MDC Shay .

[friscopete]

I saw a basket case of the MDC shay on ebay which I thought might be promising .I noted the NWSL packets and thought it might have the excellent,and  indeed expensive, gear sets .It also has the later Sagami motor so I pressed the firing button after offering a lower price.i was pleasently surprised when it arrived as it did indeed the NWSL gears were all included which meant if it was a dud I could sell the gears and get my money back .

 It had been modified with better pickups and after a  few days mucking   round ,swearing ,blaming the dog etc which is par for the course with this model it workeswell except for the whirry bits .This took God knows how long as what you gain one end you loose the other and go round in ever decreasing circles but in the end it does work. whirry bits an all .Backwards  and forwards over dead frogs and noisy ballasted track .It probably wont tomorrow but at least it works well  now .There is  a company on Ebay that prints new trucks that solve many of the issues on the original and will make it a better long term solution  with accurate tracking which the MDC trucks dont but they will be 80 quid or so landed  and I havnt read any reviews.Anyway here is the basic model and now I need some brass castings to detail it up

Edited May 11, 2022 by friscopete

[New Haven Neil]

I have one bought 38 years ago, on my honeymoon in London!  It has never run properly, one day.....

[SonOfMike]

I've got one too. The kit was a 16th birthday present from my Mum and Dad back in 1984. I built it as soon as I got it and it's still exactly as it was - I have never modified it or repainted it (it's got "natural" weathering in places where the paint has worn off). It's very noisy but otherwise runs fine, despite not really having anything other than a test run until a couple of years ago, and now I use it on my layout regularly. I must have been one of the lucky ones because I have read so many accounts of poor running. Maybe it was the smaller fingers and better eyesight of my youth that helped.😂

 

[Barclay]

I have the boxcab, which I believe is mechanically the same as the Shay? It roars away and achieves about 10mph ! Apart from the noise the running is basically OK.

 

 

[Prof Klyzlr]

On 12/05/2022 at 18:01, Barclay said:

I have the boxcab, which I believe is mechanically the same as the Shay? It roars away and achieves about 10mph ! Apart from the noise the running is basically OK.

 

 

Um, the Boxcab/Track Cleaner

 

 

 

and Class A Climax

have common mechs, the Shay is a significantly different beast,

 

 

 

not the least of which because of the parallel interlocked mechanical paths thru the central and "scale" side driveshafts...

 

Happy Modelling,

Aim to Improve,

Prof Klyzlr

[friscopete]

The sideshaft on my shay has just one gear .Its on the outer rear wheel .It works fine like this .I have got it running pretty smooth and slow now  ,in fact it will creep along with  just a slight noise and  odd click  caused by rear wheel set jumping a miniscule tad .Its main problem is  very slow speed wobble which smooths out at  a slightly higher speed.Its all acceptable really I am just over fussy  .I worked on lots of brass shays and Joe Works while painting for Victors way back when .What we really need is a fabulous gear designer to 3D up some  proper side gears  which actually work .I am amazed the number that come on ebay of this kit .The new KR models shay shouild be interesting and hopefully the start of many .