Mol_PMB Posted February 17 Posted February 17 It feels like my E class is on the home straight (and I hope I'm not tempting fate) and as usual my brain is working more quickly than my hands, not always in a helpful way! I'm building my E as E410 on a Fenit theme, and I'm well aware that the G class also worked to Fenit - initially G601s and later G611s. So I was wondering about the options for a G class model. 30-odd years ago I scratchbuilt one in plasticard but it wasn't very satisfactory and is long gone now. I've seen references to several different G class kits, but I'd just like to tap your collective wisdom! In particular, which of the kits would be suitable for 21m gauge and might satisfy my OCD levels? The issue with 21mm gauge is that on the prototype the wheels are very closely spaced inside the frames, so that when using the correct gauge and slightly overscale width wheels, they definitely don't fit behind frames made overscale thickness. It appears that Silver Fox do a resin cast G601, which looks OK if a little basic, but with a one-piece resin chassis that looks like it isn't suitable for 21mm gauge: IR / IÉ 601 Class (G Class) 0-4-0 Deutz | Silver Fox Models Then there's the DC Kits G611, looks a bit tidier but again I'm unsure if this would be suitable for 21mm gauge? CIE/Irish Rail Class G Shunter The third option I've identified is the Worsley Works etched kit for a G611. This looks like it might be suitable for 21mm gauge though I'm not 100% sure: Irish Railways Deutz Diesel CIE Coras Iompair Eireann in 4mm Scale My gut feel is that the Worsley Works G611 is most suitable, but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has built one of these to 21mm gauge. Also, are there any options for the G601 suitable for 21mm gauge? If this turns out to be too hard, I can always just build another E class! Many thanks, Mol Quote
Horsetan Posted February 17 Posted February 17 The Worsley Works one is probably the one with the most potential, but you have to make your own detail castings. 1 1 Quote
Darius43 Posted February 17 Posted February 17 I’m not sure DC kits kits are available any more. Their website still lists them but I’m sure I read a while back that most of them don’t exist anymore. You can still order them but don’t expect anything to turn up… I know this from experience. Cheers Darius 1 1 Quote
Mayner Posted February 17 Posted February 17 The Worsley Works G builds into a nice model and is supplied with a 21mm gauge chassis. Des SSM produced a very nice waterslid transfer set for this loco including legible Duetz makers plates, unfortunately the origonal cabside transfers wore off with handling when I attempted to convert the loco to OO several years ago Although originally motorised with a "Black Beetle" motor bogie re-gauged to 21mm, G611 currently runs on a scratchbuilt chassis powered by a Coreless motor driving a pair of Hi-Level Roadrunner+ gearboxes using a layshaft with a Tender-Riser steo down gearbox. Like my other locos with can or coreless motors and Hi Level gearboxes could never get this loco to reliably operate on DCC, in this case driving each axle with a separate gearbox may have resulted in increased friction and current consumption. Long term plans are to power the 21mm gauge version of this loco with a customised "Quad-driver" arrangement similar to Pauls E401 Class 4 Quote
Horsetan Posted February 17 Posted February 17 1 hour ago, Darius43 said: I’m not sure DC kits kits are available any more. .... They're not. Charlie Petty stopped production of all of his kits years ago. Something about it not being economically viable to carry on, especially as the RTR lads muscled in on his DMU territory. He earns his money from that bewildering range of DCC sound chips, DVDs and books. 1 Quote
Mol_PMB Posted February 18 Author Posted February 18 Many thanks for all the info! Looks like Worsley Works is the one for me. A local supplier too - Worsley is only a few miles away. cheers, Mol 1 Quote
David Holman Posted February 19 Posted February 19 I've got one in 7mm scale that went together well enough. It uses Delrin chain and gears to give four wheel drive. Must be on my Workshop thread, but you'll have to go back a bit to find it. 1 Quote
Mol_PMB Posted February 19 Author Posted February 19 2 minutes ago, David Holman said: I've got one in 7mm scale that went together well enough. It uses Delrin chain and gears to give four wheel drive. Must be on my Workshop thread, but you'll have to go back a bit to find it. Many thanks David, I'll take a look back through the thread. It's good to hear that several people have built them and achieved good results. I've used the Delrin chain on 7mm scale models, but with small-wheeled shunters in 4mm scale it's hard to get fine enough chain or small enough sprockets. 1 Quote
