SuperD

"I do have this tendency to start on a project before I've even got the previously started one even halfway, but I suspect I'm not alone in that."

I'm a fully paid up member of this club, LOL!  I have about 6 on the go at the moment and must make an effort.  If I need some parts I tend to start something else whilst waiting for delivery.

Cheers

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

I agree, its a bit smelly, best done in a sealed box and in a shed

I've just done one and it didn't smell anywhere near as much as it used too.  I  filled a glass and stood the loco in it, kept it on the worktop, there was a slight smell when I disturbed it, but nothing much.  

Hi Grifone,  thank you very much for the in depth reply.  For me, very informative.  There are no tyres on it, the wheels seem to made from some "Mazac" type material.  The crosshead, I think, is cast and the cylinders are black with orange lining, so I assume "Montrose".  It is the "horseshoe" magnet and seems to fit the 39mm coarse thread armature.

Regards

Dettol. Soak overnight, rub off with a tooth brush.

Hi, I'm reasonably new to the hobby (covid) but I've built a couple of locos on Comet chassis.  I've recently acquired a HD rolling chassis.  I don't know which loco was on it, but it's a 3 rail chassis.  I remember the pulling power of these and would like to run it, but will have to convert.

The wheels are pretty horrible anyway and I would need/like to fit Romfords to resolve the insulation problem.  As I say. I'm not very experienced and the valve gear seems to be secured by some sort of pin. How would I remove it?  Is this doable in such a way as to save and re use the valve gear?   Any advice would be appreciated.

10 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Good morning SuperD,

 

sorting the chain out took quite a bit of research, partly because nobody in model railway land had any idea what sort of chain was used on the real thing. Suppliers and even the most sophisticated modeling was using what is called cable chain. This is completely the wrong sort, the links being rounded like the knit of a cable jumper. The real links were stretched to give them greater strength, in smaller scales this is called paper clip chain.

 

Fortunately, Naval modelers were far more knowledgeable on such stuff than their railway counterparts. With their assistance and by counting of links on many a photograph and drawings, I was able to work out that 1/350 scale anchor chain was a very good match for the heavy chain used on bogie bolsters. Not all  1/350 anchor chain is equal however, there are good products and not so good products. The pandemic made it impossible to eyeball various chains and supplies started to disappear around the world. I finally settled on Artwox 1/350 scale ship chain, it is the Bees knees for what I wanted. Eventually I tracked the product down to Australia. With the pandemic at last in protracted retreat, it may be now available closer to home, you would have to shop around. The chain is raw brass so it requires blackening, I used Birchwood Casey brass black but I also painted the links.

 

The stanchions are from Wizard models, the working 'D ring' shackles are just folded 4.5 mm brass rod, hooks, eyes and screw shackles are from the Roxey mouldings range. The screw shackles are not super detailed but they really don't need to be,  the products that are super detailed are so overscale they look comical.

Hi Headstock, you've obviously done a great deal of research on this, for which I thank you.  I had a project in mind and bought some bogie bolsters, but I was never happy with the chain that I bought  so shelved it.  If I can get some of this I'll resurrect it.  Once again, thank you.

10 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Good morning SuperD,

 

sorting the chain out took quite a bit of research, partly because nobody in model railway land had any idea what sort of chain was used on the real thing. Suppliers and even the most sophisticated modeling was using what is called cable chain. This is completely the wrong sort, the links being rounded like the knit of a cable jumper. The real links were stretched to give them greater strength, in smaller scales this is called paper clip chain.

 

Fortunately, Naval modelers were far more knowledgeable on such stuff than their railway counterparts. With their assistance and by counting of links on many a photograph and drawings, I was able to work out that 1/350 scale anchor chain was a very good match for the heavy chain used on bogie bolsters. Not all  1/350 anchor chain is equal however, there are good products and not so good products. The pandemic made it impossible to eyeball various chains and supplies started to disappear around the world. I finally settled on Artwox 1/350 scale ship chain, it is the Bees knees for what I wanted. Eventually I tracked the product down to Australia. With the pandemic at last in protracted retreat, it may be now available closer to home, you would have to shop around. The chain is raw brass so it requires blackening, I used Birchwood Casey brass black but I also painted the links.

 

The stanchions are from Wizard models, the working 'D ring' shackles are just folded 4.5 mm brass rod, hooks, eyes and screw shackles are from the Roxey mouldings range. The screw shackles are not super detailed but they really don't need to be,  the products that are super detailed are so overscale they look comical.

11 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Good evening superD,

 

Did you have anything specific in mind or sources for everything?

Hi, I particularly wanted to know about the chain gear.  Thank you.

6 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Good afternoon Simon,

 

I'm rather lacking in posh photograph equipment I'm afraid, so I'm reliant on natural daylight to get a decent shot. I've only shot one other image so far, see below. The full train will have to wait until the good weather allows me to assemble it and shoot it out in the garden. 

 

Parkside double bolster, kit built as it comes* but with corrected brake pull rods and replacement tie bars. Flexible steel plate was allowed to be loaded onto double bolsters, as long as it touched the deck, it didn't overhang the edges and was secured to the bolsters.

 

 

* The stanchions, Rings, shackles, hooks, artificial steel products and Aussie chain don't come with the kit.

They look fantastic!  Would you be kind enough to give the source please?

12 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

May I also ask a question about valve gear?

 

I'm currently setting up the gear on a Comet Princess chassis. With the other types I've done (Urie, Maunsell, Fowler and Riddles), it was easy to do one side then the other. With this type, the radius rod needs to go through a slot in the motion bracket, which is a single fold-up design covering both sides. As it stands, both sets of gear need to be set up at the same time as there's no obvious way to get the opposing crosshead and radius rod on if the other side is already fixed.

