Aristo-Craft has released two new motor blocks. The first one, Part No. 29348, is a 2 axle Power Truck for their U25B, FA1, FB1, & RS3 engines; with 3 7/8" between the axles; and lists for $45 USD. The second one is Part No. 29356, is shorter, has 2 3/8" between the axles and lists for $55. Gary Watkins, of Sierra Valley Enterprises, has developed and is offering proper 7/8" scale replacement wheels for the motor blocks for $20 USD. The wheels are held onto tapered axles by small screws. You can order the wheels from Gary and install them yourself or send your motor block to Gary to have them installed and set to the proper gauge.

These motor blocks disassemble easily with a small Philips head screwdriver. But be careful, the screw heads can be stripped easily if you do not use the proper size screwdriver. When all of the extra pieces are removed, you will find a small tab on each side and four screws in the top. These can be attachment points for whatever you decide to build.

The red and green wires go to the motor and the other two come from the track power pickups. The four small screws in the top hold the motor block together but can be removed carefully. The are long enough to hold a sheet of plastic on top of the block. I choose to attach my frame suing these screws so I cut of and filed flat the two side tabs and made up the frame that is shown upside down below.

This is not rocket science. It is very easy to score and snap styrene plastic and after making two notched sidepieces; I cut and fit small pieces of styrene until I felt that my frame would be strong enough and then attached it to the motor block with the four screws on top which are long enough to hold everything together.

So now we have a motor block that can be used to build all kinds of small industrial engines in 7/8" scale. I am looking forward to see what everyone creates.

No Excuses! Build something!

Jim Massfeller