My latest project to be inspired by Peter Tatlow's books is an ex-NBR fifteen ton six-wheel van. It was meant to be a quick project, but now I've got to the detailing stage it may take a bit longer. The advantage of this van for my 'make-do and mend' ideas, is that it has a twenty-foot wheelbase, ie twice ten-foot. This allows the re-use of older Bachmann ten foot underframes of which I still have a number replaced in previous projects.
So, here is the starting point:-
I used two of these, although I was originally planning to use three. The plastic was easier to cut than I had expected, so I was able to cut away the moulded on brake levers more easily than I thought. The next picture explains the process. The Bachmann brake shoes, 'V' hangers, and push rods are kept on one side of each unit. It is the side with the representation of the Morton clutch which is cut away.
There is still one small piece of extraneous plastic over the inner end of the outer springs, but that will be obscured by the new brake levers when they are made and fitted. You will see that I miss-cut one piece, but fortunately that did not matter when everything was glued together. The longitudinal cut enables the axleboxes to be set slightly further apart. This provides more clearance for the Hornby wheelsets and axles in the outer w-irons, after brass bearings had been secured in the plastic axleboxes. It also allows more clearance for the centre wheelset to move sideways.
This wheelset was fitted with a replacement hollow axle formed from modified brass tube. A steel rod fits inside this.
The centre axleboxes are drilled to take this rod. When drilling I deliberately made the new bearing slightly raised from the original centre.
This is entirely consistent with the later versions of these vans. I had originally thought that the earlier version with a pivoted underframe for the outer wheels would be needed to get round my curves, but the method selected is easier and allows the vehicle to transit my test curves at 18" radius. The four donor pieces are plastic welded to a support plate cut from thick plastic. This is then bolted to the underside of the strong plastic box which forms the van body.
The three bolts were intended to allow the relative height of the wheelsets to be adjusted, if there was any tendency for the van to see-saw about the centre. In fact, the slightly raised centre wheelset allows to vehicle to run effectively on 4 wheels, with the centre wheelset only just touching the track. It seems to manage my pointwork safely, although before I finally secure the centre axle I may put a small spring on each side.
