Mickoos European dabblings

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Ok,

New thread, does what it seez on zee tin, my rabblings and scatter gun dabblings in the Eurozone.

Picked up a couple of German locos at Telford this weekend, an O gauge MBW V200 which was going for a good price, I think ;) not checked if it was a bargin or not, best not to I suppose :cool:
Sadly it's numbered in the V200 series and I'd of prefered 220-xxx-x or even better a 221 which I think are a better shape, but you can't be too picky when starting out. The items viewed through the engine room window are a bit 2D so I may change that with some better 3D parts later on. I'll also look at the decals and see if it is possible to get them off and preserve the paint work and perhaps renumber, but that's for another day and photos to follow shortly.

The other item was the Marklin Gauge 1 BR.78 I picked up from Dikitriki, overall I'm pleased with it and I did buy it to bash about and super detail where possible, they go cheap enough so that you don't wince when you take a knife anywhere near it ;)

First off there were a couple of immediate points of concern, all from the model aspect, nothing to do with previous owners.

First off there's a massive amount of side play and associated slop in the motion, I'll look at trying to tone some of that down later on, side play should be easy with some washers on the axles, though the wheels look like they're on the axles for life, so, perhaps some slotted spacers attached to the chassis.

The second was traction tires, ouch, horrid! thought they went out with pancake and ringfield motors in the late 80's. This is a harder item to fix, especially if the wheels will not come off the axles, ideally you need new wheels to be honest and I have been flirting with trying to use some form of UK based wheelsets for other projects, again we will see how that all pans out. My biggest concern is perhaps not the traction tyres but obtaining replacements in years to come.

The final immediate issue is the footplate, there's a very nasty upward kick to the footplate at the front.
IMG_8431.JPG

The footplate here is plastic and quite thin, it can easily be bent back to shape but won't hold it, don't really want to bend it any more in case it breaks.

Flipping the body over we see the obvious culprit when we add the chassis back in.
IMG_8433.JPG

You can see the lighting circuit board trapped between the frame and footplate, hmm not quite right so stripped it down, BTW these photos are not in the order of strip down LOL

View underneath
IMG_8434.JPG

Here we can clearly see the circuit board and the red paint from the chassis, there are no other marks so this is probably an issue from the factory , the circuit board simply does not fit this model.

IMG_8435.JPG

All one needs do is trim the hatched area and it should all fit just right, or at least remove the pressure from the frame and prevent further bending of the footplate, it's obviously been like this for some considerable time and to be honest I had spotted it on other models I'd seen on Ebay, but had just put it down to camera angles or a slight bend that could be straightened. I'll probably fabricate some sort of brass or NS plate work in here and attach to the rear of the buffer beam to pull it all flat, I've a few ideas kicking around in my head as to how to solve this.

The final part is the massive thick front buffer beam when viewed from the side, quite clearly these fictional plates are to cover the buffers when compressed.
IMG_8439.JPG

Yet at the rear of the loco they decided not to bother :confused:
IMG_8438.JPG

I'll trim back the fictional part and leave the small flange on there and cross reference with real photos and make as good a job as practicable.

Other aspects that might be improved, there's a huge amount of side play on the bogie frames and wheels, really does need new bogies fabricated and the main frames are also narrow and devoid of pretty much all but the most basic details. Easiest thing to do will be to etch or scratch build up some overlays and slot behind the wheels, there's plenty of places to drill and tap the metal chassis and screw the overlays on and keep the screws hidden. The overlays can at least then have the correct profile over the rear bogie :thumbs:

The rest of the work just includes details on the chassis like brake rigging, sand pips and oil pipe runs etc, other than that it looks pretty good overall :thumbs:
 
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cmax

Western Thunderer
Hi Mickoo

Be interested on your findings, re the MBW V200, this is a loco i am interested in.

Many thanks.

Gary
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Mick,

Interesting that you're finding the same sort of issues with the Maerklin stuff as I recall with some of their HO models. I'll bet the overall dimensions are pretty good though, and it looks like there's a load of potential in the model.

Steph
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
BR 78 - one one my favourite steam locos of all time. Pictures below were taken in Trier HBf at the Dampfspetakel in 2010.

The loco is akin to the LBSC Terriers. You have to pick your loco and stick with it, there are so many detail differences :eek:.

BR 78 01.jpg

BR 78 02.jpg
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Hi Mickoo

Be interested on your findings, re the MBW V200, this is a loco i am interested in.

Many thanks.

Gary
No problems, I'm actually looking at their Gauge 1 221 class, you can pick them up on Ebay with sound for around high £500 ish which looks good value for money.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Mick,

Interesting that you're finding the same sort of issues with the Maerklin stuff as I recall with some of their HO models. I'll bet the overall dimensions are pretty good though, and it looks like there's a load of potential in the model.

Steph
Steph, I've not measured it but suspect your right and to be fair I'm worried less about that aspect than some of the visual issues, but yes, it has masses of potential....even if it's just for scaling off to make some etched artwork ;)
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
The loco is akin to the LBSC Terriers.

That made oi larf :D physically you couldn't of picked a worse example to compare a BR.78 with LOL, small or quaint is not a word one normally associates with a 4-6-4 tank engine :p

But, like you I do like them, nice big chunky engine.
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Hi Mick,

That didn't take you long. I didn't get as far as disassembling it. It's a bit off that the factory didn't have quality control procedures to sort the circuit board.

I'll be very interested in your progress here, and hope to follow in your footsteps with add-on details :)

My replacement original round top roof model has arrived - same body, different cab with the same sort of issues.

