Armchair Modeller Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 I have now started experimenting with building a model of a Sentinel railcar. I have been itching to do this for some time. This Christmas/New Year holiday seemed a good opportunity to temporarily put any other work aside and make a start on this new project. The double-articulated units with a central 4-wheel rigid wheelbase power unit were all built over a relatively short time period, as far as I can see. This early catalogue illustration shows the range available - though individual details could vary quite a bit - including various window arrangements. A few were very heavily customised. By 1929, a whole new range had replaced the earlier designs, doing away with the rigid chassis power car in favour of bogies - more modern and efficient, but less characterful and less appealing to model. The Langley model is a single-articulated type with one coach section. The kits are based on the LNER cars introduced in 1927-28. I have decided to try and adapt the component parts of a Kato "Shorty" chassis. These chassis each have one powered and one unpowered bogie.The bogie wheelbase and wheel size is idea for the unpowered bogie. For the power section, I will have to adapt the parts of the Kato power bogie into one with a longer wheelbase. I also need to improve the gearing. I suspect that the prototype must have run very slowly most of the time - and never very fast. The first stage of the build will be to try and make a successful power bogie. Everything else about the rail car ought to be relatively easy by comparison. I put this in the Overseas Modelling section because everything about the project screams to me of the more relaxed ways of a colonial (or similar) railway administration. Maybe, if I get it to work successfully, I will think about a small layout or diorama to run it on. Thanks to various people, too numerous to mention, for supplying information relevant to the project. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Modeller Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 I had little luck with the Kato motor bogie idea. Dissecting them produces a collection of bits that are near-impossible to reassemble. Plan B is to use a bogie from a Tomytec TM-17 chassis, which has just been ordered from Japan. The wheelbase of these bogies is already 16mm, which is correct for my model. The Kato non-powered bogies are still fine for the outer bogies of the railcar. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Modeller Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 The new chassis finally arrived from Japan. Unfortunately, I got caught for VAT and the dreaded £8 Post Office fee. It still represents good value for money. The performance is impressive, even straight out of the box, with no running in. I will only be using one of the bogies, 50 percent of the transmission components and (possibly) the motor. The bogie has the correct wheelbase for my railcar's centre portion, but the wheels are 6mm diameter - one mm too big. Hopefully, this will not be too noticeable on the final model. I am happy that this will be a far more robust solution for the power car than my hopelessly flawed attempt to use components from the Kato motor bogies. Next, I will dismantle the chassis and begin the conversion work. This may take a while. I need to convince myself that I have a reliable underframe for the full railcar before I start any work on the body. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldexpat Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Dear Armchair modeller, This may not be any use to you but Port Wynnstay (NG trains/EDM models) make a resin 7mm ng kit of this (I think). best wishes, OLd expat Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Modeller Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Thanks for that, oldexpat. I think the P.W. kit is based on the narrow gauge ralcar in Ceylon. This differs from what I am trying to build in a number of ways. There were a small number of narrow gauge double-articulated railcars made by Sentinel Cammell, including 2ft 6in gauge ones for the Bengal Nagpur Railway, so i might be possible to adapt the P.W. kit. It would be huge in 7mm scale! I did think about building one in 4mm or 3.5mm scale, but even those would be quite large. I think I will stick with 2mm scale - at least I might be able to find the room to build a small layout to run it on! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
archirasika Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I think your one similar to this CGR prototype. but not exactly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Modeller Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 Long time no progress! Unfortunately, the wheels on the Tomytec chassis proved unsuitable for conversion to 9.42 mm gauge (unlike the Kato ones) as the pinpoint axles are not separate from the wheels. This was in any case going to be a compromise, as the wheels are slightly too large. Thanks, 'archirasika' for the photo of the Sri Lankan railcar. It would be a later model than the one I am building. It looks to have been heavily rebuilt too, with corrugated panelling and (I assume) a diesel engine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair Modeller Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 There will be a slight delay, as I am very busy with other things over the next 2 weeks. As soon as I can though, I will get on with this project as quickly as I can - it has been ongoing far too long! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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