7mm Dikitriki's Dark side: A WD 2-8-0

S

Simon Dunkley

Guest
Ah yes, the jaunty Jinty chimney...

Flogging is too good for you.
 
Jordan

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
Dikitriki said:
.... your comments are always worth it when they elicit a response from Jordan,
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We're a double act..... :p :D

Mindyou, the tone of the thread certainly descended rapidly after the "Sparrow" post..... :rolleyes: :confused: :shit:

The WT Flying Squad passes judgement :- more pictures from Heyside need to be posted to lift the standards again....:drool:
 
Dikitriki

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
28ten said:
Are you not tempted to use AGH wheels?
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Hi Cynric

I overlooked this.

Yes and No! They do look great, but then on the whole, I think Slater's look pretty good too.

I don't think they are anywhere as easy to use - you can't wiggle them past brake gear for example, and more planning is needed with regard to gearboxes. Which means either they are trapped for ever more in the chassis, or the brake rigging is made removable. Nor do I really like the taper pin method of fixing.

Split axle is not quite so easy, and I either pay a fortune or learn how to turn my own wheels - which I would love to do, but that means someone teaching me how to use my lathe properly.

I'm probably being unneccessarily down on them, but I only have limited experience of using them. I do have them under my 9F which is an eye-watering investment in wheels, but they won't go through my 31.5 points, so I need to have a look at the profile.

Am I being unfair?

Cheers

Richard
 
Dog Star

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Dikitriki said:
Am I being unfair?
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To you or to the wheels? We have AGH wheels for a couple of engis and the visual difference, compared to Slater's wheels, is worth the effort. Yes, there is a need to think things through a bit in regard to removal fo wheels from frames and sometimes the puzzle invovles the most unlikely component. For example:- on the A4 the bolier blowdown valve can get in the way so we need to make sure that the wheel with the short, male, part of the telescopic axle goes on that side.

Apart from availability, I suspect that the biggest difficulty in using AGH wheels is that there is no squared axle end which leads to a need for a jig for wheelset assembly.

regards, Graham
 
Dikitriki

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
So how do you get the wheel with the longer female part of the axle past the brake shoes - or are you going to tell me that with scale flanges it is possible:p. For sure in FS, the shoes have to be unacceptably far away from the tread to make this possible - and the axle cannot be angled as the other end is still in the opposite side bearing. mind you, if my frames were scale width apart.........

You don't realise how easy S7 is:))

Richard
 
28ten

28ten

Guv'nor
I ask because you have taken the trouble to refine the crankpin but I can still see the horrible wheel retaining screw :) and split axles are easier as you don't have to short the the wheel to axle.
Personally, if I were building a 7mm steam loco for myself, it would be AGH all the way. Its not that difficult to turn your own wheels, I'm no engineer and i manage, its just a question of taking your time and following a method. Maybe i am unfair on Slaters, but I have never achieved good running with larger diameter wheels, whereas AGH are rock solid and true. So i was just curious after all the trouble you go to :)
 
28ten

28ten

Guv'nor
Dikitriki said:
So how do you get the wheel with the longer female part of the axle past the brake shoes - or are you going to tell me that with scale flanges it is possible:p. For sure in FS, the shoes have to be unacceptably far away from the tread to make this possible - and the axle cannot be angled as the other end is still in the opposite side bearing. mind you, if my frames were scale width apart.........

You don't realise how easy S7 is:))

Richard
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I would drop the wheelset and hornblocks, that means that the leaf springs have to be removable....
 
Dikitriki

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
28ten said:
I would drop the wheelset and hornblocks, that means that the leaf springs have to be removable....
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Don't you still have the problem of getting them past the brakes and the brake pull rodding and the exhaust injector pipe and.....
 
S

Simon Dunkley

Guest
28ten said:
I would drop the wheelset and hornblocks, that means that the leaf springs have to be removable....
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You can use the leaf spring casting/etching/shaped piece of metal to act as the keep for the block in its horn, by the way.

Edit: The idea was passed on to me by Trevor Nunn. A couple of brass pins in the chassis are used to locate a piece of nickle silver, cut to resemble the outline of the springs and their hangers, plus shackle, etc. You can even scribe the sping leaves if you wish. The tops of the "hangers" are larger than scale (but hidden from view) and accomodate a hole which is a push fit on the brass pin. Very simple, very effective.
I mention the author as I have come to realise that some people on the web get quite tetchy if you don't attribute ideas to the first person who did whatever it was, even if you haven't claimed it to be your own idea. I don't wish to fall foul of this form of fascism!
 
Buckjumper

Buckjumper

Flying Squad
I have two clients who like AGH wheels on all of their locos. One models in S7, the other FS. As with most things there are pros and cons with them. When they arrive they are already machined, so let's remove that from the equation, though there is always some forward planning insofar as one needs to specify which gearbox is being used in advance so that the taper pin isn't in the way. We also need to ensure that the taper pin isn't impeded by the cheeks of the hornguides, so for the driving axle the pin needs to be placed accurately as there's not a lot of room for manoeuvre, especially in 0F. Yes, leaf springs need to be removable if you want to drop out the axleboxes, and therefore so do the brakes/pull rods/cross beams etc. If solid bearings are being employed then there is a real struggle with getting AGH past the brakes, and nigh impossible with outside brake pull rods.

There is no denying that AGH look much better on a glasscase model, but on a working loco? Well that may be open to question as once in motion all the subtleties disappear in motion-blur.

Sorry to keep posing my pics to your thread Richard, but to compare, 65471 has AGH machined to OF and 65447 has Slater's wheels reprofiled to S7.

65471_01a.jpg

65447_02a.jpg
 
Buckjumper

Buckjumper

Flying Squad
Sorry, 4 yr old daughter bounced and hit the post 'button' before I was finished - the point I was getting to was that for my own modelling I'm sticking with Slater's as I'm not sure if the extra effort is necessarily justified on a railway where most locos are almost constantly in motion, and for those locos that are at rest both distance and viewpoint mean the subtleties are almost entirely lost.
 
Ressaldar

Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
there is of course the JPL/Walsall option for cast wheels, both with the benefit of square ended axles and both available as castings or finished wheels and a lot less cost than AGH.

cheers

Mike
 
28ten

28ten

Guv'nor
Buckjumper said:
Sorry, 4 yr old daughter bounced and hit the post 'button' before I was finished - the point I was getting to was that for my own modelling I'm sticking with Slater's as I'm not sure if the extra effort is necessarily justified on a railway where most locos are almost constantly in motion, and for those locos that are at rest both distance and viewpoint mean the subtleties are almost entirely lost.
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Im slightly surprised to hear you (as an S7 modeller) say that :cool: The same argument could well be applied to inside motion or indeed details like track chairs..... In for a penny and in for a pound and all that :)
ill open my can of chocolate worms :))

c0049_big.jpg
 
Dog Star

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Dikitriki said:
So how do you get the wheel with the longer female part of the axle past the brake shoes ?
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If I told you then that would be two of us who knew.... at the moment you might be the only one! ;)

Actually, I was trying to put the view that using telescopic axles could experience problems from the most unexpected aspect of the build... whoich kind of means that removable brake hangers is par for the course.

regards, Graham
 
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