Scalefour Forum

Robin, Excellent work and shows the benefits of converting RTR locos. I can confirm that reaming out the bearings from 3mm to 1/8” should be done very carefully and slowly as when I converted a Bachmann Coal Tank I managed to destroy one of the bearings. Part of the problem was griping the bearing t...

Morgan,
Re the tender, I don’t know as it was built by John Brighton at least 25 years ago!

Re the sound chip, it has a number of stored sounds including whistles, and chuffs. I have attached the list of what is on the chip.

The chip also caters for 3 cylinder and articulated locos.
It’s excellent and good value.

David

Robin, that looks really good and sounds good as well.

The sound chip is an American one, Soundtraxx Eco 100 for U.K. steam. Costs around £80.00. I buy mine from Coastal DCC. I have them fitted to most of my big locos.

David

Having visited Tony ( socially distanced) on Friday I was very impressed with the scale of the layout that he is building. It’s one thing to see a track plan, but to see it in the flesh makes you realise how big it is. The layout is larger than most clubs or groups would attempt to build, so Tony de...

Chaps,
Here is a photo of the rocking lever. Its from my book on the Rebuilt Class 7s, Crowood Press.


David

Chaps, you need photos of the other side of the loco! The the operating lever for the rocking ash pan is on the Drivers side only ( on the left looking forward) Remember not all re built Scots had the fitment, as it was part of the boiler a loco could have it in one period but loose it after a boile...

Dave, I will check on my photos to see if all rebuilt Scots had hopper doors.

David

I would never spray direct from the can, I would spray into a jar and then thin it and spray through an airbrush. Gives more control.

David

Put me down for one as well.

David Clarke

Dave, I know you have fitted an inside crank to your West Country many years ago, but the only loco I can think of on your “to finish” list is the L&Y 0-6-0 goods.

Are you going to silver solder this crank?

David

Dave, excellent work. Presumably you are doing the weathering of the chassis and then I can paint, line and weather the loco and tender.

We can meet up for a handover of the loco.

David

Robin, Excellent, bits fell of even when it was in its box, one of the outside steam pipes was in the bottom of the box when I opened it! It’s not been run in at least 15 years, so it’s really good to see it running well. You just need to put a special train headboard on the front, prototype for eve...

When we produced these large LMS kits they were brass but later ones we did in Nickel solver as it solders much better. However the cost of N/S continued to increase so we reverted to Brass. The 3 different overlays enabled us to offer the 3 variants as simply as possible. The tender chassis suspens...

Ralph,
For my next visit to Slattocks with NAG I can bring 2 Bachmann Jubilees and a Bachmann Patriot to show you how good they can be.

David

Robin,
Excellent work and further proof that a straight conversion can work in P4 and haul a decent load ( in this case 8 coaches).

David

Excellent work Ralph. Have you thought about selling your jig for putting wheels on square? Colin Wrangles is sadly missed, but I have one of his locos, a conversion of a Hornby B5 which I have now renumbered and fitted a double chimney and DCC decoder. When we next visit Slattocks I will bring it a...

Robin, Excellent work, runs well with a decent load. I just need to weather it when I get it back. This again reinforces how good RTR chassis are these days. When we next visit we can populate the shed yard with a decent number of appropriate ( Eire, Hong Kong, Bengal, Kempenfelt) Jubilees. Hong Kon...

Lead times from Ultrascale seem variable, I ordered a axle of drivers for an 8F ( one set damaged) and I have had them in less than 3 months!
So my advice, just go ahead and order!

David

This is an excellent series, can I suggest that this is incorporated into the Scalefour Society Manual?

David

Dave, good to see that the UHU disaster has not put you of completing the loco. I have always been dubious when using solvent based glues to glue in weights. I had a disaster a long time ago when I glued lead weights into a box van and put the roof straight on, the solvent evaporating caused the roo...

Lovely job.
What colour did you paint the main body of the hut?

David

I think the key point here is that the majority of recent RTR are not “rigid” as there is a degree of movement in the axles. Bachman’s recent Coal Tank even has seperate axleboxes. All the RTR conversions I have done have some degree of movement in the axles, some would say “ slop” but it works. David

A couple of photos of my RTR conversions.

I forgot to say that whilst the loco chassis are cabable of a straight conversion this does not apply to tenders. None of my loco conversions which had tenders would run, so the tenders all have either Lanarkshire Models or High Level tender chassis, the High Level one is for a GW tender. I know Rob...