rekoboy Posted February 21, 2023 Author Share Posted February 21, 2023 (edited) Following my success with the sub-optimal Czech kit for the Schwerlastwagen in my previous post I delved deeper into that drawer and pulled out more unbuilt elderly Czech kits dating from the early nineties that I had bought with hope in my heart in Usti or Teplice - and put aside. Here is the result of this week's labours - two ballast hoppers, actually very nice vehicles, once the flash was removed from components and everything carefully assembled and airbrushed. Tomorrow I shall add the couplings and seek out some suitable decals. Edited February 21, 2023 by rekoboy 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted February 21, 2023 Author Share Posted February 21, 2023 And the Motordraisine is more or less finished - all glazing done, but still working on the thorny questions of working headlights, handrails and screen wipers. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 1 hour ago, rekoboy said: Following my success with the sub-optimal Czech kit for the Schwerlastwagen in my previous post I delved deeper into that drawer and pulled out more unbuilt elderly Czech kits dating from the early nineties that I had bought with hope in my heart in Usti or Teplice - and put aside. Here is the result of this week's labours - two ballast hoppers, actually very nice vehicles, once the flash was removed from components and everything carefully assembled and airbrushed. Tomorrow I shall add the couplings and seek out some suitable decals. They are indeed nice kits, I used two of them with Bemo bogies and the top section of the hopper cut off as ballast wagons for my Czech H0e layouts, they look fine in the larger scale: 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted April 15, 2023 Author Share Posted April 15, 2023 (edited) The last couple of months have seen very little modelling activity - my brother-in-law Waldemar in Erfurt has been very ill and we have been making regular visits since January - and helping to fill the tills of the P & O Hull-Rotterdam ferry! However, the Motordraisine is just about finished, although I still need to load the trailer with some tools and a concrete mixer. Most of my recent planning and thought has gone into the next electric loco for the tram network - I found a suitably cute loco body on Shapeways website, but it has taken a while to find a chassis that fits. Originally I wanted to employ two power bogies with jackshaft drive - see photo - but in the end I have had to settle on a Kato bogie tram chassis which has needed a degree of modification to fit. I think the folks at Plaza Japan rub their hands whenever they see an e-mail from me! The loco will eventually look more like an American interurban freight motor with shunter's platforms front and rear - but there is also a certain similarity to the German E44 mainline loco and to my old favourite Eggerbahn electric loco. More details will follow. Edited April 15, 2023 by rekoboy 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 The Kleinlok (Köf) has been evicted from its shed to make room for the Motordraisine. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted April 24, 2023 Author Share Posted April 24, 2023 Update on the electric loco. The chassis and frame are finished, the shunter's platforms have their non-slip surface (!), the shunter's steps are in place, as are the air tanks. A pair of end-handrails for the platforms are next. So much progress! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted April 25, 2023 Author Share Posted April 25, 2023 And safety railings for the shunter - donated by a very elderly Minitrix diesel! 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted April 27, 2023 Author Share Posted April 27, 2023 I had an operating session at Kirchheim for the first time in ages - rush-hour! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted June 9, 2023 Author Share Posted June 9, 2023 (edited) Thanks to our frequent spells in Germany with Frau Rekoboy's brother, who is now on the mend, thank goodness, very little has happened on the layout for weeks - except that, thanks to Piko, I am now able to recreate the passenger trains to Ruhla! ( See my post 'Rühler Bimmel'). Piko has brought out the BR93 2-8-2 - and I think it is their best steam loco yet. Absolutely top! She runs perfectly with a realistic top speed and has excellent pulling power. But the BR93 is also so exquisitely detailed and painted - 10 years ago you would have paid five times the price for a hand-built model of this quality. More reports to follow! Edited June 9, 2023 by rekoboy 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted August 1, 2023 Author Share Posted August 1, 2023 Finally got some operating time at Kirchheim. The new BR 93 is a fantastic runner. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted August 12, 2023 Author Share Posted August 12, 2023 (edited) Not only have I at last found time to run trains, I have also begun work on the completion and detailing of Konradsweiler. The row of three buildings above the railway cutting have now acquired a sturdy wall to keep the Preiser people from falling down the precipice and dividing walls have appeared between the back yards. The main wall has been laminated out of two strips of cards stuck together with Uhu which were then clamped to the curve of the railway as the glue set. Brick and stone embossed poly sheet was glued on to the card and again everything was clamped, and finally the coping slabs were made up from an embossed poly sheet of H0 scale roof tiles. Rather than one boring stretch of just brick for the wall there are three distinct sections. The whole lot needs lots of painting and weathering, and then the back yards will be detailed -the middle yard will have a barbecue party, I think! Edited August 12, 2023 by rekoboy 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted August 17, 2023 Author Share Posted August 17, 2023 Next stage more or less complete.... 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted August 18, 2023 Author Share Posted August 18, 2023 And the next instalment.....The boozers on the balcony are now accompanied by a party on the yard. Two more guests are just arriving. There's never a dull moment! Dustbins are in place, along with two bikes in the café yard. Still loads to do! 