Scalefour Forum

But first stick the bottle to something so you can't knock it over.

DaveB

I'm not looking at the time, despite having quite a bit of trackwork, just following my chosen prototype, that's all. Most of my blades were milled in batches which is quite quick once set up but I see from this thread that I should have used a 12 deg tapered cutter on a single taper rather than a b...

To design a kit chassis that has removable wheelsets it's just a matter of not etching the springs on the bottom of the frames but including them on a keeper plate which also holds the axleboxes in their hornguides......or hold your bearings in their slots if you really must have a fixed axle. Not d...

A question which relates to the current discussion on the position of the starter: my rather basic understanding suggests that, as drawn, the ground discs only give a proceed with caution indication. Surely this would mean the driver proceeding through the entire block section at reduced speed unles...

Paul, I'm fascinated by your magic formula for wagon weight which I've never seen before - was it in a very early issue of the standards or have I just missed it? The NMRA always specified their vehicle weights in this way but they had an initial constant. They recommend 1 oz + 1.2 oz per inch for a...

I'm disappointed that we've failed to convince you that the joggle is unnecessary, Julian. The work of the devil, in fact. I will, though, agree that pcb trackwork, 60s style is great fun - all my visible fiddle yard is made this way. It's just nice to do something quickly for a change, although it ...

This could be it, sent to me by the East of Scotland group.

DaveB

What a great toy!

What I'm missing is how they hold the bits together before they do the welding. Clever design, I suspect.

You could do your fingernails, too - on purpose, I mean.

DaveB

I suspect if you just file an angle on the gauge face of those blade tips, Julian, in line with the other correspondence, all will be much improved. Some of my early efforts weren't wonderful but they've been poked and filed until they work. Replacement would be a last, desperate measure when 00 whe...

Oh no, we're back to this stuff again. There have been a few efforts recently in the Forum and magazine to prove that a wheel will just throw itself off the track (flange climbing if you like) and that weight is a factor. Can we just agree that such conclusions are fundamentally flawed and we get de...

You should get some of Mike Clarke's etched chairs, Julian, if you're going this way. You'll not build a stronger point and all of Bob How's complex stuff on King's Cross is done this way. Mike does point kits for PCB sleepers.

DaveB

Now you're winning, why not buy a few more packets of the same bearings from the same batch as you have so you can use the same axleguard spacing every time and avoid going through this performance with every wagon you build. If you wish, axleguards can be narrowed with a double bend at the base lik...

Is that a definite "maybe" then?

DaveB

The hoppers use a short axle (25mm) which is a nuisance although some folk don't seem bothered by the splayed axleguards when standard wheelsets are fitted. I thought this looked very odd so did a lot of hacking to fit springs and restore squareness. Not my definition of easily convertible although ...

Sorry, I wasn't aware that I was being pedantic, Julian and I certainly never meant to imply you were a bore. You're quite difficult to persuade, however! I think trackwork is one of those areas where shape is much more important than the last gnats of accuracy (perhaps a bit like music) as we've de...

Sorry to disappoint but castings come in sets and etches come in sheets so you can't pick which bits you want unless you can find someone to take those left over. You might be able to make your own replacement bogie sides using casting resin, however, if you feel the need. Your wheels should just cl...

I have to admire your tenacity and attention to detail, Julian. Hopefully, Martin has sorted out your main question but it follows from this discussion that if a point blade end is not sitting below the stock rail then it's at risk of causing a derailment. I just couldn't do filed rebates - they rem...

Surely the only reason for using joggles is to better represent your favourite railway company - they are part of the atmosphere, if you like. Now, done properly they are a very subtle feature but, like Alan Ferguson, I can see no reason for using them otherwise. I use an NER drg for non-undercut he...

In my working days, signal wiring was never in a loop in order to minimise pick-up of interference - or radiation of it. Volt drop was dealt with by using an appropriate gauge of wire in power circuits which also avoided loops. Now, the better DCC systems are very good at rejecting interference so i...

It takes a long time to build a decent chassis, mainly because of all the obscure stuff you have to check - are all the wheels the same size, for example? I can assemble one of my own kit chassis pretty quickly but by the time I've done all the checks and measurements the time just passes. Going bac...

Can't see how hanging the tender on the back will help adhesion as it only increases weight on trailing axle. You'd need a strange cantilever to reach the centre. You want loco as heavy as poss so motor goes in tender with thin wire shaft across cab floor. Spring loco like full size with wire leaf s...

If it's good practice to avoid a loop, then surely this is the thing to do, especially as it doesn't cost anything. It isn't quite the same as a ring main in a house as that wasn't designed to carry data although they sometimes do now, of course, and at a higher frequency. Whatever, why not do it co...

Don't I even get 1 out of 10 for trying? You need to be careful with your method as you are measuring to the non-functional side of the flange. It's the back of the flange that bears against the axleguard and the critical depth dimension given by Russ Elliot in his article is correctly taken from he...

OOps, sorry, I've found a photo elsewhere and see both are removable on one side. Apologies.

DaveB

Why not just measure over the outside of the rigid axleguards with axle and bearings in place and work backwards from there. You don't really want to know how deep the cones are, just how wide to set the axleguards and this will get you there much more accurately. Remember waisted bearings are usual...