Running Class 26 chassis

The basic chassis I described on Tuesday has now been beefed up and turned into something suitable for use on the layout.

First, I've added some much deeper rails along the sides. These are leftover from etched kits. They don't need to be anything like as deep but it didn't seem to be worth cutting them down. At least they will stop the chassis from bowing !

At the ends buffer beams are fitted. These aren't nice simple rectangles, the centre section is but there are "wings" at an angle coming off each end. Having spent a lot of time studing pictures it occured to me that I have a Heljan Class 33 model I've borrowed for a magazine project. Digging it out I was able to measure up the ones on the model and make something in metal and 3mm scale. A bit of tack soldering and then some filing resulted in nice looking ends. This makes me think I can copy a whole lot of other bits under the footplate later...

The BullAnt chassis work well, although in my stupidity I had to dismantle the non-powered one to get the insulated wheels on the same side all the way along the loco. And then reverse the pickups too. The biggest issue is the very thin wires and lack of access on the powered bogie to solder these in. The attachment point is hidden behind the flywheel requiring some delicate poking of the iron to do the job.

Finally, the body has to be attached. The plasticard pads on the side just slide into the shell and friction seems to be enough to hold it in place. For the moment anyway.