I have just started a OO9 layout and am new to loco building as well. So, I decided to try what I thought would be a fairly straightforward loco to begin with having done some wagons first. My problem is not however with the Peco James kit itself but rather the Graham Farish 57xx Pannier donor loco. I cannot take the body off the chassis.
There appears to be a large silver screw which seems to match the position shown on the Peco plan but removing this releases all sorts of things including the pickups. A smaller receed screw is also visible.
So far I have had no success in getting the body off the chassis. Please can anybody help? Many thanks. Jim
if i remember correctly i 'taped up' that end of the chassis before removing removing the screw . when the loco is attached to the chassis with same screw everything is secured . john
Very many thanks. I think that I have not quite gone far enough because I saw the loco falling to pieces in front of my eyes! We will give this a try.
jim be very careful that the wheels and con rods are in alignment i did'nt and the plastic cog wheel was chewed up , that's when brian guilmant came to the rescue with is 'aladin's cave cheers john
And to think that I bought this thinking it would be an easy project! ::)
I am learning that you need to be very gently with OO9 having just made my first tipper trucks.
Thanks again for your advise John
Jim
Having finally got the body removed from the chassis I now find that, as others have mentioned, Peco do not seem to realise that GF have changed their loco! There is no longer the vital nut required to fix the chassis contained within the body of the loco because they have now moulded everything (very nicely I must say) out of metal and simply tapped a thread inside a big lump of metal.
I am now waiting to hear from Peco because they have three kits using the 57xx chassis on p39 of the 2009 catalogue.
jim , don't know if you're new to railway modelling or the gauge , either way ,i would recommend buying a couple of locos and rolling stock from brian guilmant , ( instant train ) ,then you can concentrate on designing and building your layout . once you have your layout up and running then you will have the time to kit build/bash . by the by what is the name of your layout/line ,very important !!. anyway cheers john .
You have guessed right - I am new to modelling. Thanks for the advice. I thought that building a Peco loco would be easy but clearly it is not. I am also buying secondhand as you suggest to get me going in the meantime. Thanks again.
From memory, the bolt (or screw) that hold the Farish chassis to the body is an 8 BA size, or at least it used to be. Whilst B&Q may not sell BA nuts, your local model shop (or ironmongers - there are some around still!) may have one (they also turn up on eBay). If the only alternative IS B&Q, they may have something in the metric sizes that's about the same. 8 BA uses a 1.8 mm tapping hole (one it will cut a thread in) and a 2.25mm clearance hole (one that it will slide into), so at a guess you want something like an M2 nut and bolt which should slide through the hole in the chassis and allow you to fit the nut in the Peco body. Problem is you may end up having to get quite a few from a single B&Q packet.
There is, of course, the posibility that Farish have gone over to a metric thread, or equally some wierd Chinese standard, as a cost recustion exercise. In which case it may be worth getting a bolt (8 BA or M2) to go with the nut when you get it, just in case!
Hope that helps.
Julien.
Small nuts and bolts are worth looking out for at trade stands at exhibitions and buying a few for stock. I always seem to forget when I put in an order for materials!
jim ,i think your'e on the right track !!!!! . now that you are up and running with a couple of trains you can work out a time table or sequences for your operational department , and your civil engineers can get busy building / creating your layout and scenery . lucky you .
somewhere i managed to get completely bogged down with to many projects at the same time the result is that i have not got a clue which is the most important ,the end result is obvious , no progress !!!!!! . anyway enjoy your railway and lets hope we see a couple of pics of your progress .
cheers john
Quote from: JulienW on May 26, 2009, 15:53
From memory, the bolt (or screw) that hold the Farish chassis to the body is an 8 BA size, or at least it used to be. Whilst B&Q may not sell BA nuts, your local model shop (or ironmongers - there are some around still!) may have one (they also turn up on eBay). If the only alternative IS B&Q, they may have something in the metric sizes that's about the same. 8 BA uses a 1.8 mm tapping hole (one it will cut a thread in) and a 2.25mm clearance hole (one that it will slide into), so at a guess you want something like an M2 nut and bolt which should slide through the hole in the chassis and allow you to fit the nut in the Peco body. Problem is you may end up having to get quite a few from a single B&Q packet.
Julien.
