Yes as you can see the road name is in black the Turtle emblem is in green. Car numbers are in black. Couple of cars have the dashing Turtle in white and it basically washes out. Getting some more decals so I can replace those pale white Turtles.
Working on decaling some locos I had overlooked and decided to pull some Turtle Creek power and cars out of the car boxes and pose them with the Bandai cars. Considering that the two biggest locomotives are up front these fit quite well with my small power. The boxcars are 37 foot. 100_4964-2 by John Moore posted Apr 2, 2016 at 1:19 PM
Setting back trying to track my orders this AM and I realized I did not order enough running tracks to place under my middle cars. I though I had but evidently did not see the total number of sets. So nag dabbit I ordered some more which will keep me waiting a bit longer to finish. Decals should be here to finish up the couple of cars this week needing them. Diesels are in route somewhere across the wide Pacific along with the power chassis for them. And a couple of sets of container cars along with the freight running trucks for them. Nine of the orders are coming from Amazon vendors in Japan and one other order is coming from a large dealer in Japan not with Amazon. That order was tracked to the airport via Japan Post and it is probably winding it's way across the US now. Also taking a good look at some of their tank cars but undecided whether to try some. I think they are just a tad longer than the beer can shorties by Atlas. Thinking about them for a turpentine traffic from the sawmill. Of course if I go with them I am going to need some more freight running trucks and some MT 1128s to convert from the Rapido couplers.
Well the experiment with the Bandai equipment is interesting to say the least. All the kits are sold with trucks for display not running which means one has to order the running trucks separate and in the case of powering, a power chassis. For what ever reason the Japanese have held on the the Rapido coupler, even Kato. Not a problem for me with the passenger kits as they come with an excellent version of a Unimate that is a little smaller and more to scale. Their draw bar and coupler is my choice to couple the cars as they will always operate as sets. For the power chassis to fit under the cab cars it is a simple matter to trim the entire Rapido coupler mount off. If one chose to use the Rapidos there is a separate part in the assembly where there are two pieces for the ends that are without the coupler boxes that allow the power mechanism to be used with the Rapido. The running trucks that are for the unpowered cars also have the same arrangement since the trucks also come with Rapidos. And Both the Kato and the Bandai versions of both come with the Rapidos. The problem of the passenger cars is solved but next come the diesels I ordered. Yup the power chassis for them also has the danged Rapidos. So for those I am going to have to change out for MT 1129s Since these are going to run with the rest of the fleet I have to have compatibility for switching. And I hate working with those couplers. Trying to keep the spring in place while you slid the bracket over the couplers is a pain. Sounds like the carpet is going the get another metal snack. And then there are the container cars. They don't come with anything but display trucks so a order of freight trucks was placed early. And of course the danged freight trucks have Rapidos. Since I plan to operate them as small units of several cars I can get away with Unimates, except on the ends where the T shank 1129s go. Looking in my parts supply revealed my Unimates supply to be low. Okay simple task to hop online to my favorite pusher of things trains. Not so, out of stock. Searched through our sponsors sites. Nothing to be had there. Have Unimates become a precious commodity? Went searching on the Google and after a few misses found somebody who had them. They also had my 1129s cheaper so placed an order. Then went looking for Walthers Goo. My favorite for tacking those T shank boxes in the Rapido slots. Nobody had Goo. Okay back to my favorite pusher's site. Ah they had Goo, 22 tubes in fact, and while there decided to restock my supply of orange label Plastruct which was getting low. And since my stock of airhorns is dwindling I picked up some Kato 4 chime air horns. And all this started with my foray into Bandai.
Well my one order has winged it's way all the way from Japan to NY with a stop over in CA. That should make it down here in or about mid week. Got my order of TCC decals from MicroScale today and am applying them as I type. They are about the fastest service I have experienced. About four days from ordering until in my hands. My order for couplers shipped today and should arrive with the freight trucks a day or two later. So my short break from packing and throwing out should be busy. And I managed to get a new Avatar featuring the Dashing Turtle.
The order arrived early. Wife says that should keep me out of trouble for the next week or so. 100_4968-1 by John Moore posted Apr 5, 2016 at 11:30 AM Took an initial look at the container cars and they are comparable in length to my 34 foot flatcars.
The assembled baggage and express cars. I am leaning toward using the blue cars for my mail cars. 100_4970-2 by John Moore posted Apr 5, 2016 at 4:41 PM A comparison of the Bandai container flat with one of my 34 foot flats and a 40 foot flat. They are about 33 feet long. 100_4971-2 by John Moore posted Apr 5, 2016 at 5:30 PM And finally a close up of the first car. Four separate pieces to assemble and the containers are five pieces. 100_4974-3 by John Moore posted Apr 5, 2016 at 5:30 PM
Looking awesome, have been following this thread for a while, just looks amazing, can't wait for more.
