What's on your workbench?

[Rana Temporia]

I managed to find some time to do some more work on the Playcraft North British Diesel Shunter. The chassis is totally working now and the painting is done, I just need to glaze it now. I have not decided whether to give it a BR number (D2703-7) or finish it as an industrial loco and name it instead. I have painted it in BR loco green, and the original plastic that Jouef used was very close to the correct colour. As stated in the previous post, the wheelbase is way too long but then the original model had an inside chassis which was totally incorrect for this class of loco. I have managed to keep the original wasp stripes which for the 1960s aren’t bad at all. The front ones should wrap around the front of the loco.

[atom3624]

Looking much better than the one I remember my elder brother had already!

Brass wheels weren't they?

Al.

[Rana Temporia]

Al, the ordiginal wheels were brass and the motor only drove one axle. The chassis had been designed to have a shaft to transfer drive to the other axle but this was never used.

[atom3624]

Thought so, and yes, I remember it as 2WD.

Thanks.

Al.

[EricJ]

Upgrade to rake of old stock.

[96RAF]

Bit of an odd day today. Lots of effort applied without much in the way of results.

I wanted to prove a suspect bug in a test decoder whereby if the loco is on track as my Elite boots the loco will subsequently respond to lights and sound, but not motor control. Now if I disconnect and reconnect the track or simply lift the loco off track and replace it all becomes well - lights, sound and motor control.

Thinking it might be the Elite playing up I reset that, and then swapped it for another Elite, and then jury-rigged the rolling road direct to the Elite to rule out the layout, but the problem remains.

I then had a comms problem when trying to crank up RM to check it from there. I found a duff USB port combined with a duff cable which stopped the Elite talking to RM, so the PC had to be pulled apart and that fixed first.

Then I got side-tracked into making a drawbar for my Duchess. I hadn't realised how fiddly getting the shouldered screws back in was. All done, so I give it the once over, a quick lube and try it round the layout. All running super for many laps, then it stops with the chuff still going at speed. Back onto the workbench. An examination of the loco finds the first motion rod from the LH cylinder has hooked behind the drivers connecting rod and bent. As I am rectifying this I notice the drivers turning by hand - yes the gear-train has destroyed itself when the motion jammed, so that has to be dismantled to find out which cog has gone.

And there is a pesky fly which keeps coming in and out of the train room and pestering me. May have to install an auto-zapper.

I shall be glad when its lunch time and I can swap the tools for a glass of something cold.

[atom3624]

When I first arrived in Africa, it was Ghana.

The then acting Manager's wife was Polynesian I think, and a fly was pestering us at a meal once.

One guest swiped at it, and she then snapped 'don't, it could be my grandmother' .... a strange few minutes persued before we settled again!

Totally agreed with those shoulder screws as well - I presume it's with being full dimension and thread right from the tip.

Al.

[atom3624]

Just-purchased used, factory weathered Bachmann Class 40 purchased with a problem - 2 of the 21-pins were bent.

30 minutes later, they were straight, and I could fit a blanking plug, and test. Runs perfectly.

There was an issue - the cab lights ... didn't.

Rather than fath around for hours retracing a broken wire - probable - or faulty component, I have my own cab lights I can fit, with detachable cables / micro plugs rather than sprung connectors.

I dimmed the lights by painting the LED with transparent amber, then all was provisionally wired in, tested, then soldered into place where required.

Works perfectly - I've set it up as directional.

This model is 12 wheel drive - the 2 little 'pony wheels' on each bogie aren't driven.

My older one is 8 WD. This is a hauling monster, and pulls large rakes very smoothly from very low, to acceptably fast (could hit 90mph in real life).

The newer new addition has a very similar speed and performance range - traction without question as well.

Very nice addition. Just loosened her up - both ways at half power running light for one hour each direction - dab of oil added where needed.

Al.

[Class 158 Productions]

Hornby Class 50 at speed....

[Twintop]

Yet another Bachmann diesel with the "slipping clutch" symptom. This time it is a green class 24 D5011 to add to the Green class 46 D193 and blue class 25 D7667 that had similar problems. Easy to fix, not so easy to get to the component to fix it.

The engines will be around 15-20 years old though so cannot complain.

The Ivatt 2-6-2 tank is still not mended just because I have not got around to it. I have replaced a coupling on the Hornby Clan McLeod that I caught and it snapped.

The Lima class 121 I have probably given up on as it has a damaged gear train.

