Scalefour Forum

Here's one of mine, they're 4' wide and painted white.

There are rivets holding the wiper bus bar in place, clean off the paint and solder on some short pieces of wire.

I've used a fibreglass brush, or lighter fluid/Slaters wheel/rail cleaning fluid on a cotton bud.

WD40 is also an insulator, so no good for cleaning wheels.

So as not to hijack the subject my reply to Dave K put elsewhere. I am not the person to ask regarding wiper pickups, as such things belong to the old days, but it's a good idea to keep them reasonably long so they aren't too stiff. If you can't make them long enough, put a coil in the wire, so incr...

And here is a Bachmann pannier.

Here is a little tip, I try to put points on the locos so that croc clips can be attached to the locos for wheel cleaning and programming. Seen here is a Bachmann 45XX with croc clips attached. It's a good idea not to use the old holding croc clips against the wheel, it can result in corrupting the ...

Here's mine, the originals bent out.



The two wires in the middle are for attaching croc clips for programming/wheel cleaning.

Dave, I think Howard's referring to the trestles, not the board

I used good old 2"x1" as I had it to hand for the legs. The cross pieces and diagonal were some 9mm ply I also had to hand. Hinges were also in the scrap box.

You do need the jig to assemble the axles. It is possible to make a jig out of some stiff L shaped brass, mount it at 45 degrees on some blue tac. Clean the axle components with degreaser. Put a flat on the male with a file. Remove traces of swarf and degrease again. Use 24 hour Araldite, and I like...

There are some problems that running in will not cure, even in RTR. That's why it's a good idea to check the loco before you do anything to it. A good RTR will only need minimal running in, but if you have one with a sticky motor for example, running in will not usually cure it. Take it back, get a ...

Suggest you make sure you've got a good one, i.e. that the engine runs smoothly in OO. If it needs running in before conversion, it's not a good one. That way if it's a bit rough you can take it back. In my experience the Bachmann stuff is a bit variable. if it runs smoothly in OO, then it should be...

I'm working on 3' radius, plus with super elevation.

Also, a bit off-topic I know, but what's the best way of trimming the excess length off the Ultrascale crank pins so that the retaining nuts can still be removed later if necesary? I would just lop them off with my Xuron cutters and then file any excess away but isn't there a chance that the ends o...

Any advice on where I can get hold of lead sheet? I guess its not the sort of thing you can pick up easily at the local DIY shop! I've thought about using it for weighting wagons rather than liquid lead which I've used in the past as that stuff gets everywhere! Roofing lead, about 1/16" thick ...

David Bigcheeseplant wrote:I have seen a large P4 roundy roundy that runs 12 or more coach trains and these use sprung Penlenton bogies, with no hassle at all.

David

On what radius curves David?

Yes. The Olfa one is slightly more expensive, but worth the extra.

Buy an Olfa (type) circle cutter, make your own out of black plasticard, much easier than using brass, and self coloured

Funnily enough, I was looking at a box full of abandoned bogie projects that just didn't work. Sprung, compensated etc. etc. the only coaches that were successful were the straight rewheeled plastic bogies. Can you imagine how I felt when they worked, total time converting them in minutes, as oppose...

Hi Mike The sprung ones do not work for me. Basically the coaches tip over on the curves on Clutton, if I put stiffer springs in then don't hold the track. I put a lot of work into sprung bogies, and gave up on them. Remember they were developed for an up and down layout, not a roundy round. In the ...

Bought some of these at Peterborough, swing link suspension bogies. IMG_2093.JPG Regrettably, the inside faces are only 23mm apart, so my with standard 26mm across pinpoints (Branchline's nickel silver wheels) and ordinary bearings, the sides splay out. Not good practice. IMG_2092.JPG Currently I'm ...

Yealmpton. But it was proposed that there was an extension, never built.
Camerton. That had an extension into the colliery. Then it became a through station.

Great Western Journal 23 contains an excellent article on the Kingham goods, some yards are shunted down and up. At Clutton, the yard would be easiest to shunt from a down train, but the timetable says to shunt it from an up train. This would involve running round the train. I have decided to ignore...

Yes 3' is achievable, but I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner. The frustration you'll experience with trying to run on curves like this will tax your patience, and may well put you off. Consider a different track plan, or maybe a different design. I had a lot of fun and a successful exhibition ...

Give the wagon a single digit address, that's nine wagons for starters. Problem is telling them apart, one standard coal wagon looks very like any other

If it's the one where the motor is part of the chassis, then it is very difficult to convert. Shown here is a split frame chassis from the 2:6:2 tank similar type. IMG_2073.JPG If it's one of the new ones, it should be fairly simple, with an Ultrascale conversion pack. The tender is difficult with e...