Railbus power unit?

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:29 pm

Hi All, Im in the process of building a 16mm railbus (32mm guage)
pretty much entirely from styrene sheet. It will be about as long as a small/med bogie coach and I'm considering the best way to power it.
I'd like ideally to have single axle drive at the rear with wheels about 25 -28mm diam. The front will rest on an arch bar bogie.
I'm aware of the problems people sometimes have with 2WD and to be honest i don't know what weight this will end up, but it will be lighter than a ply bodied coach. I'm also scratching my head about worm drive or delrin chain drive. I hear that plastic worm drives can wear out very quickly. If it avoids grief i am happy to fit a powered 4WD bogie at the back. The current products from IP and Andel look like they would probably do it but any advice would be appreciated.
At this stage I would make it manual with speed controller.
I see that motors of 3V, 6V and 12V are available. Choices again !

Steven.T · Post by **Steven.T** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:53 pm

To be honest, I would avoid the I.P drive gear, I had nothing but bother with the plastic gears on their chassis. From what I remember, Essel Engineering do a powered bogie that might do the trick, they use metal gears and are built a lot sturdier in my opinion!

Steven.T · Post by **Steven.T** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:57 pm

Found them, either this:
http://www.mattharvey.com/esselengineer ... &Itemid=61

or this:
http://www.mattharvey.com/esselengineer ... &Itemid=61

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:04 pm

Andell Models have also just brought out a power bogie............

Peter Butler · Post by **Peter Butler** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:42 pm

I have built a power bogie for a future project which might be a suitable pattern for you to use.
It is a low voltage motor with plastic gearbox but is more substantial than the ones from I.P. etc.... The chassis is made from Meccano and the second axle driven by Delrin chain.
Early days for installation in a model (but not too long away!) but I have tested it and it works very well.

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 8:55 pm

Thanks for the very helpful advice chaps.

Steve : yes I had heard that the IP units were maybe more applicable to very small locos. The Essel chassis are very sturdy looking but I don't really want a coupled unit. Very nice though.

Brian: Looking at the Andel unit and it has certain advantages; a choice of wheel sizes and motors and of course the price. Not sure about the plastic gears? I'm tempted by this as at 20 quid a go it's worth a shot and if it proves not up to the job I have another future project in mind that it certainly would suit.

Peter: That's a good bit of kit you've built there. Not sure it would be quite as good if I built it! I've never messed about with chains before (honest guv!

). I think I might try a commercial unit and learn a bit about what you can expect from it, then if no success I may bite the bullet and try following your example.

Thanks all. My inclination is to go 12V, but others may counsel otherwise?

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:10 pm

invicta280:96290 wrote:Thanks all. My inclination is to go 12V, but others may counsel otherwise?

I think you will find that for a small railbus, 3 volts is more than enough and there won't be the need to hide a lot of batteries.

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 9:32 pm

Thanks Brian
That's good news. Being almost entirely plasticard I don't think it will need too much turbopower. I will post the results here when it comes to fruition ( if the build is not an embarassing failure!!)

jay1976 · Post by **jay1976** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 11:30 pm

always got hglw they do a 4wd wooden chassis which so far I havent broken it and is been run against buffers on full throttle more than once when my boy gave it a try.

sstjc · Post by **sstjc** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 12:17 am

I agree about the HGLW. Its a very good kit for a good price.

vjoneslong5040 · Post by **vjoneslong5040** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:07 am

Swift sixteen have also brought out a power bogie, though its at the more expensive end of the market. But it is brass though which would give it plenty of weight.

http://www.swiftsixteen.co.uk/productDe ... oductID=99

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 1:59 pm

Thanks for the tips. I'd overlooked the Houston Gate one. What a bargain, but as it is 2WD maybe ...... not sure.

The swift sixteen chassis is a beauty too.

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 3:46 pm

The Houston Gate one can come with 4 wheel drive (with pulleys and a belt) for £3 extra!

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:38 pm

MDLR:96335 wrote:The Houston Gate one can come with 4 wheel drive (with pulleys and a belt) for £3 extra!

Who said garden railways were expensive? You could likely as not build a basic loco for about £35

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:13 pm

invicta280:96338 wrote:
MDLR:96335 wrote:The Houston Gate one can come with 4 wheel drive (with pulleys and a belt) for £3 extra!
Who said garden railways were expensive? You could likely as not build a basic loco for about £35 :)

Less, using his body...................

jay1976 · Post by **jay1976** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 10:29 pm

yes my railcar/bus type small thing is using a hglw 4 wd chassis with radio control added on a bought scratchbuilt body.
my hglw diesel will happily pull 10 mamod coaches/wagons on a dry leval track(I didnt go any more as didnt want to break it but might have pulled 1 more and thats a 4wd kit..

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 11:53 am

The railbus now has a working chassis. Thanks for the valuable advice folks. It is powered by an Andel 3V motor and half of an Andel power bogie ( single axle drive!). The front rests on an Andel archbar bogie.

I will post some pix shortly as the body construction is coming along. First though I need to find an alternative method of posting pictures. Not happy with Photobucket as despite my ticking all the privacy settings I find that anyone Googling my name can view my entire photo library, including family pictures.

Could anyone recommend a source of lights that could be used as headlights on the railbus? What I have in mind is something similar to road vehicle headlights. They would probably function more like sidelights/marker lights so I guess they would not need to throw much of a beam. A bit like VW beetle headlights in that respect- have to get out with a torch to see if they're working!

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:27 pm

Take yourself to your nearest IKEA - they have a string of 30 LEDs and a 2 X AA battery box with a switch for a WHOLE £3, so you could use them for inrior lights as well!

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:34 pm

Cheers for that Brian. That might work but even if not I will still grab some as they are so useful in modelling

jay1976 · Post by **jay1976** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:31 pm

wilkinsonds and B&M both sell the leds xmas lights they also do a version with solar panel idea for buildings..

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