HO East German coaches

Tim Hale

Tim Hale

Western Thunderer
Over 50 years ago Schicht VEB In Dresden introduced examples of some of the most iconic passenger coaches of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the Doppelstockwagen or dostos. Currently there is a 2-car set in the original livery on the workbench being restored and a discrete upgrade.
 
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Tim Hale

Tim Hale

Western Thunderer
Currently waiting to be allowed back in the workshop, Tuesday at the earliest, which means no Sunday morning working on this:-
IMG_5266.jpg​
It is one of three sets of Doppelstockwagen or Dostos for those who care, introduced in ‘51, they remained in service until the ‘90s withdrawn due to asbestos issues. They were equally happy on suburban and branchline services, a few were upgraded with p+p gear.
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The model is from Schicht, I need to rebuild them, the main issue are wheel standards and couplings, a quick wipe with a duster with a smidgin of Pledge will help. Rivarossi offered similar but I prefer the original.
Tim
 
Chas Levin

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
Nice looking carriages! Do they have lighting too? I wondered whether Schicht fitted lighting as standard or whether it was an after-market upgrade? I have several Schicht coaches and have looked at a few more and all had lighting fitted...
 
C

cloggydog

Western Thunderer
Chas Levin said:
Nice looking carriages! Do they have lighting too? I wondered whether Schicht fitted lighting as standard or whether it was an after-market upgrade? I have several Schicht coaches and have looked at a few more and all had lighting fitted...
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Most/all of the Schicht coaches I have (or had), including my dosto sets, were lit as standard. Rudimentary pcb up in the roofline with a couple of 12v incandescent bulbs. I have got a bunch of the lighting sets salvaged out of various coaches which I'm unlikely to use, if they are of use to anyone.

The Schicht dostos, despite being over-width and with moulded-on lining guides, do capture the character of the real thing very nicely. I did take the moulded lines off a 2-car to see what effect it had, but wasn't convinced it was worth the effort.

Decals for the dostos (Epoch IV) came from Andreas Nothaft, paint was Humbrol 195, from memory, a close-enough match to DR green.
 
Chas Levin

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
Hello Alan & Tim, are the bulbs Schicht used definitely 12V and do you know where we can find replacements? The ones I've found so far that look the right shape & size are Marklin 19V ones, which I assume would be too dim on the 6-12V range I generally operate within, Chas
 
Roger Pound

Roger Pound

Western Thunderer
A very long time ago when I used to sell Schicht coaches along with other East German products under the Piko Kombinat name, I seem to recall the majority were light fitted as described in post#7 by Mr Levin. Such bulbs were then available as spares and I stocked them but that was over nearly thirty years ago. These bulbs were also used in other accessories such as street and yard lamps, but the name of their manufacturer escapes me. It may be worth pursuing a line of invesigation of the Piko Kombinat in pre-reunification days to see if a link could be ascertained.

Roger
 
Chas Levin

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
Roger Pound said:
A very long time ago when I used to sell Schicht coaches along with other East German products under the Piko Kombinat name, I seem to recall the majority were light fitted as described in post#7 by Mr Levin. Such bulbs were then available as spares and I stocked them but that was over nearly thirty years ago. These bulbs were also used in other accessories such as street and yard lamps, but the name of their manufacturer escapes me. It may be worth pursuing a line of invesigation of the Piko Kombinat in pre-reunification days to see if a link could be ascertained.

Roger
Click to expand...
Thanks Roger, I'll investigate that further... I use different types of lighting in different types of vehicles, sometimes filament bulbs, sometimes warm white LEDs, but for 20th century East European stock, dimly illuminated filament bulbs seem to look right.
 
Tim Hale

Tim Hale

Western Thunderer


Chas,

This link provides an interesting number of improvements to the standard Schicht set CLICK HERE use Google translate.

You should replace the oversize wheels with the correct diameter. Either Liliput L520002 10,6x24,5mm from Peter’s Spares or these from EBay 10,5 wheels CLICK HERE

I have carefully removed to Piko-type coupling from the bogies whilst trying to decide between Kadee or sticking with Piko* couplings.

Makette3.jpg

*Maybe, a compromise of smaller etched hooks from Makette on locos and Kirby conversion. This allows for hands free movement without resorting to radical modifications. The Makette couplings fit in NEM sockets, I use them on locos as discrete hooks.

Tim
 
Chas Levin

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
Thanks Tim, I'll have a look at the link and I'm also very interested in changing the couplings - how did you do that please? I've changed couplings on various makes of bogies over the years but I must admit I hesitated over the Schicht ones as they seem so much a part of the structure.
 
Tim Hale

Tim Hale

Western Thunderer
Chas,

Three images that might help.
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IMG_0086.jpg

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The model has been fitted with smaller wheels which exacerbates the problem of lack of clearance for any sub-floor coupling due to the extension at bogie moulding used by the original fold-up coupling. In the bottom image, they have already been removed, the other bogies are spares and the coupling is smaller than normal, maybe fit these and use just a hook on the loco and uncouple with a magnetic wand or add a Kirby-style tag for a road-bed neo-magnet.

Tim
 
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