!

Red is Tamiya XF-7 which seems a reasonable enough match. Far as I've got so far due to a knee problem which now seems ok at present. 

carl19's MHs look really good, as does Neils WRX MT.  I'm going to have to look for those....

1 hour ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

Seeing the mention of the other kits they made, I realised I've got an unmade one of their kits for a Hawker Fury sitting up in the loft somewhere!

Got an unmade Airfix 1:48th Fury in the loft...(perhaps they are the same mouldings!! Probably not.)  Fairey Flycatcher would be an unusual model. H'mm...

Bit of web surfing and found a reference on Scalemates site that Lindberg issued the Flycatcher and Fury in the same box as late as 2017, so those moulds have done very well if the kits are almost current (in the US).

6 hours ago, Ben B said:

 

I've a couple of these, boxed, unbuilt, in my stash. My Grandad looks to have picked them up, and I've inherited them... seeing your pics and the excellent job you've done, I'm tempted to move them up the queue a bit :)

There were 6 in the series,  the Martin Handasyde, Avro triplane and biplane, Bristol Boxkite, Bleriot and Deperdussin.  All released in 1966.

They also had a 1930's range, and did a Gloster Gladiator, Fairey Flycatcher, Bristol Bulldog and Hawker Fury. They appear to have been released in 1968 according to Scalemates website. All these were in 1:48th scale. 

Nice kits in their day.

1:48th scale Inpact Martin-Handasyde 1911 monoplane. These first came out (there were 6 early aircraft) in  1966, around the time of the "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" film, which I was obsessed by at the time.  They were later made by Pyro in the US and Lindberg. I originally made this when it first came out, and it somehow survived in a bag though mainly in pieces.  Thought I'd restore it, needed new struts and one of the engine cylinder blocks was missing as moulded another out of Milliput in a Blue Stuff mould.  The copper pipes were repainted using a very old tin of  Humbrol enamel. Rigging was EZ-line which works ok for me in 1:48th scale but I found fiddly in 1:72nd.

I repainted the fuselage to represent varnished natural wood but otherwise I wanted to keep it as it had originally been made, restoration rather than rebuild!

There we are, a part of pre WW1 aviation.

1 hour ago, Chris Chewter said:

To try to keep myself away from the traders, I spliced together a video of the event for those who weren't able to attend. Sadly my plan was unsuccessful, and my wallet is now a little lighter.

 

 

Just like to add my thanks for you posting this.  I had intended to go to the exhibition, even found out how to pay the ULEZ  charge, but couldn't in the end, so your excellent video was very interesting. Think you captured the feel of the  exhibition as well as the very good layouts.  19 minutes well spent!

Interesting YouTube clip. I vaguely remember seeing these demonstrated on a demo track at an exhibition in what must have been  early 1980s according to the dates given when they were made. The loco I remember was a Bulleid pacific which would have had reasonable room inside for the mechanism. I believe they had an oscillating cylinder and gear drive. It was in unpainted brass like the v2  so maybe they were all like that?  It must have made some impression on me, think it was pretty expensive. However, the brass body looked well proportioned and detailed from what I remember.

The V2 looks really good and just crys out for a decent chassis!

The YouTube vid looks like it was filmed at Ally Pally as there's a glimpse of the organ. I did think he was pushing his luck later in the vid running it round the kitchen table!!

Looking forward to seeing your finished  (electric) v2.

Excellent!  Great doing different variations, including the J68 with large windowed cab. 

I'm thinking  Kelvedon and Tollesbury (which needs a j67/1) with Rapido ex Wisbech and Upwell coaches.

Very useful for GE branches in particular.

2 hours ago, carl19 said:

Tog modelle did do a model of the MH in the early 2000s. Both in green livery and red/black livery.

Would you like pics?

That would be interesting, thanks.