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Original mock-up

On the right are two pictures of the Dapol Mogul slide bars built from the latest test etches. There need to be some alterations to make them easier to build, but we are happy about how they've come out. We should have the complete replacement cylinders and slidebars finished soon too.

There is a strange arrangement of the slidebars on the Dapol mogul, they are too close together and are bent outwards at the ends, The picture on the left shows a mock-up of the replacement slidebars with only a single thickness of etch for the slidebars for quickness. The production etch on the right includes an extra layer of etch at the top and bottom to give the correct thickness and shape.

The good news is that the slidebars work with our connecting rods fitted, even with the sideplay on the 00 wheelsets. The connecting rod big end had to be opened out to fit the Dapol crankpin so no problems there. We made our connecting rod up out of the two etches with a thick boss added front and back which turns out to be the same thickness as the Dapol one (what a shame it is nearly 2mm too long). If it's washered out, it can be done with just one etch thick. The bottom slidebar had to be filed away, just as on the prototype, but not all the way to the front. It will look better with the second etch on the top and bottom of the slidebars on the fold-up version.
 

In this photograph the position of the motion bracket is slightly wrong. It should be further to the right to line up with the one on top of the footplate but, as it is only a trial we didn't bother moving it as it doesn't affect the functioning.

We will then try the motion bracket, again from one of our kits, plus fitting a new, correct length connecting rod (C402 from our range). If successful, an etch containing all of these parts will be made available.