2mm Let's Build a Midland 0-6-0!

[Tim Watson]

There is no reason why you can’t drop the motor down between the wheels and through the floor of the tender, so the height is not a problem. I always fix the motor to the tender chassis; it makes life simpler.

Tim

 

[WM183]

There is no reason why you can’t drop the motor down between the wheels and through the floor of the tender, so the height is not a problem. I always fix the motor to the tender chassis; it makes life simpler.

Tim

By chance could you share a photo or two of this? I'd like to see it.

 

[Tim Watson]

This is from the Skittle Alley build.

The brass collar to hold the motor is not essential, especially when space is tight. They can just as easily be glued to the chassis (suitably insulated, of course).


Hope that helps

Tim

 

[-missy-]

Hi.

I like to do this with my motors currently...


Get a suitable piece of Brass tube with the correct ID for the motor. Cut a 'H' shaped slot in the top to form 2 tabs. Bend the 2 tabs in a little bit, enough to spring out and hold the motor when its pushed in. It means the motor can easily be taken out or swapped if needed.
It means the motor isn't permanently attached and I don't have to deal with any fiddly alignment.

Julia

 

[WM183]

Thank you Julia and Tim,

I like these ideas. It never occurred to me to look at different ways of mounting the motor beyond the association 3d printed mount.
I will see if I can drop it a bit perhaps, and I will use the tube - with - springy - tabs method soon (a 4-4-2T planned)

 

[34091 Weymouth]

I always think you 2mm boys are nuts!

Brilliant work, I've always been fascinated by how it's done with it being so small. We used to have a society member at our club who built 2mm kits. You have some serious skills to build a chassis etc. I look forward to seeing it come together.

Are they all designed with a split chassis principle so you don't have to fit wire pick ups? I can imagine that would be an absolute mare of a job.

Si

 

[WM183]

I always think you 2mm boys are nuts!

Brilliant work, I've always been fascinated by how it's done with it being so small. We used to have a society member at our club who built 2mm kits. You have some serious skills to build a chassis etc. I look forward to seeing it come together.

Are they all designed with a split chassis principle so you don't have to fit wire pick ups? I can imagine that would be an absolute mare of a job.

Si

We are nuts =D

And yep. Split chassis pickup is the norm in 2mm, though adding pickups of a sort known as "Simpson Springs" is becoming more common. I used them on the middle axle of both the loco and the tender, as a Just In Case sort of pickup.

2mm is almost easier IMO than 7mm (I work in both scales) because in 2mm you don't have to model things like rivet heads, weld lines, small panel beading, and so on. The "One stop shop" nature of the 2mm association also helps more than words can say; for building my recent 0 scale 1366t model I had to source bits and materials from no less than 10 different vendors. For 2mm? All from the shop and my local model shop for brass sheet, tube, etc.

I also love the idea of finally getting my busy urban terminus layout onto one 120x40 plank, or a rural terminus that really spreads a bit over the local landscape. An LMS class 4 tank and 4 57' coaches is perhaps 550 mm long. A teeny 0-6-0 and a half dozen goods wagons, perhaps 300 mm.

Amanda (confirmed to be nuts)

 

[WM183]

Hello folks!

A few weeks back, I sent an order off to Nick at N Brass Locos for some cast brass bits; namely, two sets of domes, chimneys, and safety valve covers of a Johnson design. They came today, and they're lovely! I will build this engine using them and likely also a 4-4-0 using them. I want to prove "You can scratch up a 2mm engine without power tools (a soldering station aside) and get a good result".

It's nice that most of the locomotives on the M&GN in the early 1900s had Johnson fittings...!

Amanda

 

[WM183]

Well. We're looking quite Midland now!

I need to finalize the drive mechanism now before I go any further, but smokebox aside, the big bits of the engine itself are done. I need to figure out how to do the railings on the tender yet, but I have some ideas.

Still need to order a smaller motor. Alas, it may need to wait till after Christmas! Urgh.

Now I think it's time to start thinking about a layout...!

 

[WM183]

Hi Folks.

We're still here, just busy through the holidays. A 7mm motor has been ordered, and should be delivered next week, so hopefully we can get into the home stretch so to speak with this loco!

Hope you're all having happy holidays,

Amanda

 

[WM183]

The motor has come!

