Giles

I was planning to pivot the front axle allowing it to rock to give it a little 'compensation', as most of the weight will be over the back end (batteries, receiver, motor etc.) rather than actual springing. This should give four-point contact on normal roads. Of course what I'd really like is a miniature differential, which would make all the difference cornering, but I'm not up to making one (I want to keep this relatively simple!) and I don't think anyone produces one this small - but if they do - let me know...... and I'll think again about the drive train. I absolutely agree that the motion has to be smooth and realistic - otherwise it wasn't worth bothering - but with a well controlled final drive (such as a portescap...), decent proportional steering, and all four wheels on the ground, I don't see why it shouldn't be? (how it copes on any hills is anyones guess....) I'll have a further think about whether I can sensibly incorporate springing into this - I rather think it might be a bridge too far, but we'll see.

Modified the front wheels today - - removed the rear boss, opened out theback slightly and glued them on to the new hubs and watch them spin!

I decided I wanted a van or lorry to provide some movement on my next 7mm layout, (not much room for it on 'The Loop'!) and of course there doesn't seem to be anything suitable or easily adaptable out there - but do tell me if there is....! Finding a lorry suitable for the late '50s isn't entirely easy, but Corgi do this nice Morris, and I picked up a couple on Ebay Since it's possible to put radio control gear into 00 gauge diesels, I reckon it's got to be possible to make something like this go, so we'll see how we get on. It may fall flat on its face and get nowhere, but it's worth a try, and people may find it interesting! First job is to strip it down. Screws in the bottom (the front one underneath a little cover). Kit of parts. It should be reasonably straight forward to make a new back axle, motorised with a Portescap RG4 or modern equivalent, so I'm not too worried about that. The tricky bit will be the front steering axle with the ackermann steering. The first job is to make wheel hubs with bearings. The new hubs are machined out of steel, 8.5mm diameter, to take bearings 3.95mm OD, 1.5mm ID x 1.2mm across - a fairly quick job on my little Unimat 3. Bearings from Ebay. Its all very, very small.... Completed hub. A cruel photo of the two completed stub axle assemblies made from blocks of nickle silver, with king-pins and steering arms of 1mm dia MIG wire (steel). The actual stub axle is 1/16" dia silver steel, run down to a slight taper with a needle file in a lathe, so the 1.5mm bore of the bearing fits snugly on it. It is then retained with a ring of copper tube (again, 1/16" bore). These now spin quite freely, and are ready for the wheels, which need slight modification. More as I do it....

Very nice indeed - I remember those buildings well! I'd very much like to see more of this........... Keep them coming please! Giles