Colin parks

Thanks Market65. Glad you like the 'tuner'. Bear in mind it is only for fitting Romford plain bearings, although it would probably work with the top-hat type - given a wider spacing between the frames/solebars. Come to think of it, I've never seen an American 'truck tuner', so perhaps they just ease pin-point 'holes' in plastic mouldings rather than drill them out to accept new bearings. Perhaps someone could enlighten us? All the best, Colin

Hi Adam an intriguing wagon you are building there! Excuse my ignorance of the subject, but what are the hoods which cover most of the wagons going to be made of? All the best, Colin

Hi Mike, That AJ looks really unobtrusive on your loco. The way you have bent the coupling wire to allow the fitting of the screw coupling too is very interesting. All the best, Colin

After a surprisingly difficult time with the 4 CIG trailer coaches, the wheels are almost all in place with brass bearings, which will give much more reliable running. the bearings had to be shortened to 1mm long so that they could be fitted to the Bachmann bogie side frames. This was made easier by holding the bearing in a strip of 40thou. (1mm) plastic strip while filing. the more tedious part of the operation was to file a bevel back on each bearing to fit snugly into the newly drilled hole. I had previously made a kind of 'truck tuner' from part of a 2mm drill with a turned washer-come knob to rotate the drill super-glued in place (well it was correct for the deeper oil-type axle boxes as found on Hornby 8ft SR bogies etc.). The pin-point end slide, up and down the drill shank and the spring (half a three-link coupling spring) keeps the tuner located in to opposite side while drilling takes place. (One guard iron broke off during this particular operation. There was some swearing at this point.) For drilling into these side frames care had to be taken as the roller-bearing mouldings are much shallower and I confess that on one hole the drill broke though (there was some more swearing), leaving some delicate repairs to be done. Colin

Thanks for your comments Market65. I have tried everything to get photos in the main body of text. It's not as if I haven't done it before - the process doesn't work now for me! r Re. the bogies, the trailer coaches are putting up more of a fight. It seems there are two types of Bachmann Mk.4 bogie mouldings under the three vehicles. It was not spotted during the initial building/conversion work, but there seems to be a later moulding with the inner brake blocks on a separate moulding in line with the wheels. This is causing trouble with drilling the holes for the brass bearings, but it'll all work out in the end. All the best, Colin

Thanks Ian. Yes I am back, but it's all stock and no layout at present. If I were starting the 4 CIG project now, the 4 VEP parts would definitely be the way to go, being exactly right for the 4 CIG (second series). They are moulded in styrene rather than the unforgiving and un-glueable polythene or nylon as used on the class 73 mouldings which needed much carving about and pinning on of parts. I note that the price of Hornby spares has risen quite a bit since two years ago, but you can virtually take your pick of bogie types suitable for SR and BR EMUs now. Who would have thought it possible even just five years ago! All the best, Colin

Next on the work bench has been the 4 CIG and its conversion to P4. This came about as the Ultrascale wheels arrived a month earlier than originally expected. These two shots show wheels fitted to the MBSO. As can be seen, P4 wheels do have flanges and weighing in at 365g, this coach is not going to jump off the rails easily! Ultrascale have certainly had their money's worth out of me on this vehicle as it already had their 00 scale conversion pack fitted (Hornby class 73). The trailer coaches are proving a little more tricky. I have tried the wheels in the bogies and noted that the pin-points of the Bachmann wheels have a fine powdering of plastic dust on them, which has caused them to not be very free-running any more. This unit has only ever run at one two-day exhibition, spending almost two years in its box, so the wear is quite serious. These trailer coaches will need to be fitted with brass bearings, thought there is precious little depth to accommodate the bearing without breaking through the fronts of the roller bearing covers. More of this later. Colin

Hi Howard, Apologies for the mix-up re the events. I'd love to come to Derby and see your layout at the S4 AGM in June - can't promise anything yet. All the best, Colin

Hi Howard, It's all looking very good indeed! Perhaps you should keep those wagons until after the Scaleforum in June. Those shunting manoeuvres are done at quite a rate of knots, which is very impressive. All the best, Colin

Hi Martin, Thanks for the advice. I have always inserted pictures in the way you describe, but for some reason this method no longer - or at present no longer works! Colin

