Thanks, Bob. All good stuff. As you say, the "key" is the "key"! I have some plastic rod and as long as I have the right size drill this may work out ok. Quatering the wheels again and getting them dead square will be a challenge! I'll let you know how I go. If this remedy works, you'll be the saviour of what will be a very nice engine.

Cheers. Bob.
I'm a bit ahead of you (I think!) I've already disassembed the running gear and fabricated a "new" plastic axle....would you believe from a bit of an old Peugeot emisson control valve (?) I turned down the plastic to the correct diameter for the wheels and epoxied them on after carefully quatering them and making sure the rods were at the correct angle. She ran after that, but not as well as I would like. The plastic I used is too hard and doesn't sit well in the wheels. The original Bachmann plastic is more of a nylon and even though I tried hard I couldn't get the drivers perfectly "true". Really, the only solution is a new axle as this is the one that takes all of the strain of transfering drive to the other wheels through the motion.

Thanks for the link, Jack. I'll give the Bowser people a try.

Gene... This really is a very nice looking loco. The detail is excellent and the motion faithfully reproduced. I don't know enough about the fuelling of US steam locos to pass comment on the size or type of firebox.

Ah, mate... We Aussies don't give up that easily! This loco will live again.

Quote from: SteamGene on September 21, 2008, 09:11:40 PM
Look at the trailing truck.  Does it seem squished or out of scale?  Is the firebox very large? Does the pilot have an operating coupler?
Gene

Gene... I guess, "No" to all of those criteria. A pic of the loco is attached and it's in HO scale.

Actually... No. I bought it 2nd hand as a non-runner (because of this problem, I assume). When I get a moment I'll check and let you know, but for now it has white, plastic axles that are slightly smaller in diameter at the nds where they fit inside the wheels and the wheel has a centre pin that engages in the end of the axle. The wheel itself runs in a metal cup in the chassis. I assume it's a split chassis.

G'day, All.
I have a Spectrum 2-8-2 Mikado and one of the plastic axles is beyond its use-by date as it's distorted and loose. The wheels just slip on it. This of course results in the rotational angles misaligning and locking of the drivers. I tried gluing ("Araldite"), making up a replacement axle from plastic, and various other patches up. None of them were satisfactory so I would like to buy a new axle. I've made enquiries to numerous dealers to no avail and can't find the axle listed on this site. Does anybody know where I can get one