Does Anyone Model/Run European Trains?

Tinplate Art posted:

I prefer my LGB 1:22.5 Austrian, Swiss and German meter gauge models. The original LGB was made of a high-grade BASF polymer called Luran-S, which is very durable under extreme weather conditions. The paints were also high quality UV resistant. The Richter family knew how to build them right. The Hungarian LGB does not use Luran-S, so they are different products than the German production at Saganer Strasse. They do, however, look and run well, and I have some of the Marklin LGB.

Yep, when I was in Europe the first time, I bought an LGB starter set in Amsterdam. I still have it, and got into G scale stuff for a while. I had the usual mix of various nation's rolling stock, and was going to build the layout I have today in G scale but never got to it. The crushing cost of almost anything in G, as well as the room it takes, eventually swayed my take on things and I sold all but that starter set off over ten years ago. On30 turned out to be way better for me.

That said, I loved the overall size and feel of G scale...

BetaNuSigmaPhi posted:

Big Jim posted:

Oooo, they need a serious amount of work!

Model railroading (...or railroad modeling?) is a hobby for the working class  

Well, someone is going to have to work their class off to get those looking decent! 

Lad Nagurney posted:

The Heljan O Gauge (2-rail) are sold in Britain through Howes Models in Kidlington, near Oxford.

I visited them last year when I was at Oxford University for a month. I remember posting some photos in Friday Photos, around late June 2016.

Their website is  https://www.howesmodels.co.uk/

The link to their Heljan page is

https://www.howesmodels.co.uk/subcat/Heljan%20UK

While not on their website, they often have shells with small blemishes, broken parts, etc. I would send them an email .

Most of the engines run about $700 US + shipping + duty.

Lad

 

 

Lad Nagurney posted:

The Heljan O Gauge (2-rail) are sold in Britain through Howes Models in Kidlington, near Oxford.

I visited them last year when I was at Oxford University for a month. I remember posting some photos in Friday Photos, around late June 2016.

Their website is  https://www.howesmodels.co.uk/

The link to their Heljan page is

https://www.howesmodels.co.uk/subcat/Heljan%20UK

While not on their website, they often have shells with small blemishes, broken parts, etc. I would send them an email .

Most of the engines run about $700 US + shipping + duty.

Lad

 

Last sentence mentions duty.  I've ordered a handful of items from Great Britain (nothing substantial), and have never had to pay a duty.   Is there a dollar threshold above which a duty applies?  How much is it?

Thanks. 

Hey Jim, you realize BNSP does all that cool tin by hand too don't you? 3d printing is almost "cheating" for him. I love it all   

(class )

Adriatic posted:

Hey Jim, you realize BNSP does all that cool tin by hand too don't you? 3d printing is almost "cheating" for him. I love it all   

(class )

 

I have no idea what you are talking about.

p51 posted:

I'd love to find a couple of cars in O scale narrow gauge (Oe, they call what in the US is called On30) for German prototypes.

As I model a RR operating unit during WW2 on a stateside line, I think it'd be interesting to throw a European car into a Army train, painted in OD green or black with Army markings, much like they actually did near the end of the war and afterward at Ft Eustis, VA. It'd make for an interesting wrinkle in an op session...

Fleischmann Magic Trains show up on Ebay occasionally, they have Oe German freight & passenger cars.  They also made a couple of nice little switchers - diesel & steam.  I have the diesel, looking for a steam one.

In Giessen, Germany this weekend for the big 0 scale show. Will try to post some pictures late next week. Miketg

Big Jim posted:

Oooo, they need a serious amount of work!

some amount of work has been done, but not serious...      ...this bodyshell below is in 1:32 for gauge one (please, compare against the earlier posted photo of the "naked" 3d print made of yellow/orange filament)... the versions in 1:45 for O gauge and in 1:64 for S gauge are in preparation...

