In praise of brass gearboxes

[Max-U52]

I like the taigen brass gear boxes I have.

Are those the ones you got at that hobby shop, Joe? If you ask me, those are still the best gearboxes that have ever been produced and I wish they'd bring them back. All this herd mentality chasing after Steel, Steel, Steel has hurt the hobby, if you ask me. The brass boxes are smoother and much less noisy and I've never even heard of one breaking from normal use.

Shaun, can you please post lots of pics of those walterson's? I'd really like to check those out and if they work well for you I may buy and try a set.

[43rdRecceReg]

Hi, Gary
I seem to recall Shaun saying that he doesn't post pics, and I can't honestly recall seeing one, now I think of it; though he does paint pictures in words. However, here's a shot of that gearbox anyway. ..'all that glitters isn't gold', but this certainly has the allure.
Incidentally, it's not all that easy to find out who the 'Walterson's' company belongs to. It's probably chinese, but made to sound western...still,

[jarndice]

Gary my friend,
I have never submitted a single photograph of any part of my hobby to any of the Forum we both belong to, I have given my reasons in the past and I will not repeat them here,
I originally bought the "Walterson's" Brass gearboxes for a Taigen Tiger 1 a few years ago and that is when I discovered that Taigen Gearbox mounts and Heng Long Gearbox mounts are different,
So I put them back in the box and stowed them with the Plastic and pot metal gearboxes we all seem to accumulate and there they lay gathering dust until I bought my "ASIATAM" Panzer 4 Metal Hull,
I was making a list of things needed for the build and I got to Gearboxes I searched and found them and they fitted almost perfectly on the well engineered "Asiatam" Mount, The mount needed one hole pin vised then Tapped to allow the nearside gearbox two lock down points.
Dave of Forgebear came up trumps today (Saturday) with a pair of Axle support Shaft Bearings,
I had to wait TWO whole days for them to arrive
Now I have to open the transmission covers out with the "Dremmel" to get the bearings in position. By the way I was saddened to hear of the passing of your Cat the other week, Difficult times, hopefully eased by fond memories of times past.
Shaun.

[Max-U52]

I never knew about the picture thing and won't ask, but my apologies in advance because I'll probably forget and ask for photos again at some time in the future.

Thanks for the kind words about Sylvester. He's buried in the backyard where he can look over the tank park and also the favorite play area of all the cats.

So if you won't post photos then how the hell am I going to see your build of the metal PzIV? Will you send photos via private message?

[HERMAN BIX]

Mr Jarndice is a nom de plume for MIG Jininez so he can't put pics up and give the game away !

[43rdRecceReg]

Mr Jarndice is a nom de plume for MIG Jininez so he can't put pics up and give the game away !

Surely, oh legendary antipodean Herman, (given the themes of this forum), 'Jarndice' should really be a Nom de Guerre Now,having just googled 'MIg Jimenez', it would appear that he's the Julio Iglesias of RC modellers..with a massive following, and legions of tank-groupies..
Now back to the brass gears. Case hardened steel will always outlast brass, assuming that is, that the steel used in Taigen and other boxes is any better than pig iron. Mostly it seems formed out of zinc alloys, with a bit of the old ferrous stuff.
By the way, who's lurking behind the 'Herman Bix' nom de Guerre?

[Estnische]

Unzud's most famous export- Tum Funn

[jtracks]

I like the taigen brass gear boxes I have.

Are those the ones you got at that hobby shop, Joe? If you ask me, those are still the best gearboxes that have ever been produced and I wish they'd bring them back. All this herd mentality chasing after Steel, Steel, Steel has hurt the hobby, if you ask me. The brass boxes are smoother and much less noisy and I've never even heard of one breaking from normal use.

Shaun, can you please post lots of pics of those walterson's? I'd really like to check those out and if they work well for you I may buy and try a set.

Yes they are Gary, thanks. Also, sorry for the delayed response, I'm not getting an email notification of topics I have subscribed to for some reason.

[HERMAN BIX]

Unzud's most famous export- Tum Funn

Aww Cuz, thets a gud won bro !!

[Tiggr]

My experience with garden railways has shown that plastic gears last many years - most of my locos have plastic gears (except for the brass worm drive at each end of the motor)
I have several locos which have literally covered many actual 1:1 miles over the last 10 years pulling heavy trains - no worn out plastic gears yet.

Rest easy guys - you would have to run a tank for many miles before you would have to think about replacing any metal gearbox.