Just staying with some stuff that will blend in fairly well with my American prototype equipment or I can modify slightly to get it to blend. I finished up one set of container cars. I'll pick at the rest during the week. Laid out the parts for the diesel this evening and it looks like it will be a tad more complicated than the other stuff so far. I am still awaiting my orders for running trucks for the passenger and freight so nothing is complete yet except the cab units. I put the display trucks under the container cars for the time being. And I am chomping at the bit to get the first Bandai 4 axle drive mechanism in to test. The finished set of container cars and all those diesel parts out to look at. 100_4976-5 by John Moore posted Apr 5, 2016 at 7:34 PM
I have briefly flirted with the idea to repaint the containers then said no. Leave them alone since the sawmill is a supplier of a rare hardwood to a furniture maker in Japan. Thus Japanese containers. Twelve foot board lengths are loaded into the containers and transported to the port by the TCC for loading on the lumber carrier Nogero as deck cargo. Lumber Carrier by John Moore posted Dec 6, 2012 at 8:53 PM Trying to tie all the operations together in one smooth story line.
Probably not but there is a new book in the series coming out in May and the good captain Juan Cabrillo and crew take on another mission.
Container cars are finished except for some minimal decaling and the running trucks. There are two different series of container flats there and the simple way to tell them apart is the brake wheel locations. 100_4977=1 by John Moore posted Apr 6, 2016 at 4:28 PM The diesel is going to set for awhile and I am going to turn my attention to the blue baggage cars next. They are my choice for the postal cars. Got my Unimates and my 1129s in the mail today but alas no running trucks to put on them. There are only two sources for trucks that fit all of these cars that do not get a power mechanism. The Kato 11-099 which does have the pick ups and tabs if you want light in the cars and the Bandai freight truck. The one problem with the Kato trucks is the side frames are part of the truck frame casting. Bandai does not have side frames, you use the ones provided in the car kits. Bandai calls it a freight truck but depending on what side frame you use it can be passenger or a dummy diesel. Not sure if there is any other sources for trucks. You can't use any of the available Kato trucks the coupler boxes get in the way. Also mounting is not with a pin but by clip similar to the old Concor cars. Trying to use the adapter to allow a pin is no good either because then the wheels drag on the underframe plus have you ever tried gluing Delrin and again problems with coupler box height. So just a grin a bear it while waiting for the slow orders to finally get here. And the fun part is I have not found a US based supplier for either truck. I haven't looked at Tomytec/Tomix though.
Looking on the Tomytec/Tomix site is like banging your head adainst a wall. It feels so good when you stop. Even with Google translate, it's a greek to me. I ordered a set of container cars and a set of tank cars to go with the power chassis for my DD51 pair. They are in the giant void over the pacific at the moment, but maybe by monday. Next I need the trucks and power for my E4 Shinkansen. Hopefully I don't find something I was waiting for now that I have spent my monthly budget. This stuff sells like hotcakes too. Gotta catch'em hot, just like anything else in this hobby. Trey
The only thing that I found looking today was that Kato does have some other sets. Besides the 11-099 there is the 098 and 097. They are the same trucks as their power chassis. The 105, 106, and 107 are just differences in the commuter type truck side frame.
Spent the last two days decaling. The silver and blue luggage van was painted all blue and made into a baggage and mail storage car. The two blue cars were going to get mail cranes but I decided against the work to modify them. My road doesn't need them because all trains stop at the stations and no need to snag the mail on the fly. The brown cars became excursion and special event cars with one becoming a business car. So the home built cab/express car along with one of the mail cars, the baggage/mail car, and the cab coach become the mail and express train. The brown cars are a different design and are equipped with rear end lights on both ends and can be used with the business car on the end of a train. The container flats got road name initials only not enough sill for much else. Now if my running trucks will just start trickling in. 100_4978-1 by John Moore posted Apr 7, 2016 at 7:12 PM 100_4980-2 by John Moore posted Apr 7, 2016 at 7:19 PM
The Aleutian on the right sporting the emblem is the business car, the one in the middle is the dining car Blackhawk and the left is the Lincoln Club. They will either run all three as the business train, or sans the business car with the two open tourist cars as a four car excursion train. I now have one extra passenger car that can expand one of the three car sets to four cars if I want to or take the mail train to two coaches. With at Kato 11-105 or 106 under each end should be enough power.
Well today I start work on my some assembly required diesel. And still waiting for my trucks from Japan. Ordered some stuff direct from Japan after I had ordered some stuff through Amazon weeks earlier. Japan direct order was here this Tuesday. Have the feeling it is Amazon that is the slow up. Heck I ordered some things from an Illinois last week and an order from my favorite pusher of trains last week and they are both here. Can't justify a $99 a year membership for something I won't use that much and would maybe get it here quicker. Anyway the S.A.R.D. diesel in the TCC shop awaiting assembly. Note that there are two models of cab fronts. A more modern and an earlier version. 100_4982-1 by John Moore posted Apr 8, 2016 at 10:11 AM
