Paul Willis
Frank wrote:
I would have to agree with the P4 boys you’ve spoken to that models fitted with springs appear to glide through any point work with a very satisfying clickety click as compared to the more clunky sound of a compensated chassis. Getting the balance right when building a CSB sprung model from scratch is relatively easy because you can play around with the ballast before finally installing it, but with the ROD the ballast was already a done deal so when I realised how far off level it was the only choice was to divide the springs front to back.
Next time you build an 0-6-0 I’d recommend you give CSB a go if you already use compensation.
Actually, you don’t even need to mess about with the ballasting to get the balance right. If you get the fixing points of the CSB pivots in the right place when you build the chassis, you should have it spot on. There is a spreadsheet on the CLAG website that allows you to input a couple of parameters and get all the answers out of it. Or they even have pre-defined “plots” for many common locomotives and wheelbases.
There’s also a long and extremely accessible topic by Will Lichfield on the Scalefour Forum that tells you all that you need to know (and a few things that you didn’t even realise) about springing using CSBs.
Suffice to say that given the improvement in smoothness and pick-up I’ve experienced, I’m completely sold on it. And it is just as easy to build a chassis using it as using compensation. Easier if you’re talking about eight-or ten-coupled!
Here’s one of mine that I did earlier, part-built. A nice easy 0-6-0T, in the form of a GER E22 Buckjumper.
Best,
Paul
