I just ordered a few sets, along with a 1:20 golf cart for a project I didn’t know I was going to be doing. (It was $7.66 with free shipping!)
Later,
K
Kevin Strong said:
I just ordered a few sets, along with a 1:20 golf cart for a project I didn’t know I was going to be doing. (It was $7.66 with free shipping!)
Later,
K
It’s good to see you take on a project! What has it been since the last? Minutes?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Happy for you,
John
Was going to mention that Aliexpress also sells scale items. Especially when I saw another discussion of scale autos. I model in 1:29 and a search for 1:30 yields scale people as well as many architectural items (Benches, chairs, toilets and other furniture). I have bought construction vehicles for my indoor 2 Rail 1:48 as well.
Dan, gee thanks. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)Now I have more 1:24th autos coming to me mail order. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)Something plain and ordinary, to go with the truck in that other thread. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)
I’ve had my eyes on this for awhile as a cheap way to get containers.
Guesstimating they are about 30’ I suppose I could cut and paste 2 forty-footers from 3. I sent a message to the seller asking if the container was removable but haven’t heard back yet.
This would be interesting to add a garden RR scene to a Garden RR.
Track
The container would be removable with enough effort I am sure. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
I almost bought a garbage truck from them. After all, its an ordinary, everyday, vehicle. But I didn’t. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I am going to put it in the undecided category and maybe make a decision later, or not.
David,
Put the truck in your wishlist. Just like Amazon wishlists and eBay watchlist, The sellers seem to know how many folks have placed an given item in their wishlist and will reduce the price.You will get notified of the lower price. Then - maybe you will or maybe you won’t.
Dan, its not the price that has me hesitating, although a lower price might persuade me. Its the “how useful would it actually be?” question that has me hesitating. My storage spaces are nearing capacity, and do I really need that item?
Yes David. I get the feeling the folks here are not familiar with Aliexpress and wanted to offer up that tip.
Dan, I wasn’t familiar with them. I been buying my die cast cars at Walmart, Rite Aid, Walgreen’s, Toys R Us, 3000toys.com and Betty’s Attic. I even bought 2 classics from Publisher’s Clearinghouse. As I stated in my first post, I am always looking for the more average vehicle.
I got my shipment of bearings from AliExpress yesterday, and played with them in the workshop. They’re very good quality, but I don’t know that I’d call them “top drawer.” (But at $10 for 50 bearings, you’re not paying for “top drawer.”) Don’t mistake that as saying they’re no good. I installed them on a caboose and hopper car, and there was a marked improvement in performance. They’ll start rolling on the slightest incline. They’re just not quite as free-rolling as the ball bearings in my Rich Yoder trucks. (Those trucks ran me $100, so I should certainly hope they’re using “top-drawer” bearings.)
For my purposes, I think they’ll work nicely. The trucks on the hopper car I converted was showing signs of elongation in the journals (despite routine lubrication) so I think it’s probably a good thing I converted things over. I’m going to do a few other freight cars and pepper them into my normal freight operation fleet to see if my concerns of cars being too free-rolling to couple properly or rolling away are overblown.
The two trucks I converted both had Bachmann wheels. The axles were not quite a perfect fit, at least not consistently. I think there’s enough of a deformation on the axle ends where they are cut during manufacturing that the bearings don’t just slide on. I had to sand the 6 of the 8 axles down just slightly so the bearings would fit on the axles. Since they’re going into a bearing, you don’t need to get the end polished smooth again, though you can.
Still waiting on my golf cart… They tell me it’s shipped.
Later,
K
Keven if the ball bearings aren’t perfectly in line with the wheel axle, you wont get quite the performance you would want. I had to loosen the retaining screws on the truck side-frames, just a little, on a few trucks to improve the bearing’s performance. On another truck, I was off just a little, but enough that the one axle would not roll freely at all. After filing down the ends of that axle just a bit, so the axle end was just a little sloppy in the bearing, it spins real nice.
Kevin, are they stainless steel? Are they magnetic at all?
Greg
Greg, they are magnetic, so I’d presume steel construction. Considering stainless steel bearings of the same size I found on line were $20 each (!), I’m pretty sure they ain’t stainless.
David, I’ve had similar issues. On the Bachmann/LGB trucks, I found I could sand a slight taper on the bolster insert that fits into the sideframe so the sideframe can have some rotational motion (equalization) as well as just a bit of motion one way or the other from being square to the bolster. By enlarging the screw hole on the bottom of the sideframe and not tightening the screw 100%, you can hold everything together nicely, but give the truck enough flexibility to where the bearings can line up and roll freely.
Preliminary tests appear positive in terms of operations. They do roll better (as evidenced by realizing that I’ve got some humps in a few of my sidings), but coupling does not appear to be much different. I could couple to the bearing-equipped cars with no more difficulty than coupling to the original cars. The Kadees coupled no troubles, and the Accucraft couplers I often have to push together by hand anyway because the springs are too stiff to couple gently.
Later,
K
Kevin, oh yes. Once I started putting the bearings in my cars I noticed that my trestle isn’t level, and my one shelf has a dip in it so that the car in one slot wants to roll forward. Its almost like the real thing. A real car, with the brakes cranked off, will start to wander off on even the slightest grade.
As for making trucks with equalization, I had to undo that “improvement” on a set of LGB trucks once. There is a section of track where the track is slightly over gauge. and the flexible LGB truck would sometimes climb one wheel over the rail-head at that spot. Since the only piece of rolling stock I had that did that was the tender truck on one of my Moguls, I modified the offending truck so its less flexible.
Yes Greg and Fred, I should replace that section, since rebending it with the railbender didn’t fix it. But since it was only one truck that complained, I thought it faster and easier to “fix” the truck. Here, sometimes the squeaky wheel doesn’t get the grease, it gets replaced.
I think what would work well in our environment is either all stainless or the hybrid bearings used in Aristo locos. I have had enough carbon steel bearings start to rust up that I don’t want a fleet of cars that can do this.
Presently the ball bearings are limited to auxiliary power pickup on tenders and on lighted cars and cabooses. Having 400 more axles that might need maintenance is not sounding good to me.
The hybrid bearings must be out there, because Aristo used them, so we know they were inexpensive some way.
Greg
I had ordered some of those bearings from Aliexpress on 5/10, and I am still waiting for them. So far I am not impressed. The ones I ordered from Speed_mart arrived in less then 2 weeks. Its a good thing that I don’t need them for a current project.
Hi Dave,
I would check on the order, I ordered on 5/12 and received them on 5/27.
Chuck
Chuck, a week later I ordered something else from them. I have yet to receive that order too. They do say that “standard” shipping could take up to 45 days. I didn’t think that sounded right, but now I do.