5050

I would have described them as Studiolith. I have a few sets myself. Did Exactoscale continue with the Studiolith part numbers?

Never believe anything you read in the 'local paper'.

Just ordered a copy from James Hudson (along with another book I couldn't resist!) so I expect to get a knock on the door from the postie next week.

Probably. Desert Sand appeared 'Gold' to us lads. We'd never seen Gold or Desert Sand back then to be able to tell the difference

Just come across this - I MUST get one! I can still remember the first time I saw a Western - a Gold coloured apparition on the Ruabon - Wrexham line appearing under a bridge half a mile away. Nobody knew what it was and after it had passed, we (about 4 of us), stood there in utter silence not knowing what to say - or think! The next week it was a Maroon apparition, then a Green one. They soon became common and the novelty faded..................

Well, everyday is a school day so the saying goes. And today has been for me! I've always thought the Necropolis station was alongside the west side of Waterloo, not half a mile or more away! I must take more time reading stuff properly in future......................

But it was a L O N G time ago, anything could have happened in the meantime Good to know it's still in use.

That's a steam loco colour!! As it's a wee delicate thing I could always paint it Pink..................

And there was I, prior to reading the postings, thinking that you had discovered a previously unknown kit for a large LNER 2-8-2................................

With the beam being to one side and pivoting (in my case anyway) loosely on the main body of the gearbox) it does allow some degree of rocking over the central pivot. As Mike Edge said earlier, a lot of movement isn't necessary. If you need a lot - check your track! How it will all work in actual service is as yet unknown as I don't have my layout serviceable to test it. It's stashed away in the attic until/when/if shows start again.

Are you all sitting comfortably? If so, let us begin the next gripping instalment. Following my last post I investigated further and realised that the geared beam was not migrating along the length of the axle (it couldn't due to the firmly fixed drive gear) but was moving the other direction up to the inside of the footplate casting. I attached an 80thou x 80 thou plastic spacer to the side of the beam which prevented this happening. However (as usual with this build) this spacer was hindering the free movement of the gear beam and therefore preventing the rear compensated axle from rocking correctly. Removal of the 80 x 80 cured this and I replaced it with some thinner plastic placed higher up the beam side. This seems to work better thankfully. The packing can be seen in these 2 photos. You will see that the motor has been fitted. One of HL's new ones but I did experience a problem when trying to fit the retaining screws. I could get one in but the second just wouldn't go in. I discovered that the holes in the etch were not far enough apart and I had to enlarge them 'outwards' until both screws would fit. Once the motor was fitted I could try the chassis with the bonnet and cab in position. I had hoped that I would not find any problem with this but, as usual, the motor would not quite fit into the opening in the cab front. Some amount of filing was necessary both to the sides (up to the bonnet location slots ar least) and also across the top. The motor projects into the cab somewhat but a bit of black paint and a portly driver and mate should disguise this. A length of black wire insulation will disguise the motor shaft. The next stage was the provision of pickups. My first idea was to attach very thin copperclad to the sides of the chassis and have wires pointing downwards and rubbing on the rear of the rims. Once I was able to really think about this (and after I had araldited the copperclad in place!) I decided that the wires would be to short to offer any 'spring' so aborted the scheme. So it was back to more conventional 'bottom mounted' rim scrapers instrad. My normal method of mounting these is on a copperclad plate (also acting as an axle keeper plate) screwed to a 1/16" spacer fitted more or less centrally across the bottom of the side frames. Due to the very close clearances and lack of space to fit the Quadriver and motor into the chassis I had initially considered this would not work but, in a moment of inspiration (!) I realised that if I made the fixing 'spacer' only half width and soldered it to the side of the chassis away from the gear beam I could do it. There is very little force on the pickups so it is more than adequately strong. Pickup 'plate' is a thinnish copperclad with 0.3mm nickel silver wires. I had to burnish off the black coating on the tyres as it worked as a perfect insulator and no current was initally able to pass! The wires were fitted after the photos were taken. The plate serves as a keeper plate for both axles. The compensated axle has clearance for movement and the main driven gear box axle has a small piece of scrap NS soldered on to minimise movement. Motor leads have since been attached and the unit tested under power. After an initial period of seeming unwillingness to move, with a bit of fettling it has now managed to perambulate along my test track, occasionally stalling (why??!) but after some more fettling I am now more confident that it will work OK. However, until I get a chance to try it over points and bends I'm not going commit myself to saying it has passed with flying colours. Now for the paint. Corporate Blue or Red Oxide?

Just found this during a Google search of Neilson boxes. https://www.shapeways.com/product/8XMB3CBXJ/neilson-box-tank-bellmouth-chimney Doesn't say what chassis fits but scratch building one shouldn't be to dificult..............................

