Before I weathered up my NLKY's, I did a few quick modifications to improve them. They are a great model as is but the main issue I had was coupler height. Greg Riddel showed me an easy way to lower the coupler height on these Vans. Firstly I add AR Kits bogies to all my stuff which did lower these vans a little. The bogies on them are good as is, but I put AR Kits or SEM bogies under all my stuff mainly to make every thing universal as I want the option of putting P88 wheels under it all one day when I can afford it. All the axle lengths from the big manufacturers vary so making it all standard makes sense to me. The other step to adjusting the couple height was to work on the coupler box. I trimmed up parts of a Kadee Coupler Box as seen in the following photo's. Anyway thanks Greg for the tip.
I trimmed off the bottom cross member.
Then trimmed up the top plate of a Kadee box and fitted it to line up when the screw hole
I then trimmed up the bottom plate of the Kadee coupler box to suit. I used the original Auscision Coupler as the new metal ones they have supplied seem to be pretty good. In this photo you can see one of the ILM brass steps that I fitted. I have sent Ian Storrie an email asking for more of these but I think his email has changed. So if any of you know his current email address, please let me know?
Another thing that I modified was the brake rodding. Photo's tell the story. I just straighten it up where it leads to the bogies. I just levered it out of the hole and then added a drop of super glue to hold the rodding in position. Auscision have bent it upward to give the bogies more room but I like to have them horizontal. It just improves the appearance to me and there is still plenty of room for the bogies.
On the brake cylinder side of the van there is a grab iron missing. To add this I just bent up a staple to suit and after drilling holes fitted it in position. This is only a problem with the type 1 Vans and the Grab Iron is in place on the Type 2 Vans
This last photo is just to show the great trouble that Auscision goes to with detail. I can't imagine sitting down and trying to scratch build this kind of detail. I am a fan and I don't mind telling people.
I am just adding the finishing touches to all my vans so will post photo's soon.
Cheers Justin Moy
ianstorrie@bigpond.com
ReplyDeleteIve always used this email address for Ian and only last week I received a parcel from him so it must work.
Cheers,
Chappy
Are those uncoupling levers part of the Auscision model or something you added? They look like plastic; how well do they stand up to use?
ReplyDeleteThey sure dirty up nicely!
The uncoupler bars are Auscisions Work. The Bars are metal but the mounts are plastic. It seems solid enough. I haven't broke any as yet with all the handling that I did to weather them.
ReplyDeleteCheers Justin Moy