Our lead layout in Garden Rail this month is the stunningly realist Isle of Westland railway, built by Andy Coward. For an editor, it presented a big challenge - the photos are all stunning and I couldn't fit them all in, despite a page shuffle to give it a bit more space than recent months.
We've also got some scratchbuilding advice for the larger scale modeller. If you fancy building a battery-electric loco, then read Dave's words. You don't need a well-equipped workshop, just hand tools and some stuff from a DIY store.
Would it be fair to suggest that wheels, motors and gears are the likely to be the hardest parts to source when scratch building locos and railbuses.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that most other parts could probably be adapted from stuff lots of people would have at home.
Wheels are the ticky one. You can use all sorts of motors and gears - but as you say, there are lots of "around the house" materials.
ReplyDeleteI've someone lined up for a couple of months time who really does use rubbish for models, and they are excellent.
I think wheels are a problem regardless of scale. I've now worked in 4mm (OO6.5 and OO9), 7mm (O14), and 16mm (45mm gauge) and had problems sourcing wheels of the size I wanted in all three of these scales. For 7mm NG I've found 4m SG wheels are a good option, even for O14 assuming you can move the wheels in on the axles. Looking around at 16mm though and I'm seeing a lot less choice for nice metal wheels I can use in scratch building or kit design. A good list of suppliers and sizes might be a nice future feature for Garden Rail?
ReplyDeleteListing all the wheels would be a major job - Binnie alone have 20 available. Then there is Slater's and Walsall plus several others.
ReplyDeleteEven then, I'm sure someone would come out of the woodwork and moan they had been missed out!
I'd be interested to see how we could make it work, but don't have the time to compile the list myself. However, if one was sent in...
Yes, I can't (yet) think of a good way of arranging it, certainly for print rather than as some kind of online searchable thingy.
ReplyDeleteMy original thinking had been to limit it to metal wheels that might be more suitable for building locos rather than including the plastic wheels from Binnie etc. that are more likely to end up under wagons and carriages.