Motive power for the Kohei line

[David Weber]

I tend to build rolling stock, buildings and scenery much faster than motive power. Because a locomotive tends to be the centre of attention, there is a lot of onus on getting it right.

First loco is a modest BO-BO based on Baldwin-Westinghouse practice. All plasticard on a Tomytec TM-ED02 chassis with a Tomix HO-P07 pantograph, Bachmann N gauge switcher tender headlights, Ratio signal ladder steps.

And a lot of Revell Plasto and Citadel Green Stuff to smooth out imperfections. Makes it look like a patchwork before paint but should look better after than without doing this.



Modelling electrics in H0e is limited by the small range of chassis with big enough wheels. The period I have chosen is too late for Crocodiles, Buchli drives or other fixed chassis systems. Axle hung motors require large wheels to give enough space to hang suitably large motors. At least 8mm diameter in H0 scale. TM-ED02s have 8mm diameter wheels.

I obtained a cheap Farish DMU chassis from Society Sales and refitted it with Dundas 9mm diameter wagon wheels. It runs, but has some issues, so the large passenger motor body has not progressed beyond a mockup.



I think this is due to the Dundas axle not having a thicker section in the middle and the gears held in place with superglue as a result. This means the axle gears are off centre. I did this because I could only get one of the wheels and the gear off each Farish axle and so could not re-use them. Maybe I need to acquire new Farish axles with fitted gears from a spares supplier and fit the Dundas wheels to them.

[JulienW]

Maybe I need to acquire new Farish axles with fitted gears from a spares supplier and fit the Dundas wheels to them.

I did a similar conversion on one of the Fleischmann bogie centre-cab German goods locos, replacing the original 6 mm wheels with 9 mm ones.  On that one I was lucky in that iirc the fleischmann axle was a smaller diameter than the axle on the ex-Nine Lines dounty donegal wagon wheelsets I was using.  To add to the mix they were 12 mm gauge as I wanted to use the extra axle length to fit outside cranks and frames.

With a much modified Knightwing chassis this was the result...
DSCF0197 by Julien Webb, on Flickr

Coming back to the Farish chassis they tend to use knurled axles to help hold the wheels and gears in place, and when these are removed from the axle the remaining hole is a little bigger than the smooth axle - I certainly had to be very careful refitting a driving wheel to a black five chassis after I'd replaced a split drive gear.  I have a feeling (haven't measured) that once removed the hole in the Farish gear ends up at 1.6 mm as against a nominal axle diameter of 1.5 mm - not much, but enough to cause an issue.  I've used BR Lines for Farish spares in the past, though whether it would be easier to get a replacement Farish axle to fit the Dundas wheels to, or get a spare drive gear (that should have a smaller hole) to fit to the existing Dundas axle I don't know.  One final thought if going down the latter route is to check the Dundas axle diameter against the hole in the new gear as the Farish gears are a force fit (pressed on by hydraulics?) and can split over time as the axle is slightly bigger than the hole.  The trick is to carefully open the hole in the gear out slightly to match the axle (tight, but not too tight), and use superglue to retain the gear (though one of the anaerobic retaining compounds like Loctite 603 may be better as they are designed for this sort of job).

[David Weber]

The big passenger motor is still on hold for the time being as locomotives are currently the priority.

The Baldwin-Westinghouse has gained more details and the Tomix pantograph swapped for a more appropriate (and expensive) One Mile product.

Recently I acquired two identical Tomytec unpowered locos.



They are really rather small, so I will probably use both to produce one long bogie loco or a twin loco on two short bogie chassis.

[David Weber]

Two little locos into one big one!

First, the dismantling of everything, twice.



For power we shall use a Kato EF65-1000.



Dismantle that too.



You probably get where this is going now.



How to attach the body when Kato use clip assembly for everything? Retain the original N bodyshell, and screw the new HO bodyshell to that. Some filing will be needed.



After scrubbing off the white lines (discovering a good method only after scratching the parts a few times), assembly begins.



Test on layout and all is well.



Into primer, trial fit pantographs and off for a day out at Rainford.



Now undergoing more fill and rub down to perfect the surface finish before final painting.

[Robin Webster]

This looks very good David. Are you going to use n scale couplers on this model?

[David Weber]

Yes; they are pre-fitted more securely and precisely than anything I could fit, they are what I have on everything else, they are reliable and they look rather like knuckle couplings from a distance, apart from the size. I have considered actual knuckle couplings such as Micro-Trains or Dapol Easi-Shunt but it would be a lot of extra work.

[David Weber]

Electric railways usually require a diesel locomotive for permanent way work, and there may also be some unelectrified sidings needing a shunter.



Cosmic body kit of laser-cut acrylic and card with Kato 11-109, has received initial coat of paint, as much as anything to stop it getting dirty while waiting for me to decide what the company logo should look like and how it will be applied.

[David Weber]

I finally painted and lettered the big electric loco previously seen in snow white.

[David Weber]

After building the Blue Beast above I felt there was a need for a more modestly sized locomotive for lighter work.

I found this 3D printed bodyshell for a freelance American made steeplecab on a Kato 11-109 on Ebay. Seller is apogeelocoworks. There was also a boxcab but I sold that on as it was rather poor quality compared to the steeplecab.



Very nicely designed and detailed but the industrial features of large shunter's platforms on the ends and open doorways with no doors did not suit a common carrier locomotive. Even though it is not recommended, I set about the body with a razor saw as if it were a plastic moulding. Only one breakage occurred, when drilling a hole in the roof for the pantograph fixing screw. I later added a plasticard patch to the roof, which is not visible under the pantograph on it's scratchbuilt plasticard stand. The pantograph is a One Mile product designed for a model of a Tokyo Toden tram. I slotted the buffer beams to enable the couplings mounted on the Kato power unit to be used.



Superglue with plenty of accelerator spray glued the parts back together stronger than the original single piece print.



Head and tail lamps are from Bachmann N gauge steam switcher tender bodies, doors from a Minitrains American passenger car, and cab steps are lengths of Ratio signal ladder. Supergluing all these in place precisely was not easy. The best solution is to apply a slow acting superglue, position the parts carefully, then blast it with accelerator spray to freeze it in place before anything can drift back out of position.



The body was painted with Army Painter black spray and then the white trim and lights were brushed in using tiny amounts of paint applied on the tip of a cocktail stick with a little use of a micro brush for the headlights. All Army Painter paints with metallic silver used in the headlights to represent the reflectors. Transfers are Aru Model rub downs and the whole thing varnished with Army Painter matt spray. There is a wargames shop selling Army Painter products just down the street from me. Glazing is unidentified scrap material glued with Deluxe Materials Glue-n-Glaze and added last of all so that the varnish would not fog it.





Using one of the very few if not the only really good quality 9mm gauge 4 wheel power unit, it actually runs very well including the ability to smoothly shunt wagons at scale speeds.

[Robin Webster]

Nice work David, and a nice looking locomotive.

[David Weber]

I bought one of these Tomytec passenger motors based on those used on the Enshu Okuyama Line.



Repainting it in the company yellow and green was quite difficult because the original dark brown colour was achieved by using dark brown plastic upon which lighter colours had little purchase. I ended up having to prime the whole thing in grey first and then apply the intended colours. This was difficult to do without making the paint too thick and some parts had to be stripped and repainted multiple times.



Still needs tidying up, transfers and varnish, but it looks the part already.