Lachlan's dieselWell last week saw me trolling through various websites about the best way to fix the universal joint problem I had with my son's Alaska Railroad diesel from Bachmann. I contacted Bachmann via the web and they replied that they don't stock the universal joints separately as spare parts and I would need to order a new motor assembly (US$15 + 16.50 p&h). I then thought about maybe just buying another GP40 and replace the shell. This would be close to what I paid for the original. I then had a look at Micro-Mark and they stock universal joint kits. Four metal shafts plus nylon balls and sockets for about A$25. I was heading down the path of the Micro-Mark option when I spoke to my mate PK. He suggested maybe getting some K&S piping of suitable diameter and cut a small piece off as a collar to go over the universal socket.So Friday night I got out the magnifying glass headwear and took the diesel apart for a closer look. Surprise, surprise as Gomer Pyle used to say! My eyesight was playing tricks. The socket hadn't splayed apart at the ball end, it was fine. What had happened was that a small crack had developed at the end that compression fits on the gearbox spindle. So naturally taking the cheaper option first I when and purchased a length of 4mm diameter brass K&S tubing on Saturday morning. That afternoon I got out my multitool and cut a small (3mm) piece off and then had to cut a lengthwise slit in it to reduce the diameter to fit as the socket gearbox end was marginally to big for the 3.5 mm or 5/32" diameter tubing in stock. Glueing up the crack and then using pliers to compress the brass ring down on the plastic socket, seemed to do the trick as I then tested the chassis on the track and it moved ok. I then put the shell back on and did a further 1.5 hours of medium speed running with no load coupled up, on Illavearf.Now Lachlan wants me cracking on with making his layout as soon as possible!The tunnel entrance work resumesLate Sunday afternoon I had a spare thirty minutes to see if I could resume this work. Out came the balsa bits and bobs. I cut down some square lengths to use us the side uprights, as well as some 2mm thick sheet to use as the fascia. These were glued together and kept insitu as the glue dried as it was then time to go and sort the kids and dinner out. Hopefully this week I can get around to experimenting with the Scalescenes rock work sheeting and the Metal Beam photo mentioned previously. The latter might be ruled out for sheer simplicity sake and the fascia rendered in the rock work as well (modellers licence might be is that there is an unseen steel lintil holding up the stonework!)
On Saturday afternoon just gone, the baby was upset with teething pain. As a result my older son Lachlan was getting narky. So the missus gave me the approval to take him down to the club for an hour or so as it was only five minutes away and not far if I had to get back home quickly. Lachlan has received his first 'real' model diesel loco, a Bachmann EMD GP40 with Alaska Railroad livery about three weeks ago and wanted to try it out on the big layout at the club. So off we went without a moments hesitation!It ran very well for about half an hour then trouble started. It ground to a near halt. The mechanism sounded as though it was jammed or something. So off I went to the club's workshop to get to the bottom of the problem, but how to remove the shell? I didn't have the schematics with me so it was a bit off a dilemma. Fortunately a club member, Jamie, had a similar GP40 model (I think in Sante Fe livery) so he had a go to see how his shell would remove. The trick was the fuel tank. The shell screws were concealed by this pull off component. So the screws were undone and the shell removed. A quick run on the test track and the problem was obvious. One of the universal joint 'cups' which marries up the drive shaft to the gearbox was splaying apart, and thus the drive shaft was free spinning and not engaging the gears.So this morning I have put a service request into Bachmann to see if they will supply some replacement 'cups'.
I have added Rollingstock News to my Blog List. Not a bad site!
I have been contemplating this over the last couple of days. One thing I might try is the following. I was looking at the CG Textures site (www.cgtextures.com) and don't mind the look of the beam and brickwork under Metal -> Beams (image number 12) as the basis of the tunnel entrance 'roof' support beam. I will see how I can manipulate this in Photoshop (with the help of the missus who actually knows what she is doing in this application!). For the tunnel entrance sides, I have downloaded Scalescenes TX-48 Squared Rubble sheet. I will use balsa as the form work and glue the paper to this.Well that is the plan anyway. Let me see what actually happens!Stay tuned.
Well for the last couple of weeks I have been trying to complete the tunnel mouth to Kensington Hill. Last week I was suffering problems with the wing walls. I had tried both card and balsa to no avail. I finally gave in and decided to not bother with them! Friday last week comes and I have time in the evening to go to the shed and do a dry fit. I had put some 'soot' weathering on the top of the tunnel entrance then sprayed matt varnish to seal the paper. Then into the tunnel hole waiting for the brickwork. Looked very good even without the wing walls. I temporarily pinned it to the polystyrene and decided to test the curvature with some middle sized wagons. This is where it went downhill (pardon the pun). It would seem that the track curves just inside the tunnel were to severe for the wagons and the tunnel entrance sides, as they brushed the sides. Damn! Back to the drawing board. I might have to scratchbuild the tunnel mouth to a wider dimension than what Scalescenes produce. I will have to do some research into different tunnel materials to see what best reflects the period/s being generally modelled. Brick, stone work, concrete, etc.The one I have just made may still be able to be used in a different location on the layout, or stored away for future use somewhere. Stay tuned.
MRA published my article on fitting a sound decoder into a GWR prairie tank engine. This is my first Australian magazine published article. A similar article appeared in Hornby Magazine last year.
As I suggested in the previous entry, I have set up two project blogs which are now accessible from the Links section.
