Drop in wheels, Farish Class 24

The new Farish Class 24 is a prime candidate for replacement drop-in 2mm wheels. This shows how to get into the Farish bogie and remove the N gauge coupler with a minimum of fuss.

The bogies is detached from the chassis by gently levering (twisting) it from the frame, as if the wheels on one side are much lower than the other. It will click out from the underframe. Alternatively, one can dismantle the entire chassis block, but that's a lot more work.



Comparison of Drop In 2mm wheelset (left) and standard Bachmann-Farish N gauge wheels on right. The 2mm wheels have not been blackened at this stage, it is as they are delivered. Most people will want to either blacken or paint the front faces.

The 2mm wheels are insulated. The axle is anodised aluminium which is non-conductive, and thus does not conduct with the wheel "glued" onto the axle. The gear is also fixed with retaining compound.



Remove the sides of the bogie by pressing down at point A whilst holding the bogie wheels on a flat surface. The frames will click downwards and can be pulled away. Note the the gear tower is handed; there is a difference in the small tabs at the front and back, so don't rotate it relative to the cosmetic frames.

Once inside, just gently lever out the Farish wheels one set at a time. Check whether the pickup strips need easing out a bit wider for the 2mm wheelset, then click the wheelset into place. Repeat with other axle.



Removing the N gauge "Arnold Brick" coupler. View from below bogie. Press gently on tab "B" and the coupler will come away from the bogie framing.

Copenhagen Fields J50

The Copenhagen Fields J50 (which works "Mrs Wilberforce' Yard") came to me to have DCC controlled couplings fitted. The rear coupling mechanism was locoated above the gearbox. Unfortunately, the loco has frames with a ferrous content, so they overwhelm the magnetic fields. Inspite of a nifty trick to lift the loop of a DG coupling, the magnetic field issues around the front has defeated me.




The paint on the loco is looking a bit battered, must get a hard life on the exhibition circuit.

The coil for the rear coupler is fitted above the gearbox. The long rotating operating rod goes above the rear wheel, and a bit of neat bending at the end of the wire forms the hook for DG couplings on a wagon. The operating rod has various bends in it to clear bits of chassis.

The DCC chip is fitted below the socket; a socketted arrangement was used so that the loco can be rapidly swapped back to analogue operations with a blanking plug (though will loose the remote control of coupler).

DEAG Meeting 15 October 2009

On Thursday some seven DEAG members got together for our monthly meet. We offered our congratulations to Nigel for being elected Chairman of the 2mm Scale Association at the recent AGM in Bedford. Also congratulations to Bill for winning the John Barker Trophy (Best Rolling Stock) at the AGM, for his East Anglian PO wagons, see photo below.

More pictures of the models shown at the AGM can be found here.

On the'crowded' work table this month:

Nigel - Dismantled the Copenhagen Fields J50 shunter for a much needed overhaul and experimenting with one piece, all steel (11 thou guitar string) loops for DG couplings. The one piece loop and dropper were working well under experimental conditioned. It remains to be seen whether the view that the whole thing will become magnetised and therefore not work, really happens. It was certainly easy to form the loop / dropper and I think it will be worth trying out on Marks Quay.

Tony - Has developed his work board further with the addition of extra clamps and also the soldering iron stand is now firmly fixed to stop the weigh of the iron making it unstable. He spent the evening working on a GER cattle wagon chassis, from an Association kit.

Bill - Bill brought along a rather large jig for making square wagon bodies. It consisted of a large cube of aluminium for the base (a chunky L shape) with a vertical fence added. He used this for holding the wagon sides square whilst the solvent did its work.

Stuart - Working on making links for his magnetic three link coupling system. This is fully described in the Association magazine of December 2008.

David (S) - Working on a BR Horse box chassis.




Peter - I was working on a GWR shunter's truck from the Chris Higgs range. I have encountered two problems so far, the fold up axle boxes do not seem to fold in half as the etch line is not central. As a consequence I could not get them to sit right on the W irons. I have decided to use cast ones for this kit. Also the instructions told me to fold up the buffer beam (part of the main chassis) followed by the brake hanger. Unfortunately if you do this the brake hanger fouls the folded buffer beam and cannot be folded down below the chassis. Reversing the fold order sorted this problem.

Our host Melvyn was reduced to huddling in a corner! The portable workbench?

Aidensfield Part 2

Progress on the challenge layout has been a lot slower than originally anticipated due to various reasons. However most of the track has been built using the solder construction method. I have learned a lot about track configurations and construction along the way. Unfortunately construction had already been commenced when the Easitrack system appeared in Shop 1. However I will use it for the next layout based on Ongar on the GER (I have a deadline of 2015 for that one as it will be the 150th Anniversary of the line!)

The photo shows construction of the single slip, and after a silly mistake (not looking at the template sufficiently) construction is moving along quite quickly. The Easitrack jigs make filing the rails for the V crossings very easily.

I have purchase 6 turnout operation mechanisms from Shop 1 to operate the 6 turnouts on the layout. I have not decided what method I will actually use to operate the turnouts yet; I am leaving my options open.

Once all of the track is complete I will start laying it on the baseboards. I plan to use insulation boards which are approximately 1200mm x 500mm x 52mm and purchased from B & Q in a pack of four for £20. I plan to edge then with thin ply.

When construction of the boards starts I will post some more photos.