Compact Flash : NZ120 CF

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike

> North

You are in twisting maze of little passages, all alike

> West

There is a Shiny Brass Lamp nearby

There is food here

There are 8 unopened Trackside CB kits here

That’s unlikely to make any sense unless you remember computers that could only display only one colour (and that was with some effort). Nevertheless, its what I feel like while delving into the recesses of my NZ120 junkbox. Back in headier times, I’d not given those CBs much thought since I buried them at the bottom almost 10 years ago, but now that there’s a recession on, they have weighed lightly on my mind.

They’d look good behind a pair of DXs, but I’ve carried a decade’s worth of worry about the weight of the Trackside kits, the flexy bogies with no bearings, the misplaced bogie centers and the couplers. And I can’t lo-temp solder anyway, so I’m not likely to dive into 8 of them today. Maybe one… as a trial… Where are those pictures of a big smelly grass feeder from the Armature Fettlee?

First up, I’ll deal with the fixable concerns by plopping on some bulletproof Microtrains bogies in the right place. After buzzing some metal off the floor castings with a Dremel drum sander tip, a new plastic bolster can be attached just outboard of the former cast-in one.

Despite my moaning, the kit castings and detail levels really are superb, and even without instructions, it was straightforward to assemble, although having three hands (or opposable toes) would have helped. I stuck the body together with large dollops of contact glue and mild dollops of swearing, but eventually everything sat nice and square.

The obvious difference between the CB and the CF is those end platforms. After staring at Evan’s pictures, I mounted the angled shields just below where the kit pieces implied they should go – maybe they are lower on a CF – and added side ladders, walkways from mesh, handrails and a frame to support the canvas top to complete the illusion of a competently assembled model.

It certainly looks the part. The model is heavier than I’d like, but other than casting replacement resin sides I’m not sure what to do about that. The kit bogies certainly look great (better than the Microtrains) but I’ll stick to the MT bogies - I’d rather have it run perfect than look perfect.

I was going to make up a Ravensdown decal, but thought it might look a bit over the top, but if I make another wagon I might do that and weather it heavily. Elapsed time from unopened kit to painted: less than three hours...