Finally we have some progress to report with our key new products.
The last few months of 2007 saw a succession of frustrations, with everything taking far longer than it seemed it should. Now things are coming together and our first driving wheels and first NewTrack diamond crossings are almost ready.
P4 Driving Wheels
We have in stock a substantial production batch of moulded stub axles and have ordered driving wheel centres and axle sleeves to match the stub axles. Delivery of these during March was promised but they are only now (14th April) trickling through. We hope to have limited quantities of the LNER 6ft 8in driving wheels moulded in time for them to be available at Scalefour North on April 19th/20th and good quantities in stock soon after.
A limited number of the specially designed press tools should also be available for Scalefour North. You must not attempt to assemble or dismantle the wheelsets without using this tool. We also very strongly recommend use of our back to back gauge which maximises the likelihood of achieving a true-running wheelset.
Our new range of crankpin components were also expected for Scalefour North, but these look likely to be a few days too late. The components are designed to go with our driving wheels but most will potentially have wider application. They use an M1.0 screw and have 1.5mm diameter phosphor bronze bearing surfaces.
We decided not to freeze the design of other driving wheels until the first wheel type has been successfully launched. Lead times for subsequent wheel types should be relatively short (10 weeks or so) between freezing the design and release of production wheels. We have had useful feedback on the wheels shown on the website and will put an updated version of each wheel on the site for final comments before irrevocably committing the design to production. There are choices on whether to make wheels to their nominal (unworn) diameter with a full width front face or to the dimensions for a partial or fully-worn state. We also hope to have cleared up any doubts about the accuracy of the shape of each moulded centre before committing.
Our firm plans are to do the other LNER standard wheels (6' 2" 18 spoke, 5' 8" 18 spoke, 5' 2" 16 spoke and 4' 8" 14 spoke), the J15 wheel (4' 11" 15 spoke), two GER 4' 0" wheels (10 and 15 spoke) and the other three wheels in Bernard Weller's original project (GWR King 6' 6", Southern 5' 6" and GWR 4' 7.5"). We cannot commit to firm timescales but will work on producing these eleven wheels as quickly as we can. We will also produce bogie and tender wheels of appropriate types.
Prices will be somewhat higher than initially planned but we believe the wheels will still be seen as value for money, given their accurate appearance and ease of achieving a true-running wheelset.
Pack sizes are not yet finalised but the prices will be based on £18 for a pair of wheels, £7 for a pack of four axles and £3 for crankpin components for two wheels. Each crank pin component will also be sold in a pack of ten of just that component.
NewTrack Diamonds and Slips
If nothing else, the last few months have demonstrated that getting obtuse crossings - particularly ones as 'flat' as 1 in 8 - just right is far more difficult than the equivalent common crossing. Supplier difficulties have also added time but we think we have now achieven a satisfactory end product, although the crossing flangeways will be slightly narrower than the P4 minimum specification of 0.65mm. If using the standard P4 back to back setting (17.67mm) for your wheelsets, it will be important to keep to the nominal P4 track gauge of 18.83mm through the crossing. We aim to have a small initial batch of 1 in 8 diamond crossing kits on sale at Scalefour North.
The special chair mouldings for the slips have now been test run. 1 in 8 slip kits should therefore follow soon after the 1 in 8 diamond. As an example of the issues we have to get right, the numbering of the individual chair mouldings is being improved as the usability of the chair sprues is totally dependent on being able to identify easily which of 69 different chairs is which!
Other Developments
Huge amounts of time have been spent trying to resolve the problem of getting point and splice rails 'wired' (with the same issue also affecting the machining of some tooling). We have now established a new supplier relationship and, so far, quality and delivery seem good. Stocks of turnout kits are now improved and we are expecting to be able to produce crossing assemblies for diamond crossings and single and double slips without large delays.
Additions to the Product List
With our sprung wagon chassis,There is now a wide choice of wheelbases, solebar depths and W-iron types for both 4mm and 7mm scales. Some types have so far only been produced in limited quantities to test interest - but will be retained in our product list if there seems likely to be sufficient demand.
Other additions to our product list include the reintroduction of drawhook springing units (4CP 304A) and the introduction of machined switch rails for BH 'D' switches (in steel only, 4SB D01A).
We have also decided to include in the product list certain items specifically for EM and 00. These products - FastTrack flexible track bases and wagon wheels - have been in production for a long time, though not usually available directly from Exactoscale.
Discontinued Products
We will not ourselves in future be supplying:
Resistance soldering equipment
Track ballast
Exacto-Track for 00 and EM
Turnout Operating Units for 00
Turnout Operating Units for P4/EM (were PW005, 007 and 009A) will be withdrawn when existing stocks are exhausted. They are shown as 4XX TOU1, TOU2 and TOU6 in the list of products.