Trackmaster?!

[Thunderforge]

I know this is a forum for scale modellers, but I thought I’d share this. My four year old asked me to make ‘Scruffey’ for his trackmaster set, a battery powered system for the Thomas & Friends series. Then ALL the trucks needed to be painted, as it was far more fun than the plain grey plastic which they come as out of the box.

So now we have the Brick Company, a distributor for Lego; S. Lyme & Co., who as the vehicle says, provide quality gelatinous cubes of the Dungeons & Dragons variety; and finally the Jamaican Ice Co, who as you would expect, have to be the fastest in the world. My wife suggested filling it with water, although my son always does this if given half a chance anyway.

They were painted using acrylics and given a quick blast of clear laquer, which will hopefully keep them from chipping for at least a few weeks!

Perhaps we might see ‘Barry Scrapyard Thomas’ or ‘Wartime Goods Gordon’ if things get desperate!

:-)

[Thunderforge]

[PaulRhB]

I think that's the type of thing that makes it fun and directly links to skills for scale modelling. Why not get him to paint one up too, even if not lettered?

[Thunderforge]

We’ve got a couple more to do so I probably will get him helping, I just cringe at the thought of what might happen to my brushes!! :-)

[Tim V]

Great way to help him learn to read as well.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

You should only have an 'Aerofish' van for the 'Flying Kipper'. I was quite disappointed by the revelation that the 'fishplates' in the Triang catalogue were not a load for my fish van...

[Thunderforge]

the Flying Kipper! we've GOT to do something with that! :-)

Also reminds me we need to purchase a Henry too...

[sem34090]

Ah, I have some of the older-style blue track lurking around here somewhere, for what purpose I have no idea! I can't remember what I planned to do with it now!

[LNWR18901910]

I thought this was an interesting scale. I have several models, myself.

[Thunderforge]

I've always wondered how good these toys would look if you applied all the techniques of realism (prototypical paint job, weathering, smokebox door not a face, etc). I have painted toys like this before and been surprised with the results. Of course my son might not be too happy to have his engines literally de-faced! :-)

[tomparryharry]

I did make a turntable for the son of a friend of mine. His wife had to take it away in the end, as the squabbling was too much.

 

Just a simple set-up, made out of 2 smallish sheets of hardboard, and 4 lengths of track. The excess track was sacrificed to make 4 pieces of profiled segments, so the table could turn.

 

Ian.

[Thunderforge]

Seems like a a good idea, I'll have a think about that. We're quite used to squabbling here, so no worries on that front! :-)

[sem34090]

I may have to try that... I somehow managed to acquire a few packs (ISTR that the wagons and coaches showed potential as Narrow Gauge models...) so perhaps weathering some of the track and repainting some of the locos into prototype liveries could be interesting. Then sell them on ebay... I think I have an Improved Engine Green 9F (Don't recognise the character?) somewhere that could be potential paintbrush-fodder...

[LNWR18901910]

Some people have taken TOMY Thomas models and made them into the prototypes. It looks very impressive. I have seen some models and they all look very nice.