Mol_PMB Posted February 22 Author Posted February 22 Well after placing an order yesterday afternoon, this was just delivered to my door by Allen himself. Can't get much better service than that! The kit doesn't include a chassis, and Allen says it never has done. However, he did put in a couple of nickel silver strips that I can use as a starting point, which was very helpful. The comments in some of the linked threads about the cabsides being in the wrong orientation on the original etch are correct - hence the provision of a second cab etch with them the right way round. Of course this has me wondering about rebuilding the 'wrong' cab as a G601, and if that works then buying a second kit to finish it off. It will have to join the queue as I definitely have too many projects on the go! 4 Quote
Horsetan Posted February 22 Posted February 22 5 hours ago, Mol_PMB said: ... The kit doesn't include a chassis, and Allen says it never has done. However, he did put in a couple of nickel silver strips.... Interesting that the website doesn't mention that omission.... Quote
Mol_PMB Posted February 22 Author Posted February 22 11 minutes ago, Horsetan said: Interesting that the website doesn't mention that omission.... The website does describe it as "CIE G CLASS DUETZ DIESEL 1961 - 1977: Complete Body Kit for the D611 type - No castings." so one wouldn't expect a chassis in a body kit. I won't pick out the typos... However, I found some descriptions of building it which said it came with a 21mm gauge chassis. The wheelbase is 33mm, I'll have to start sketching up some drive options. There are a few oddities, such as there being holes apparently for handrail knobs in the cab backsheet, where there are no handrails on the prototype. Meanwhile there is no provision for the built-in lamps on the cab backsheet of a G611. On the G611, the cabside handrails are set into recesses on the prototype, which could have easily been provided on the etch, but are not. Although in most areas it's a G611, there are some aspects which are more like a G601. However, the Worsley products are sold as scratch aids rather than full kits, and in that context it's certainly a massive step ahead of some blank sheets of brass. It's also inexpensive at £33. So I'm not complaining, and I look forward to adding to my shunter fleet. 2 Quote
Horsetan Posted February 22 Posted February 22 3 hours ago, Mol_PMB said: The website does describe it as "CIE G CLASS DUETZ DIESEL 1961 - 1977: Complete Body Kit for the D611 type - No castings." so one wouldn't expect a chassis in a body kit. I won't pick out the typos... However, I found some descriptions of building it which said it came with a 21mm gauge chassis..... This one suggests there is a fold-up chassis in the pack.... 1 Quote
murrayec Posted February 22 Posted February 22 23 minutes ago, Horsetan said: This one suggests there is a fold-up chassis in the pack.... The WW Kit provides outer frames in the etches, but does not include frames for a chassis. Most builders, but not all, use a 'spud' or Blackbeetle motor bogies for power so all that is needed is a cross support to mount the bogie off....... Eoin 1 Quote
Mayner Posted February 22 Posted February 22 9 hours ago, Mol_PMB said: Well after placing an order yesterday afternoon, this was just delivered to my door by Allen himself. Can't get much better service than that! The kit doesn't include a chassis, and Allen says it never has done. However, he did put in a couple of nickel silver strips that I can use as a starting point, which was very helpful. The comments in some of the linked threads about the cabsides being in the wrong orientation on the original etch are correct - hence the provision of a second cab etch with them the right way round. Of course this has me wondering about rebuilding the 'wrong' cab as a G601, and if that works then buying a second kit to finish it off. It will have to join the queue as I definitely have too many projects on the go! Interestingly the original version of the WW G (cabsides wrong orientation) was supplied with a simple fold up 21mm N/S chassis complete with 2 nylon worm & gear sets! Even more interestingly Jeremy Fletcher talks about a fold up 21mm gauge gear box supplied with the parts on his article on building the loco on the WW website https://www.worsleyworks.co.uk/Image-Pages/Image_4mm_Deutz-3.htm Photos of Mike Edge (possible pattern for DC G Class) & Jeremy's G Class indicate that at one stage the WW G was supplied with plastic spring and axlebox castings. I still have the original 21mm gauge fold up chassis supplied with my G Class, perhaps some day get around to motorising it with my own drive based on a High Level QuadDriver or more likely a drive designed by Paul. I used a scratchbuilt chassis to power the loco while running in OO, basically two plain strips of brass and commercial turned frame spacers possibly supplied with an SSM J15! 1 Quote
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