How did you improve your rolling stock?

[roadstar_na6]

@disturbman, it should be. However, it does look a little too long considering these kind of couplers usually have a pretty short shank.

[Dinosbacsi]

Man these realistic couplers are really nice. How do they work? I mean how do you couple and uncouple them? Just slide them into each other vertically?

[Peter Osborne]

5 hours ago, disturbman said:

The locomotive knuckle coupler is the original Kato?

Yes the original a lot deeper than the green max one

 

4 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

@disturbman, it should be. However, it does look a little too long considering these kind of couplers usually have a pretty short shank.

 I can’t answer that as this is how the loco came to me I do have an EF210 I want to try with my UBE tankers will try the weekend 

[Yavaris Forge]

14 minutes ago, Dinosbacsi said:

How do they work?

Just pushing the cars together basically. And lifting one car up a little bit to uncouple

Edited February 25, 2021 by Yavaris Forge

[roadstar_na6]

4 minutes ago, Yavaris Forge said:

And lifting one car up a little bit to uncouple

 

...or take a toothpick, file one end flat and twist it in the coupler 🙂

[Kamome]

8 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

@disturbman, it should be. However, it does look a little too long considering these kind of couplers usually have a pretty short shank.

Some of the Kato locomotives i have came with longer shank knuckle couplers. Possibly older designs that weren’t updated at last release.  I remember buying a couple of bags of an Assy part called EF66 early version knuckle couplers. (Z01-0224) The blue train end coaches needed these too as the ones included were usually the longer shank variety and looked a bit silly. They are the standard Kato fit for the coupler assemblies with the copper strip spring positioned behind the coupler.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Kamome

[katoftw]

Yup all of my Kato loco knuckle couplers are various lengths.  All purchased in the past 6 years.

[katoftw]

I didn't know Greenmax did knuckle couplers.  But after some research, they do various lengths.  This is a game changer in my world.  As I have some models where the Kato knuckle couples are just too short and the car/s cannot navigate C317/R315 curves.

[Peter Osborne]

6 minutes ago, katoftw said:

I didn't know Greenmax did knuckle couplers.  But after some research, they do various lengths.  This is a game changer in my world.  As I have some models where the Kato knuckle couples are just too short and the car/s cannot navigate C317/R315 curves.

I might have to take my scalpel and magnifying glass to the ends as they are a lot deeper than the ones on the MicroAce cars 

[roadstar_na6]

2 hours ago, Kamome said:

Z01-0224

Yeah I have a bag of those as well but recently saw that there are ones with an even shorter shank.

The blue train end car knuckles are silly long, I need to look into replacing them at some point, maybe with some of the spare ones from my Kiso Sleeper Express..

[Kamome]

It would depend on the coupler attachment used. My Kamome Nahafu 11 set (10-1423/1424) uses a different knuckle coupler design as it’s a bogie mounted coupler and utilities the existing coil spring used with the rapido. I think this is the same on the Kiso 43 series coaches whereby there’s a secondary housing piece with the pivot pin to secure the coupler in place. In my experience, these are more difficult to find in places like Poppondetta or Tam Tam that usually keep a half decent range of Assy parts. 

 

Hokutosei/Twilight Expess 24 series amongst others have body mounted couplers so take the same coupler as most of the newer Kato locomotives. 

 

I remember my TE had a huge gap between the EF81 and generator car when i first had it.  Looks way better now with the shorter coupler. 

[roadstar_na6]

My 20系 Car Train Kyushu cars have body mount couplers and they stick out pretty far. Orientalexpress just drilled a hole a bit further upfront in the shank and filed the back away, so that'd be another option but I'm a little scared of ruining the coupler while drilling. The Kiso has bogie mount couplers but the ones that came in the set also have a hole for a pin. I have a few spares since the set comes with quite a lot of Rapido couplers that I replaced with 11-722 couplers instead of the included knuckles, so I have a few spares to play around with at some point.

[Kamome442]

I had a little space on my latest etch so I decided to experiment with some bling rims for my trains. It was just a last minute idea and I didn't really have high expectations. That said they actually look more effective than I was expecting so I figured I would share a photo. They would obviously need to be painted or chemically blackened and their diameter is about 0.1mm out. Who knows I might just have to add an updated version to the next etch. 

 

At the moment they are just placed over the axel and the inner hole needs to be larger for them to sit flush against the wheel. 

 

Joe

[Sheffie]

Adding a load (made from packing foam and painted cloth) and adding some light weathering to the unpainted portion of the wagon

 

 

ETA: here it is with the covering all trimmed and tucked in

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Sheffie

[Kamome]

Thanks to @cteno4for your input. I decided to persevere with the smaller transformers and with a bit more weathering came out pretty well. Only one completed so far as it takes a fair bit of work and patience.

