N Scale Bachmann Thomas

[N Scale Sudrian]

Hello all, a quick question for all N scale Thomas modelers:

A former student of mine and his dad are building an N scale Thomas layout.  They'd really like to add Cranky onto their layout, but obviously Bachmann has no plans to do Cranky in N anytime soon. So I'd like help finding alternatives for them in the meantime.  What would you guys recommend? And if possible, I'd love to see a side by side comparison of Cranky next to the Bachmann N scale Thomas (not Tomix, please).  This could be either the ERTL, capsule plarail or any other brand that has made Cranky that could work with N scale.

Thanks in advance!

Sadly not able to provide a photo due to my layout being in boxes at the moment, but I find the Capsule Plarail toy to be a decent stand-in. I think it might be slightly small compared to his appearance in the show, but it looks fine on its own merits. Unfortunately in N Scale, there's not a lot of viable 'stand-in' options for Cranky or any other tower crane-type character at this size outside of Capsule Plarail toys, since most of their toys in the other toy ranges are far too big to fit well in an N Scale setting.

[BubbleBuddyFan]

I will be interested to do 3D Printed N Scale Cranky the Crane instead. I wasn't planning to do N Scale Thomas Engines and Rolling Stock for last time. I have no interest into Nia and Rebecca either. It gets worse and worse in the future.

[Chaz]

Sadly not able to provide a photo due to my layout being in boxes at the moment, but I find the Capsule Plarail toy to be a decent stand-in. I think it might be slightly small compared to his appearance in the show, but it looks fine on its own merits. Unfortunately in N Scale, there's not a lot of viable 'stand-in' options for Cranky or any other tower crane-type character at this size outside of Capsule Plarail toys, since most of their toys in the other toy ranges are far too big to fit well in an N Scale setting.

No worries regarding the photo, and thanks for the reply/feedback!  I like the detailing from the capsule Cranky a lot more, but the ERTL one seems to be better in scaling with the Bachmann N scale models, at least from what I gathered from some photos another modeler was able to share in a Facebook group I'm a member of. 

Any other options you or anyone else can think of, I'm all ears.

[JacobSK]

I'm wondering if the Nakayoshi Cranky will fit in?



It seems to be the perfect blend of the detailing that the Capsule Plarail toy has and the needed height of the ERTL. Unfortunately, I do not have it, but have been on the trail for one for about a year now.

As an added note: the Nakayoshi Bulstrode is PERFECT for the N scale Thomas stuff, granted your friend knows about him.