justin1985

Thanks Lee,

I'm trying to decide whether to go with the Dapol plastic effort, or use one of the Greenmax plastic pantographs I bought a while back Greenmax PT71D. I'm not convinced if the Dapol one is much better ...

Thanks for all the replies!

Quite silly of me not to think of the Farish Mk1 as a donor - it is the most obvious option! However I don't actually have any of the old Mk1s, and amazingly they still haven't hit rock bottom on eBay, so this could be an expensive option. (I also need two for some EMU barrier coaches I'm doing with Hurst overlays).

I guess I was thinking that Ultima\BHE\someone "must" do a Mk1 roof section, despite not being able to find one!

The TPM chassis kit had been my first thought, but the Bachmann chassis unit that is required as donor seems to be doing a very good impression of hen's teeth at the moment! The Greenmax chassis is pretty much spot on dimensionally and only worked out to cost about £20-£25 from 1999.co.jp so I thought I'd live with the boxy underframe.

I can identify with what you are trying to do here! In the end I gave up on having a roundy-roundy (for now at least).

I do wonder if there might be more mileage in trying to fit a Tomix close coupling unit to the coaches rather than producing sprung buffers in N. As far as I'm aware there aren't any N sprung buffers commercially available at all, and I've never even seen anyone using them in 2mm Finescale.

The old Farish 4 wheel coaches were very much freelance, and i think had quite a long fixed wheelbase, as well as no close-coupling. Chances are you would have had the same problems.

However, if you're looking for an off the shelf solution, you might consider changing to German prototype? There are quite a lot of short wheelbase steam locos available in N, as well as quite a range of 4 wheel coaches. Some of which have close-coupling mechanisms as standard (look for "kurzkupplung" or the logo that looks like =)(= in the catalogues). Fleischmann 4 wheel composite coach

I would probably be interested in some ends for an early 317, although maybe etched sides would be better than vinyls to portray the bodyside vents, hopper windows etc.

I hadn't really thought of butchering Farish Mk3s, but there should be quite a glut of them now the Dapol model is well established. You've inspired me to think about designing a 321 cab for Shapeways 3D printing ...

317? or 455? Or both?

Is this the first sign of a new kit?

Hi Nick,

Glad you like the look of the project! Yup, on the prototype the couplings are BSI, but Dapol have used off the shelf Tomix TN couplers that are generally described as "Scharfenberg", although they actually do look more similar to the BSIs with their square character.

JapanModelRailways shop

Overview of TN couplers

Justin

Hi Jo,

Thanks for your thoughts!

I started off thinking I would thin down the ploughs width-wise as well, but looking at prototype shots again, I was wondering if in fact the width was correct. On the prototype it does look wider than I'd expected. However looking logically, it seems like in reality it should be about half way between the width where the bottom of the cab tapers, and the full width before it tapers. On the model it is the same width as the body, so perhaps 0.5mm on each side?

I'm not intending to change the livery or renumber, so I'm planning to leave the cab alone - I don't think its as noticeable as the lack of bodyside tumblehome, but then I'm not going to do anything about that either!

The rainstrip is on the separate roof moulding though, so I probably will thin that down before I weather the roof.

How are you planning to couple the 153 to the 150? Add a scharfenberg to the 150, or a rapido to the 153? Annoyingly you can't seem to get Tomix couplers for NEM sockets, or any other coupler with the Tomix close-coupler mount!

Cheers

Justin

perhaps photograph it on your 2FS track next time as per the wagons

Whoops! Bit of a slip up there ... which reminds me, I must at least get around to putting some Easitrac on a plank to pose models on properly (I've been using that section of copperclad on the wood stick as a base for airbrushing weathering)

Kris, the transfers on the wagons ... I'm pretty sure the LSWR lettering is from Fox (they do a small range of pre-group Southern area wagon transfers amongst all the modern stuff!), and the two private owner sides are from either POWSides or Dragon Models (I think POWSides 2mm only available via the N gauge society, and Dragon only via BH Enterprises). Both these are rub-down, rather than waterslide like Fox, which can be quite tricky on a 2mm model, although I should try to build a "model holder" as per Geoff Jones was demonstrating at Oxford, which should make it easier with a surface level with the wagon side. I've only just noticed that the text on the 1887 wagon isn't level now!

Hi Rich,

It was great to meet you on Sunday and have a chat. I am really impressed with the layout and especially the quality of your stock! I will have to get around to sorting out the pictures that I took ...

Justin

Shame! I thought the old DSB Gods livery was particularly stylish!

At least there is a greencargo logo on there to spruce it up a bit ...

Somewhat bizarrely Ratio do a small pack of modern N gauge diesel high intensity headlights, item no.249!