I have test fitted the gearbox and installed the worm. It spins nicely! Now it's time to figure out how to connect the motor to the gearbox shaft, and to connect the tender to the engine; I sort of wish I'd started with a tank engine. Bahs!

I have rigged up a sort of shaft with a piece of wire, where the front end (the gearbox end) is bent in a loop and goes into a captive slotted recepticle at the end of the gearbox worm shaft, and the motor end is just looped through a piece of tube, pinched shut and drilled through; the pics will show it better than I can explain it.

However.... do I have to do it this way? Is there an alternative? This seems troublesome. The end of the worm shaft, where the bent tip of the wire driveshaft fits, is quite large in diameter, and will prevent me using a screw to hold the loco chassis to the body as there's just no room for a nut. I could always solder the screw in, then run the nut up from underneath, I suppose. I still need to figure out how to connect engine and tender.

Ideas? help!

 

[garethashenden]

I would think it would be better if you reversed the ends. Put the slotted end on the motor and the hole end on the gearbox. It will be easier to conceal the slotted end in the tender. Speaking of concealment, consider driving the center axle. Then the shaft can run through the front of the cab in a small hole rather than occupying the entire cab.

 

[WM183]

Hi Garet,

I like the idea about switching which end is which. I'll do that for sure. As far as relocation of the gearbox, I'd need to use a different configuration. To just mount this one on the center axle I'd need to cut away part of the bottom of the boiler. I can try to make up some kind of idler arrangement maybe. I'm just not sure how to do so!

Amanda

 

[Ian Smith]

Amanda, most of my engines have a 1mm thick cab floor (or bunker floor in the case of tank engines). I drill and tap 12 (or14ba) through this floor so that the chassis can be attached to the body. In the case of my Dean Goods, the bolt also serves as the fixing for the loco-to-tender draw bar.
Hope that is helpful,
Ian

 

[WM183]

Amanda, most of my engines have a 1mm thick cab floor (or bunker floor in the case of tank engines). I drill and tap 12 (or14ba) through this floor so that the chassis can be attached to the body. In the case of my Dean Goods, the bolt also serves as the fixing for the loco-to-tender draw bar.
Hope that is helpful,
Ian

Hi Ian.

Your Dean Goods build on your website has been my best source of information during this build. I hate to ask, but do you have any pictures of the drawbar connection? Do you just let the screw jut up into the cab floor, or?

Thank you!

Amanda

 

[Tim Watson]

Cutting away a little bit of the underside of the boiler is no great loss, if driving the central axle, as the defect is mainly hidden behind the centre splasher. The Association gearbox is a bit more conspicuous because it has an end bearing but still worth checking it out. I normally use a cantilevered worm with bearings behind, which is fairly easy to hide.

Tim

 

[WM183]

Cutting away a little bit of the underside of the boiler is no great loss, if driving the central axle, as the defect is mainly hidden behind the centre splasher. The Association gearbox is a bit more conspicuous because it has an end bearing but still worth checking it out. I normally use a cantilevered worm with bearings behind, which is fairly easy to hide.

Tim

Do you have any pictures of your cantilevered arrangement? I'd like to see that.

And no, cutting away the boiler isn't the end of the world, but I'd like to see options before I start hackin. This build has been a learning experience, no doubt!

Amanda

 

[simond]

I normally use a cantilevered worm

not an expression you hear very often…

 

[Tim Watson]

Some cantilevered worms:
NER Raven Pacific No 2400, driving back axle.

GCR 9P Valour

Details are in my workshop thread.

Tim

 

[Ian Smith]

Hi Ian.

Your Dean Goods build on your website has been my best source of information during this build. I hate to ask, but do you have any pictures of the drawbar connection? Do you just let the screw jut up into the cab floor, or?

Thank you!

Amanda

Amanda,
I don't have a photo of the draw bar cnnection per se, but I have found this one of the tender :

The draw bar is just a strip of 0.010" NS with a hole at each end through which the bolt engages. The bolt on the loco screws into a threaded hole in the cab floor. I'll try to take a photo tonight. Also evident are the power connection leads between loco and tender - these are soldered at the tender end to the frames, and plug into holes in each half of the split loco main frames.
Ian