Well, as promised here are some videos of my Lenz Br24 and Kiss Silberlinge coaches. Notice the sequencing of the coaches, just like on the real ones that I rode in my late teens and early 20's. Miketg

I just bought my first N Scale Graham Farish Loco on Friday. Runs great as ever. British Rail of course.

Miketg posted:

Well, as promised here are some videos of my Lenz Br24 and Kiss Silberlinge coaches. Notice the sequencing of the coaches, just like on the real ones that I rode in my late teens and early 20's. Miketg

Lenz and Kiss products for O scale (fine scale) are of excellent quality. 

BTW, now I am making my own German E03 and 103 electric engines for O scale (fine scale) and O gauge (hi-rail) in TEE-style painting scheme since no manufacturer is producing them...

Can't wait to see the E03 and 103!

Miketg posted:

Can't wait to see the E03 and 103!

As you know, Märklin is producing the DB class 103 in scale one (exactly 1:32) with many nice digital features for indoor usage and Piko announced the slightly bigger DB Baureihe 103 in G scale (approx. 1:29) with some compromises and less features for outdoor usage. But no manufacturer has ever produced the DB E03/BR103 in O scale (1:45) or S scale (1:64), so I am volunteering to do both and I have found also the suitable mechanism, motorization, pantographs, etc. for them.  This is one of my summer projects to be done in the workshop and paintshop.

BetaNuSigmaPhi posted:

Miketg posted:

Can't wait to see the E03 and 103!

But no manufacturer has ever produced the DB E03/BR103 in O scale (1:45) 

I thought Lemaco made the 103 in 0 scale?

Regards

Freed

sncf231e posted:

BetaNuSigmaPhi posted:

Miketg posted:

Can't wait to see the E03 and 103!

But no manufacturer has ever produced the DB E03/BR103 in O scale (1:45) 

I thought Lemaco made the 103 in 0 scale?

Regards

Freed

Can you share with us the Lemaco catalog link referring to the 103 ?

Lemaco made a 103 and it is a very nice model, goes for about 4000 euros on German eBay. Just Google Lemaco 103 Spur 0 and you will find lots of listings. I have one  resin kit made about 20 years ago by one of the German 0 scale society sub groups still to build and another earlier product that was made in a small run by an 0 scale modeler about 30 years ago. Miketg

I would like to scratchbuild an adaptation of the European rolling-highway (Rollende Landstrasse or RoLa) trains used to ferry tractor-trailers and their drivers:

Of course these are not available in 'O'. They do exist in HO scale, and I have on more than one occasion thought about acquiring a set of the HO cars in order to clone them in O from sheet styrene. The biggest problem however is the oddball four-axle trucks these extra-low flatcars ride on:

Making the sideframes would be a challenge, but the wheelsets could be a show-stopper...the best information I can get my hands on suggests they max out at about 13"-15" in diameter. Anyone know how to make (slightly more than) quarter-inch diameter wheelsets for 3-rail track? I suspect a lathe may be necessary, but I don't have access to or anyplace to put one, much less operate it.

But if those issues could be overcome, getting tractor-trailers to put in them would be the easy part.

---PCJ

This is a great thread. When I lived in Connecticut I had a lot large enough for a LGB assortment of swiss and german protoypes. I could even run them from the back porch in rainy weather. I don't have that space since we live in Boston now but we like to collect early (turn of last century) European (Bing, Basset-lowke, etc) 1 gauge electric and live steam trains. We are slowly getting into vintage gauge 3 collecting as well but those are fewer and further in between.

I also love European tinplate, especially French items, such as French Hornby, JEP, and others. Everyone once in a while I post on the weekly  tinplate thread which I thouroughly enjoy reading.

Miketg

Miketg posted:

I also love European tinplate, especially French items, such as French Hornby, JEP, and others. Everyone once in a while I post on the weekly  tinplate thread which I thouroughly enjoy reading.

Miketg

Me too, my most favorite Hornby Hachette reproduction item is the French stockcar WAGON A BESTIAUX with extremely detailed printing on the tinplate surface.