 

The bracket is meant to be bolted to a frame spacer. I can't see a straightforward way of separating it into two halves, as if I do that, then (apart from losing the bolt fixture) either half will be need to be soldered to the top edges of the frames, which doesn't feel like a particularly robust arrangement. Any suggestions, other than just biting the bullet and setting up both sides at the same time?

 

Al

Hi,  I've just done my first loco with valve gear, a Comet chassis Scot and finished up with this very same problem.  A good bit of chunnering and a lot of patience later I managed it, but it's two halves next time I think.

I've found that 9.5mm spacers most useful.

I'm pleased to have spotted this thread.  I acquired a 4f body in a job lot that I bought.  I'm new to the hobby (CV19) and I wondered why it was too small to fit a Comet chassis.

It weighs a ton and the only use I can think of for it is doorstop!

I think it's a bargain even if I throw the drill bits away!

13 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

The valvegear rivets that I used 'back in the day' were counterbored at the thin end.

 

You didn't flatten them; you expanded the end with a centrepunch - an adjustable pressure sprung one was best.

 

CJI.

CJI, thank you for your input. This is what I'm doing.  The problem I have is keeping the rivet vertical while I tap it. Being so small it tends to tip and I finish up damaging the motion.  I'm going to try sticking the assembly to sellotape.

Thanks Mick, I've never heard of a pin hammer!  

Regards

Hi,  I've now built a few 4F chassis and decided to have a go at something bigger.  I bought a Comet Scot/Jubilee chassis and have enjoyed doing it so far.  I'm at the stage of assembling the motion with all the drop links etc.  Comet provide a pack of rivets for this task, which, apart from the difficulties of a 70 odd year old actually seeing these, the biggest problem for me is opening them out. I'm trying to tap a sharp point into the rivet but don't have enough hands to hold everything and at the same time keep the rivet vertical whilst I do this.  Any tricks/ advice would be appreciated.

Best wishes to all for Christmas and New Year.

My pennuth for what it's worth...

Re the "it's a race Toto"comment.  The "race" was over well before the SC!  Both CH and Verstappen senior had accepted that.  Therefore, if the race had (as it should) ended under the SC, could anyone have complained over a Lewis win?

Alternatively he could have red flagged and we would have had 5 laps of "racing", but everyone on new tyres and starting from previous positions.  For some reason MM had set against that before the race.

Re; Merc pitting... they had to plan their strategy on the basis of not putting Lewis in a position of overtaking Max.  What do you think the result of that would have been??

The answer to that question tells you who should be the champ!!

In some ways Bottas reminds of him in the difficulty he seems to have in getting past other drivers.

10 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

I fear that in his current state of mind that Max will ignore any instruction from his team or management and do whatever is needed to get the title

 

I hope this is not the case as I really don't want the sport to descend to the same levels that we have seen in the past. I lost all interest in the sport for quite some time after Prost did what he did to Senna. I still have to resist the urge to spit whenever his name is mentioned. 

I agree!  "The professor" was fast and smooth, alone on a dry track!!  He had to be "invited" to overtake (preferably in writing).  He'd pit at the first drop of rain on his visor.

Was the only driver "brave enough" not to race in that very wet Aussie GP and he was (or should have been) embarrassed by both Senna and Damon Hill in the wet Donnington GP.  IIRC he pitted six times in that race while Senna stayed out on slicks.  I can't remember Senna's grid position but he was well down. the McLaren was a poor car then, but he'd overtaken Prost, who was on pole, before the end of the first lap. Prost being in a car that "a chimpanzee could drive" according to AS.

Also a very political driver getting himself into Nige's seat at Williams courtesy of Renault.

Hi Rich, thank you very much for your input, very helpful. I shall look at the link.

The only difference I can see in the motors is the larger top bearing on "London".

Regards

John

Hi RAF96, thank you very much for the reply.  Having lubricated overnight I had another go with "London" and she set off like a good un',  speed gradually increasing.  However, after about ten minutes running flat out, the squeal returned.  There is "end float" but I can't see any ball bearings.

"Montrose" no joy.  A neighbour has a multimeter so I'll ask him to oblige.

The thing that concerns me is not being able to get the armature out of "London" as I can with the Duchess.  Fortunately things seem to have worked the right way for me in that respect.

Once again, thank you for your input.

Regards

Good evening all,  I've recently acquired a couple of HD Loco's, "Montrose" and "London", both two rail and non runners.  The magnets are weak and I realise a remag' will be required.

I thought I'd start by cleaning everything and then a little Lub' to the bearings.  I had no problem removing the armature from "Montrose" and cleaned  it with a plastic tooth pick and cotton buds, added new springs and brushes, a touch of oil on the bearings, reassembled and set about 1mm of "end float". Put power to each brush....nothing.

With "London"  it briefly burst into life with power to the brushes but with a squealing noise that seemed to be coming from the commutator, there isn't a groove in the chassis top so I can't remove the armature without removing the wheels, which I don't want to do.  Is there some "trick" to this?

Any help/advice would be very much appreciated.

Regards

John

I have no electrical skills, but have managed LED's OK so far.

First, they are polarity sensitive.  No problem in a station lighting situation, but would need a bridge rectifier on a loco to deal with forward/reverse.

12v is fine but if you use 3V you will need a resistor (3.3) with EACH LED.

Again, if in a loco a capacitor will prevent flashing.

I've put micro LED's in several Springside loco lamps, OK so far.

HTH