Wayne Spence - myLargescale.com

Test fit the trucks. Tighten the mounting screws to just firm, then back off the screws by about
half a turn. Check that the trucks are free to rotate on a short length of test track. There should
only be a very slight side-to-side movement when the car is rocked. Later when the trucks and
the car deck have been painted, the truck mounting screws will be fixed in place with Loctite
222.
Next we will add brake beams and cast brake shoes to our trucks.
Using Hartford Products HP-T001-26 archbar trucks
If you want to add brake beam details to
the Hartford Products trucks, I have
successfully modified the trucks to
incorporate this detail. Cut out the four
brake beams from wood, using the
template found on sheet 1. Or use
Hartford Products kit HP-P079 (includes
4 sets of wood beams & brake shoes).
Using a wheel set as a spacing guide,
epoxy the eight brake shoes to the four
brake beams.
Use Ozark or Hartford Products HP-P040
brake shoe castings. Cut four lengths of
K&S 1.13mm (.039”) music wire @ 120mm each. Drill wooden brake beams for music wire
support rods. (32mm centres). Insert wires into one of the end beams, epoxy into place and allow
enough hole length at the outer beam for a small NBW casting. Epoxy two small lengths of brass
or styrene tubing to the under side of the truck centres (32mm spacing). Slide steel wire though
tubes, slide on other brake beam, trim wires to length and secure with epoxy. The wire rods are
not epoxied into the tubes, rather left free to automatically adjust to axle spacing.
Detail brake beams with appropriate NBW castings. Steel music wire is far more ridged than
brass rod and will not droop or bend like brass would tend to do.
Check clearances of brake shoes and
wheels before securing the final brake
beam.