Gibson GWR 850 motor and gearbox recommendations

[Marc Dobson]

I just about to order a couple of these kits for an upcoming project but Colin hasn't got a recommendation for a motor and gearbox. They will eventually be built in P4 which will give a bit more space. Has anyone built one and if they have what gearbox and motor would you recommend?
Marc

 

[DavidB]

If you look on the High Level website under 'Downloads', there is a useful Gear Planner in the Resources section for you to print. There are profiles of the different gearboxes you can lay over a loco plan to see which will fit best. I think the motor will follow fairly easily. The Speed Calculator, in the same Downloads section, is also useful for getting the right gear ratio.

 

[spikey faz]

Marc, I've used a few High Level motor/gearbox combinations in my 7mm scale locomotives where space is tight and I've used 1/8" or 2mm axles. They work very well and if I was modelling in 4mm/1ft I suspect they'd be my go to for propulsion.

Mije

 

[Jeff Day]

Hi Marc,

Here's one I prepared earlier, this year, it uses a High Level 1320C and a 45:1 High Level Road Runner Plus. Don't know what version you're building, saddle or pannier but as you can see fits a pannier. The kit had some rather rough castings and etchings that had to be replaced. Chassis is fully compensated and has decoder speaker and stay alives installed now. Hope that helps.

Jeff

 

[Marc Dobson]

That's great. I'm planning on building one of each, to start with. Now I know what to get.
Marc

 

[Bob Essex]

I’ve used HL boxes in both my small 7mm & quite a few 4mm P4 locos and find they are very good. Being near silent is helpful for sound installs. However with the last few I’ve got I have found you now need to open out the bores of both the worms and final drive gears (the brass machined parts) to get them to fit the respective shafts. I used a 1/8” machine reamer for the latter. Previously they would be a good slide-on fit.

Bob

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Another vote for high level. Since I started building steam locos I've not used anything else.


Here is one of Chris' 57xx chassis kits with a Hodge podge of Brassmasters and Mitchell bits for the inside motion (+ it works, - you can't see it, + I'm doing another one the same = I'm an idiot )

I also use Chris' gearboxes to convert easy chas kits into regular chassis, dispensing with the RTR one.

Cheers

Jim