 

Next was on to weathering the shikis based on photos from google. I weathered one quite heavy, one a little bit and the other somewhere in between using Tamiya Acrylic Nato Brown XF-68 with the airbrush. Over the black frames, it gives quite a nice rusty frame dirt colour. I also added some load chocks using Tamiya 1mm square plastic beams painted with Vallejo pale sand acrylic which give them a softwood/pine look.

 

I also used the 1mm beams, drilled with a 0.6mm drill bit and trimmed with a scalpel to make a loading bracket for the transformers. The final stage was wiring the EZ wire through the various holes to look like securing cables for the loads. This is the bit that took the time, just doing it methodically and waiting for the superglue to hold before going to the next.

 

I think the first one came out ok. 

[Kamome]

Rather excited about the new acquisition so wasted no time painting the steps as per prototype and fitting some Kato knuckle couplers so i can haul my Kato Koki and Taki stock. 

Having tested the loco, happy to report its a super smooth, quiet runner with an excellent crawl speed.

[disturbman]

Someone needs to edit his signature...

[Kamome]

Haven’t had much space or time to do anything substantial for a few weeks as I have recently moved. I am continuing the short touch up jobs while the layout space negotiations continue. This weekend, had a bit of time in the JR Kyushu paint shop adding some detailing to my 415. The jumper plugs are colour coded and the corresponding sockets are reflected for quick connection, not that i ever see two 415s on either the Kagoshima line or the Nippo line. I also noticed the sockets under the jumper holder were also painted so I added this to my model.

 

The pantograph also got the common red hinges and red fins which is also seen on the 813s with double arm pantos.

 

I also gave the whole model some pinwashing with some black brown around all of the details, access panels, doors, etc.. White trains don’t stay white for long in the real world. The next job is to paint the roof a darker grey and spray the underbody with some Nato brown. The roof is far too light and in the model shop yesterday, I saw the owner had ordered in some replacement AC units. The ones attached look the right colour for the newly installed units that the 415s were installed with but some modellers may prefer the lighter silvery coloured ones. I’m keeping the darker ones on mine. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Kamome
Photo added of real 415

[Dinosbacsi]

Don't know if this counts as improving or not, as it's a pretty basic thing to do, I suppose. But anyway, I started decaling my Shorty 205 series.

 

It was easier than I thought, and I like how much it improves on the overall image. I just can't decide if I should apply the destination board and running number decals as well or not. I mean they would look good, but to me they feel a bit too specific details, especially the running numbers. I mean simply the black display area and the "Local" board are just generic details, but running numbers and a proper destination board would represent a given train with a given destination. It would be like giving a car model a proper number plate, I suppose. It wouldn't just be a 205 series model, it would be a model of "205-105" specifically (or any number I would decide to put on). And it would make me worry - did I put on the correct numbers? Would those numbered cars run together as a set in real life? And questions like that.

 

Does my reasoning make any sense, or it's silly to worry about something like that? What are your takes on things like this?

[disturbman]

1 hour ago, Dinosbacsi said:

Does my reasoning make any sense, or it's silly to worry about something like that?

Both. It does both make sense and is relatively silly. But it's your silliness, that's what is important.

I would add the running numbers. I always find they add a nice touch of realism. You can remove them if you don't like how they make the train look. I'm never fond of destination boards, as I always feel they "limit" the model.

Good job adding the stickers. They look good on those shorties 🙂

Edited March 8, 2021 by disturbman

[Dinosbacsi]

Thanks, even though I messed up the side of one of the "Local" boards a bit, which annoys me, but it still looks much better than without them (and it's barely visible with eye, mostly noticeable on close up camera shots).

 

As for the rest of the decals, I think the words you used, that it "limits" the model, sums up what I feel perfectly. But I'll think about it a bit and see. Maybe I'll just slap on the Chiba ones as it's the "cutest" sounding one of the 4 options and it's the one on the box art as well anyway.

 

I'm also thinking about getting one of those better looking pantographs. They're pretty cheap and seems like a great way to improve the look of the model.

[disturbman]

You definitely should add "working" pantographs. They make the shorties look better.

[railsquid]

Nothing spectacular, just working through the backlog of undetailed locos, here EF64 37, which has only taken about 3 years to get around to. Was an impulse purchase after seeing the real thing at Kofu Station.

 

Tomix EF64-0 series (EF64-37) by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[Kamome]

Not to be outdone by the newer Kato version, Tomix JRF DE10 got some paint on his bogies. I found this image,

https://www.train-books.net/jrf_de10_1120/

and I assume after an overhaul and I liked the mismatched colours of new and old components. The bogies need some light weathering to tone down the grey a little but got rid of those shined wheels. Sponged on some black to the fuel tank as some images of this loco (1120) show it looking pretty banged up. 

 

You can see from the image how poorly the front hood goes back on and an annoying chip on the front step. As it’s a bit banged up, i’m less worried about messing up any weathering. 

[gavino200]

The color mismatch of old and new looks great! Nice touch.