Scalefour Forum

I've got one of the new Bachmann class 40 locos heading my way for my birthday and I'm wondering what the options are for P4 conversion. From what I've seen on the web it looks like the wheels are mounted on stub axles that fit into a central gear so it's not a case of using my stock of Black Beetle wheels. There are no conversion sets shown on the Gibson or Ultrascale website so does anyone have any ideas on how to progress.

Cheers

David

As I've just started a class 37 conversion with Justin Newitt's chassis, I'd suggest one of his. He covers the class 40 as well.

http://rumneymodels.co.uk/4.html

Not as daunting as it looks, but there is an awful lot to it. You will also need Mr Gibbon's 2mm hornblocks as well.

Mike

Hi David

If you want to stick with branchlines they do, do a split axle pack as can be seen here -

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3596

However 3ft 6 is too small for a class 40 as the wheels should be 3ft9. Gibson do a 3ft 9 wheel and you could drill through the gear an re-arrange he pick ups as per here -

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=2055&hilit=+85

HTH

Jim

jim s-w wrote: Gibson do a 3ft 9 wheel and you could drill through the gear an re-arrange he pick ups as per here -

How easy is it to accurately drill through the gear Jim. I don't have a lathe, tapered reamers or any other fancy tools. Do you just carefully tickle a 2mm drill through the hole?

Cheers

David

Mike Garwood wrote:As I've just started a class 37 conversion with Justin Newitt's chassis, I'd suggest one of his. He covers the class 40 as well.

Hi Mike,

I've already got a Penbits conversion kit for my class 37 after failing to get the Bachmann and Vitrains 37 chassis to run adequately well in P4. Bought it at S4um last year and I'm keen to get on with it soon. If it works well enough the next purchase will be a Rumney kit for the Lima/Bachmann hybrid 40 I'm working on at the moment. I've got my fingers crossed that the new 40 will be a better bet when converted to P4.

Cheers

David

I've managed to convert mine using the existing Ultrascale set for the older Bachmann 40. This does mean that you can't use the existing pickups but, as their arrangement has well documented issues anyway, I decided it was no great loss and altered them to be wipers instead. Only thing was, as the new version is 6 wheel drive rather than the 4 wheel drive of the older 40, it took 2 conversion packs...

John

The existing gear has a 1.5mm hole through it, a 2mm drill should track through OK. That was my backup plane before I found the Branchlines wheelsets (for the 10001). i would twiddle the drill by hand in a pinchuck while holding the gear in a larger chuck, but if you have a suitable drill stand that would help keep things lined up.
If you do spoil the gears you can fall back on Ultrascale sets which come with new ones, if you don't which is more probable you have saved quite a sum.
Keith