Yes, I recently sold on a DCC converted Wills/Peco Peckett tank running on an Arnold chassis. Nice looking little locos if a bit overscale. The Tsugawa chassis is a little marvel, the reason I sold the Pekett was to fund the purchase of one of their chassis for a 3D printed Pug shell. Amazingly small and actually runs very well, especially on DCC.

Would you believe me if I told you that there's an 0-4-0 tank being developed in T gauge as an RTR model (It's actually based on the Triang Nellie)? Very early chassis prototype without coupling rods and basic 3D printed shell can be seen here, it's 17mm long over the buffers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0M7j4H33qs&t=6s

Will they be applying the magnify ray to bring it up to N scale size?

Wow, some fabulous answers here, thank you all!



Okay, so nobody makes one of these 

Mind, I'm quite happy trying to design and 3D printing my own shell as long as I can find good running gear to go under it.   My painting skills are as yet largely untried, so we'll see if I can make it look at least 'good enough'!

The Fleischmann motor definitely looks too wide for this project - I just don't see any good ways to easily conceal it.

There's also a vertical bar outside of the driving rods that looks a bit weird (also one on the Arnold and the Ibertren Cuco I see too).   It would have to come off to get the right look and feel, but I'm not sure if it's an essential part of the mechanics, so I'm more than a bit wary about such surgery, so I'll hold these three in reserve for now.

The Minitrix 6-to-4 wheel conversions leave a pretty big gap between the wheels.   Might not be truly noticeable to most observers, but I'd notice it, so I'm leaning away from that right now.   Same basic issue with the Glaskasten (same chassis?).

The Tomix and Bachmann Percy's both seem to have the right arrangement of running gear, and they're modern equipment designed for kids, so I'm guessing they should be pretty robust and reliable.   I'm liking those as potential donors.

The Tsugawa also looks viable, and its always really nice to hear that it "runs really well, especially on DCC" - that's a major tick mark for me!

@Capri_sam : Do you happen to have any photo's of the Tsugawa chassis without the body shell?   Don't take it apart just for me, but if you happen to have already done so it would be interesting to see the insides of that one.

So right now I think availability, price and shipping times for donors seems to be the decider between the two Percy's and the Tsugawa.   I'll let y'all know which way I leap

Thanks again for all your superb information!

Ross.

Hi Ross,

Not from mine I'm afraid, it's deep in my projects box awaiting painting! But Plaza japan have the raw chassis on display (and it's only £25!)

https://www.plazajapan.com/4957265140360/?setCurrencyId=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwn8SLBhAyEiwAHNTJbTCT3CQ9bgsOc9edD6ynGwazvOjYhEFZkgZ6IEsxSk31JX0oA5lvlxoCefsQAvD_BwE

Quote from: railsquid on October 21, 2021, 01:54:53 PM
Will they be applying the magnify ray to bring it up to N scale size?

Not something you often hear in N gauge!

N-Drive productions also offer some decent 0-4-0 chassis. He will also supply them without a motor as I wanted a smaller one to fit inside a body.
https://www.n-driveproductions.com/rangeandprices.htm

On the Fleischmann chassis, that vertical bar holds up a frame for the slide the piston rod travels along. Feasibly that whole slide could be removed.

Something to watch for on the Tomix TTTE locos is that they made them over-scale. So I don't know if the chassis for them would be a fit.

[edit] just had a more detailed look at one of my Fleischmann 0-4-0s (ie took it to bits) and that slide bar system is rather cunning. It's actually a single plastic moulding for the vertical bar, slide and a fillet for the piston rod to go in. So it plugs into the cylinders with the piston rod and slide bar attached to it and the whole frame holds the pins for the motion into the wheels. They're not press fit or anything, they're just loose and that frame holds everything in. Sneaky sods!

I bought an Andrew Barclay saddle tank  from Shapeways which fits nicely on the Tsugwa  chassis.
Also theres an American Life Like? n scale 0-4-0 switcher think the chassis has been used for British models?

Cheers
Andy

I've had/got/tried both chassis.

I tried using the Minitrix 0-6-0T as an 0-4-0T but I found the wheels were too far apart to be realistic for an N-scale 0-4-0T and I really love the Arnold 0-4-0T which is now under three Adams B4 kits I have.

I also tried the Japanese chassis under a LMS Sentinel Steam shunter and it eventually siezed.

I am afraid that I need totally reliable old fashioned technology on such small chassis. So I would go German on all accounts

HTH
Bob

It had wheel diameter of 3' 8" and a 9' wheelbase. I don't think the Japanese one would look right somehow...

Rob. 

If you look at them in side profile, the Fleischmann 0-4-0 isn't too far off (other than the shorter wheelbase). The slide bar on it isn't quite the same as the motion on the 101 but it does have the same feature of hiding the front wheels pretty well.
With the 101 being longer you could probably even get the doors and open roof in.

Now this is an interesting 0-4-0 chassis due to be released next year. Once the sizeable weight has been removed it looks a good starting point. I may well have to buy one to have a play.
https://railsofsheffield.com/products/oo-9-locomotive-powered-chassis?_pos=1&_sid=c7548504f&_ss=r

Both Fleischmann and Arnold make/made 0-4-0s. I've used the Arnold chassis to make industrial locos. On Kato track they handle points very well. But on peco.....

I had a bit of time to kill waiting for my GWR loco to print, so I kind of kit-bashed bits from its 3D model into a version of the 101 that would fit on the Fleischmann 0-4-0 chassis I have.

Visibly it is a little wide compared to the sleeker lines of the Hornby model, but you would be able to get the open cab of the protoype.



If you deliberately increased the height (I based the height of mine on the photo of the prototype), you'd get a thinner look without it being a particularly big loco.

Very nice!   I was contemplating doing something myself, but if you've got access to the chassis already I look forward to seeing where you go with it!

Ross.