Ploughing on through the brake gear changes, all that was left to do was the powered motor coach. The number of Exactoscale coach wheels had been miscalculated and so Ultrascale wheels had to be used on the inner bogie as well as the Black Beetle motorised bogie. (This might change as new supplies arrive of the Exactoscale type.) In the first shot, the Black Beetle can be seen being fitted with Ultrascale wheels. These wheels have a substantial boss on them which needs to be reduced by careful filing to 4.7mm in length, measuring with Vernier calipers to take off just the right amount. The wheels can then be set in place on the original axles with a smear of Loctite 603 just to ensure that nothing moves. The back to back gauge was used to get the wheels just so and making sure that the bosses did not pull up tight on the BB mouldings. The second picture shows the Hornby motor bogie side frames. These needed some surgery. A cut was made with a piercing saw at each corner of the bogie headstocks and a section of 0.5mm x 20 thou. black plastic strip inserted. The widened the side frames by 1mm, but despite that, some filing was still required to get the frames to clear the Ultrascale wheels, which are 2mm across the tyres (unlike the Exactoscale wheels used on the other three coaches of the unit which are 5.6mm or so across the tyres). In the end the side frames went on. The shoe beams had to be fettled down on the axle boxes to bring them back to the correct width, with the pick up shoes at 29.4mm centres. The last job was to pack out the side frames locating points on the backs of the frames by 0.5mm to engage with the mould-on clips on the BB . It sounds like a lot of work, but having done it once, it should be easier next time (!). The last picture shows the inner bogie of the motorised motor coach. There was some fiddling around to get the brake blocks in past the pick ups, but it all went well in the end. I just wish the pictures could have been inserted in the text, but they just ended up as thumbnails. Any suggestions as to what to do about this?! Colin

Hi David, Thanks for the clarification re. brake blocks. I had no idea that they would be changed so often. Thinking about the positioning of the brakes on the prototype, it does make sense that clasp arrangements above the wheel centreline would be more stable for track-holding. All the best, Colin

Thanks Market65. The bogie brakes shown here were the fourth attempt at getting them to sit right. I'm a bit rusty with fine work, so it looks and is a bit of a bodge, but it does the job. Colin

More work on the P4 conversion. Whether re-fitting the brake blocks is really worth it is a matter of opinion: they can hardly be seen when fitted. A thing that was found out while looking at prototype photos with reference to this work is that not one photo showed a bogie brake blocks where they were on the centre line of the axles. Perhaps an engineer amongst us could explain? The first picture shows the production of the cosmetic yokes, grooved to accept the 22mm long x 0.5mm wire that holds the brake blocks at 19mm apart. The assemblies are then fixed to the bogies by means of 40thou. strips of plasticard. Its a bit of a bodge, but it is the easiest way to it. Only 2/3rds of the blocks can be seen anyway (but I know they are there!) Can't seem to attach photos today, so apologies for the format of this post. Colin

Thanks Andy. I will be doing lots of odds and ends to the stock but major work has to wait until I am better. (Had a stem cell transplant four weeks ago.) The major work once I get going is to construct a new layout for all this stuff to run on authentically! All the best, Colin

Hi Paul, Great news to hear the layout is back! Hope to see it one day. (I do have a very strange, hazy DVD of it on which my layout also features.) The attention to authentic detail and the selection of prototypical stock is fantastic. All the best, Colin

Hi SS. Well, I have built a double slip -almost. That was under the instruction of Howard (JFS) Bolton. It cannot be finished as the sleepers are to go down on the (future) base board first. This unit is off to Howard for rigorous testing on his layout which has some very complex point work. Colin

Well I'm back again and doing doing the conversion of the 4 SUB to P4. Making up & fitting the Exactoscale wheels on this 'pseudo-composite coach' to its Hornby bogies was no problem. The matter of the brake blocks however, was. The blocks are set in line with the original 00 wheels, so the blocks have had to come off for now. They will be going back on new extended yokes made of wire and plastic sheet - but that will be dealt with in another instalment! Excuse the thumbnail image the editing program doesn't seem to be working. (Click on image for a better view.) Colin

Hi Killybegs, I have just found your layout topic which interestingly starts with a scratch-built coach! Very nice modelling throughout and some great work on the canal (water & sunken barge). Colin

Hi John, I shall watch with interest as you add the chairs to the slip. The C&L chairing diagram is quite a challenge to understand! Colin

Hi queensquare, There is some fantastic work shown in this thread, which I have just read from page eight backwards to the start(!). I thought at first this was 4mm scale modelling - astounding stuff. Colin

Hi magic spanner, There are quite a lot of P4 wheels up for sale on Ebay at the moment - or were last time I looked! Colin

Thanks for adding the link Howard. Plastic EMU scratch-building is easier than all the present metal work I am doing (based on the experience of filling and re-drilling holes in rail webs yesterday. I somehow don't think I should have signed up promising to be one of those noble band 'getting it all right'! All the best, Colin

Hi there all. Thanks for the recent kind comments and apologies for not posting since June (and missing your enquiry on 30/07 John). I was in hospital on and off until the end of August, so only looked in on RMweb occasionally during that time. The chemo-therapy is now going well and in the last few weeks I have started up modelling again to a limited degree. My exploits are now focussed on P4, with a view to eventually constructing a P4 layout based on the location of the real Newhaven Harbour junction leading to the Marine station c.1970-72. It will involve some complex (for me!)point work. To that end, a start has been made on a double slip based on the methods used by Howard Bolton. (His work and methods will be featured in an article in the Oct. MRJ.) All the stock EMU will be converted to P4 in due course, so when I have anything of interest to share, it will appear here on this topic. All the best, Colin

Hi Adam, That van is looking very well on its metal chassis. The Rumney Models kit does look the business. It would have been interesting to have seen what you made of it as a sprung version. Though some extol the virtues of fully sprung chassis, it does seem to be that they need careful weighting if the springing is to work correctly. All the best, Colin