GETTING THE LOW DOWN
Bachmann 'Lowfit' body put to good use.
I've had a couple of Bachmann BR 'Lowfit' wagon bodies in the spares box for years, having purchased them from Mainly Trains at a bargain price, with a view to them coming in handy one day. Well, one of them has finally found a use as an internal user vehicle for my colliery 'service train' fleet. With a Parkside Dundas underframe and some MJT buffers fitted - also from the spares box - it has made a pleasing model. Most notably, the vacuum brake gear has been omitted, in line with it's humble allocation. Instead, just one set of brake shoes are in place, being actuated from either side. All that's lacking now is some load restraining chains that I want to drape artfully over the decking, perhaps with some wooden blocks. For just two evenings' work, this has been an enjoyable mini project.
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| Deluxe Materials Liquid Gravity adds sufficient ballast to the underframe and some plastic angle section supports the bufferbeams on the flat underside of the body. You need a strong solvent to bond the Parkside parts to the Bachmann body, but I found that Deluxe's new formula Plastic Magic was well up to the task. |
Forgive my ignorance, but what's the spring behind the coupling hook?
ReplyDeleteHi Mike,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. THe spring is fixed to the coupling's draw hook, retained with a cotter pin and provides a degree of slack in the working 3-link couplings, in the same way as the real thing. The couplings can effectively stretch to compensate and avoid 'snatching' and derailments, especially around corners, on gradients or when starting off a long train.
Cheers,
George.