Wishlist!

This is more of a post for myself to be honest but perhaps it'll be of interest to a few... as it stands here's my dream list of N scale trains to buy (although I'd need a very anachronism-friendly layout to run them all!):

Kato GG1 £85.99 (MG Sharp)



Kato SVT137. DRG Epoche II. Cream & Violet. £118.99 (MG Sharp)



Kato SBB CFF "Gotthardo" RAell TEE £189.99 (MG Sharp)



Con-Cor Pioneer Zephyr $284.95 (blwnscale.com)



Bachmann class J 4-8-4 steam loco 601 £79 (ehattons)



MicroAce Nakai Series 5000 "Rapi:t" Kansai Airport Express $499.99 (Newhall Station)



MiniTrix DRG Class 03.10 4-6-2 £165.00 (Gaugemaster)



Graham Farish BR Class 9F 2-10-0 (92002) Black Early £103 (Gaugemaster)



Graham Farish BR (ex-GWR) Railcar W30W Brunswick Green £66



Microace C53 A$ 126.45 (Japanese Model Supplies)



List will be updated as and when I find new things! Current running total: £1222.74

DCC installs

Long time no update... I'm due to start my layout finally next week as my degree project is well underway and I've secured a new job for post-graduation (hurrah!).

In the meantime I've got my first DCC chips installed in the Rail-Zeppelin and my Q1.

The Q1 was easy. The tender lifts of quickly and simply, and you just replace the buffer chip with your decoder (in my case a Lenz Silver Mini).





The Zeppelin was slightly more complicated til I managed to track down some English instructions... result: I now have one spare mini sitting waiting to have longer wires reattached after I didn't notice the built in cavity for decoders in the chassis (oops!).

If you do it the right way, the decoder sits happily in the cavity on the underside, with the wires trailing up some approximately correctly positioned and sized gaps...





The wires solder easily on to the tabs, and they even provide handy little letters on the tabs to guide you (R for Red, O for orange etc...). I've chosen to use good old cello-tape to secure my wires. Even this way it's a bit bulky for the body to snap down again on the lugs, so some of the self-adhesive pad supplied with the decoder provides a handy way to keep everything together...




For anyone else attempting to put DCC in the Zeppelin. The lovely chaps at Lemke have the instructionshere.

Both now run with my Digitrax Zephyr, and the Q1 seems to be a lot smoother than on DC - not sure why!

More updates when I start building the layout soon.

K

Long overdue post

Hello one and all,

long time since the last post (been very absorbed in my degree!)...

No news on the layout or much streamliner research at the moment (I seem to have reached the edges of the existing N-scale streamliner universe) but I thought readers who share my love for mid-20th century design optimism might enjoy the music of one of my fantastic new friend's bands, the fantastically talented Ricky Brawn who is drummer for (amongst others) the Space Cadets.

Enjoy. More updates sooner rather than later...

K

Layout update

No major updates but I've assembled my coal stage loading chute thing from the ratio kit. Mostly very high quality mouldings but some parts were way too thin and relied on a lot of creative use of clamps to hold together edges... not quite as well thought out as the last kit I built (the kibri church). In particular the ladder was way to thin and snapped when I was trimming sprue so mine has a shorter upright ladder rather than the conventional angled ladder specified in the kit. I also replaced the handrails on the ladder with Nbrassloco handrail wire as it's straight and stiff (for some reason Ratio seem to think it's a good idea to supply handrail wire as a coil of fairly soft stuff in a tiny packet in the instructions... bizarre as the box is more than big enough to fit straight lengths of decent stuff). Anyhow, the Mrs wants me to have it painted black as per everything else in our apartment (grown up goths) but I'm not sure what would be best... suggestions welcome as ever.

Pics of assembled (minorly kitbashed) coal loader...

Rail Zeppelin Update

Fantastic article on the Schienenzeppelinhere courtesy of greyfalcon.us I couldn't fin any contact details for the author so hopefully he wont me linking... the rest of the site's stuff on unusual vehicles is fascinating also.

Wiki image of the Schienenzeppelin or rail-zeppelin as it is sometimes known:



N gauge model of the Schienenzeppelin and it's derivative model the SVT 13715 are available from MGSharp here

K

Kato GG1

The mumblings are out there... apparently we can expect a new N scale version of the Loewy's iconic GG1 at some point in the new year... no official confirmation from Kato (and I did ask very directly!) and no pictures anywhere up online but it's enough to make me hold my horses on buying an old Arnold one... got to love that Japanese quality!

K

Layout Update

Updates on some bits and pieces...

The Nn3 streamlined shunter is well underway and has basic body and wiring for the headlamp (GOW bulb) sorted, it runs a treat on the Z scale flex track I got from MG sharp - one of my favourite online shops for railway bits and pieces. I'm waiting on some detailing parts from Nbrassloco and some kind donations from a fellow Nn3 modeller to finish it off. I'm using a nameplate of "The Great Bear" from Fox decals and the whole thing will be nice matt black.

As it stands it looks like this:





Paint job's on the freighter, though I'm still having trouble getting the wood right... I need some custom transfers really to fit with the rest of the layout...