Minitrains chassis axle swaps...
This may be considered utter madness as these chassis are not cheap (these pair cost nearly £150 combined) but I've done some major surgery...
By removing the cranks from the F&C chassis I was able to drop the axles out of the chassis, and carefully swap them with those from the Gmeinder chassis. The 'long' crank pins were reduced in length by snipping them in half with needle nose side cutters, and then some replacement etched nickel silver cranks were fitted to the Gmeinder (as the wheel base is 17mm vs the 16mm of the F&C). Result? Two smooth running chassis...
So why go to the trouble? Well the Gmeinder with flycranks is destined for a custom EuroNG LKM NS2 - the NS2f variant with outside cranks and central jack-shaft drive... I have a 'test' print ordered from Shapeways. This will then be made available 'to order' only if successful, as anyone ordering one themselves would need to do the same, expensive, chassis mod...
The off-set motor on the F&C chassis with the old Gmeinder wheelset is then the perfect unit to power a Jung ZL233 - which will also be a 'to order' kit from EuroNG in the future - in fact, I might offer them as a pair as anyone doing it would need the two Minitrains chassis like I've used!
More soon as the madness continues...
By removing the cranks from the F&C chassis I was able to drop the axles out of the chassis, and carefully swap them with those from the Gmeinder chassis. The 'long' crank pins were reduced in length by snipping them in half with needle nose side cutters, and then some replacement etched nickel silver cranks were fitted to the Gmeinder (as the wheel base is 17mm vs the 16mm of the F&C). Result? Two smooth running chassis...
So why go to the trouble? Well the Gmeinder with flycranks is destined for a custom EuroNG LKM NS2 - the NS2f variant with outside cranks and central jack-shaft drive... I have a 'test' print ordered from Shapeways. This will then be made available 'to order' only if successful, as anyone ordering one themselves would need to do the same, expensive, chassis mod...
The off-set motor on the F&C chassis with the old Gmeinder wheelset is then the perfect unit to power a Jung ZL233 - which will also be a 'to order' kit from EuroNG in the future - in fact, I might offer them as a pair as anyone doing it would need the two Minitrains chassis like I've used!
More soon as the madness continues...
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James.