thanks to joining the 009 society, I am in possession of the complimentary Colin Ashby 2 compartment coach.
this is, believe it or not, my first try at kit building. I am at a loss in the positioning of the solebars.
there are two long moulded lines on the underside of the floor, do the solebars fit inside, outside or on the top of these mouldings ?
my other question is, how do I fit couplings ? the instructions enclosed with the kit is not very helpful.
many thanks
If in doubt with the instructions of any kit then always try a 'dry run' - building a stage without any adhesive - to work out what goes where before committing yourself.
In this case if you hold one (or both if you can manage it) of the axles in the axleboxes between the two solebars that should give you an idea of how far apart the solebars should be - at a guess about 15mm apart, allowing for a 13 (ish) mm axle and thickness of plastic in the axlebox. That should indicate where the solebars go on the floor, but make sure that the axles are at right angles to the center line of the coach (that will give you the best running) before sticking anything in place (you can adjust this by sliding one solebar along the floor, you may need to file a small amount off one end to do this enough to get square axles), and it might also be worth checking on a flat surface that all 4 wheels touch the ground (the coach does not rock like the average pub table).
When it comes to couplings the reason that the instructions are a bit vague is that there are a number of different couplings used by 009 modellers, and no set standard as to how high they are mounted on the stock.
I will not go into the coupling debate here as it has already been covered elsewhere on the forum, other than to say that the more popular types (Bemo, Greenwhich, Paul Windle and DG) all use a lifting loop and a central buffer and if mounted at the same height should any one type should couple together with any of the others. Of those four the Greenwich type is probably the most widely used. Some 009ers use the N-gauge couplings (the 'Elsie') and others use the KaDee / KayDee (however it is spelt) buckeye coupling from the US, but these two will only couple up with themselves (and not each other).
As to height the most important thing is to get them all at the same height and there are a couple of height gauges / jigs available. There is an etched plate as part of the Greenwich system but probably a bit easier to use is the cast resin gauge from RT Models (http://www.rtmodels.co.uk/rt_models_017.htm).
There is also a DIY option of mounting a length of track on a bit of wood and using a wood screw put in between the rails at one end and screwed in so that the flat head of the screw (I've used a countersunk screw on my jigs) is at the height you want your couplings.
Whatever height you decide upon (I'd suggest that the flat top - not the pin - of the coupling is 6mm measured from the top of the rail) use the jig to mark the buffer beam of the coach and then carefully cut a notch or pack out (with plastic sheet offcuts) to give you a platform to mount the coupling on. The couplings will either be metal or engineering plastic (bemo) bodied so will need to be stuck with superglue or epoxy (Araldite, etc.) adhesives, and it might also be worth drilling a hole through the body of the coupling into the floor of the coach and sticking some wire pins through to reinforce the joint.
Hope that helps,
Julien Webb
Did it ! - using a sheet of bluetack to hold the solebars, wheels in place, i measured the width with a vernier gauge.
This confirmed that the solebars fit To the outside of the long mouldings on the underside of the floor.
One side in,the axles were located in place using a coffee stirer for support, the second side was placed using my overlarge, 12 inch to the foot scale fingers and were wedged in place with cut-down cocktail sticks to set over night.
The whole process caused much swearing ( I admit- i'm not renowned for my patience) at the joy of assembling black on black components seen through tired eyes at 11'oclock at night.
Next step is to try and find some couplings and sort out my crap effort at painting the beast !
Well done Peter, it's a great feeling when an unfamiliar task is successfully completed, the first of many???
Kind regards,
BrianT.