I've finally acquired a Frateschi 2-8-0, in D&RGW colours, and as a bonus picked up the 4-6-0 as well. This will be the basis of my models of W&MR nos. 11 and 12.
Disassembling the 2-8-0 was pretty simple, there's a few interesting tricks but it's pretty much snap-together and a couple of screws.
As predicted the motorised tender looks like the easiest part to convert to 12mm gauge, the axles are plastic tubing and wheels themselves are removable. I've removed one side of wheels and will carefully cut the axles to the required length (10mm) for 12mm gauge track. Some drilling out of the axles was required, but after some moving about I've managed to convert it to 12mm:
The front truck looks like it won't be too hard to convert either - in fact it's loose enough to move the wheels inwards already.
The locomotive itself is a lot more complex. The issue is not just the wheels, but the connecting rods and pistons. Luckily the pistons are a separate part and can be removed to be moved inwards, with the wheels themselves. The sides of the loco's frame are too far apart to allow the wheels to be moved closer together for 12mm gauge. The entire chassis will need to be remade.
However, I have a theory on how to do this. By cutting out the part of the chassis which holds the wheels (not sure what this is called!) and moving them inwards I might be able to make the frame slender enough for 12mm gauge. Or I could stuff the whole thing up. That's more likely! Failing that I could create a new chassis and get it printed via Shapeways. This may actually work better.
The entire cab comes off, which is good as I want to re-do this - the actual No 11 and No 12 appear to have two large windows at the front of the cab, plus to "sky light" in the Frateschi model.
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| The finished product... |
As predicted the motorised tender looks like the easiest part to convert to 12mm gauge, the axles are plastic tubing and wheels themselves are removable. I've removed one side of wheels and will carefully cut the axles to the required length (10mm) for 12mm gauge track. Some drilling out of the axles was required, but after some moving about I've managed to convert it to 12mm:
 |
| The motorised tender |
The locomotive itself is a lot more complex. The issue is not just the wheels, but the connecting rods and pistons. Luckily the pistons are a separate part and can be removed to be moved inwards, with the wheels themselves. The sides of the loco's frame are too far apart to allow the wheels to be moved closer together for 12mm gauge. The entire chassis will need to be remade.
However, I have a theory on how to do this. By cutting out the part of the chassis which holds the wheels (not sure what this is called!) and moving them inwards I might be able to make the frame slender enough for 12mm gauge. Or I could stuff the whole thing up. That's more likely! Failing that I could create a new chassis and get it printed via Shapeways. This may actually work better.
The entire cab comes off, which is good as I want to re-do this - the actual No 11 and No 12 appear to have two large windows at the front of the cab, plus to "sky light" in the Frateschi model.
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