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted August 27, 2023 Author Share Posted August 27, 2023 (edited) And on to the next time-consuming stage in the completion of Konradsweiler - the wall and the gates behind the post office. The wall is laminated up from 2mm plain poly sheet with a layer of thin embossed brick pattern poly sheet on each side. For such purposes I use N scale embossed sheet - it is always overscale and perfect for TT. The pillars are 3mm square poly tube with a 1mm thick square cap, and the gates are laminated from 3 pieces of 0.5mm poly sheet with the bars on top made from etched brass signal ladder. The gate 'hinges' are simply pieces of round section strip. The coping stones on the wall are H0 scale roof tiles. More photos to follow! Edited August 27, 2023 by rekoboy 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted August 28, 2023 Author Share Posted August 28, 2023 The post office yard wall is in place and straight away a Deutsche Post van, a Framo, predecessor of the ubiquitous Barkas, has backed in to unload. Next stage, a massive queue at the HO mini-market where a delivery of coffee has just arrived! 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 2, 2023 Author Share Posted September 2, 2023 Aerial view of Konradsweiler. The first pensioner in the coffee queue has arrived! I am working on the pavement at the tram terminus next, then adding street lighting and, at long last, the poles for the overhead line for the tram! 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 What seems like a small task has taken ages - the prefabrication of a length of pavement, including a cable duct, for the main street. It slots in perfectly as a friction-fit (although now lightly glued) in front of the post office, the party headquarters and the baker's - so a lot of careful cutting and sanding was involved. The pavement strip is laminated from two pieces of balsa, with a channel cut for wires, along with Auhagen pavement for the surface. There is one street light, deliberately placed, as you will see in a day or two, to be seen down the alley next to the baker's, and one illuminated Litfaßsäule - an advertising pillar with suitable GDR posters. For those who are perturbed by the appearance of the word it is pronounced 'littfass-zoyla'. The Litfaßsäule came in a job-lot from Germany, the street light, like two others nearby is an over-scale product for N gauge layouts by Model Power. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 10, 2023 Author Share Posted September 10, 2023 (edited) The pavement is in situ and the power for the lights has been connected - with some loud swearing, of course. But I am up in the attic and Frau Rekoboy is cooking, so no offence is caused. As you can see, the street light is at the end of the alley and the Litfaßsäule is near the phone box. The two lights are connected in series to prolong bulb life and reduce glare. Next move, the overhead line posts and street furniture - seats, tram stop signs, a hydrant...... Edited September 10, 2023 by rekoboy Omissions 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 16, 2023 Author Share Posted September 16, 2023 (edited) Several hours work have resulted in....not much more to see! The main push has been in completing the tram tracks at Konradsweiler with the 'cobbled' inserts which have been made up with material from Scale Model Scenery Ltd for paving N scale factory or freight yards. The inserts, made of MDF, are a perfect fit and allow space for flanges. I covered the inserts with Auhagen cobbled paving to match the street. It works! The turnouts are difficult to pave - so eventually they will form a roadworks scene! Otherwise, quite a lot of detail has been added - fences, a hydrant, a slide for the kids in the baker's garden and a bigger queue at the HO mini-market! Edited September 16, 2023 by rekoboy 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Easterbrook Posted September 16, 2023 Share Posted September 16, 2023 I wonder how long the mini-market queue will eventually be. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 16, 2023 Author Share Posted September 16, 2023 As I have a box containing about 100 largely second-hand Preiser and Noch figures I think that the queue could get significantly longer! But I also need queues for the bakery and the butcher's! Remember that this is the former GDR where shortages, real and imaginary, dominated people's lives. I shall never forget my first day of teaching at the university in Halle when student Ralf slunk in with a sports bag full of clinking bottles. I made a joke about enjoying his beer after the seminar and he opened the bag and showed me 20 bottles of ketchup which, he said, was in short supply in the small town where his girlfriend lived. The fact that he had personally caused a ketchup crisis in the suburb of Halle where he lodged was beyond him! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 17, 2023 Author Share Posted September 17, 2023 Yes, the queue at the HO mini-market is definitely growing. Two more today! And the owner of the bike shop has got her Trabant estate back after the accident with a new driver's door - pity that they had no time to spray it! Kirchheim is a magnet for railfans - the photographer is beside himself that a BR55 is still in service - his girlfriend is less enthusiastic! 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 22, 2023 Author Share Posted September 22, 2023 (edited) Phew! The final two street lamps are in place and hooked up - via the basement of the block of flats - and now there are largely just two big tasks left in Konradsweiler, the forest at the side and back of the block of flats, which is an easy job, and then the overhead line for the tram. I have decided to leave this tricky matter for a little longer until I have finished the trackwork at the depot - hopefully soon! Fingers crossed! Edited September 22, 2023 by rekoboy 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 23, 2023 Author Share Posted September 23, 2023 Some overall views to give an idea of progress at Kirchheim. The next step is the tram depot, and then the overhead lines for the trams. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekoboy Posted September 23, 2023 Author Share Posted September 23, 2023 And then... 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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