Rolling Stock Update

N 1304 is ready for full testing and running in.  With some assistance from a friend who has experience of valve gear, many alterations were made, including tightening up loose connections so that they don’t rock so much.  Many parts needed further trimming, including the studs on the wheels that hold the coupling rods.  Much to our delight, the ‘lost’ brass nut was found and refitted to the Expansion Die Block, and that is now a much more encouraging fit!  Once we had got the loco (chassis) running on the test track, we were ready to fit the body, and then it wouldn’t work at all!  After lengthy investigation, we found that part of the body was ‘only just’ touching the copper contact strip on the ‘insulated side’ causing a short circuit.  The easiest fix for this was insulating tape, but to ensure its longevity, its application was supported with a little Loctite Superglue!  Job Done!

We were so encouraged by this progress, that we soldered on the connections so that the lighting would work also, and then fitted the cab roof.  The motor makes quite an awful racket as it trundles along, but we are hopeful that this will settle down during running in.  The work did not end here, however.  In the process of all the remedial work, the flimsy plastic brake rods got damaged, so they were removed and needed refitting (see below).  We also decided not to fit the front coupling until a replacement for the broken part had been obtained.  There is also a desire to remove the cab-side deflectors and replace them with transparent ones (to be more authentic), but that is not urgent.  And maybe, we will obtain and fit the gas cylinder for the lighting; until then we will have to argue that the loco has electric lighting!

We made another attempt with the brake shoes.  The 0.5mm plastic had been too flimsy, and didn’t last long.  Sadly, one of the brake shoes got lost during this time.  Replacement 0,5mm brass rod was procured, along with 0,5mm (inside) tube.  With this, we were able to reinforce the rods between the frames, and thus the rods protruded exactly perpendicular to the frames in front of the wheels.  The tubes were superglued to the frames, and the rods superglued within.  Then the shoes were superglued, making sure that they were correctly aligned and not touching the wheels or even close.  Then, as an extra detail, and because we still had lots of plastic 0,5mm rod left over, we made some sanding pipes, going down to the wheels, using the brake rods to support them in place (which we couldn’t do, of course, if they were working brakes)!

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Manufacturer News

PCX87 (Premium Classixx 1:87 scale) has released their Saab 900 (1986 model) in four colours, as a three-door hatchback.  This is an interesting release in that it follows their Volvo 240, and both models have been proposed by Minichamps, albeit different (but close) year models.  Will the Volvo 480 and 850 follow soon?

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Other News

Two extra items this time.  First, the Steninge layout has a new home.  We parted company with it many years ago, and some work was necessary to keep it in useable condition.  We think it went around a few friends, but now it is with another, a friend of the FLMJ, and hopefully it will get a new lease of life.

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Not quite a case of Caveat Emptor, but getting close: be very careful if you should choose to use Google Translate for translating between English and Swedish (or any translation).  Once, an excellent tool for assisting with translation, it seems to have become quite a liability.  Recently, a test was made of 25 Swedish phrases (converting to English), and 25 English phrases (converting to Swedish).  We had a 62% failure rate (wrongly translated).