Otherwise I need to order some wheels for the Tri-ang SR Utility van as it bounces through the Peco points, plus some wheels for about 5 Tri-ang wagons with the same problem.

On the layout I have just finished methodically running all my locos as I try to do every 6 months or so, to be certain all get a run. Star performer was the Hornby pug 51218 which runs so well despite being an 0-4-0.

[96RAF]

Put a new USB3 PCi board into my Train PC. Noticed it had three such slots so bags of room to add more USB ports if required.

Next was to dismantle the Princess Coronation to see where the slipping gear problem actually was. Lifted the motor out and the brass worm was secure and not worn. The intermediate gear was fine also, so off came the chassis bottom. The centre driver gear had moved along the axle splines and was rotating on the bare axle. I added a tiny drop of superglue and slid the gear back into place. To keep it there I made a horseshoe spacer washer to go over the axle between the final gear and the axle bearing. This is held in position by a recess in the chassis bottom moulding. The valve gear was straightened and it seems to run OK again.

Whilst I was there I finally got round to putting some cab numbers on the loco. Purists will know the four digit showing doesn’t match the Loco name (City of Edinburgh) but it is the decoder address, which has to be different from the streamlined version of the same loco I have, else RM moans about double IDs in its roster.

Next job is to put some glazing in my Dapol Deltic. I have the bits but as usual I have been putting it off.

[Rana Temporia]

Over the weekend I did some work on a clockwork Percy I started ages ago. As he comes Percy has a 4 coupled chassis which is clearly wrong as he has outside cylinders. Also, the rear bright green wheels were flangeless. I had an old and broken Tri-ang clockwork chassis with rods but the Percy has a brake lever that sticks out sideways so I had to dismantle both chassis and use the best bits from each leaving me with an almost complete other chassis, unfortunately it can’t be made to work without a new centre to the spring.

Still, a coat of paint and the face made into a smoke box door with some filler, a brass dart and some paper hinges and it’s part way there, I may add some handrails at some point.

The version of the chassis with the rods should have a weight to aid adhesion as it only drives from one axle, som there is now a lump of lead in the back, and it works fine.

The wheelbase is a scale 6’6” which is probably closer than the 8’6” of the electric version to anything that remotely resembles this loco in reality. To me with those large wheels and short wheelbase it looks like something that could have been made in Wigan in the late 1800s by the Wigan Coal and Iron Co.

A bit of fun but why not! Bachmann made an industrial version of their Percy, usually called Greg.

[96RAF]

I glazed up my Deltic. The parts supplied were vac formed acetate but adequate for task, although awkward to trim and fit.

I also mounted my PC screen onto the wall above my bench to give me more working space.

[DonnyRailMan]

This was on my workbench last night i applied decals to my Hornby Tornado in workshop grey.

[MartKS1707822133]

Been working on a project for the past 18 months, "Lockdown Project".

But was going to ditch the idea after Hornby announced this year the upcoming model. The Locomotive is the LMR 57 Lion 0-4-2 - 1837. But I thought i will keep it going, I will order the Hornby one when its released. 

It has been fun "frustrating" sourcing parts this was the hard bit, but got what I needed. 

This is 3D Printed model in 1:76 from Newman Miniatures. 

Motor is the Tenshodo/Hanazono motor-bogie 12v DC. 24.5mm wheelbase - with 10.5mm spoked wheels. 

I have added weight into the Tender using small lead shots also added real coal, as this is tender drive. I have sourced figures to stand of the footplate, 

I Need to finish the painting, But first trying to add a dcc chip in the loco engine once done ill finish off the painting. 

Got to admit its been Very frustrating at times being my first ever attempt at making one. 

I have video of it being weight tested pulling a couple of coaches.

Pictures below show parts of the making.

[Rana Temporia]

Mart, was this the one that needed two sets of Hornby 08 wheels? If so I was looking at one a while ago. It looked like an interesting kit/project.

[MartKS1707822133]

Mart, was this the one that needed two sets of Hornby 08 wheels? If so I was looking at one a while ago. It looked like an interesting kit/project.

 

 

Rana yes 08 drive wheels, Hornby X9372 Class 08 Shunter Driving Wheel Set.

No its the White Natural Versatile Plastic, it just extra time preparing it rubbing down.

Also tender is the same. 

