hhpja on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:40:42 -0000 wrote:

> This has never been discussed before, and I also would be grateful for
further input.

> What you say sounds perfectly feasable, but I have to make an
assumption here that the hole in the bearing, in the W-Iron actually
goes all the way through, so that you can set up the bearings on both
sides at once. If that is the case then it seems a perfect solution.
Hence the axleguards are dummy, and glued on after

> What make of spring suspension units are you using?


Hi Phil

I am using Bill Bedford's etched brass units. The bearings go in a
carrier each side of the W iron unit and the carrier is sprung by means
of a wire. The hole in the carriers are 2 mm diameter which seems to be
a standard outside diameter for bearings.

At the moment I have an old Mallard GWR CCT ("Python") etched brass kit
which has a wheel base of 72 mm (18ft) and although Bill Bedford does a
wheelbase setting jig, the longest wheelbase it caters for is, needless
to say, 17ft 6in. This consists of a fold up etch which when folded has
two parallel arms with holes in them, and a couple of lengths of 2 mm
rod, so you thread the rods through the bearing holes and the
appropriate holes in the jig, and this will apparently hold the W iron
units the correct distance apart lengthwise so you can solder or glue
them to the vehicle floor. What I was looking for was a way of dealing
with longer wheelbase coaches/wagons.

Using this system, as you surmised, the axleboxes are cosmetic and glued
on afterwards. You have to enlarge the holes in the axleboxes a little
to allow for the sprung movement..

I hope this is reasonably clear!

With best wishes
John

- jlewis@... -
18/11/2008