SteadyRed
Western Thunderer
Hello Richard
Is there a list of what wheels are currently available from The S7 Group?
Dave
Scale7 wheel plans
- Thread starter SteadyRed
- Start date
Hello Richard
Is there a list of what wheels are currently available from The S7 Group?
Dave
Wagonman
Western Thunderer
Sorry, I lost the thread, sort of! The current list of wheels produced for the S7 Group is:
4' 7" 14 Spoke Pin PB (GWR 57XX, 64XX, 74XX & 94xx)
4' 7" 15 Spoke Pin IL (Midland 3F & LMS Jinty)
4' 7" 14 Spoke Pin IL (LNER J71-J73)
5' 3" 16 Spoke Pin IL (Midland & LMS4F)
5' 8" 18 Spoke Pin PB (BR Class 4MT)
3' 0" 9 Spoke Bogie Wheel (BR Class 4MT)
6' 8" 22 Spoke Pin IL (GWR Saint)
6' 8" 22 Spoke Pin IL (GWR Star)
6' 8" 22 Spoke Pin PB (Web) (GWR Castle)
3' 6" 10 Spoke Bogie Wheel (General pattern)
4' 1 1/2" 12 spoke (Moulded Rear) GWR Tender Wheel (Dia 5/32 Axle)
4' 3" 12 Spoke Tender Wheel (General Pattern)
Scale7JB
Western Thunderer
I think the list of available wheels from the society is a dangerous one..
For any prospective S7 modellers it could allow them to be shoehorned into building something they don't really want to build... Getting wheels re-profiled is so easy you wouldn't believe, Chris Makepeace used to to reprofile wheels by return of post. Send them on Monday, stick them on the model on Wednesday... Probably quicker than the society could get them out to you...!
Of course Eastsidepilot of this parish is now re-profiling wheels... There are plenty of people out there doing it..
So when's the build going to start then?!
JB.
For any prospective S7 modellers it could allow them to be shoehorned into building something they don't really want to build... Getting wheels re-profiled is so easy you wouldn't believe, Chris Makepeace used to to reprofile wheels by return of post. Send them on Monday, stick them on the model on Wednesday... Probably quicker than the society could get them out to you...!
Of course Eastsidepilot of this parish is now re-profiling wheels... There are plenty of people out there doing it..
So when's the build going to start then?!
JB.
Wagonman
Western Thunderer
While I take Jonathan's point about the danger of a limited range of wheels acting as a straitjacket, and that re-profiled wheels are simple to obtain (and not wanting to diss Colin and Chris who do a great job), but a purpose designed and made S7 wheel is going to be more accurate and better detailed than a turned down OF product for anyone building a model of the relevant prototype. That's why we produce three different 6' 8" GWR drivers, for instance.
Richard
Richard
7mmMick
Western Thunderer
Not enough LNER in there for me Richard, I already have the two classes mentioned ( he says ducking for cover at the back of the class
)ATB Mick
Heather Kay
Western Thunderer
Not enough LNER in there for me Richard, I already have the two classes mentioned ( he says ducking for cover at the back of the class
ATB Mick
Speaking as someone who was on the committee that initiated the S7 wheels project, our initial idea was to get the best value we could from each diameter we selected. The first was the 4ft 7in wheel, because it covered so many prototypes in one hit. Since then, efforts seem to have been made to fill out complete sets of loco driving, carrying and tender wheels, based on the popularity of each type of loco - which kind of explains the surfeit of GWR, I guess.
7mmMick
Western Thunderer
Hi Heather,
We should maybe (with the help of a moderator) move this to a new thread so we don't fill up David's thread ? I totally agree with the rationale here as it just makes sense financially to cover the GWR range as it is by far the most popular area for modellers. But from a selfish point of view and agreeing very much with Richard that the new S7 range as supplied is much better than a turned OF wheel I would like to see more LNER prototype. Do you think if the GWR stuff sells well the range will increase to other areas ?
ATB Mick
We should maybe (with the help of a moderator) move this to a new thread so we don't fill up David's thread ? I totally agree with the rationale here as it just makes sense financially to cover the GWR range as it is by far the most popular area for modellers. But from a selfish point of view and agreeing very much with Richard that the new S7 range as supplied is much better than a turned OF wheel I would like to see more LNER prototype. Do you think if the GWR stuff sells well the range will increase to other areas ?
ATB Mick
7mmMick
Western Thunderer
Would the Society consider a commission of wheels in line with kit manufacturers production of S7 kits. As discussed here certainly MOK are looking to produce taylor made S7 kits so surely it would be prudent to have the wheels avaliable as well. As JB says if you can buy an S7 kit and the wheels to go with it then it maybe the more people take the view as I and others do that it is just a set of standards to work to like any other scale. That way there's not the perceived mountain to climb chopping a kit about etc??
