Australian Adaptations

Himself has begun making the alterations to the Farish 08 chassis which will power our model of No. 9 - the large, yellow, ex-Australian shunting diesel at Dinas.

In the search for a more authentic look, with chunky fly cranks, he's replacing the plastic extensions which create the false outside frame effect on the 08 with a couple of packets of brass cranks we had in our strategic reserve of bits and pieces.

These were once produced by Meridian Models (item MP24) but so far as we can tell are not available at the moment - which is a shame because they're very handy to have.

They are fitted over the stubs of the overlong axles on the wheel sets on the chassis.

Quartering is as simple as it can ever be because you can line up the crank with the inset in the wheel where the original plastic cranks were positioned.

The jackshaft drive will be created using the clever replacement chassis keeper plate supplied by RT Models and employing a fourth set of these cranks.