If you are going to put the effort into building a kit there is no point in skimping on the parts if you don’t have to. One of the most important areas are the mechanical parts – if the model runs well you can forgive it any number of deficiencies in the bodywork. On the other hand a perfect model that lumps along the track will always be a disappointment.
Fortunately good gearboxes are reasonably cheap and easy to come by. This one is from High Level models with Mashima motor hanging off the back. Although it looks like a fearsome beast it goes together very easily. The toughest part is reaming out the holes for the intermediate shafts. These need to be done slowly so there isn’t any slop. Not a problem for most people but I have to stop myself taking too much material out - clean the hole, check, clean some more and check again. Little and often.
The shafts are supposed to be cut with a slitting disk in the mini drill. I prefer to use some big (Zebra) wire cutters as they don’t heat the metal up like the friction created by the disk does. The cutters have done no end of shafts, including the ones on motors, which are especially hard, and survived although I could really do with a new pair after 15 years !
One good thing about these ‘boxes is that they don’t require total precision. There is lee-way in the gears so perfect meshing isn’t required. Since I can’t mesh gears for toffee this is a relief. In fact my inability with gear meshing is the reason I started putting gearboxes in models in the first place.
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