World Kougei turntable

[Martijn Meerts]

Yay! Another project!

 

This is a (very) long term one though considering my service terminal isn't even in the planning stages. However, I really did want a good looking turntable (which means Tomix is out, Kato is probably out, Fleischmann is too European, Walthers are too big.... ) so when I saw World Kougei released a display model, I immediately asked Keitaro (loco1hobby) if he could get one for me. The main problem was that the kit was pretty much meant for some event, so it wasn't possible to get unless ordered from their online store directly. It also sold out real fast, and I was rather lucky to have gotten one.

 

Of course, being World Kougei, it comes in kit form, and it's all brass. It doesn't look too complex though, and the major problem is most likely going to be motorising it, and making it controllable using DCC. The good thing though, is that while it's really a display model, they did make the bridge movable.

 

The kit also ended up getting a little battered because it took a detour.. It went from Osaka to Amsterdam, on to Kanagawa, then Tokyo and back again to Amsterdam before finally being delivered. The funny thing is the address on the package had a red box around the country, and a label on it saying something like "final destination is The Netherlands, please deliver it there" (with clear undertones of "you Dutch customs idiots!" :)), which I presume customs in Tokyo pasted on before sending it on it's way again. Anyway, the package took a bit of abuse, and because the kit wasn't ever meant to go abroad, the box of the kit didn't have any protective foam. A couple of bits and pieces got slightly bent, but nothing too serious, and brass bends back easily anyway.

 

 

Image 001:

The box (not the actual package obviously ;)), a little less sturdy than their usual brown cardboard boxes, but a little more elegant (and sellable at events) I guess.

 

Image 002:

Manual page 1 and some contents.

 

Image 003:

Pit wall, track, and lots of other bits and pieces.

 

Image 004:

Pit wall (you can see the little tabs/pins are bent, which they're not supposed to be) and a bit of brass wire which is meant to be used as the circular track on the pit floor.

 

Image 005:

Bag of screws and other bits and pieces, some more wire and a piece of track. The track is Shinohara, although I don't know which code. I may end up just using Peco code 55 instead, but I'll have to see how things look and how the track lines up.

 

Image 006:

All the various bits and pieces. The large disc is the pit floor, top left are the pit floor track sleepers and the major structural parts of the bridge. Top right are detail parts of the bridge, bottom right are some support bits for the pit floor. Bottom left is the operator's cabin as well as some additional parts for the bridge.

 

Image 007:

Rather crappy detail picture of the pit floor sleepers.

 

Image 008:

Main parts for the bridge.

 

[Sinus]

Hi Martijn,

 

Just wonder how many projects in parallel you run  :)

 

Good luck, looks very promissing!

[Martijn Meerts]

Hi Martijn,

 

Just wonder how many projects in parallel you run  :)

 

Good luck, looks very promissing!

 

Probably too many ;)

 

 

Then again, working on the same thing for longer periods of time gets boring, so being able to switch between projects is nice.

[lurkingknight]

so shiny

[Martijn Meerts]

It stopped being shiny once I got the sheets out of the plastic wrappings.. Now there's fingerprints all over the place ;)