Garden Railway Forum

This is the chassis that is used in my upcoming loco kit. The chassis will be available on its own for £15.75. A switch and battery clip for 2xAA cells is included as is a couple of spare worm gears.

Because the wheels are attached with Loctite the spur gear cannot be replaced. Therefore I have decided to fit a brass spur gear. Combined with plastic worms, the gear will hardly suffer any wear. The worms do wear out with time but can be replaced in a minute and only cost £0.25.

The chassis is 120mm long and measures 56mm over the beams. Initially it will only be available in 32mm but a 45mm version is in preparation.

Michael

Nice work! I think I'll be having a chassis at some point for the loco bodies I bought a while ago off you!

Looks good, and will give IP Engineering a run for their money!

WOW - that is a fantastic looking kit and real value for money but without any compromise on quality! Very well done on that - expect a first order from me for one (or two ) of these when ready. Good luck with the sales!

I know that MDF is not to everyones taste. However I find it perfectly adequate if given a coat of polyurethane varnish or similar to seal it. Most people will want to paint it anyways. Grey automotive primer is great. I use the primer and paint from Halfords.

In terms of laser cutting, MDF is a great material. The sheets are flat, don't buckle as they are being cut and the charring does not rub off and make a mess like it does on some plywood.

Very nice bit of engineering there.

As far as the MDF, will painting it help seal it. The fear I have (and maybe it is unjustified) would be swelling with humidity or if accidentally caught in a rainstorm.

That does look a good bit of kit. Can 4 w/d be fitted easily I wonder. And what is the gear ratio? As for MDF, I think it's a better material than ply as it has a smooth surface.If "painted" first with waterproof PVA it should be OK outside.

I'll be getting one, might go rather well with a locolines body me thinks?

Looks great VFM....when will it be available?

Following the comments about not being able to remove the spur gear due to the wheels being stuck on, I'm guessing that fitting 4wd is tricky?

Si:80838 wrote:Looks great VFM....when will it be available?

Following the comments about not being able to remove the spur gear due to the wheels being stuck on,  I'm guessing that fitting 4wd is tricky?

I had hoped to have it ready this week but projects are piling up and I have a lot of instructions to write so realistically not until around 15/3.

Wheels are attached to the axles with Loctite so retrofitting 4WD would not be possible.

Yesterday I experimented with 4wd using HTD timing belts and delrin sprockets cut on the laser. Unfortunately the stiffness of the belt robs too much power. We are actually "cheating" a bit by running these motors on 3V and using a worm gear to give a fairly low gear ratio (40:1, 30:1). It works as long as the load is light. However the motor should really be running on 6V and use a higher ratio gearbox (200:1) which would give much more torque. However that also pushes the price up. There is also very little room for motor and batteries on a 32mm scale model. I'm contemplating a 7/8ths version on 45mm track which would be able to house a much more powerful drivetrain.

This is intende to be a low cost option that will pull a couple of flatbeds or a small rake of skips. If you need more power there are a selection of chassis available albeit at a higher cost.

Instructions should be completed tonight so I can get the kits added to the webshop.

Is there a preference for battery clip and switch being included or should I list those separately?

The loco design is completed and now awaits instructions. I'm doing a smaller flatbed to suit the loco.

[quote="Busted Bricks:80839"][quote="Si:80838"]
There is also very little room for motor and batteries on a 32mm scale model. I'm contemplating a 7/8ths version on 45mm track which would be able to house a much more powerful drivetrain.

I would be interested in a couple of these.

Incidentally as a model boat builder who has used MDF for no end of purposes out on the water, a very simple way of completely waterproofing it is a quick (and I do mean quick) coat of fibreglass resin of the type usually used with fine glass for car repairs, scrubbed into the MDF with a firm brush. Works beautifully. Just don't miss any spots. Then just paint and forget. Works well with model buildings too.

Michael,

I would suggest offering the battery clip & switch as an optional extra allowing builders to do their own thing as appropriate.

With regards to a 4WD option why not offer an option of un-assembled axles, allowing a builder to fit 4WD and then make up their own axles. After all that is what IP Engineering did with their Lollypop Railcar.

Chris Cairns.

The kit has now been added to the webshop:

http://www.bustedbricks.com/garden-rail ... s-11-c.asp

I have decided to include battery clip and switch by default but will include an option to take those out and save a bit.

Please note the instructions are not complete - a wiring diagram is still to be included.

At that price you'd have to be crazy not to buy one! What's the shipping to the US?

Order sent, waiting expectantly

Peter L:81381 wrote:At that price you'd have to be crazy not to buy one! What's the shipping to the US?

£5.29. However you don't pay the VAT so the kit is £13.13.

Mine came today....well packed and sent via the RM so I could pop down the sorting office and pick it up rather than having to stay in for couriers.

Looks like a nice neat little kit...will report back when I've started building it.

Chassis is now built and test run.

Not done one of these laser cut MDF jobbies before so wasn't sure what to expect.

Have to say that the only sort of complaint that I really have about it is that it was too easy to build!  Compared to the brass kits I've donerecently, this one just sort of went together with no bother at all in about 20mins.

Everything came out the the frets nice and easily.  Just needed a tad of sanding where the lumps from the joins were.

The central cross members would also benefit from a smidge of sanding on the shoulder as they are ever so slightly too wide - but this is very easily sorted.

Followed the clear instructions (available on-line but not with the kit - to keep costs down).  Stuck most of it together with Glue-n-Glaze which I find is like PVA but dries  bit faster (hence the 20min built time - could have halved this with super glue but wasn't sure if you are meant to use super glue with MDF?).  
Apart from the central cross members (as mentioned) everything fitted perfectly.  Mounting the motor was really easy too.  

I didn't have the optional switch and batclip as I've already got these.  Initially I've just wired it with a single AA for testing.  It trundles along happily at a modest speed (which is what I want because I like shunting).  

I was eager to test its pulling ability being only two wheel drive with no option for four wheel drive (the wheels are glued to the axles preventing retro fitting) so I hitched up four of my moderately light wagons - smidge of wheel spin initially but once moving it had no trouble with the wagons on the flat.  I put a couple of extra batteries over the drive axle just to add a bit of weight and this cured the wheel spin when starting.  Haven't tried on inclines yet.

At £17.58 inc UK p&p I have to say that I'm very happy with it.

Perhaps I would think about having the buffers as an optional extra as I don't intend to use them because the body that I'm building for it is a tad longer.

Thanks for posting the review. With regards to 4-wheel drive I have just received some plastic pulleys. They have 2mm bores so will need to be bored out to 2.9mm. They should work well with polyurethane belting.