Here’s my latest project…creating a brass belly for a Corgi Birney Safety Car.
I received the Birney with the motor in place, but wanted to update the understructure. This may be a long process, I have very little spare time, please bear with me. I will try to document as well as I can.
New brass base to replace stock plastic:
Looks good so far Kurt !! Looking forward to the progress ! Do you have a Before you started, picture ?
Thanks, John
The before is simply the stock plastic frame with a cut out for the motor, and relocated truck frames.
Kurt
Looks very nice, Kurt. That’s what I did - not with brass though - on the Rail Zepp. Increased clearance significantly. Note the drop-in motor and frame from Bowser for the Birneys do not have this clearance issue - they ride higher.
More progress…sort of…in the wrong direction…
I needed to recess the motor unit 3/32" into the Birney to get the top of the Corgi Stock truck frame hidden under the birney shell, and align the center of the truck frame with the motor unit axels. Another inherent problem is the width of the motor unit axles compared to the truck frame. I won’t be cutting and patching the truck frame anytime soon.
The bad news…Raising the motor results in destroying the interior.
Here’s the results:
Kurt
Kurt,
Maybe I am missing something, but that looks pretty darn good to me… what do you mean you have to destroy the interior?
The interior of the Birney, needed to be removed to fit the motor up the 3/32".
Kurt
OK… it may be because I’m a PSU grad, but bear with me…
Why does the motor have to be recessed? [%-)]
I’m a bit braindead right now because I was on the phone with Adobe for over 2 hours…
Hi Brent, this is probably all my fault. I powered this car originally. The Birneys, by Corgi, each come with a gorgeously detailed interior. Before Bowser came out with their nifty drop-in motor and truck that substitutes for this interior, I tried to power this unit. I was successful but without being able to keep the nice interior - complete with tiny motorman controls, etc. Kurt is trying to improve upon it.
Here’s the Q-car Company’s site that has one of the best bolt on motor/truck assemblies I have seen for the Corgi Birney, but at about $100 it’s a bit out of my reach, so I am trying to engineer my own, and I’m having a great time! I love a challenge.
http://www.qcarcompany.com/information/info/Birney_Truck_Installation/index.html
Kurt
Brent…to answer you question…you’re right.
I had the motor unit cut outs made before I made any measurements. I later discovered a solid top plate on the motor unit will work. I will add 3/32" solid bar stock to the outer rails to install the truck frames. The truck frames need to be lower to get the axle centers aligned properly with the motor unit wheels.
Kurt
Well finally done…Doug, you may want to shield your eyes. This gets ugly. Hopefully, with your traction car expertise, these modifications will conform to the model’s intent.
Single top plate of 3/32" brass with motor cut-out, and 3/32"square bar spacer for truck frame to meet motor axles, but geometry is correct. I cut away the top of the truck frames to eliminate the frame above the suspension system, and also cut a bit out of the spring arm to permit it to pass the body step. (right side).
Truck frames will be epoxied to brass assembly. White metal and solder melting point is similar, so soldering won’t work here. Cold joint attempt failed.
Ready for Paint.