Thanks Julian. It is in fact an M2 nut and Peco has now sent me one having themselves contacted Bachmann so I am a very happy bunny! Have now built the loco body, hence my tardiness in getting back to the forum. I am very pleased with it as a first effort. Apart from the bolt problem I would in fact recommend this kit to anyone with as little experience as myself because it is pretty easy to assemble and the parts are very clean and fit together extremely well.
I am now on to the painting which is a completely different ballgame but hopefully I am getting there. As Clanky suggests I will try to put up a picture soon to show my model.
As promised I have a picture of the finished loco in 'just out of the workshop' condition.
Please be kind and bear in mind that this is my very first attempt at a kit and painting a loco so it will certainly not be up to the standards of many of you guys. I am at least proud that I have completed a project and that the end result runs on OO9 track!
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jimowers.net%2Fmodelrailway%2FPecoGL-2Engine_30May09.jpg&hash=97f330c741287ac7dda6f92d25d81cf52e8cce9a)
Well done Jim, a good start and already the loco is showing some character! Don't be over modest - you will quickly find in the Society that there are lots of people who talk about what projects they are intending to start, fewer who start them and those that actually finish them are quite scarce - myself included!
A couple of points of feedback, hopefully constructive, that you might like to consider for improving the model:
1. Paint the upper horizontal surface of the footplate black.
2. Finish the model with a coat of matt varnish, you could use silk/semi-matt for the upperworks - tank and cab if preferred. Either will considerably improve on the rather garish finish that gloss paint gives.
3. Further reasonably easy improvement can be achieved by fixing to the underside of the footplate at the front either the cylinders and piston rod guides from the Dapol Pug kit, or making some up yourself from plastic tubing and 1mm square section rod to represent outside cylinders that will make the loco look much more credible for narrow gauge. You don't need to worry about trying to manufacture outside valve gear as the cylinders will act as a reasonable mask. You will be surprised how this simple little bit of camouflage improves the looks of the loco.
I did not at first connect your forum name to your letter that I received on Friday. Thanks for that, the set of CDs were posted 1st class straight away and hopefully will arrive with you Monday or Tuesday. Hope you enjoy them and find lots of things to further inspire you within them.
Best Wishes
Mick
Very many thanks for the encouragement and extremely constructive comments. I will work on these and see how much better I can make this look.
The CDs are really excellent and it is great to be able to view your super photographs off-line. We have already used a lot of your internet photographs as source material for our layout which will get to the scenery stage shortly. The research phase of our project has been very productive and there is so much to learn from seeing how others have achieved such a high level of detail.
jim a great start even more so when you say you've never modelled before . what was the paint you used ? , it would'nt have been rail match ' crimson lake ' . the problem that i've found with some paints are , the're to glossy and to thick . question , how many coats of paint did you apply ? . i prefer to use matt enamel using lots of thin coats .
another thing that springs to mind is that , farish do three maybe four '0-6-0 chassis as i found out first time round .
another way to achieve what i think mick is saying ( to create a shadow ) is to use the ' dry brush ' method . don't know if you are familiar with the techique . cheers john .
I used Precision Paint LMS Maroon as this matches other locos. I will have a think about the techniques you mention.
The best advice is to KISS! Start off with RTR and gradually built up your skills. Go to your local 009 meeting where there is always skilled advice available. There is a lot to good modelling techniques, just like all other skills, so just stick with it! Ther is also a wealth of advice available on the internet.
Building up locos at this stage is probably more likely to discourage you.
best
JdF
I understand JdF that RTR is a good way to start and I did this initially with several locos already available for use. I have also read much on the internet and will continue to do so
However, everyone has to start somewhere building their own loco. This was my first attempt and I was asked to show what I had done which I did with some trepidation as I know that I am amongst experts. MikeT gave me excellent feedback and that has shown me how to improve on what I have done so far which I aim to do in the next couple of weeks. I would welcome any similar constructive comments however I sense from other comments that I am perhaps being 'put off' building stuff - is this only the preserve of those who know how to already?
It is just a bit difficult going to my local OO9 society - I live on the IOW. That is why I have to visit shows and to a great extent plough my own furrow.