But Hornby are realising this loco, so ill be getting my order in once it's on pre order. if you need any more info please ask

[Rana Temporia]

Thanks Mart. The website that I saw selling the kits had one running and it looked great. With an open cab model like this you really need the crew modelling as you are doing otherwise it’d look a bit odd, the original runaway train.

[MartKS1707822133]

UPDATE

3D Model from Newman Miniatures 1:76

         "Lion Locomotive"

   dcc code set 1838 operation year

Video Link:

[81F]

Just motorized a Great British locomotive class 46. I had originally intended to use a LIMA class 40 until I bought an old Mainline Class 45 on eBay which had been brush painted/re-named to a not very good standard.

All I had to do was to dismantle the Great British Loco, remove one of the bulkheads (the one nearest the loco end) and cut back the posts used to hold the GBL body onto its chassis.

The chassis from the old Mainline loco just simply clips into the body with the motor being housed at the end where the bulkhead was removed - even the clips on the mainline chassis line up perfectly with those on the GBL body!

The only disappointment was that the Vac pipes on the GBL body had to be removed because they fouled the Mainline couplings.

[rpjallan]

I have two locos, a Hornby M7 & a Class 71 that require decoders but have little space to fit them. I have two DCC Concepts direct plug decoders, a Black & a Blue. So, just about to discover which one is the best fit for each loco.

[Twintop]

I have put the valve gear back on the Ivatt 2-6-2 tank, and test run, but it wobbles far too much, so I will have a look at the plastic axle bearings. I have some spares bought a while ago.

The Bachmann class 24 in green has been dismantled and the slipping drive shaft coupling has been araldited back on. All back together and test run pulling three Dapol Stanier suburban coaches for 5 circuits and so far, so good. A class 25 and a Class 46 have also suffered this problem.

I have been going through the mark 1 maroon coaches, Tri-ang, Lima, Hornby and Bachman, oiling the axles, cleaning the wheels and cleaning the bodies and roofs in particular. Couplings and buffers replaced where necessary. I have ordered 20 Hornby disc wheels to replace original Tri-ang plastic wheel sets on some Tri-ang MK 1 coaches. However, the price has gone up - now £19.65 for a pack of 10 - was £16 odd the other week. I also ordered a pack of spoked wheels for Tri-ang wagons so a lot of money - close on £60 just on wheel sets.

I have also been looking at the Bachmann Hong Kong standard 4 4-6-0 - 75078 in black livery. It must be 25 years old, but developed the swollen wheels leading to very wobbly running so has been abandoned for maybe 5 years. I read on another forum that they could be fixed by trimming the plastic wheels, so had a look. I never realised, but the swollen plastic is not actually the wheel, it is a plastic insert of spokes and balancing weights and distorts. Behind it is a spoked metal wheel. so I have removed this inset on the rear drivers and araldited it back in flat, leaving it clamped to give the glue the best chance. I will do the other wheels if this works. Centre drivers appear to be as problem according to a forum, but I can prise the plastic inset up and am certain I can get glue underneath the inset without removing the wheels and con rods.

I hope it works as for years it was the mainstay of the loco fleet, and I would like it back running.

I had the same issue with another std 4, but that was a later Chinese model, so Bachmann supplied replacement wheelsets.

[atom3624]

The relatively complicated valvegear is not the easiest of things to replace - carefully and without bending / damage.

I had had a self-induced problem with my Bachmann Jubilee, and received replacement valvegear - if you ever encounter this, find a quiet day, or weekend, with nobody else home, and do it in stages!!

I've finally managed to replace it, and ... it works perfectly, quite surprisingly!

Job done.

Al.

[atom3624]

Photo of that super-elegant Jubilee - Bachmann certainly get the 'look' (and paint) right, if perhaps not the driveline - superb-looking locomotive model, and runs reasonably well.

Al.

[37lover]

A brand "new", never run, Evening Star [R2785] taken out of my cupboard today, it's been stored for well over a year, probably two or more. The plastic stud under the cab that receives the bolt from under the chassis to hold everything together sheared off when dismantling to fit the decoder.

I have just drilled very fine holes into the remaining stud and attempted to epoxy some copper wires which I hope to match to holes in the broken piece when I glue that back on. The bolt, which is probably only 1.5mm dia, is quite tight in the threaded brass(?) sleeve that is in the broken piece of the stud. I am worried that it needs too much torque and will shear my repair. Had enough for tonight and will try to finish tomorrow evening.

Glued up this morning, fettled as necessary, and looks like it worked.