Giles

Hi Rich, Thank you very much - and I'm delighted that you've enjoyed the thread - and I greatly look forward to seeing your srtuff! It's great to carry on pushing the boundaries- and i'm all for it. The only small centrifugal clutch that was avalable was 'dyna-drive' so far as I am aware - but even that would be large inour application. Still, it depends what vehicle one was making. Some of the motor/gear units I use have a shaft extention outnthe back, and would take a light flywheel (you probably wouldn't want to over do it)! One could spring the rear axle without adding more complications by having the rear axle bearings, and the motor/gearbox all mounted on a subframe, and springing that...... The tyres are nice, and you could probably further mould then in a thin layer of black latex rubber to give you treads ( youd have to take a cast of a finished one with an 'axle' to centre it). Once dry, polish it up with talc would grey it down and stop it from sticking Induction charging.... I get bored before the battery runs out!. On exhibition, I'm getting over three hours out of each lorry. All the very best, and Happy Easter Giles

John, that looks like it will make a delightful RC model!

Hi John - i'm delighted that you have found the thread and videos interesting! That new 1.7gm servo is a great improvement, and is significantly smaller than the 2.3 that I've been using - I shall buy a couple -so thank you very much for that.... Similarly, the website where you are getting your gears is new to me, and extremely useful. Please do post your progress - it will be extremely interesting!

Lovely to see this layout! So often, these jobs aren't as bad in reality as the anticipation makes them out to be..... It'll be very worthwhile! More stunning modelling here.

Painting - no, I just used maskol on the windows, wipers etc.... With no problem. If you get any paint on the windows, a quick wipe over with Duraglit or similar will have it straight off with no problem. (don't forget to mask off the open window though!) I left the old hub in, put the Milliput in, and then bored the whole lot out - saved work!

Great stuff - you've to to finish it now....! WARNING! The headlights are loose, and can come out very easily - and are easily lost. It might be worth while popping them out and gluing them in.

if you have a look at this page, you'll see a large range of discussion, including quite a few examples of actual built RC installs http://freerails.com/view_forum.php?id=45 Particularly these two threads might be of interest http://freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=1221&forum_id=45 http://freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=4451&forum_id=45 One way or another, most aspects of the subject are probably covered here....

Well..........

Why do you think my layout was called 'The End of The Line'......? :-)

These are the ones I use (this is useful, because it shows a bit more data than other sites) http://www.technobotsonline.com/pololu-100-1-micro-metal-gearmotor.html And the same site has the bevel gears http://www.technobotsonline.com/mini-plastic-bevel-gear-33527.html

....it's too late at night or me to work it out, but my recollection is that you should expect something like 130rpm out of 1:100 unit....... I wonder if either the ratio is wrong, or they've sent you a 12v motor by mistake? (I worked mine out to give me a speed of around 15mph. I did try a 1:75 unit, but it was a bit too fast) Don't worry about the 'low responsiveness' on the stick - it resets itself each time, and you have to deliberately press it down to activate it for each use.

Lovely neat job on those steering blocks (much neater than I did!). I used a 6v motor with 100:1 back end which did me (operating on 3.7v) what ratio have you chosen, Tim? Incidentally, you'll have to 'break off' the spare wheel carrier to get at the rear load bed fixing screw. I then drilled out the remaining plastic sprue in the locating holes (you'll see what I mean) and replaced it a with bent brass wire 'u' to hold the carrier and wheel in place afterwards.

I'm sorry to see good honest equipment, that is reliable and 'does what it says on the packet' labeled in this way..... You may perceive it as such, from your expert view point - but there are many, with a great deal more knowledge than myself that do appear to hold this stuff in much higher regard. Non-the-less, given that the range is constantly developing and improving, as a matter of principle, it should be encouraged rather than damned, unless you are specifically an unhappy customer. I am a customer, and although my application has been in the two lorries used on The End of The Line, rather than in locos, I have found the equipment excellent, and the service first class. There will always be people who prefer DCC and it's future progressions, and there will always be people who want the attributes that RC offers

If you look at the bottom of this page http://www.deltang.co.uk/ You'll see a 'transmitter' for controlling three locos simultaneously - including inertia. I recollect that some conventional 2.4GHz transmitters can 'bind' to multiple receivers (locos) whereupon you could then select them sequentially..... But you'd best ask David T. from DelTang about that. He's extremely helpful. My RC experience has been limited to the 1:43 lorries, thus far.

Well, a. perhaps I'm easily impressed (-: And b. I wasn't limiting my comments to how things are now..... You'll notice I did say 'will eventually'.... Of course these things will improve.... By leaps and bounds.... Just like DC and DCC have - it would be naive to think anything else! I have already experienced significant advances in RC in 18 months and I'm ignorant in these matters! Like or not, RC already has attributes that some people value. There is a very interesting thread on Freerails on the subject that you may have already read.

That transformer is absolutely brilliant! Personally, I think that it's quite inevitable that RC will eventually take a very significant proportion of the market. It's only logical that we will do away with the weak link of the track as a means of power conduction and data transmission. Already sophisticated 4ch receivers are smaller and as cheap as their DCC counterparts (the receivers I use in my lorries are 10mm x 10mm and cost £28) It may not be to everyone's taste, and of course many people may choose not to go down the RC route - but that is not to deny its present and potential practicality. A reminder... http://www.deltang.co.uk./video.htm This manufacturer also hooks his receivers up to DCC sound chips to enable full sound capability.......

I've just found them and had a look - I had no idea that a company were producing such well engineered race cars in this scale! The diffs though are quite large in diameter, and configured to site at one wheel, with motor drive directly to the outer ring of the diff, which may be fine for a modern car (if the wheels are big enough) but less appropriate for a period vehicle. I'll certainly stick with the simple for the moment, for this application - but here's a link to a very informative page......... http://www.kyosho.com/eng/products/rc/detail.html?product_id=109031

Are they....? Do you have any details, by any chance? When I was looking into it, I couldn't find any diffs that small. It's not been an issue- performance wise - but if one can get them, it could be great to incorporate them..... Thanks, Giles

The steering/stub axle blocks, I just used some 3mm mild steel flat, drilled two 2mm holes through (for the stub axles) then hack-sawed either side to form a strip of 'block' which I then cross-drilled 1mm the other way for king-pins before cutting to size - so a small pillar drill, but not much precision there. Just say if you need any photos or anything.

Excellent stuff! You'll have that finished by the weekend then....... We'll have to organise a Rally......

Here's two links - both 1:43, one showing someone else's drive train and steering method, and the other - a Unimog 4x4!

Hi Martin, I'm sure somebody has done it.... ( a viable 4 x 4, I mean). It would not have a diff, but a centre motor, and you would have to rock the front axle using the motor shaft as the pivot, I would think..... However, a 4 x 2 should be fine for your application, and there are some fine models out there!

Both wheels are driven, and it seems to be fine....... !

....showing the ideal track rod/servo position, and the adjusting 'v'

It's necessary to implant more 2mm flanged bearings for the rear axle using a burr, and restrained with wire hoops (infilled with Milliput again)