Jim - don't be put off doing your own thing and I'm sure none of the posters intended that. I've been building locos for a few years now and I'm still rubbish at it, but the satisfaction of doing a little better each time is enormous. The contributors to forums such as narrowgaugemodelling, ngrm-online and many others will provide endless advice and encouragement and through these, I have found the developement of new skills to be hugely satisfying even if my level is pretty basic. Just do it!
Doug
Thanks Doug, I was almost ready to give up there. I was so fired up with enthusiasm having recently been to Trainwest - an excellent exhibition.
With the exception of one prominent layout I found the people who were presenting OO9 layouts extremely helpful and supportive - people who brought those wonderful layouts Purbeck and Nettlecombe especially. It is great that these people who have vast experience were happy to spend significant amounts of time with many people such as ourselves who were just starting out. They certainly seemed to feel this as important, if not more important, than running their layouts.
It was there that I received a lot of encouragement to start my first loco. I will keep on going Doug and hope that I can improve this loco before too long.
Thanks all for your support.
I'm glad you did not give up! I think the loco looks very smart - as you say - straight "out of the paint shop".
I like Mick's suggestion for cylinders and dummy motion too. I must give that one a try myself.
That's much better than my first effort was! :)
It looks like it's all gone together well 8) If you wanted to add some more realism to it at some point then maybe you could weather it at a later date? Rust stains, dust, coal dust, soot etc. bring locos to life. It doesn't have to be anything OTT, subtle normally works best and enhances what's already been done.
Look forward to seeing your next effort. Do you have anything in the pipeline?
Quote from: invercloy on June 01, 2009, 21:13
That's much better than my first effort was! :)
It looks like it's all gone together well 8) If you wanted to add some more realism to it at some point then maybe you could weather it at a later date? Rust stains, dust, coal dust, soot etc. bring locos to life. It doesn't have to be anything OTT, subtle normally works best and enhances what's already been done.
Look forward to seeing your next effort. Do you have anything in the pipeline?
Yes, I plan to weather. This is the ex-works state and will be modified as recommended on the forum before I go any further.
When I have finished making all the mistakes I can on this one then I have a Russell on a Minitrix chassis to try next! ::)
jim , i'm sure no one is trying to put you off . i think there are two ( must be more ) thoughts on a layout , whether it's the overall (scenics or operation ) picture . or you enjoy , simply building locomotives . the main thing is , that you have fun . please , out of curiousity tell us the name of your railway and describe the , countryside . cheers john .
Quote from: clanky on June 01, 2009, 22:56
jim , i'm sure no one is trying to put you off . i think there are two ( must be more ) thoughts on a layout , whether it's the overall (scenics or operation ) picture . or you enjoy , simply building locomotives . the main thing is , that you have fun . please , out of curiousity tell us the name of your railway and describe the , countryside . cheers john .
I want to have a go at both the locos/wagons and also the scenics, although my wife is more heavily involved in that. My layout is provisionally called 'Torriton'. It is an an old quarry from which runs an adit mine for iron stone. It is one of a number of similar quarry/mine operations around this area. There will be a viewing window into the mine workings. The iron ore is brought out of the mine and taken to a distant processing plant near to the main line. It is set in Devon. The layout will also feature some of the buildings of the village around the old quarry workings.
Quote from: jimowers on June 02, 2009, 09:03
There will be a viewing window into the mine workings. The iron ore is brought out of the mine and taken to a distant processing plant near to the main line.
I am fascinated by this idea and have seen it on a couple of layouts, though not in 009. One was on a visiting French layout from Orlean at a Dundee MRC exhibition (the towns are twinned there are often MRC exchanges I believe) and the other is a layout from the Edinburgh and Lotians MRC here:
http://elmrc.freehostia.com/09.html (http://elmrc.freehostia.com/09.html)
The French layout was on several levels and almost cube shaped.
I look forward to seeing photos of your layout. Please keep us posted!
I know that no idea is ever entirely new! Glad to see somebody else's take on a similar idea.
In planning the layout I started with the landscape and how people would have exploited it. The baseboard is 3ft 3in by 2ft 3in - designed to fit in a VW Gold without lowering the back seat.
The quarry is now disused - great for lots of rusty items and disused gear. Trains go into the mine empty and come out full and are then taken away by a steam loco.
Will keep you posted.