trains in progress

NS night train #3

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:24:48 -0400

So, the chopping, filling, and sanding continues. This week I am working on a couchette car. I am now finished with the Wlab car body - after all that sanding, it just needs windows and paint. Its compartment side is shown at the top of the photo. At the bottom of the photo is the couchette car. It is supposed to have 11 windows, so I chopped up a 12-window B-type passenger car, filled the 1mm gaps between them with Milliput (water soluble, and therefore my putty of choice) and sanded smooth. The lower car body in the photo is the couchette car, about to be sanded a second time.

NS night train #1.5

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 17:33:43 -0400

This is just a shot of the original passenger car, before modifications. In the next couple days, you may expect photos of already-modified portions of the car, now a Wlab type sleeper.

NS Night Train #2

Tue, 4 Aug 2009 11:52:02 -0400

This photo shows my courageous hack of what was a pristine Marklin passenger coach. I cut away the windows from each side. They will now be separated, enlarged, filled in, and/or discarded to make a sleeper car. Should be a fun challenge involving a bit of styrene and a lot of putty. I use milliput in situations like this. What do you use/recommend?

NS night train #1

Mon, 3 Aug 2009 16:21:27 -0400

No Z-scale models of modern sleeper or couchette cars exist. Therefore, I must make my own. Some are quite similar to older German passenger coaches. Over coming weeks, you’ll be able to watch me hack up these Marklin models and turn them into a Wlab MU-type sleeper, a Bcm couchette, two Apmz coaches, and a baggage/bicycle wagon. My sketch for the sleeper wagon is pictured.

Display cases!

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:12:02 -0400

As we are taking down and starting over on our Z layouts, I felt that it would be a pity to put all the trains I worked so hard to either buy or make should go away in boxes. Even if I don’t have layouts, I should be able to get pleasure from having the trains. Therefore, I built display cases - more photos are coming - to enjoy my trains now.