DB writeth: On a recent trip to NZ120.org I noted a comment on the impressive GT car carrier wagons. I made one of these about 15 years ago - not sure if it ever ran on the Otaki to Cass layout, but well of my fellow blogistas might remember.
In a flash of muted brilliance, the wagon was made from some non-shiny (but not quite matte finish either) aluminium 'roofing' sheet with very subtle corrugations in it. Some panel lines were lightly scribed in an up-and-downwards direction and then the sheet was bent over a sturdy steel file into the shape the GTs used to have. The bending process becomes more difficult the further you get into it, so one side came out quite well and the other, the one it would seem that I chose to photograph here, is not so neat around the top. From memory (as I'm illicitly typing this at work) the now U shaped sheet was contact glued to a small block of wood that sits low in the wagon.
Plasticard ends with door detail were glued in place, basic underframe detail and weight added, and the whole shebang placed onto Microtrains bogies with extended shanks (as used on N scale American Autoracks).
The logos on the side were a mix of computer black-and-white laser printing and some dodgy hand painting for the Honda logos. For the record, I was a Honda fanboi well before the Fast and the Furious, although I never did fit chrome spinners or biplane spoilers onto my little purple Honda City...
The GT runs pretty well with its low center of gravity, and the truck mounted couplers allow it to operate around surprisingly tight curves with little drama but much silliness as it's pretty long. For that reason you have to watch the overhangs on the inside and outside of curves when mowing your scenery and placing tunnel portals.
Karl Morris made an NZ120 GT as well - I think it was made from a broadside photograph of a real one, laser printed to size (in colour with the advances in modern technology we just take for granted today!) and stuck onto a wooden block or something.
The real GT wagons have subsequently been rebuilt with curved top corners and smoother sides (I see one is even in a variation of the KiwiRail livery now), so as well as being a pretty crummy model, this is a pretty dated one too, but it was certainly a novelty back then.
4 comments:
Any thoughts on an updated version DB??
presume that the ribs would be too fine for lasing??
unlikely! - I think the reskinned GTs are less visually interesting than the old version, and they don't see a lot of service on the Midland line either!
The ribs *could* be etched in the laser, but that would bow even thick styrene just as if you were to score lines in. You could probably use some evergreen board and batten style styrene for ribbed sides, but the reson I went with the sheet of aluminium is so i could get a seamless roof/sides u-tube. Hey- I invented u tube!
Wow. stereo
anythings possible on U-Tube!!
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