Archbar Trucks

[mhampton]

In my mind, it looks as if the greatest single expense when scratchbuilding rolling stock is a pair of trucks. Has anybody come up with a good way of making them or am I to be resigned to purchasing them?

Mike Hampton
http://members.iquest.net/~mhampton/

[kstrong]

They're not the most difficult things to make, but I think in terms of time, energy, and materials, you're far better off buying them. I built one truck for a locomotive project I did, because I needed a particular size to fit the space.



Note that I used commercial journals on this, so I had to buy a plastic truck anyway for this project.

Having said that, it would be worth the effort to build one sideframe as a master and make a mold from it. You'd have to engineer the methodology of attaching it to the bolster, but I can't imagine it would be that difficult to figure something out. I'm not sure how well the casting resins hold up to flexing, so you'd have to assemble the trucks with the wheels already inserted.

I'll wish you luck, but also tell you I use Bachmann and Aristo/Delton trucks on all my stuff. It's just easier.

Later,

K