Miketg posted:

Lemaco made a 103 and it is a very nice model, goes for about 4000 euros on German eBay. Just Google Lemaco 103 Spur 0 and you will find lots of listings. I have one  resin kit made about 20 years ago by one of the German 0 scale society sub groups still to build and another earlier product that was made in a small run by an 0 scale modeler about 30 years ago. Miketg

Yes, thanks, I have seen them. The brass models are more for the collector's shelf and less for the grandchild's playground. Unfortunately Lemaco, Fulgurex, Micro-Metakit, Wunder, Demco, etc. are above my budget, my wife would kill me... therefore I scratchbuild the working class version of the E03/103.

RailRide posted:

I would like to scratchbuild an adaptation of the European rolling-highway (Rollende Landstrasse or RoLa) trains used to ferry tractor-trailers and their drivers:

 

---PCJ

Good luck with your interesting modeling project. Here are few examples to copy in proportion the anatomy of those European flatcars. 

Daniel and Fred on the Tinplate Forum frequently share some exquisite European models, often running  electric, clockwork and live steam on Chris Lonero's weekend photo thread.

I have a question for those of you who have the MTH Duchess Of Sutherland. Did your loco come with smoke deflectors?

I have the green one and the blue one  (Duchess of Atholl) and they both came with deflectors.

Andrew

But, this is the red one.

Big Jim posted:

Adriatic posted:

Hey Jim, you realize BNSP does all that cool tin by hand too don't you? 3d printing is almost "cheating" for him. I love it all   

(class )

 

I have no idea what you are talking about.

I was away from the forum for a long while Jim. 

  I was pointing out that much of Betanusigmaphi's tin plate roster he shares here is handmade by him often using the cheapest methods possible by choice vs necessity. It reflects the spirit and tenacity of early RR modelers well imo. 

  I find it impressive and very worthy of praise of effort, even if the result doesn't meet some folks personal layout standards.

I figured "Class" was a bnsp joke on your part, but maybe I don't have any idea what you're talking about as well.

Big Jim posted:

I have a question for those of you who have the MTH Duchess Of Sutherland. Did your loco come with smoke deflectors?

I have 20-3368-2. As far as I remember it came without smoke deflectors, which is correct since it has a single chimney; The real Duchess of Sutherland loco received smoke deflectors a couple of years after it received a double chimney. Whether MTH also made a double chimney version of the LMS red Duchess I do not know. The pictures on the MTH website seems to be incorrect anyway; here is my version.

Regards

Fred

"As far as I remember it came without smoke deflectors, which is correct since it has a single chimney; The real Duchess of Sutherland loco received smoke deflectors a couple of years after it received a double chimney."

Thank you Fred.

Adriatic posted:

Big Jim posted:

Adriatic posted:

Hey Jim, you realize BNSP does all that cool tin by hand too don't you? 3d printing is almost "cheating" for him. I love it all   

(class )

 

I have no idea what you are talking about.

I was away from the forum for a long while Jim. 

  I was pointing out that much of Betanusigmaphi's tin plate roster he shares here is handmade by him often using the cheapest methods possible by choice vs necessity. It reflects the spirit and tenacity of early RR modelers well imo. 

  I find it impressive and very worthy of praise of effort, even if the result doesn't meet some folks personal layout standards.

I figured "Class" was a bnsp joke on your part, but maybe I don't have any idea what you're talking about as well.

Myself I apply three different manufacturing techniques separately or combined: tinplate coating, 3D printing and laser cutting. All processing machines I use, are low budget DIY products. Injection molding, brass etching, die casting and tampon printing are not in my budget unfortunately. Here is one of my own European projects, the German experimental electric locomotive E03 in rapid raw 3D print and handpainted and decorated bodyshell (without pantographs so far), firstly for Scale 1 (1:32), later also O gauge (1:45) and S scale (1:64)...[by the way, Piko (G scale) and Märklin (scale 1) are making only the series version Baureihe 103]...

