AJC
Western Thunderer
Having recently been round Europe by train I returned with an urge to model some of what I saw. Normally, I'd dither and let such an instinct pass; not this time. Following a dose of internet research, a box has arrived from Italy containing wagon kits (what else?). So what's in it - basically, a handful of vans and a ballast hopper.
All of these are vehicles of types we actually saw, mostly stowed in some siding somewhere. The three vans are very reasonably priced plastic kits (under €15 each for kits with wheels, transfers and nice instructions with good isometric drawings) while the ballast hopper is in etched brass with brass castings and, once again, transfers and detailed instructions.
I've already cracked and started on the vans which can broadly be defined as ancient(ish) and modern(ish) in the form of a Carro F - many of which seem to survive dumped or as stores around the Italian network and a Hbillns which seems, more or less, to be the equivalent to the BR VGA. @Neil has already encountered one of the variants on these plastic vans and to someone well-versed in British plastic kit designs these present some instructive contrasts.
Note that the W irons are separate mouldings to the solebars, something I've not seen in 4mm, though Parkside do in 7mm. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but the floor seems to cater for different wheelbases so perhaps alternative sprues or slide in the tooling cater for different variants. There is much more positive location than would be used in a similar British kit (a good thing) and this is repeated with the Habillns (this must be some sort of UIC code?) where the - handed - solebar mouldings have slots and tabs ensuring positive mechanical location. This wagon won't progress until some better wheels turn up: appropriately you could use those supplied to at least score pizza...
It all goes together pretty well and soon - owing to a spare set of 10.5mm Gibson lowmac discs hastily regauged from EM - here is something that looks pleasingly like the prototype images on the box.
I'll add a bit of brake detail in due course, but this has been a pleasant digression from what I was supposed to be doing. They'll be a suitable bit of motive power as well at some point though the choice is slightly limited by the fact that much of the Italian network is electrified and right at this moment I don't want to pursue this as far as building my own catenary. And no, this isn't going to be P87...
Adam
All of these are vehicles of types we actually saw, mostly stowed in some siding somewhere. The three vans are very reasonably priced plastic kits (under €15 each for kits with wheels, transfers and nice instructions with good isometric drawings) while the ballast hopper is in etched brass with brass castings and, once again, transfers and detailed instructions.
I've already cracked and started on the vans which can broadly be defined as ancient(ish) and modern(ish) in the form of a Carro F - many of which seem to survive dumped or as stores around the Italian network and a Hbillns which seems, more or less, to be the equivalent to the BR VGA. @Neil has already encountered one of the variants on these plastic vans and to someone well-versed in British plastic kit designs these present some instructive contrasts.
Note that the W irons are separate mouldings to the solebars, something I've not seen in 4mm, though Parkside do in 7mm. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but the floor seems to cater for different wheelbases so perhaps alternative sprues or slide in the tooling cater for different variants. There is much more positive location than would be used in a similar British kit (a good thing) and this is repeated with the Habillns (this must be some sort of UIC code?) where the - handed - solebar mouldings have slots and tabs ensuring positive mechanical location. This wagon won't progress until some better wheels turn up: appropriately you could use those supplied to at least score pizza...
It all goes together pretty well and soon - owing to a spare set of 10.5mm Gibson lowmac discs hastily regauged from EM - here is something that looks pleasingly like the prototype images on the box.
I'll add a bit of brake detail in due course, but this has been a pleasant digression from what I was supposed to be doing. They'll be a suitable bit of motive power as well at some point though the choice is slightly limited by the fact that much of the Italian network is electrified and right at this moment I don't want to pursue this as far as building my own catenary. And no, this isn't going to be P87...
Adam
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