Reviews & Comments on Walthers Engine Service Facility Kits

[CP5170]

Thanks Gary

Ken

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mikebonellisr

I too want to build a service facility,and I hope the walters turntable with indexing is going to be a QUALITY model worth the price. I now have a diamond scale turntable...a beautiful kit,but I must have messed up when building it.Also having problems with the
model railways?? indexing kit.Where can I find small to medium service facility track plan ideas?

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[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CP5170

I purchased a Walthers turntable kit and it is not worth the money. We have disassembled it twice to get it to run smoothly. I am going to rework the motor mechanism as well as the bridge itself.

On Saturday, I was on a layout tour and visited two layout that had Walthers turntables. In both cases, the owners were very dissatisfied with their kits. One was an older kit ( 3 years. like mine) and the other was the new kit. They had to rework the drive mechanism and replace the motor with a dehumidifier motor.

Ken

I have a Heljan turntable ( they made the Walthers TT) and I've heard similar complaints. So I set off to solve the problem of jerky motion.
Your bridge probably sits more on the trucks than on the bearing. On an old Volkswagon Beetle, the generator belt was adjusted with adding / removing shims on the generator pully. Those shims are a perfect fit for under the bridge bearing. You only need one to lift up the bridge a few thousands. Be sure your bridge rail is the same height as the lead rails. I hand laid code 83 rail on my bridge. Another thing you need to have correct is the piece that the bearings set on (I call it a bearing race) is sitting flush with the pit bottom(view from the top). If not use the shim(s). I also fabracated my drive in a way that allows bridge removal. The drive shaft on the bridge side has a "T" slot to allow any misalignment of the drive. The motor side has a "T" piece made of brass rod stock. The connecter was gutted out of a Ero style terminal connector. I runs smooth, not like a clock with a sweeping second hand, but pretty good. The Wathers motor could be a stepping motor which would give a slight jerkyness.

[mikebonellisr]

I too want to build a service facility,and I hope the walters turntable with indexing is going to be a QUALITY model worth the price. I now have a diamond scale turntable...a beautiful kit,but I must have messed up when building it.Also having problems with the
model railways?? indexing kit.Where can I find small to medium service facility track plan ideas?

[orsonroy]

The "new" Walthers turntable is a 130' version, and will only be available as a RTR product (not a kit). It hasn't been released yet.

The turntable Ken's talking about is their 90' turntable, which pretty much everyone agrees is a POS. The best "fix" I've seen for it is to build the TT as a freewheeling assembly, and to mount it to an Atlas TT mounted under the benchwork. For my money, it'd be simpler to kitba***he Atlas TT into a pit-type TT, or just buy one from Bowser (the next cheapest and most reliable TT next to Atlas. There are other, nicer TT's on the market, but they're complex, rather pricey kits)

[CP5170]

I purchased a Walthers turntable kit and it is not worth the money. We have disassembled it twice to get it to run smoothly. I am going to rework the motor mechanism as well as the bridge itself.

On Saturday, I was on a layout tour and visited two layout that had Walthers turntables. In both cases, the owners were very dissatisfied with their kits. One was an older kit ( 3 years. like mine) and the other was the new kit. They had to rework the drive mechanism and replace the motor with a dehumidifier motor.

Ken

[orsonroy]

I've built two of the ash hoists, the only kits of the new range that I needed (they're easier than scratchbuilding). I liked the two that I built, which each went together in under an hour, while watching TV. I don't like the string used to rig them (string never sits right), so I replaced the lines with thin wire (26 AWG, I think).

Based on the ash hoist kit, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary for a Walther's kit, so I'm assuming that the others in this series will be up to Walthers usual quality (pretty darn good).

[JPowell]

Well, I am in the same boat as you 2, but from what I've read in other threads about other Walther's products, they seem to be of good quality. Hope this helps!

[JCasey]

Hi Ken,
Sorry, no, but I am in the same boat, as I am looking for a good engine service facility kit myself. Hope someone else can shed some light. I have not seen any reviews either.
John

[kenw]

Howdy,

I was wondering is anyone had any experiences with the new Walthers
Engine Service Facilities kits (933-2900, 933-2829 etc.). They look very
nice but I haven't seen any reviews in the maganzines. Any experiences
good or bad.

Thanks very much.

Ken West