Trade SDMP/Finney7 - Driving a Geep?

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Guys,

I thought I'd punt this out here first, although I suspect it's probably the worst-kept secret of the year so far...

I have been working over the last few months on a few products with the aim of making them available to the wider population. The items fall into roughly four categories, reflecting my main interests:

1. A range of etched gearboxes. These will all be ball-raced and will include both 'power' (motor-borne) and 'remote' configurations so will be suitable for a variety of locos, including as an alternative to the well-known Delrin chain drive. The first product to complete development is a set of 13:1 gearboxes that originally came about as a need to drive an MMP class 60. These will be available shortly, once I have confirmation of price and availability for the gears.

2. 7mm scale kits and parts primarily for BR/SR although I'm also looking at conversion parts for Heljan diesel locos. Initally I'm expecting to be producing parts for Wainwright and Maunsell locos, including things like tender underframes, inside motion parts and details.

3. 3.5mm scale kits and parts aimed at the CSD (Czechoslovakia) and DR (East Germany) and to include motion sets to upgrade Roco, Piko and Guetzold locos.

4. Everything else, a small number of general-user products or items that don't sit cleanly with any of the above.

What you will find common across all these products is they will come with comprehensive illustrated instructions. They'll also aim to be straightforward builds and in many cases self-jigging. Needless to say, there will be thorough test builds before anything is released. One other thing which I'm aiming to do is to provide details on the packets of what's in the pack as well as what's needed to complete and, in many cases, what tools are recommended.

If the Flying Squad are happy for me to do so, I'll keep this thread updated as I go. You'll be the first to know what's available, when and how much for!

Cheers for now,

Steph
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Phill,

At the moment I'm happy to let you in on a little secret, but it depends hugely on the research I can do or how much help I get:

Class 31 'skinhead' roof dome (resin)
Class 37 centre headcode nose end for RSH locos as-built (resin)
Class 37 refurbished details (not sure yet - might be etches for the nose louvres, but need to understand what other details changed externally when the locos were refurbished)
Class 37 RSH details (probably etched)
Repower kit (to allow Mashima, Canon or other motors to be fitted to Heljan mechanisms)

One point to make is that I won't be duplicating anything already out there, so MMP, PHD and Shawplan should still be on your shopping lists.

I'm looking to get hold of a Class 37 for research purposes ASAP, but need to have a good look at the 31 when it arrives before I do so. Once I've got a 37 or three I'll kick off the tooling.

Steph
 

tomstaf

Western Thunderer
Phill,

At the moment I'm happy to let you in on a little secret, but it depends hugely on the research I can do or how much help I get:

Class 37 centre headcode nose end for RSH locos as-built (resin)
Class 37 RSH details (probably etched)
Repower kit (to allow Mashima, Canon or other motors to be fitted to Heljan mechanisms)

Steph

Hi Steph,

What does RSH mean?

Cheers

Tom
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
There a couple of "wrecks" on the Churnet Valley... how you going to get them through the front door?

Graham,
Well, Filton airfield has just closed, so I'm sure I can find somewhere to keep 'em if I needed to. I guess I should have said I meant Heljan ones, not 12":1' versions.

There were two manufacturers of the Type 3s. English Electric (EE) and Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns (RSH)

Dave

Dave,
You've got it...

Steph
 

Pugsley

Western Thunderer
You can tell the difference between the two builders by the cantrail grilles - the RSH ones have an extra bar on them. The first few (10?) also have the extra bar, but the cantrail grilles on those are different again, standing a bit proud of the bodyside as they were designed to be removable, as seen here on 37003:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/37003_renumbered_as_37360_at_Dereham.jpg

You can also see the lack of the bar on 97301, next to it.

37's are a veritable minefield of detail differences!
 
S

SteveO

Guest
At some point (you should read that as plenty of time for you to develop them) I'll be looking for bogie chassis for classes 24, 31 and 42. I really like the motor-in-bogie approach as opposed to hiding a hoofing great barrel in a body and making sure it doesn't foul the body sides
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Guys,

First products are creaking their way to the finishing line. One item that's likely to be ready pretty soon is this integrated motor/gearbox unit (please ignore the 'free' gearbox in the front/left of the picture for the moment):
IMG_1509_1.JPG
The specification is as for the soon-to-be-introduced 13:1 drive boxes (as shown front/left, above), but it'll be produced in a very small numbers as a built-up unit incorporating the Maxon motor shown here. The motor is actually a 36v 6W type so revs very slowly but has a great deal of torque for the size.

The resulting performance (tbc) is comparable to a Canon 1833 and 40:1 gearbox.

Price is tba (hopefully I should be able to work it up this weekend), but I'll be happy to take any questions or other expressions of interest from today.

I'm also working up a set of templates and application notes for the 13:1 boxes, which includes some options specifically developed for diesel hydraulic locos. Should keep a few on this 'site happy...!

Cheers,

Steph
 

tomstaf

Western Thunderer
Hi Steph,

Looking good. Will the other axles be linked by gears/rods (which I like) as opposed to that chain mechanism that a lot of other manufacturers seem to like?

Also, is that a similar type motor that you're considering replacing Heljan drives with?

Cheers

Tom
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Tom,

Yep, gear drive as you say. The gearsets are the best quality I can currently find and the system is based around using multiple gearboxes (and/or motors) to get the power and performance required. The application note will provide further details of how it all plugs together, as well as templates.

The Maxon motor shown is indeed similar to what I'm proposing for the Heljan locos. Selection isn't straightforward, but I've now got a couple of Heljan locos to disassemble and test. I think the results will be very worthwhile. The difference in cost of 'standard' and 'large scale' DCC decoders will make it a very straightforward decision for any DCC users, at least.

Steph
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
any plans for a 37 as I have a PMRPR 37/4 to build?

Ian G

Ian,
The drives are, to an extent, universal. A typical installation for something like a class 37 would contain the mechanism in the bogie, giving the option of drive on two axles of one or both bogies. The sort of approach I'm suggesting is that covered in my MMP 47, the subject of my 'Steph's modern traction workbench' thread.

Steph will these be available ready built

Ian,
Yes, the gearboxes will definitely be available assembled ex-works, as well as the fret on its own and as a kit including gears, bearings, etc. I'd also be happy to quote on a case-by-case basis for installing the transmission in a model of your choice.

Steph
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Martin,

Interesting thoughts. At the rate I'm going with Class 37 parts I'll end up producing a full loco kit! But, in principle, I could produce a new bogie to replace the original Heljan drive and take my current gearboxes. I'm seriously considering adding the cast steel bogie sideframes to my parts list because I'm aware that some 37s had ex-Deltic and ex-Class 50 bogies; I believe the Heljan Deltic also has the Class 37 style bogies. And yes - I'm aware that Class 5o and Deltic bogies have their differences.

I have also been looking at how I'd do windscreens for the Class 37 (with the weld bead, gaskets, etc) and it's not quite as straightforward as I would have hoped.

Lazer-cut glazing is certainly possible for any model; I actually have a good range of facilities open to me, even if I don't have them in-house (or even in the house!).

Steph
 
Top