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Super Hyper Cheap RTR Coach Bargains - UNREAL!

Knuckles

Entry posted by Knuckles

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Had a great day today with Steamer58 from SiF (I'm a member too) who is on his massive vacation from the USA.

 

Today we were at the GCR/Great Central Railway. Lovely day for it too.

 

Anyway, it's the first time we met up and the day was fun. Cheers mate. :)

 

Whilst we were there we ventured to the swapmeet. More like a car boot sale but I picked up some hyper bargains....and I mean hyper!

 

Ok, here are the two pictures. One as an overview and another close up.

 

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The 3 N Gauge coaches are the old LIMA ones with the 'pizza cutter' wheels, although the flanges were not the worst and they STILL run well on my FiNetrax code 40 rail. Bonus! I was thinking I'd have to buy new wheels. So, as you may know going rate for RTR coaches of the new tooling variety in N Gauge typically are £30-40 - damn steep. Older ones are typically £20-25 per coach. I 00 Gauge modern coaches are usually £45-55 now. I refuse to pay more than around £35 per coach and again you can pick up medium quality coaches for around £20-25 a shot. I'm happy to pay this price for a coach seeing as you need a rake of them.

 

So, old, less realistic, scaled and detailed...BUT! They were £10 each and after I spent a while looking at different coaches 'umming and arring' the guy made a move and said I could have all three for £25. Nice £5 off.

 

Yep. Deal. Well happy.

 

-

 

The Gresley Teak coaches are an even better story.

 

They are the old Teak coaches probably from the 60's & 70's. I own about four anyway but the colouring on them is too light and the Hornby Railroad ones are even lighter.

 

I LOVE the modern new tooled teaks but again for £50-60 per coach you can forget it.
What the guy done here is paint them or varnish them himself.

 

Now he in my opinion hasn't done a bad job. They look better than the standard ones and certainly look weathered. Having recently been down the SVR and observed/rode the real coaches they are a more brown and sienna type colour. When varnished they look splendid almost going orange and when weathered they look even more brown and matt than these.

 

As you can see they are a bit rough around the edges and the roof has brush splash marks, but I have a modellers eye and see the potential.

 

So I looked at the set and asked him how much they were, he looked under them and saw a 6 written on a circular sticker and he said "£6" then almost straight after said "But I'll do the set for £20"

 

....

 

I was already beaming with £6 let alone £5.

 

Aarrr, gooaaw on then!!

 

£20 bloomin quid. :D He either is very generous, has no idea of model railway pricing or mistaken the 6 for a 9.

 

I'm going to neaten them up and gloss varnish them and I'm sure the result will be grand.

 

Brought them in preparation for my NWR layout. Progress on support structure is slow but getting there.

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BernardTPM

Those Gresleys date from 1977 when they replaced the mixed bag of Mk.1/Thompson/Caledonian coaches (all Triang Mk.1 based) with a new "57ft" range. Still a lot of common components, but the Gresleys are quite nice. You have one of the later Gresley pattern bogies at one end of one coach. Thse were an upgrade in the early 1980s. Not only did they look better they actually lowered the ride height of the coach too. Well worth looking out for some more to replace the BR1 bogies.

The darker scumble does improve them. Proper LNER markings (HMRS Transfers) would finish them off nicely.

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Knuckles
Those Gresleys date from 1977 when they replaced the mixed bag of Mk.1/Thompson/Caledonian coaches (all Triang Mk.1 based) with a new "57ft" range. Still a lot of common components, but the Gresleys are quite nice. You have one of the later Gresley pattern bogies at one end of one coach. Thse were an upgrade in the early 1980s. Not only did they look better they actually lowered the ride height of the coach too. Well worth looking out for some more to replace the BR1 bogies.

The darker scumble does improve them. Proper LNER markings (HMRS Transfers) would finish them off nicely.

 

Many thanks for the info. :)

I would never have known there was a bogey redesign if you never said.

 

What I plan to do is neaten the messy splash marks and tidy any bits up then gloss varnish them. Might even add a slight orange wash before or after...unsure yet. I think they are a great basis to spank up further though.

 

What markings would you suggest? I know there was/is yellow lining very thin on the real ones.

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