Richard
 

daifly

Western Thunderer
The final part is the massive thick front buffer beam when viewed from the side, quite clearly these fictional plates are to cover the buffers when compressed.
...
Yet at the rear of the loco they decided not to bother
I suspect that the plates at the front have nothing to do with covering the buffers but everything to do with bracing the buffer beam The rear has side valancing acting as a brace whereas the front has nothing. The circuit board occupies the space where there should be bracing and to allow 'play-value' the designer had concocted a solution which visually leaves much to be desired. If you remove them, you will probably need to replace them with something less visible to retain the integrity of the very deep front buffer beam.

Dave
 

Richard Spoors

Western Thunderer
Ok,

New thread, does what it seez on zee tin, my rabblings and scatter gun dabblings in the Eurozone.

Picked up a couple of German locos at Telford this weekend, an O gauge MBW V200 which was going for a good price, I think ;) not checked if it was a bargin or not, best not to I suppose :cool:
Sadly it's numbered in the V200 series and I'd of prefered 220-xxx-x or even better a 221 which I think are a better shape, but you can't be too picky when starting out. The items viewed through the engine room window are a bit 2D so I may change that with some better 3D parts later on. I'll also look at the decals and see if it is possible to get them off and preserve the paint work and perhaps renumber, but that's for another day and photos to follow shortly.

The other item was the Marklin Gauge 1 BR.78 I picked up from Dikitriki, overall I'm pleased with it and I did buy it to bash about and super detail where possible, they go cheap enough so that you don't wince when you take a knife anywhere near it ;)

First off there were a couple of immediate points of concern, all from the model aspect, nothing to do with previous owners.

First off there's a massive amount of side play and associated slop in the motion, I'll look at trying to tone some of that down later on, side play should be easy with some washers on the axles, though the wheels look like they're on the axles for life, so, perhaps some slotted spacers attached to the chassis.

The second was traction tires, ouch, horrid! thought they went out with pancake and ringfield motors in the late 80's. This is a harder item to fix, especially if the wheels will not come off the axles, ideally you need new wheels to be honest and I have been flirting with trying to use some form of UK based wheelsets for other projects, again we will see how that all pans out. My biggest concern is perhaps not the traction tyres but obtaining replacements in years to come.
Mick, replacement tyres or a full wheelset can be found here: www.modellbau-mohring.de
Gauge 1 is the smallest scale he does.
Regards
Richard
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Mick, replacement tyres or a full wheelset can be found here: www.modellbau-mohring.de
Gauge 1 is the smallest scale he does.
Regards
Richard
How rude of me, I forgot to reply to this :oops:

Thanks for the link Richard, it might pay to get a full set from them or just a Marklin stock replacement leading driver without traction tyres and swap it out for the trailing one on the model.

All the best

Mick D
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Catching up with a few bits and pieces here and there, I modified the footplate on the Br78 so it is a bit flatter but needs cleaning up and perhaps a thin plasticard skin to hide all the grooves I cut into it, it's not perfect but after goodness knows how many years bent under pressure, it's as realistically flat as it's going to get, I'll dig it out and post photos tonight if I get a chance. I've also got a pot simmering on the back burner with new bogies and frame overlays etc.

Anyway, moving on and wanting more I'm fiddling and researching a few other loco scratch builds, but, before I get too deep into that wanted to branch out and get something to stand them on, some sort of photo diorama sort of thing, preferably with scratch built track, essentially I'm looking for flatbottom track and fixings like these on this arc table.

Segmentdrehscheibe aus Italien (1) | spur1info.com

I'm thinking engine shed with pits and a traverser (very popular in german sheds) type affair or something.

Same goes for O gauge which I'll research later tonight given time.

Any pointers appreciated.

All the best

Mick D
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Tim,

No problems, I'm a big fan of Becasse and have posted his site before on here and I check it weekly for updates.

Most odd you should post a link to the Br.23 page ;) and one of his models (purportedly) KISS Spur I Dampflok BR 23 der DB, OVP, PREMIUM PATINIERT ! is up for sale on Ebay.

I did flip a coin before going on holiday, this model or a new camera, the camera won and on closer examination I don't think this is a Becasse original, it's not up to his usual standards.

It is his site that has prodded me to attempt to turn good wood into sawdust and make something other than trains, well something to put my trains on actually :thumbs: I suspect his track may just be set track but I want some point work and such so need chairs and fittings etc.

All the best

Mick D
 

cmax

Western Thunderer
Mick,

Did you get round to photographing your MBW V200? be interested in your findings.

Many Thanks

Gary
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Spur 1:32 Mick. Wins hands down. I'm sure there's a market for some class G1 German outline kits (hint:) )

Richard

But where to start :cool: I keep looking at the Trumpeter 1:35 Br.86 kit and scaling that for a toe in the water project, but you know me, the Br.86 is a bit 'small' for my tastes;), the ultimate end goal is of course an oil burning 'Jumbo' or 01.10 :thumbs:

There is a site that does German loco drawings, not as comprehensive as say NRM or the SAR steam site, but a dashed site cheaper than NRM and probably good enough to get something going. So far three of the engines I'm interested in are not available, not do EKVerlag do a bible on them, maybe one of them but it's put of print at the moment I believe.

Wilgro do some nice bogies Modelle und Modellbaugruppen for tenders and stock, which whilst a little pricey are, I think, good value when you consider the quality and time saving they represent.

Still, track first, even if it's just a photo plank.
 
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