Budget O chassis?

[ceejaydee]

PCB can be used for loco frames,

That's an original suggestion I haven't read before. And a good one: reasonably cheap, easy to work (but the glass filled one is hard on files), easy to solder/glue, reasonably stiff, good size. Downside is you'll need bushes for the axles because of the glass inside and limited thickness range (easy) available.

I don't claim originality for the idea; I think I saw it in a magazine some (many) years ago, 'Scale Model Trains' maybe, suggestion in a article by Chris Ellis or Michael Andress although I am open to correction if anyone else remembers reading it.

[Si D]

Well, it's some while since I asked the original question so I thought that I'd comeback with the results. Afraid that I bottled it! I almost got a cheapo Lima 0-6-0 on ebay but lost out in the dying moments. And with the current economic climate, coupled with an on-going illness, I thought it wisest not to start a venture in this relatively expensive field. Instead, I've gone for the next best thing: O-16.5, and have been building a few bits of rolling stock using Bachman and Hornby OO as a basis (see below). After only doing N, OO and OO9 in the past I'm finding this scale/gauge refreshingly 'solid' and really am enjoying it.

http://www.simonsplace.pwp.blueyonder.c ... /rusty.jpg

And, as a side line I've also started using up my old OO9 stock by converting it to O9:

http://www.simonsplace.pwp.blueyonder.c ... y/O9_1.jpg

anyway, thanks for the great suggestions - it's still my intention to try standard gauge 7mm when circumstances allow, perhaps a nice dual gauge interchange.

[hartleymartin]

You can also make chassis from 1" U-channel either in brass or aluminium.



The Tower Models Beginner's kit for the 0-4-0 Barclay uses 1" U-channel to form a basic, but effective chassis.

http://www.tower-models.com/towermodels ... review.htm

[jcuknz]

Awhile back when I was actively into G Gauge I found plastic models from Asia using 45mm gauge. From time to time there were also smaller locos and trains that might have been Gauge O .. You need to visit toyshops and places with discarded toys [ Salvation Army and othe Thrift stores] I also found a loco driven by the Goose from Sesame Street, battery operated and she became the driver of my 'work train' as I laid out a garden railway using 10x3mm steel for track . I do have welding gear and other tools so I am well set up I guess for such projects which could be out of your reach..

I like the idea of modifying OO stock and locos to your purpose and there must be local engineering retailers who will have rod to make the new axles if your modelling shops dont.

[jcuknz]

The reason I like modeling narrow gauge is that there have been so many little NG railways with oddball solutions to their budget restrctions than anything I'm going to come up with with my lack of skill is likely to have been done somewhere sometime on a prototype NG railway
So do go for something like On? using large bodies on HO/OO gauge bodies. As you will see on the board I once worked a 2ft railway with a scale of 8.25mm/foot on 16.5mm track and called it 8.25n16.5 You must have a computer to access this site so you should try drawing your stock, buildings on the computer and making your own kits. I only had a B&W printer in those days so used felt pens to add pastel colours after I had reinforce my paper prints with cardboard. Kellogs cornflakes provides quite large sizes for buildings etc. With my saw I made a saw bench and 'milled' say 3x3mm sticks to put in the corners of buildings for stability, as well as building a stock pen for a siding on the layout. Also a derrick with three legs and boom . Then a water tower using a tin from the kitchen with wooden supporting structure and so on .... The key to clean cutting here is to have some scrap ply which fits close around the blade. Back then I was using a 3/8th chuck Black and Decker saw with the B&D 'skill-saw' attachment ... earlier this little saw had done most of the woodwork in building the family home we lived in at the time.

[jcuknz]

I picked up an idea recently from Smallbrook Studios, who make On16.5 kits and this was that the Chinese made locos run slower than the earlier english made ones ... can motors rather than the traditional Hornby Triang open motors ... slow running marks the difference between toys and models. I would check your local Salvation Army 'recycle' store or whichever outfit runs such things near you for motive power. Lots of things get thrown out or given to these places. It is only modellers who have piles of junk around their houses "That's a useful thing ... for something" Once in a thousand something gets used and it is a great day ... but not the sort of thing you can do if you are not settled in a home.

[Kindling]

This looks as if it has potential for industrial tank engines and small shunting locos. You will find a basic chassis kit about three-quarters of the way down.

http://www.cambrianmodels.co.uk/16intro.html

....and just look at the price!

[hartleymartin]

If you are planning to build a little 0-4-0 diesel or sentinel shunter I have a solution.

I picked up some Bachmann On30 "Enclosed Streetcar" models for cheap. I took the axles out and fitting the plastic gears into slater's wagon axles (small round needle file, work slowly and carefully). The slots for the axles needed to be opened up as the original axles are 3mm and the new axles are 1/8". Again, work slowly with a small round needle file. Bend the pick-ups so that they touch the backs of the steel tyres.

The wheelbase is just shy of a scale 6 feet. If you can get wheels at 2'6" diameter, they are great for little diesels and sentinels. You could also get an 0-4-0 chassis with side-rods by removing one of the idler gears (otherwise getting the phase of the wheels with the gears right would be a nightmare.

Be warned, these chassis are not designed to take the weight of great lumps of whitemetal, so stick with plastikard or brass sheet construction. It won't haul more than a few wagons, but most of these tiny diesel shunters would never have hauled more than a few wagons at a time anyway.

I used mine to motorise some kit-bashed Tramcars.