Re: Bachmann innovations.

Oh dear, I seem to have steered this somewhat off topic! The Vitesse 2L Mk2 from 1968 had modified rear suspension including rubber doughnuts to tkae up deflections in the shaft. A very well thought of system, except by those who have to repair them, or indeed those who have to pay for the repairs....... Getting involved with old cars (and women I suppose) is what drew me away from model railways nearly 20 years ago. Now that the old cars are paying my wages, I can justifygetting back to the old hobby. Cheers, Bill.

The later ones were certainly an improvement and some modification had been done. Not sure if it was the same as the 2000. I had a an early 1600 version for a while and the habit of allowing for the quirkiness of the rear suspension had stuck. A mate who had a late Herald found that fitting radial tyres instead of cross ply made a huge difference. Better stop now before we get drummed out of this group. mind you the Herald family was probably the road equivalent of the BR MK 1 coach. About the last mass market British cars to have a separate underframe. Yes desperate attempt to get some rail topic in. G.Harman

Way off topic but....

No, you might be thinking of the TR6, that had a similar rear suspension to the 2000. The Mk2 Vitesse / GT6 had a bottom 'wishbone' [1] added to the rear hub, the top link still used the spring, to allow the hub to move around it's axis a rubber drive coupling was added to the drive-shaft (the same coupling as used on the FWD Triumphs of the period).

[1] more like a 'Y' link, the wide part of the 'Y' is connected to the hub and the thin part to the chassis.

Ok.

Ah well, they had quite interesting toy articles! Are they still around?

What are you going to interchange with if you restrict yourself to 00 and Triang bedhead type couplers? (just asking)

Regards, Greg.P.

Old cars (and old women) are what get me around, trains and model trains have a degree of stability about them.

Follwoing on from discovering the problem, I have now started making 'corrective' versions of the Bachmann EZmate Mk2 NEM (78035) in the absence of a pre-made correcting unit from Bachmann!

Using a Temperature Controlled Soldering Iron, I have adjusted it to the MINIMUM temperature at which it will soften / melt the Brown Polyethylene (?) type of plastic used in the Bachmann NEM adapter coupling.

1/ Note that this is a DIFFERENT palstic to that used by Kadee 2/ The couplings are half the price of kadee - but lack the pivotting head (they are therefore economical to experiment on, but may not suit all aplications) 3/ I am ensuring that I am not generating poisonous fumes! - too high a temperature would do this - only proceed if your iron can work low enough (I am using a recent Maplin Offer Iron, and the dial (no feedback) is set to approx 250/290 division, much lower than for soldering) (My digital readout Iron is not operative at the moment) If you generate fumes: a don't inhale them, and b/ stop !!!! I accept no liability for you trying to kill yourself etc.

4/ You need to create 2 slight bends, usually like this:

(Tail) ======[]

Likewise British modellers would welcome the rest of the world converting to

4mm/ft :o)

(kim)

Many more Aussies in Australia than New Zealanders in New Zealand. Therefore according to Gregory's argument - more 3.5mm/ft modellers than 4mm/ft modellers - all New Zealanders should become Australians (or Chinese or whatever).

Not to us, I couldn't even tell if Hi-5 was Australian or New Zealand :o)

The same is true of Holland but I still prefer the UK :o)

(kim)

It's less off-topic than discussing H0 in a uk.rail.models group :o)

Besides which, I lived with the people who built Triumphs for seven years so I could go on listening to the subject for ever :o)

(kim)

In message , kim may have written...

My apologies Kim, thought you were having a dig at the Kiwis, rather than making a point, should have read the previous posts more carefully!

No, I love everything about New Zealand and understand that New Zealanders don't want to be Australians, Canadians don't want to be Americans and UK modellers don't want 3.5mm/ft :o)

(kim)

In message , kim may have written...

I agree, no HO, but readily available EM models on the other hand.... :-)

Salvé kim skrev i diskussionsgruppsmeddelandet: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net...

I'd like to model UK outline in H0...after all we did invent it and it is closer to reality than 00...... except in regards to Irish railways :(

Beowulf

The rest of the world (or at least the sane part) avoids mixed measuring ratio systems! :^)))

Regards, Greg.P.

By your reasoning shouldn't we become Peruvians or something?

We should become Australians because you can't tell the difference? When are you lot becoming yanks?

So how come there is a UK HO society - did some passing NZer or Dutchman found it?

The precise scale is not particularly relevant to beginners so H0 or 00 doesn't matter very much at that stage. Once you become established in the hobby the scale does matter very much; for consistency of modelling and for the availability of models and components.

From my position outside the P4/EM/00/H0 British scene, it would appear that for beginners and 'average modellers' (ouch) there would be an advantage in being able to utilize the vast range of H0 accessories and the manufacturers would gain a larger market for British outline models. The manufacturers are there to sell more product, after all and more sales would translate to either lower prices or more variety.

What I do like about the British market is the availability of parts for model building, wheels, motors etc at reasonable prices. I think this is a result of the huge number of (steam) locomotive types that existed in Britain, unlike Germany where there were standard classes since 1878 and most can be bought off the shelf, which takes away the interest in scratch building. Perhaps the model gauge 'problem' in Britain also adds to the availability of components, perhaps not. Certainly the low quality of British models in the past has been a factor in creating the British two tier modelling scene.

Regards, Greg.P.