Arkaengel

So one of the other railfans in the village collared me the other day and said "what you up to at present, Something wierd again?"
' Not really' I replied ' Soviet era cold war Russian Harbour in Z' at which point he just grinned!

So, Arkaengel will actually be more of a diorama than a full blown Z layout and will not be going out to shows.

Arkaengel (1) by kevsmith posted Dec 3, 2021 at 2:53 PM

It uses a bit of spare MDF left over from another project on a shallow frame and Peco track and Marklin points recovered from the now scrapped Shasta extension board. There will be low relief buildings at the back and along one end. Now my knowledge of Russian railways, Harbours etc is zilch so it will be pretty speculative

Arkaengel (2) by kevsmith posted Dec 3, 2021 at 2:54 PM

I have received some nice 3D printed Soviet vehicles from Shapeways, Gaz jeeps, UAZ minivans and a couple of army trucks and at the moments the boats are normally the ones seen in the dock on my Cuyahoga layout

more soon

Kev

 

Kilo class Sub kit on its way from China by snailmail, doubt I'll see it before Christmas but the big beast is the Sovremeny class destoyer which is already completed. This is the main reason for the display.

Just had to go right to the back of the loft (not pleasant) past boxes of books to find 'Russian Steam Locomotives' a book I bought years ago for a pound and which hasn't seen the light of day since we moved to the Lakes in 2002! Should give me some ideas

More to follow on this one

Kev

 

Your probably wondering what I am going to do about rolling stock, Russian Z isn't something many have considered before but there are a few items

The first, and one of the things that set me off on tis, was the Atlas editions 'Trans Siberia Express' a collectable static model, part of a series of famous trains they did in 1/220. Those of you who follow my work know I've already converted and motorised most ot the British trains in the series

The TE3 diesel electrics are very nicely moulded and painted but sadly they decided to model the baggage car not a normal coach


The car is really easy to convert. The dis-assembled chassis was attacked with a Powerfile. Plus-Z trucks fitted and the paintwork weathered down a bit. It will have my style magnetic couplings fitted



The locos are more problematic.. So far I've removed the cast chassis and removed all the mounting pegs moulded into the body. Plan is to use a Rokuhan Shorty with the trucks converted by adding an extra axle to make it a 1B-B1 power unit. Fingers Crossed!

A real one



Steam is a bit easier

 

The Russian loco history is simple compared to many countries with standardised steram locos produced in their thousands but Post-war they ended up with a lot of Foreigners, either as Lease-Lend or captured engines

German BR 55 0-8-0s were left behind after the great winter retreat and stayed in service for many years. You can feel the cold in this picture!



Guess What? Marklin do a Z scale one. Thisis the one I picked up at a show as a non-runner for peanuts where one quick squirt of Servisol 10 on the brushes, commutater and picks made it spring straight back into life. The stall holder looked as sick as a parrot when he walked past the layout ten minutes later to see it trunding around Republic Steel with a rake of Ore cars behind it!



Even easier is the USA 0-6-0T supplied in large numbers at the end of WW2 as a basic shunting engines. The Russians had these as well to serve docks and industry



Ivan's 3D printed one, available on Shapeways, has been around for a while and drops onto a modified Marklin 0-6-0T. Total cost for this one was $40 and it has done sterling service on Cuyahoga and Republic Steel over the years. I might treat it and order a 3D Brass body for it. Both this and the BR 55 will get Magnetic couplers fitted




More soon

Kev

 

What a cool idea!

 

Ray
This is the sub kit I've ordered

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/32491009...3QmJ9wuoAChqlVZSwOUrclbQeFYY3V-gaAm2sEALw_wcB

It looks as if the hull is split horizontally which will make waterlining it easier and it was only £15

Kev

 

M62 locomotive
https://pl.stuklopechat.com/biznes/...hirskiy-m62-modifikacii-interesnye-fakty.html
is available at Shapeways

I motorized it as PKP version. It should be sitted on 3-axle chassis but this shell was designed for one of 2-axle German Marklin locomotives

 

You can contact also our friend from Ukraine:

https://pl-pl.facebook.com/pg/Zmodelltrains/posts/

 

Cheers

I was tempted to just stretch the Shorty chassis and use the Atlas sideframes as overlays

I'll let you know how I get on

Kev

 

So taking a cue from Zrada69 I've modded a Marklin 8 wheel mech to fir the TE3 as a stopgap until I concoct a 12 wheeler. where the front clips were there is a 16BA screw and nut to hold the frame together and I've thinned the front of the body to let it swing



Looks alright so far



more soon

Kev

 

Beautiful paint job Kev! That is outstanding!

John

 

Hi John

Thats the factory paint job, I can't take credit for that. Most of the Atlas Edition statics are nicely finished and most of them are motorisable (if that is a real word!) I've got a couple of their Shinkansen bullet trains powered by Rokuhan shorties nearly complete as well to run on my Haluho layout

Kev

 

Kilo-class subs are a diesel-electric powered attack submarine built in 80s for the USSR and still in use with the Russian Navy. It was a Kilo that was on the hunt for the Red October in the 1990 movie “The Hunt for Red October”.

 

Thanks John

Waiting for the kit to turn up. It is actually 1/200th scale but no one will spot the difference I hope

Kev

 

TE3 running but struggling on the tight bend by the bridge. Added a large lead weight on top of the chassis so it really pulls though

Low relief buildings added



starting to look a bit busier now



More soon

 

Very nice!

Looking good!

 

Just in case you need soviet jeeps...