I recently finished my first narrow gauge model: Cora, one of the Skarloey Railway brake vans in the Railway Series.



I was very surprised to find a kit of the exact basis.

It's been a while since I posted anything in here.  I haven't done much that's terribly exciting, so I'm putting all of my new creations together.

First is a parcels van to match the old coaches.





Next is my take on a standard gauge D.Fusit wagon, built using GWR gunpowder wagon kits.





Lastly are some RWS style Troublesome Tankers.  I chose the kit that I used because there were no braces on the tank ends.





My next project will be some slight alterations on the new autocoaches that I mention in the "New Acquisitions" thread.  After that, I have some narrow gauge projects in the works.

I recently picked up three more autocoaches at good prices, as they were pre-owned.  Now I have all of Isabel, Dulcie, Alice, and Mirabel.



I need to paint their roofs the same charcoal color as Isabel's and add faces.  I will also probably add names (like Annie and Clarabel) because with so little room to work with, because of the windows and non-flat ends, I don't really think that I can make four faces that are especially distinct from each other.

I knew that there was something familiar about the face.

Nice job with the face on your Fred.  Did you mold it yourself?  I've been making the faces on mine with paper eyes like Annie and Clarabel and the season 1 trucks.  The large brackets on both ends of the 8 plank wagon (I followed the wiki that he is based on a fixed end 8-plank wagon) that I used to make Fred wound up making the face pretty difficult to apply.  Making him dirty with coal dust was also a nice touch.

Quote from: angelob6660 on May 23, 2018, 09:39:11 PM
That looks very good.

What book chapter it is in? I can't seem to remember that when I reading. I do have the complete book series.

Thank you for the compliment.

Victoria is in the book, Thomas and Victoria (the book has little to do with Thomas, but his name was put on most of Christopher Awdry's books for the sake of name recognition).  Christopher Awdry's books are typically left out of RWS sets, and if you do have the Christopher Awdry collection, I believe that was actually published before Thomas and Victoria.  She was added to Toby's train because Henrietta was becoming overcrowded and passengers were riding on her verandas, causing Toby to get in trouble with the police, much like Thomas before him.  She is a former Furness Railway coach, which is why she is blue and white instead of orange like the other Ffarquhar branchline coaches.

Here is my latest: Victoria from the penultimate book of the RWS (as extended by Christopher Awdry).




I now have Toby's comlete train:





I haven't decided on the order since Elsie and Victoria have never been depicted together.  I've seen old photos of the Wisbech luggage van directly behind the tram, but not having Henrietta first seems odd.

Quote from: angelob6660 on April 29, 2018, 02:38:29 PM
If I bought something in Europe. What shipping method should I get.

For Hatton's, I've never had an issue with the default shipping method.  It isn't too expensive and takes about a week and a half.  Not sure if there was a reason, but it took a little longer when I bought locos versus only rolling stock.

I felt like showing some of the custom models that I've made recently.  Feel free to reply with your own customs or questions about mine.

First, I made S.C. Ruffey's friends from the first illustration of Toad Stands By


Fred Pelhay


The teal truck behind S.C.Ruffey. Some of the Wiki writers are convinced that this is Rickety.


ULP


"Oliver's no use at all..."

I also made the non-express main line coaches from season 1.  These had an ERTL release as "Old Coaches."



I didn't realize until after buying a brake coach kit that the brake coach in the TV series looks like a composite coach that was painted like a brake coach (kind of like Emily's coaches).  Oh Well.

There's been a lot of buzz about wanting Stepney lately, and I recently acquired two of his Bluebell Railway friends, Bluebell and Primrose.

While Stepney may not have a lot of appeal to young children, I really have to question whether young children should really be considered the target market for the range, beyond the starter sets.  I've actually asked, and my parents have said that they would not have bought $50 to $80 engines for a child.  Additionally, Amazon reviews for various items in the range are full of disgruntled rants by parents that did not understand what they were buying.  While I have no extensive data, it would not surprise me if parents were buying the starter sets with Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel and not much more than that.  I don't suspect that many models of characters such as Duck and the Scottish Twins are being bought for young children.  And I also suspect that the narrow gauge range is bought almost exclusively by older fans.