PS: If someone is not happy with my low standard results, then he should show us here right now his own high standard results, it's very simple.

p51 posted:

 I bought an LGB starter set in Amsterdam. I still have it, and got into G scale stuff for a while. I had the usual mix of various nation's rolling stock, and was going to build the layout I have today in G scale but never got to it. The crushing cost of almost anything in G, as well as the room it takes, eventually swayed my take on things...

That was pretty much my experience, too.  And also the rather cavalier attitude that many manufacturers were taking toward what actually constitutes "G scale."  All too often, I'd find that anything running on #1-gauge track was considered "G scale" (or, even worse, just "Large scale), regardless of the scale it actually was.

Then, when we moved into another house that didn't have room in the basement for a G layout, it was the end of the line for me.  I still have my G scale (1:22.5) equipment packed away, but for the past fifteen years or so, I've been in 3rs and haven't looked back.

Adriatic posted:

I figured "Class" was a bnsp joke on your part, but maybe I don't have any idea what you're talking about as well.

In that you are correct!

Well, I have not posted here for a while. I have given Georgenstadt a real fine cleaning and have been updating some scenery.

Santa just delivered the Lenz T3/BR89. Just put her on the track and tested her out, just wonderful.

Here are a couple of photos, ex use the quality, but aken with my IPad.

All the best,

Miketg

Thought I would add a few more photos of Georgenstadt, hope you like them.

On the below video is demonstrated how I lasercut my own modern era EuroFima-type passenger coaches for EuroCity express trains for Märklin 1 scale.

The design has been scaled down for O scale, which can fit to the MTH Taurus. Later I do it also for S scale.

Many Continental European state railways operate this type of coaches in multiple variations, for instance with different painting schemes, window arrangements and door shapes as 1st class, 2nd class, mixed class coach or as bistro/buffet/restaurant car.

The same design can also be scaled up for G scale to run on LGB tracks.

Here is some assembly progress of the O scale version...

Here is applied inkjet-printed adhesive vinyl coating (instead of painting) in the colors of the German InterRegio from the 1990ies era...

Hello everyone, just thought I would add some video of a Bavariain locomotive I pickrd up some time ago. She did not run, but by cleaning the gears well and realigning the motor mounts, she runs pretty well. The question is should I add a decoder and sound?

Miketg

Also want to add in a photo of my Gebauer P8 in KPEV colors. I have a real soft spot for anything Prussian.

And one last photo for today.

BetaNuSigmaPhi posted:

Myself I apply three different manufacturing techniques separately or combined: tinplate coating, 3D printing and laser cutting. All processing machines I use, are low budget DIY products. Injection molding, brass etching, die casting and tampon printing are not in my budget unfortunately. Here is one of my own European projects, the German experimental electric locomotive E03 in rapid raw 3D print and handpainted and decorated bodyshell (without pantographs so far), firstly for Scale 1 (1:32), later also O gauge (1:45) and S scale (1:64)...[by the way, Piko (G scale) and Märklin (scale 1) are making only the series version Baureihe 103]...

PS: If someone is not happy with my low standard results, then he should show us here right now his own high standard results, it's very simple.

I am completely onboard with this idea and have considered it my self. Especially for fabricating parts. Even what I see here with the E03 is more than impressive enough to consider doing this for my O scale.

Light sanding the surface could remove some of the noticeable printing ridges.

Also, there is a paint that will fill in those printing defects and make it smooth. I will look to see if I can find it.

We spent a very enjoyable vacation in Japan using a rail pass to travel from Tokyo to Yokohama on local and Shinkensen trains.  Purchased a few N Scale Kato sets and set them up on a table top once in a while, nice track and smooth running trains.  Planning to incorporate a loop on my upcoming O Gauge layout. 

If MTH or somebody makes an O Gauge version I’d buy it!