Scalefour Forum

Not quite as much progress as I'd hoped for Scaleforum, but the test builds will be there and the Peak can even run under its own steam, so to speak. It has been putting in the miles on some big continuous runs and holds the road very nicely. The 40 is still primitive 'digital' control (i.e. pushed along with a finger) but the feel is great nonetheless.

Production etches and full instructions will happen over the coming weeks - I hesitate to say how many but 6 - 10 maybe. Pre-orders are welcomed to help get the right number of etches in stock.

A couple of photos here, and more on the website along with the contact details.

Hope to catch up with some of you at Scaleforum, where I'll have plenty of the other kits in stock.





Cheers

"Like Button"



Those look great! Do I need yet another era to model?

At last.

Looks like you've got an order.....

Excellent, been looking forward to these...

John

The PenBits sprung bogie kits for the Bachmann Class 40 and Peak models are now on sale.

Details are on the PenBits website at these links: Class 40 here, and Peaks here.

Instructions, either as web pages or downloadable pdf, are available via this page. As ever, I've tried to cover everything from a basic level because 1. it's all a bit different and 2. many diesel modellers will be inexperienced and less confident with metalwork and soldering. So they've turned out to be fair old tomes once again, but it's all quite straightforward really.

The test-build locos have been on an extended tour of the Greater North Bucks since Scaleforum, with some pretty intensive road testing on a number of layouts over the length, if not the breadth, of the UK. Performance has been very pleasing both in terms of security of track-holding and haulage capacity, even for the Peaks which drive only four wheels on each bogie. Here's a memento lifted from the website:

Best wishes to all for productive and satisfying modelling in 2017.
Cheers.

Mine arrived the other day, looking forward to getting started.

John

Some shots of the sprung 'Peak' running on the circuit at home, with some unsprung Mk1s rattling along behind.

Gibson wheels throughout; those in the coaches date way back to when Alan still had the business.

Two sections of track, roughly from the underbridge to the green bus, formed the centre of the PenBits trade stand up to this year, when they were retired from that duty.

Gorgeous superelevation transitions, Ian.

That looks great. Even all the cardboard really gives a great impression of what your trying to achieve. I bet the hot glue gun got a work out with all that cardboard!

Thanks Russ, Doug.

I did wonder about the cardboard, but it has proved an instructive and worthwhile exercise even at this early stage in the project (only thirteen years into the construction phase ). One consequence is that the heavy civils will be moving back in, to lower the branch and loop roads by 3-4mm. The real platforms did slope across from branch to main, but mine were a tad steep (you see a corrected version in the vid, but the face is only 6-8mm over railhead on the branch). Annoying not to have got it right to start with, but better now than after the track was laid.

And yes, I got through a few hot glue sticks! More to come I suspect.

Cheers