A pair of ESC1 bogies

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Wizard of the Moor
Posts: 191
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:02 pm

A pair of ESC1 bogies

Postby Wizard of the Moor » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:09 pm

Rather than scatter my modelling bits and pieces around, I'll gather them here to possibly stand a chance of finding them again.

First up, a pair of ESC1 bogies from a Colin Craig kit.

image.jpg


Everything required is included, except wheels. The instructions are very comprehensive and cover every aspect of the build.

An hour or so of enjoyment gets to the state below, with all the major components folded up.

image.jpg


The etched sideframes consist of the main frames, carrying the bearings, and a slide plate, with a slot in it, that trap the T shaped fulcrums loosely between them.

It is very important to get the bearings soldered in square to the frames, otherwise the twist will be very apparent.

Careful soldering results in bogie sides where the fulcrum is sprung in the slot in the slide plate and the same spring acts as a compensating beam between the bearings. One complete bogie and one set of sub-assemblies are shown below.

image.jpg


One of the great advantages of this design is that the bogie frames are held to the bolster by stainless steel pins. This makes it very easy to break the bogies down for maintenance, painting or adjustment.

Proper bearings are provided to stop the bogie catching on the mounting screw thread. Normally I use top hat bearings for this, following Ted Scannell's practice. Etched plates to control the rotation are also there.

A close-up of one sideframe assembly.

image.jpg


I'm using Black Beetle wheels here. Their average axle length is 25.96mm. The sideframes needed a very small amount of tweaking to get ultra-smooth running.

image.jpg


The pins will be trimmed on final assembly. A length of sleeving is supplied to hold them securely.

A quick finger push test on Waterloo Street showed that they run as beautifully as anyone could wish for. In fact, they showed that the layout is on a slope that my spirit level can't detect and it was difficult to get them to stay in one place for a photo.

OK, so the springs are visible through the frames. A bit of blackening will take care of that.

Overall, this is easily the best kit that I've had the pleasure of assembling. Every component fits precisely with no fettling. Following the instructions makes every step easy. Anyone wanting an introduction to etched kit construction would do well to start with a kit like this. I am looking forward to the promised Y25 bogies later this year...

Apologies for the rather hurried iPad photos. It's a sign of how much fun this was that I didn't want to go and look for the proper camera :D
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James Dickie

My workbench

Terry Bendall
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Re: A pair of ESC1 bogies

Postby Terry Bendall » Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:26 am

Very nicely done James.

Wizard of the Moor wrote:Anyone wanting an introduction to etched kit construction would do well to start with a kit like this. I am looking forward to the promised Y25 bogies later this year...


I agree. I built up a pair of Colin's Mk IV Gloucester bogies about a year ago for a review in another place. They went together very well and do the job well. Colin's instructions are a model for other manufacturers to follow. His instructions for his flat bottom turnout kits for example (see Scalefour News 174) runs to 16 pages and tells the builder a lot about the prototype as well as how to build the kit.

Terry Bendall

Colin Parks

Re: A pair of ESC1 bogies

Postby Colin Parks » Sun Jun 08, 2014 11:03 am

Hi James,

The bogies certainly do look very neat. Can I ask whose wheels you have used for this project?

All the best,

Colin

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Wizard of the Moor
Posts: 191
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:02 pm

Re: A pair of ESC1 bogies

Postby Wizard of the Moor » Sun Jun 08, 2014 6:52 pm

Hi Colin,

They're the wheels supplied by Charlie Petty (Black Beetle?).

http://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/shop/b ... 1_axle.php

Expensive, but very nice.
James Dickie

My workbench


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