This morning I fitted the drive gear to the trailing compensated axle. Again I had to ream it out a fair bit to be able to fit it onto the axle, the operation being done on the lathe using the tail stock to press it on against the chuck which had a 2mm 'hole' in the jaws to take the axle. Here it is alongside the body. It really is small compared to other locos in my industrial 'fleet'. And here placed in the footplate showing how 'tight' it all is. Since doing this I will be having to take another couple of steps back. I've found that the geared 'beam' migrates along the axle when the chassis is run (by hand) as if it were traversing a bend. (Note - my industrial layouts tend to have 'bends' not 'curves'). This pushes the axle gear out of mesh with the last of the gear train. I will have to remove one wheel to be able to withdraw the axle and fit some 2mm ID brass tube spacers between the drive gear and the chassis side opposite and the beam and the chassis side next to it. I just hope the wheel doesn't become to loose after removing and refitting although I do have some spares if absolutely necessary. There's always Loctite too!

I've looked at the Studiolith wheels and, even though they are the correct size and have the double ended crank pin feature, have 12 rather than 8 spokes. The spokes are also very fine in comparison to the chunky Neilson ones. I also dug out my High Level gearbox chart and tried it against the 4mm drawings in the Rice article and I reckon the Loadhauler+ with a 1015 motor will easily fit, driving the back axle. Please note - this does not mean I will be building one any time soon........................

Me, biased?! Just ask any of my one time 00 modeller friends acquaintances...................... I doubt very much if could EVER be as biased as a newspaper editor whose main biased objective is to sell more papers.

One of the reasons I have only allowed a very minimal sideplay in the wheels is to try and avoid 'waddle' and 'crabbing'. With the short wheelbase and the wheel/rail tolerances inherent in P4 there should be sufficient 'slop' (!) for the loco to get round tight curves. Wheels are 2-hole discs a nominal 11mm diam over thread. I have drilled through the moulded 'hole depressions' at 0.8mm and added an extra 2 holes at 90' to make them 4 hole. BTW, I built a Roxey Planet as well a while back using the 'under-the-counter' unit that Chris designed for Gordon Ashton. I also used one of them adapted for use in a Branchlines Sentinel. After this I now have no qualms about attacking one of Chris's products to make it fit!

Due course has now arrived - and a lot quicker than anticipated. Here's some shots of the almost completed Quadriver and its relationship with the footplate casting. The Quadriver in its (hopefully!) final state with only the trailing compensated axle to fit wheels to. I was having problems with the 'swivelling' of the geared arm. It didn't seem to want to provide much movement for the compensated axle and i was concerned that running may not be to good. I decided to partly dissasemble it by removing the 'axle' on which it fits and refabricating it. As it happens, the soldered NS/Steel joint between the arm and the axle had failed anyway (see above posts regarding this) so I took a leaf from Penrith Beacon's book and substituted it with a length of 2mm brass tubing. When I removed the redundant steel axle I discovered that it was corroded along its length due to the ingress of the acid flux I had used. The gear wheel had hidden this up to that point. The new brass shaft was secured with (easily) soldered 2mm washers at either end using a thin paper 'spacer' at one end to allow a modicum (ie - sufficient) of movement. Here it is with the footplate showing the 1mm NS wire beam. I had intended using a steel wire for this but again, I could not get it to solder to the brass frame spacer despite using a variety of fluxes. The NS wire went straight on and will be adjusted for height once all wheels are fitted. The Quadriver is a snug fit into the footplate casting. It is just narrow enough to fit inside the bonnet and the location slots for the bonnet can be seen close to the gearbox. I had a bit of a game fitting the final drive gear to the driven axle. Chris states in his instructions that, due to potential variations in axle diameters, the press fit may be tight. I found it very tight! I had to take a 2mm reamer to the axle hole and seemed to remove more material than I was anticipating - and it was still a tight fit. The other gear wheel may end up being reamed even more drastically.

Glad you said that............................. I've only ever built one 00 layout of my own and that was 45-50 years ago (although I was involved in a large 00 GWR layout for some years in the late '70's. I went P4 around 1980 due to the influence of some fellow members of the Wakefield club (most of whom are now leading lights in the S4Soc. - and still friends of t-b-g) and never (well, almost never.....) regretted it.

Abso-blinkin'-lutely! Haven't bought a newspaper for many, many years. Full of total lies, misinformation, biased opinions and cr*p.

