Wednesday 29 April 2015

Herman moves forward (and backwards)

A while ago I started building a new railcar which would be useful for the Underhill branch, originally it was planned to have a Minitrains Gmeinder chassis as the power unit but that didn't work out and is now under my EuroNG NS2. The bits sat in a box unfinished and unloved until yesterday when I found a KATO 106 bogie chassis in my tool box and suddenly thought that it might be the answer to Herman's problems.

I enlarged the hole in the floor of the coach body and removed the unpowered bogie from the KATO, it made a nice push fit and clipped into place as if designed for the job.

 
From the picture you can see that I've used the rear coach bogie as intended but without couplings attached. This won't be powerful enough to pull extra vehicles. I am slightly concerned about the lack of pickups but so far it seems to run OK.


I've added some extra detailing to the ends like a headlight and horn and an exhaust pipe from styrene rod. I've also used a pair of narrow Planet castings for the buffer/couplers which look just the job.


The idea is that there is a driving position at either end so it just reverses without any messing about or the need for a driving trailer.


2 comments:

Mick Thornton said...

Another nice one John - suggestion if I may - why not use the bogie you removed from the Kato shorty at the non driven end and just extent the pickup wires from the chassis to it in order to get the 8 wheel pickup back?

And................. I like the radiator and exhaust pipe assembly at one end but..........where's the engine? Looks as if it has full seating inside and the exhaust pipe doesn't suggest modern style underfloor engine to me? Just asking!

Mick

Lord Stoner said...

I might resort to the bogie replacement, it had occurred to me but the Chivers bogie is easier to pivot.

I'm sure it has some sort of clever mostly under the floor with a bit of a lump in the cab engine. In actual fact one end of the thing will only be suitable for amputees due to the KATO motor.

Glad you like it though.