A nice looking kit and the era is right although at the top end late 50s-60s. However this is a paper model that you print out and then assemble, so some skill level is required. Not sure I am up to the task in getting all the curves and angles right. The 20 foot containers were paper kits and they came out reasonably suitable, but I reinforced them with wood blocks and added magnets to keep them on the cars. The bulk of my vessels are resin castings and styrene super structures and masts. Fittings are all commercial except for some made out of styrene. The larger vessels are resized kits where I started with one scale and increase scale on items like portholes and hatches. The large rescue/salvage Wile E. is the exception with the hull made of styrene, wood, and resin casted sections. Everything else on it is styrene or commercial parts. Part of my fishing boats are TomyTec kits while the bigger ones are scratched. The smaller tugboats made by TomyTec are no longer being made so I am glad I got them when I did. I checked my tracking this morning at Japan Post and my order of containers, fishing boats, a barge, and a few other things have started the air journey from Tokyo to Texas. The tank cars from another vender haven't moved yet but both should be here next week unless slowed by the earthquake. The last order from Amazon for a mechanism still isn't arrived. I have made three orders from Japan that have arrived long ago and they were made weeks after the Amazon order. No rhyme or reason to their orders and shipping with some of their stuff coming in before due dates. For now the stuff I have finished is packed away and I have resurrected my boxcab that I had taken the 44 ton mechanism out from and restored it to it's previous 44 tonner shell. Going to install a Bandai #3 mechanism under it instead with some extra weight. That will retire the last SW-9 from the roster leaving only the SW-8 as the sole LL engine remaining.
I have decided on a small container ship and am taking a path that it have taken with some of my other vessels. Taking a kit a bashing it into what I want so I placed a order with my favorite purveyor of things trains. So the sacrificial lamb to submit to the hobby knife and razor saw. Pic274628-1433367940 by John Moore posted Apr 28, 2016 at 9:25 AM It is listed in two places as 1:168 and 1:170 And I just heard from my other Japanese vend0r that my tank cars have shipped and are at Tokyo airport.
Awesome, you said they Are going to TX by any chance will that stop be IAH if so You packages will fly over my house and school, and I might see them!
The earlier route used to be from Tokyo to California, then New York to Washington at Dulles. Now it is Tokyo to California, to Texas then up the coast again to New York, and finally Dulles Int. at Washington. I think the stop in Texas is Houston.
Yay, the airplane your package is in will fly over my house, espically if they are using a united 787
Well last night I dug out my scratch built box cab that I originally had powered by a Bachmann 44 tonner mechanism. I had returned that to the original shell. I took my Bandai #3 mechanism and some styrene strip and successfully repowered it with that mechanism. So with the addition of that critter I have all my power needs complete. The boxcab was made of two doodlebug shells using the cab ends, body grills from some brass and stainless diesel parts. Weight is the same as the 44 tonner plus the mechanism has a traction tire so the pulling power in number of cars should be equal or better. Lot better option that trying to use the Kato chassis for this and an easier fit than the Bachmann chassis. 000_0026-1 by John Moore posted Apr 29, 2016 at 1:16 PM
I like the Boxcab, reminiscent of the early, if not first, Ingersoll-Rand/ALCO/GE unit, https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4074/4855187652_b610849369_b.jpg .
Well the last orders from Japan are in New York and have gone through customs. Should get notice on Monday that they are here. Right on their heels should be the loader and the ship model I am going to convert to a small container carrier of about 280 feet since I got notice that they were shipped today from outside Baltimore, MD. However that cheater car still sets on the workbench awaiting a delivery of the mechanism from Amazon. Four orders made direct from Japan after it was ordered will be in hand before it ever gets here. Funny thing is it is coming from a shop in Japan also. And the best news came in the mail today in the form of check from one of my investments of a nice healthy four figured sum. My credit card balance just heaved a sigh of relief.
Happiness is getting the last two orders from Japan. And my order for a US based vendor of my ship to convert to a small container feeder ship is due in this afternoons mail. 000_0027-1 by John Moore posted May 2, 2016 at 11:38 AM Got home with my orders and sat down to assemble one of the tank car sets. It is the black one posed with some of my other tank cars. Was originally thinking about the beer can type but now after seeing this I am happy. Larger than a beer can type but shorter than my current cars and takes up about 1/3rd less track space. Comes with a decal set which I won't use. Parts fit well in the assembly. So have 5 more of these to put together. Another set of container flats and containers. The containers will become dockside or ship cargo and the set of little bulktainers will instead go on the flats. The bulktainers are not by Bandai but they fit hand in glove of thier flats. The TomyTec fishing boats round out my fishing fleet now and their barge can be used with a cover or open it has a deep well that can take the little containers from Bandai. Started to work on the boom for the container ship feeder vessel already and the ship will be a rebuilt WW2 era vessel that will undergo a drastic redesign. Really got lucky when I found this vessel and it is close enough to actual N scale that I won't have to rework portholes and hatchways and ladders.
TomyTec does a pretty good job with their models. Only thing not present are some coiled lines. Kit even has a piled net with floats. The barge is complete to model with cover off or well open. Even has a tow rope. Nice size barge to.
Got back from my afternoon visit to the chamber of horrors, AKA the Dentist Office, and the USPS had delivered the rest of my orders. And low and behold finally the mechanism out of Amazon too. -1 by John Moore posted May 2, 2016 at 5:20 PM The ship hull will be unchanged but the deck has a number of things to be removed and the super structure will be cut back some. I can stack containers three wide for most of the deck. Have to design hatches and then the supports to go over them for the containers and fill openings on the deck when I modify the superstructure. For my modeling purposes the feeder vessel is ideal. Shallow draft to enter small ports that the larger versions cannot and feeds the loaded containers to the larger ports and vessels. Original vessels were modified small cargo vessels at first so I am staying close to my era. Also staying with the general size of my larger vessels and not overwhelming the port. The Kato loader does not adjust to take the small containers so I will have to modify it. It will take the 20 footers I am sure.
After finishing the assembly of the tank cars I set about seeing what could be done to modify the Kato stacker to take my short containers, otherwise it was going to be useless to me. Fortunately they did not use any glue in the assembly of the head of this thing and I was able to pop it apart with the blade of a single edge razor. From then on it was just a matter to determine where to cut everything and put it back together. 000_0029-1 by John Moore posted May 3, 2016 at 3:26 PM 000_0030-2 by John Moore posted May 3, 2016 at 3:26 PM
Thanks. My first feeling was to go with some big TomyTec forklifts and I probably should have. They use those type of forklifts in Japan and can have part of a train unloaded and reloaded in a jiff. I did not know that the stacker could only handle 30, 40, and 50 foot containers. Plus there is no plans to run anything double stacked. Who knows I might yet get those forklifts and convert the stacker to a log loader feeding the green chain at the sawmill.
If your mill has no pond, it would actually be serving the "dry dock". When I worked sawmills, the "green chain" was where freshly sawn lumber came out of a mill, before going to the planer.
Leaning away from a pond as I can use the real estate. Also trying to get away from a woods rail operation. Thinking of either a high line feed or a flume. But a flume puts me back into a pond again. Have a crane that will be used to build cold decks, and have a loader to move logs to a deck for movement into the mill. But it all boils down to how much space is available.
