My Andel models Ffion

[Joe]

[bazzer42]

That's a nice industrial looking diesel and bigger than I imagined the andel diesels to be. I have some nice metal diesels, cricket, danny and criccith but I think I need to work on them to make them look more purposeful.

[steamie1]

NicE! I like the outside rods.

[Joe]

Yeah the ffion is a bit bigger than the usual Andel models diesels, it has speed control and a plug to plug in charger to the mains which is handy although after about 4 hours of use it didn't show signs of dieing on me .

[Chris Cairns]

A nice collection of industrial rolling stock.

How do you get on running the slate wagons empty?

I've got a couple of the Cooper-Craft Ffestiniog Slate Wagons which I'm filling with painted cardboard slate loads but I've found the supplied weights are not heavy enough to keep them on the track when running with live steam so I will be putting some lead sheet underneath the slate loads.

Chris Cairns

[Joe]

A nice collection of industrial rolling stock.

How do you get on running the slate wagons empty?

I've got a couple of the Cooper-Craft Ffestiniog Slate Wagons which I'm filling with painted cardboard slate loads but I've found the supplied weights are not heavy enough to keep them on the track when running with live steam so I will be putting some lead sheet underneath the slate loads.

Chris Cairns

Hi, i dont actually own the slate wagons as the photo is from a visit to the Barley pit railway but having seen them being pulled by a ragleth they seemed to be fine, have you got tight radius curves? as the tension might pull them of

[Chris Cairns]

I actually had the problem with my Ragleth at the Llanfair show. The problem was the different types & heights of the various couplings used (not helped by the chopper coupling on the Ragleth) plus the weight distribution throughout the rake. The slate wagon was near the front but was getting shunted from behind by a heavier slab wagon (although the piece of ballast being used as a slab was chained down it was still free to move a bit - it is now glued in place).

I need to have a translator wagon where one of the pin/hook couplings is at the universal height of 24mm for a centre buffer coupling & chain.

Chris Cairns

[sstjc]

With my tippers I used fishing weights, the little round ones which I brought in a tin at a boot fair, and when I had the right amount I set them in epoxy and put a more realistic load on top.
Barry

[Chris Cairns]

With my Binnie skips I've also epoxied fish weights into the bottom of the shunting main beam (http://reviews.laurell.nu/kits/binnie-01.html), and I fill the skip buckets with a removeable sand load set with a PVA/water mix & kitchen film (takes over a week to fully set!).

I find the Cooper-Craft kits are just too light as built. I filled my LNWR coal wagon with genuine steam coal PVA'd in situ, but it is a little harder to hide extra weights on the slate wagon (chassis box already filled with the supplied weights). Hence my idea of placing a strip of lead inside the bottom of the cardboard slate loads, using what I have available rather than buying in resin/slate loads.

Chris Cairns

[Enginehouse]

I find the Cooper-Craft kits are just too light as built. I filled my LNWR coal wagon with genuine steam coal PVA'd in situ, but it is a little harder to hide extra weights on the slate wagon (chassis box already filled with the supplied weights). Hence my idea of placing a strip of lead inside the bottom of the cardboard slate loads, using what I have available rather than buying in resin/slate loads.

Chris Cairns

I have not only used lead (flashing strip cut to size) under the chassis and thrown out the ballast boxes, but also fitted metal wheels. I thought that the supplied wheel mouldings spoilt a nice little kit.

With regard to couplings, I have my relatively tiny home made magnetic couplings fitted, which allow auto coupling and these being on a semi rigid swivel loop ensure no problem to haul or shunt with the occasional odd level couplings of some stock. Over run with a heavy slate slab running for example between empty slate wagons is almost negated by the semi rigid couplings so no bang together and jerk apart derail problem.

[Big Jim]

A good source easy to hide weights are the self adhesive strips used by garages to balance alloy wheels.

The normally come in 6 inch strips divided into 5 and 10g blocks, the ones we use are only about 1/8'' thick and fit very well under a floor behind the sole bars.