For quite some time I've been intending to upgrade my Chivers 'Harlech Castle' to an outside framed version, using the newer Farish 08 chassis. I eventually bought one earlier this year, and it has been sat awaiting attention ever since. The whitemetal body had been originally fitted to an old inside framed chassis, which was a bit dodgy in its running qualities, being rather old, with minimal pickup. A few weeks ago I set about dismantling the body (it was unly superglued, so easy enough to 'snap' to pieces) and cleaned up the joints. I intend to solder it back together. I then made a start on adjusting the chassis plate to fit over the new motor assembly.
I also decided that if it was going to be properly framed, it should also have the jackshaft drive, and I spent many hours at work trying to figure out how I would go about creating such an arrangement, thankfully, RT Models came to the rescue with their own conversion kit! One was ordered and after studying of the parts, instructions, chassis, and instructions again, I finally plucked up the courage today to take tools to the nice new chassis!
The conversion kit is fairly straightforward, and, providing the quartering of the cranks is done, should run well once assembled. The instructions recommend glueing the cranks to the axle, but I chose to solder them, even though they are a very tight fit (a small tap with a hammer need to put the axle through the hole in the crank) for extra security. In order to return the Farish frame mouldings back into place, a new axle hole has had to be made for the jackshaft, but that was fairly simple, as was removing all of the extra details (sand boxes and steps) as they are all just glued in place, so a quick twist with some pliers and its all done!
The chassis has been running around my oval of N Settrack for the last hour to check for binding and it seems fine in both directions, so now I'll have to get on with the boddy work!
Any comments or questions are welcome
J
- 2
2 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now