This is all to say that, with the core cast already pretty much out, it might do Bachmann and Mattel good to consider which niche characters appeal to the niche market of people who want to buy high-end Thomas models.  For my part, I am pretty much only interested in Rev. Awdry's characters, so the only realistic, potential additions to standard gauge HO that would appeal to me are Daisy, Stepney, and BoCo (having existed as more than an illustration).  Stepney is a good way to go if Bachmann really doesn't want to make a larger diesel engine for whatever reason.

Maybe I'm completely wrong in my thinking, and there are children with complete Bachmann Thomas collections.  But I've never even seen any of the Bachmann range in a physical store, other than the basic starter set (and this was near Christmas).  Unless children live in a location with a decent hobby shop and are taken there by their parents, they are unlikely to even know that this range exists.

This is a bit of a long shot, but I would like to see a flatbed with Caroline the Car as a load (like in the end of Train Stops Play).  The inclusion of Caroline would justify the Thomas branding for an otherwise fairly ordinary piece of rolling stock.  It's been a while since Bachmann has made any of the type of characters who would be classified as accessories, and I would scoop up models of Bulgy, Trevor, Caroline, and George.

For the face that I would like to see on the next Troublesome Truck, I'm partial to the one on the van that Oliver come face to face with at the end of the siding in Toad Stands By.

Hello.  I made a couple of custom models: Isabel and Elsie.  Isabel wasn't really any work.  I started with a Hornby autocoach model bought second hand.  I simply added a face eyes made from cardstock and a hole punch and a clay nose.  I went with her repainted livery from Bulgy rather than the maroon livery from Escape.

Elsie started as a model of the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway's luggage van from Shapeways.  Rather than the brown of Awdry's model, I decided to have her match Henrietta.  This is the first custom that I've tried.  She turned out okay, though a bit rough.

I was concerned that the wheel sets that I used would be undersized because I believe they are for the bogeys on American rolling stock, but she ran smoothly behind Toby and Henrietta.  Her buffers are about level with Henrietta, so I will probably stick with the wheels that she has, a good thing because when I popped some out of another model to test, the axels on the Thomas range wheels were too short to stay in.

I really like the idea of frosted glass windows.  I hadn't thought of that.  Though I can't help but agree with Duke that gray windows like the Mavis and Diesel models are more likely.  Another potential issue with Daisy is mounting a front coupling because of how far down her body and face go over her wheel base.  I believe her ERTL model from back in the day didn't bother to give her a front coupling, possibly because of this.  It's not terribly important that she have one because she's not meant to be hauling anything, but I could see it turning people off if the model lacked one as well.

At this point, the only standard gauge (HO) engines that I could see myself wanting (and at all likely from having appeared in the show) are Daisy, BoCo, and Stepney.  I don't see BoCo or Stepney happening at this point, but I really thought that Daisy would be announced this year because she was coming back to the show and because Bachmann has tended to stick to characters from the early seasons with Emily, Spenser, and Salty being the closest to "modern" characters that they have made new toolings for (and Winston if large scale is counted).

I also see Daisy as potentially being easier than some other candidates to produce.  I would imagine that Bachmann already has a Bo-Bo diesel chassis from other models that could be used as a starting point, and her overall shape is essentially a box.  I would expect that a Bachmann Daisy would have all of her windows blacked out in order to hide her motor and eye mechanism, which is a shame, but I could of course live with it.

Rolling stock wise, I would love to see at least Isabel (all four autocoaches would be great, but I won't go there), though I don't see her ever happening.  Bachmann Branchline actually does make a maroon autocoach, so in theory, they would just need to Thomas-ize it.  Other than Isabel, I don't really think much is necessary except perhaps some varied brakevan designs and the occasional new troublesome truck.  Something like a log car would be good, but there really isn't a need for a specifically Thomas branded version of an item like that.