Mick
Mick
Heather Kay
Western Thunderer
Perhaps MOK has had a change of heart. When he made the Standard 4 tank, the Group approached him about re-engineering the kit for S7. He was helpful, and the kit was produced, at a premium, as long as he could sell 50. We tried to get members to sign up for a purchase, and place a deposit to show willing, and the committee organised a set of wheels to match it.
After lacklustre sales, where even some of those who had paid their deposit never followed up, I rather got the impression the manufacturer wouldn't be keen to do it again. If he is happy to make S7 variants of his excellent kits again, that is good news.
7mmMick
Western Thunderer
I just wonder if other manufacturers would maybe produce a set of etches like MOK have for the 8F, to build the kit as S7 and if you could buy an 'S7 pack' of bits, wheels incuded, you have all you need. Then from the outset the two options seem to stand on a level playing field, OF or S7. As you say it's a lot to ask for a manufacturer to produce these kits and then them not sell and if the Society has that undertaking and the fifty don't sell then it must have left a bad taste so to speak.
It seems even after the Standard tank experience MOK are still happy to accomodate with these additional S7 etches and even as far back as George Norton there was an undertaking in his kits to accomodate P4 and S7 options. It's a very difficult one I know and seems very much a Chicken and Egg situation, if the avaliablility was there would the number of S7 modellers increase ??
I know here we're moving towards kit manufacturers but surely the two topics are linked. What we have now with Colin and Chris works fantastic but do potential new members see the process as that easy looking from outside the Society, I always tell people on the S7 stand that the process is simple and the guys are great and turn the jobs round quickly but it's often met with looks of 'too hard to do' ? I suppose whilst we dont have the members we don't have the numbers to bring about change ???
A difficult subject
ATB Mick
It seems even after the Standard tank experience MOK are still happy to accomodate with these additional S7 etches and even as far back as George Norton there was an undertaking in his kits to accomodate P4 and S7 options. It's a very difficult one I know and seems very much a Chicken and Egg situation, if the avaliablility was there would the number of S7 modellers increase ??
I know here we're moving towards kit manufacturers but surely the two topics are linked. What we have now with Colin and Chris works fantastic but do potential new members see the process as that easy looking from outside the Society, I always tell people on the S7 stand that the process is simple and the guys are great and turn the jobs round quickly but it's often met with looks of 'too hard to do' ? I suppose whilst we dont have the members we don't have the numbers to bring about change ???
A difficult subject
ATB Mick
Heather Kay
Western Thunderer
It wasn't so much etches. Most manufacturers are happy to do etches. With the MOK class 4 it was a lot of castings for the motion as well.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
It would be good if we had some 9f wheels as when MOK do the kit as they are expected to this year, that is all we need to do an S7 version as the frames are only 3 feet 6 inches apart so you can do scale width frames in finescale.
I think the pony and tender wheel may already be available from the standarad 4 too.
Richard
I think the pony and tender wheel may already be available from the standarad 4 too.
Richard
7mmMick
Western Thunderer
That aside I still like Richard's idea, 9F's are too new for my period but have always been popular kit builds. I remember when the Acorn one came out, everyone seemed to be buying them,
Mick
I counted at least three RTR manufacturers proposing forthcoming 9F`s. I`m sure the MOK kit will beat them all !
Just my view.
Hester
Osgood
Western Thunderer
L Marsh, L Loveless and.................?
I can see both points of the argument here, if that`s what it is, and a Scale 7 Castle is tugging at my heart strings. However, I have been at this cross roads between finescale and S7 before and 7mmMick taunting me on my first thread has rekindled the flame as it were. To move forward on this decision I need a couple of questions answered and one very honestly one please !
1) Are the S7 wheels on quartered axles or prototypical ones and who manufactures them ?.
2) My quandary is I will have to purchase wheels from Slaters in the post, then send them probably back south again to someone who can re-profile them and have them sent back, as 7mmMick says, your current range is limited.
3) What`s the benefit of joining the S7 group that makes it any better than ALL the kind support on this group ?
4) And this is the biggy ! Just how many of you have less than restrictive layouts not in a group but individuals, at home with space constraints with small radii, have something more than just a slightly curved end to end, and truly honestly enjoy frequent running without the loco`s and stock jumping off the track as with P4 ?
I ask all this because I am not likely to join my local railway modeller`s group as I have in the past as more talk that work gets done which is fine for a social gathering, but more importantly my work commitments just gets in the way. The locos` that I would build in S7 would only ever be any use to me as to sell them on afterwards is probably unlikely to find any buyers on the basis that, rightly or wrongly, I suspect most if not all S7 members are skilled enough to be in the S7 circle on their own merits anyway.
I like the unevenness of track and watching sprung loco`s lurch now and again hence my interest in colliery railways. I will be devastated to find I built my dream layout only to find I needed a laser to align the track afterwards.
I would like the collectives honest experiences please, not just to put me off, but to be prepared if and when I take the plunge which as 7mmMick has said, it may as well be now ! My colliery diorama could be a good starting point as I am limited for space and curvature.
Thank You in advance.
Hester