I've turned up Ricey's article in Model Railways June '78 and, compared with some of his real 'nuts and bolts' articles' it is a bit skimpy. He used a Triang XT60 motor and Sharman 50:1 gears. It must have been a real shoehorn fit into the body and he had to grind some of the motor away to fit into the firebox. Wheels were made from Jackson wagon wheels turned down and fitted with tender wheel tyres, the ends of the front axle being turned down to fit the Jacksons but the back axle was 3/32", both to clear the motor and to fit the wheels. Not a lot of detail given as to how he built the chassis or even designed it and apart from Iain's inimitable sketches, not a lot of info on the details of the body. I'm sure that a modern motor and gearbox would be a lot easier to fit. Wheel centres could be 3D printed to fit Alan Gibson tyres perhaps. However, I do have an unused NOS set of Studiolith Manning Wardle wheels (2mm axles) which Iain says in the article could be a possible option.

Reviving this thread following my re-reading of the Brendon Hills book, a magnificent publication with an amazing amount of information within its pages. I have always had a yearning to base a layout on the West Somerset Mineral Railway but one of the possible obstacles might be a good working P4 model of the box tanks. Ruston's comment about frame widths probably wouldn't apply in P4 so I will have to revisit Iain Rice's old articles as mentioned above. Today's small motors and HL gearboxes should make the task of modelling a loco that much easier nowadays (he said hopefully!) My interest in the line stems from my uncle owning a farm at the bottom of the hill from Raleigh's Cross on the Williton road. I can remember at around 8 years of age going for a walk with my Dad and Uncle that took us down into the valley and along the WSMR trackbed to near the bottom of the incline. At the time I had no idea where or what 'the old railway' was - but I do now! Has anyone built a loco in the time since the thread went into 'hibernation'?

The saga continues, read on. Progress is rather sporadic due to life getting in the way but I have made some. Mainly in connection with the chassis and it's interaction with the footplate casting. Here's the various parts prior to assembly. The assorted spacers are all 'spares' from previous kit builds. The chassis sides require unsoldering after final cutting to shape. The sides separated and 2mm studding, washers and nuts used to space them apart for the spacers. My usual heavy brass 'assembly jigs' can't be used as they are for 1/8" axles and much to big for the size of this chassis. Sides assembled together with spacers selected from the assortment in sizes that would hopefully not interfere with the fit of the gearbox. I had to trim some material away after checking with the fit of the gearbox. Note that I have soldered some spacing pieces on the outside of the sides to minimise side play which will assist in keeping the final drive gears meshed with the others. I had to have a couple of attempts at soldering all this up as the first came out a sort of banana shape for some reason! Note that the top of the sides is not totally flat as the underside of the footplate casting is in 2 levels. To provide good clearance for the sides and various protruberances on the Quadriver I filed the insides of the footplate. As the casting is quite soft this is not difficult. Now for one of those " 3 steps forward, 2 steps back" moments. Or rather 3 forward, 4 back! Up to this point I had been working on the premise that the motor/gearbox would be at the cab end (don't ask me why 'cos I don't really know!). I then realised that it would fit quite happily into the bonnet and leave the cab totally free. However (as usual!) there was a problem. The wheels are not equidistant from each end, the front pair are 1mm further away from the end than the rear. This meant that I could not just reverse the chassis as the wheels would not line up with the outside bearing castings so I had to saw 1mm away from the front end and make up the difference at each end with some 40thou and 20 thou plasticard packing so it fitted snugly. I also decided to attach a piece of 1/16" brass into the footplate casting (Araldite) drilled and tapped 8BA for a screw fixing through the larger spacer. I think this will be quite adequate to hold the chassis in place on its own with no need for a fixing at both ends. The wheels on suitable shortened axles (21.8mm if you need to know) just clear the inner face of the wheel arches but, to date, I haven't checked with a meter to see if they might short out. Some more grinding/chiselling might be on the cards. Side play is minimal but with such a short wheelbase it shouldn't be a problem and, in some ways, actually be better. I've also been working on final assembly of the Quadriver (and dissasembly as well!) and photos will appear in due course.

Masham in real life. The guy on the footplate may welll be the photographer. Who else would wear a dickie-bow to an industrial locoshed photo shoot? Part of my 'Old Leeds Locos' photo collection. NOTE - just noticed a handrail on the upper cab side that doesn't seem to appear on the kit, and the 2 vertical uprights on the cab front. Later additions after some time in use?

I know!! I just realised while I was having my Corn Flakes that I might have made a mistake - and I had. It was latish when I did it - and after a very confusing and frustrating day. Sorry Tim................

Have you seen my thread on the one I built some years ago? I used a chassis/gearbox etch that High Level did for this kit as an 'under the counter' item at the time but I'm sure Chris will be able to still supply it.