ultrascale conversion kit for the Dapol Western?

[John Fitton]

.... would be irony if I had the wheels before the locomotive!!

No, it would be nickel-silvery.

or it could be brassery! (French-Canadian ale-house....)

[Horsetan]

...as opposed to brassière?

[John Fitton]

We'd better nip this one in the bud!!

john

[newport_rod]

Don't leave it too late (from the site https://www.ultrascale.com/eshop/products/CAT033)

Closing date for orders: 30/04/13 - 15:00 BST.

Rod

[Horsetan]

Don't leave it too late (from the site https://www.ultrascale.com/eshop/products/CAT033)

Closing date for orders: 30/04/13 - 15:00 BST.

Done already

[Horsetan]

UPDATE: This is what you get for your money......

[John Fitton]

Likewise, waiting for the Maroon Western to come out.....

The wheels look rather good, drooling already.

[Trevor Grout]

UPDATE: This is what you get for your money......

What....no three month wait then

[Horsetan]

....What....no three month wait then

They were canvassed as far back as August last year, so it's technically longer than three months. I make it up to nine months......

[Captain Kernow]

But didn't you pick yours up in person, Ivan (just thinking of a status update you made on RMWeb the other day)?

I've got two sets on order, one for me and one for someone else, but nothing has turned up in the post yet...

[Horsetan]

Yes, I opted for personal collection as I'm within easy reach of Letchworth, and can spare a bit of diesel at 70 mpg.... Makes sense to me. Ultrascale told me they are about one-third through the orders. 70 of the sets ordered are for P4.

[Jonathan Hughes]

Mine turned up neatly packaged (in card) this week.... so you can expect yours soon I would hope.
Just need to get a loco now!

[John Fitton]

Have just heard that wheels and loco are both in the mail! Race to the North (well, West) all over again.

At expo EM this weekend so will get an alternate name from Shawplan and return home just in time with all three goodies in my mitts!!

[Horsetan]

Mine turned up neatly packaged (in card) this week.... so you can expect yours soon I would hope.
Just need to get a loco now!

Don't all rush at once. Dapol did appear to suggest that only 500 in each batch / livery variation would be made at a time, so there's still plenty of time.

[Hardwicke]

I'll save my pennies now for two Westerns to go with the wheels. I only ever saw them blue in BR days, but red with full yellow ends looks beautiful. A class 22 in P4 would be nice too.

Have Ultrascale thought about wheels for the Heljan Railbus and Baby Deltic or could you convert with Gibsons? They're not doing specific conversions either.

[Horsetan]

Only takes about 30 mins to convert to P4..... just be careful to make sure you have the final drive gears / gear muffs and axle stubs properly centred.

[John Fitton]

About to start on converting my Cl 52. Any tips on how to do it? (feeling lazy, summer weather and all that...)

[Horsetan]

..... Any tips on how to do it? (feeling lazy, summer weather and all that...)

Click here to download the instructions

[John Fitton]

Thanks Ivan, I had looked for them but was obviously not looking very hard!

JF

[Horsetan]

It's actually really easy to do.

Unclip valancing and pipes/cables from buffer beams.
Small jeweller's type screwdriver to lever off the bogie sideframes / gear retainer plate (the double pipes on the offsides of each bogie also pull out).
Extract OO wheel/gearmuff/gearsets.
Whip off OO wheels / stub axles / bearings and plastic washers
Insert P4 wheels / stub axles back through bearings into gears/muffs, using BTB gauge. I use Exactoscale's 17.87 BTB, which allows you to visually centre the gear/muff simultaneously.
Reinsert completed P4 sets back into bogie.

Saw off all brake blocks / hangers from bogie sideframes/retainer plate and respace them for P4/S4.

Press retainer plates back into bogies and reinsert offside double pipes.

That's basically it. Then you can set about clipping the buffer beam pipes/cables/valences back in.

[John Fitton]

Sounds straightforward; I have converted about 20 diesels and electrics with the U/S sets; generally very good indeed.

I have an Athearn PA loco with the U/S wheels sets that I was going to use for the class 52 with a Lima body. That was really going to take some work, so I opted for the Dapol!

[John Fitton]

I finally got around to converting my Dapol western this week and there is a design issue with the bogie pivots which may be problematic. The pivots are not over the centre axle, but about midway between the centre and inboard axles. Whilst this gives a minor visual asymetry when going around curves, there may be a performance impact. When under load, the leading bogie digs in and all weight is transferred onto the centre and inboard axles, and the outboard axle (closest to the buffer beam if you have lost track) lifts and the wheels lift off the track. Under light load the effect is slight, but when stalling the wheels clear the rail head completely.

I have run the loco around my track with numerous steep grades, 3 foot curves, and many turnouts, and rather bumpy in places, and the thing refuses to derail, hence my comment about this only possibly being a problem. However, I dont like it, and I will see if I can arrange a spring under the cabs to redistribute some of the weight.

Finally, although it seems to be a very good low speed runner, its top speed does not really seem adequate - possibly not even the ton!

John Fitton

[Tor Giffard]

....I think that Justin at Rumney models has a sprung bogie arrangement available as a fold up etch John....might be worth seeing if that overcomes your issues.

Dave

[John Fitton]

....I think that Justin at Rumney models has a sprung bogie arrangement available as a fold up etch John....might be worth seeing if that overcomes your issues.

Dave

Dave,

Thank you for that! I see Rumney has an etch for the class 52 in the works, so yes, I may use it.

John Fitton

[Horsetan]

It won't be released until he finds a solution for the brake gear. I ask him every once in a while about this, and nothing has progressed yet...