Chassis for HOn30 Boxcab

T

tebee

I've been asked to do a HOn30 version of a On30 bo-bo Boxcab I did. Problem is I don't model in that scale so I don't know what N gauge chassis are good and easily available.

Are there any sites that give chassis dimensions? Alternatively this is a drawing of the loco as proposed , what would fit it?

Boxcab%20ho30.jpg


Dimensions in mm, It's being 3-d printed so I can rescale to a certain degree.
 
The Life-Like (Walters 2K) SW chassis is regarded as a good HOn30 starting point. Might be a little expensive to find one, though.

An alternative would be the NWSL motorizing kit for the HOn30 Keystone Shay. The drive is very similar to a diesel drive, and the wheelbase might be more to your liking. These used to be available as a bare drive without the Keystone parts, which might fit pretty well. Again, not cheap.

Which has probably been why HOn30 has not been as successful as On30. When the N scale manufacturers moved upscale (in terms of quality and price), there weren't any cheap small locomotive donor chassis available anymore.

my thoughts, your choices
 
I'll measure my Keystone/NWSL shay to se how the mechanism sizes out, I'll have to wait till I've had some sleep to double check my math, as I am ghosting right now after working all night.. My Hon3 Keystone/NWSL shay will not go around a 15 inch radius in either direction, I don't think dropping the shay lineshaft will help much.


The mechanism is very good, but it is slightly fragile, and requires lots of maintenance and I have had to modify the build on the two I have built to make them robust enough to use under the horrid conditions of my RR.


I have detailed some of my modifications somewhere here on Zealot, but I have no idea where.


Bill Nelson
 
I think there is may be a thread on the Keystone shays in the Logging Mining and industrial section somewhere.


One issue with the boxcab is the side frames wouldn't bee right, and it might be hard to find some that looked right, had the correct wheelbase, and holes for the shouldered axles.


also one side of each wheel would have the gearing on it; even though the build would be greatly simplified by not having to deal with the lineshaft issues, a N scale diesel would be much easier.



Bill Nelson
 
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