Hobby Holidays Master Chassis Jig - review
This review was first published on Raymond Walley's own website.
This ingenious, well designed and crafted device will help ensure that you build accurate locomotive chassis that run first time.
I saw it first at the Guildford Group's trade show in Reading in December 2005 and ordered one immediately. Phil had sold out by the time I got to his stand so I had to wait some time for it to arrive due to a lack parts to make new stock.
It comes with full instructions on assembly and use.
This picture shews all the parts assembled for a three axle chassis with the rolling road added and wired up.
The other two parts for the other rolling axle components are at the back along with two Allen keys used to set the jig up.
It is possible to test each wheel's pick-up independently, good for sorting out problems.
To use the jig set up using the connecting rods fitted to the turned ends of the dummy axles.
Check that both sets of rods are the same by testing the second set against the setting for the first. If they do not match exactly then sort out that problem before proceeding further.
Now fit the side frame and solder the bearings in place. Add the next side frame with bearings and spacers and solder up the whole chassis (pictured below).
Where one uses an RSU, clamp the negative terminal to the jig.
You can see a substantial brass terminal I have bolted to the jig in the top left corner in the picture above.
Once the wheels, motor and motion (or at least the rods) are fitted it is an easy matter to test run the chassis on the integral rolling road.
A well designed tool that helps make the job of setting up locomotive chassis easy, quick and above all, accurate.
