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QUOTE (Jeorge @ 12 Jan 2007, 18:22) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I am planning on buying an Airfix 14xx and detailing it. (Adding a Hornby Chassis, Bachmann 8750 cab...)

Erm,..May I ask,why do you want to put a Bachmann 8750 cab on it?,-there's nothing wrong with the original,as far as I'm aware,and,if you're intending to replace the chassis with a Hornby one,-then you'd be better off just buying a Hornby one in the first place,-surely?

 

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QUOTE (Jeorge @ 13 Jan 2007, 14:15) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Cab as in the part with the regulator details and what-not

Ahhh,..you mean the backhead ...,I'm afraid,-if you're using either the Hornby or the Airfix ready-to-run chassis then you'll have no room for the backhead as both of these chassis have motors that intrude into this area,so,to keep the cab clear of motor,you'd have to mount the body on a kit chassis,as available from the likes of Perseverance or Highlevel,see [URL=]<a href="http://www.highlevelkits.co.uk" target="_blank">http://www.highlevelkits.co.uk </a>,coupled with the detailing kit available from Mainly Trains,which as Dukedog so rightly points out, includes the correct smokebox door,the original fitment of which is the 'Achilles heel' of what are basically very accurate body mouldings....

 

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The 14xx smokebox door is a seperate moulding,-it should just push out from the rear [depending on how much it's glued in!]......

 

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The crankpins are just a push fit into the wheels,-put a fine bladed screwdriver behind the coupling rods and gently lever them away from the wheel boss.
The Hornby traction tyres* should be readily available,part no. X8063..

See the service sheet..14xx Service Sheet

It's an easy job..

*Oh,and it's tyres,not tires

 

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Sorry to hear about your struggle Jeorge,-if you were just replacing the traction tyres,then a complete stripdown shouldn't have been neccesary,-but then if your chassis needed other work then it was probably worth it...
Re-assemby of a 14xx chassis needs a bit of a 'knack' to do

,with the loco chassis stripped down and upside down on the workbench-you have to hold all the wheelsets in place,with the trailing one keeping the small coil spring under it in compression whilst you clip on the wheel retaining plate,and,at the same time making sure that the wiper pickups attached to it fit behind the wheels properly and don't get caught up in the spokes and become distorted

,oh and making sure that the feed wire to the motor is in the right place up through the chassis block and doesn't become snagged..it's at times like this that you sometimes wish that you were blessed with three hands

....
If the spring under the trailing wheelset moves and wraps itself around the axle [which it has a tendancy to do] then you have to unclip the wheel retaining plate and start again...

Still,-all good,clean fun and useful experience....