Product Description
00 chassis for the FR (Furness Railway) K2 Locomotive & the Freelance Variations.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Both textual and scale drawings don't always seem to agree on what
wheelbase and diameter bogie wheels the Furness Railway K2 (21 Class) and the Cambrian
Railways Class 61's ran with. For the Bogie wheel diameter many sources say 3' 6" but other
sources say 3' 0", similarly the
wheelbase is disputed between
5’ 6” + 6’ 6½” + 8’ 3”
5' 9" + 6'6" + 8'6"
&
5’ 9” + 6’ 8” + 8’ 6”
The Furness K2 available from SCC have been built and designed
with the bottom wheelbase. The FR K2 was first to be released with the
chassis designed to be used with 3' 0" Bogie Wheels as some sources indeed state.
The FR K2 chassis, aside from modelling gauge designations are now renamed as...
'FR K2 - Chassis - 3' 0" Bogies'
and
'FR K2 - Chassis - 3' 6" Bogies'
As all the K2 chassis and bodies are common to each other, any will fit in combination as they
are interchangable.
For more information on the discrepancies and to help you decide, you may look here for
more information...
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106162-scc-sparkshot-custom-
creations/page-2#entry2146281
or here...
http://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=4577&start=25
...where some research has been conducted and discussions formed. If you have a 3' 0"
chassis and want to ocnvert it to take 3' 6" bogie wheels then a bit of filing of the frames and
pivot arm may be needed.
Either way, if using a 3' 6" set up the top of the frames will be very thin and weak. Neatly
cutting the frame here and glueing the front section that goes above the front bogie wheel
to the loco body may be a consideration and you may need to file a little extra clearence for the wheels, same for the optional bogie splashers. The real thing was a tight fit too.
Also prototype photo's sometimes showed the
optional bogie splashers removed (on the K2 at least), unless you have generous curve radii
these will likely have to be ommitted.
On the EM and P4 versions these have been pulled
inwards by 0.7mm's. As neither are to perfect width due to thickness and bogie movement, If you would like Optional Bogie Splashers pulled in or out to a
different degree please contact me and It'll be arranged. The 00 ones are 5.7mm's width.
Finally a more solid answer to the wheelbase issue between the Furness K2's and Cambrian Class 61's has been found with much thanks and credit to Mike Peascod of the Cumbrian Railways Association. Here is His PDF he kindly compiled from a few sources to show the different wheelbases that existed as genuine variation...
http://www.scalefour.org/forum/download/file.php?id=10574
-
On an earlier version of this product there needs to be about 1mm chipped off the insides of the frames at the front to fit the body better but this is a two second job. Current versions have this small defect corrected.
Note: This is a fixed chassis so reaming out the axle holes downwards and allowing the bushes to move freely may help things. The dummy hornblocks have 'etched' lines cut into them to aid a saw should you wish to remove these and add real brass sprung hornblocks in their place. If using a FUD chassis the chassis will be weak until the replacement hornblocks are properly installed. Chassis more readily set up for springing are being worked on as a future development.
The Bogie and Brake Gear is sprue joined to the top and sides, as are the optional Splashers (Wheel Arches) for the Bogie Wheels. Unless you have very generous radius curves these likely will have to be omitted from the final build. Some prototype photographs showed the locomotive without them though. Cut these components off and keep them safe. The chassis is printed square, however the rear frame spacer is sprued on the left side for you to add where you want depending on your gearbox choice.
1/8th / 3mm 'Top Hat' Bearings need to be glued into the axle holes for the 24mm / 6FT Driving Wheels and for the 3ft Bogie Wheels you can fit 2mm 'Straw Hat' Bearings once the holes have been reamed out to accomodate them. Test builds show that, like the tenders it isn't really needed and they will roll nicely anyway, but the choice is yours.
The frames have sprued to the insides two x 1mm thick, thickening lengths that if fitted will make the frames 1mm's thicker either side. Your choice of gearbox will dictate if you use these or how much of them you use as you can cut them to size to thicken up most of the frames and leave a thinner area for a gearbox if needed.
For the Bogie to work there are two options:
A) A thin 'cheesehead' bolt with a approximately a 1.5mm diametre thread (such as a 10 or 11BA) can pe pushed through the underside of the Bogey up into the bottom of the Loco Body under the smokebox and screwed in, this will allow the Bogey to turn in its arc and also provide lateral movement. Adding a weak spring (like those in sprung coupling packs) with a thin washer soldered to it providing a slide helps.
B) Possibly the easier option, screw the chassis to the body with a 10 or 11BA bolt using the holes underneath the Smokebox, then using the optional Pivot Arm that was also sprue joined to the Bogie, screw this upwards into the rear chassis hole located in front of the front Driving Wheel, then at the other end screw a bolt downwards into it and through the Bogie, finally cap it with a nut and secure with a paint blob. The clearence between the top of the bolt head and the bolt head that joines the chassis to the body is minimal. If it conflicts a few gentle passes with a fine file will sort this easily. The Pivot Arm is printed to the correct orientation so be sure to fit it the correct way!
The chassis will self tap.
For pick ups, crank pins, motors, gearboxes etc and the Coupling Rods (available on this site), the same methods used for conventional kit building need to be applied, and there are many options.
For the test builds the 'traditional' method of PCB strips and 0.45mm brass wire/rod was used to good effect.
General note: Once the chassis is built and working you may need to file/shave a small amount of material from under loco body for the coupling rods due to the running plate needing to be printed thicker than a scale reality. On some models sometimes the inside edge of the splashers need a small amount shaving away too (moreso in P4). A few passes with a brass brush in a mini drill makes this a 2 second job though.
Initial builds were done with Alan Gibson wheels that have a 14" 'throw' on the crankpins. The K2's had a throw of 12" and so this also explains some of the shaving of material needed if using 14" throw wheels. Alan Gibson do currently do wheels with a throw of 13" so these will work even better needing less shaving.
Alan Gibson code =
4872V, 6' 0" / 24.0mm, 20 spoke, LNER B13, Class Plain, PB, 13" (or the S4 equivalent)
TIP:
To allow your model to be motorised without having to hack away at the underside of the firebox or boiler as is common with many of kits depending what parts you use, a 'Roadrunner +' Gearbox from High Level will fit nicely, using a drive extender may make things easier too, especially if fitting a fly wheel. These components were used in the research and development trial builds.
EDIT: Future builds have shown that a London Road Models GB4 Single stage Motor Mount (Gearbox) fits better, is cheaper and quicker to build. As with all loco kits the choice is entirely yours though.
http://traders.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/various/components/
For wheels, axles, crankpins etc
Alan Gibson is a great resource
www.alangibsonworkshop.com
...as is Markits
http://www.markits.com
For Motors and Gearboxes, High Level are recommended.
http://highlevelkits.co.uk/
For crank pins, hand rail rod/wire and pillars, washers, bearings and other small sundry items Mainly Trains is a good website to visit.
http://www.mainlytrains.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
But of course you can use whatever suits your needs and preference best,
the above has been typed out to hopefully aid you should you be new to kit building. The advantage of these 3D printed kits is 90% of the work is done for you, both on the body and the chassis.
