Steam Railcar

Every now and again (And I'm sure I'm not alone here!) I see something on a model railway Facebook group and think, "Yes, I'd like one of those...". This is one of those projects.

It all stated when I was made aware of a 009 steam railcar being sold by Narrow Minded Railworks:

 

For the price, level of detail, and the fact that body is cleaned up from the 3D printing process by the manufacturer, that seems a bargain. Order placed - One duly arrived a few days later (Very well wrapped and with a unexpected free sticker!) And now the infamous 'mind gears' are turning again...

As assembled here straight out of the box, the body has roughly the same dimensions as a Peco Glyn Valley Tram kit. The only obvious downside is that due to the thickness of the chassis plate, when it's sat on the Kato chassis it just seems a little too tall.  Which brings us nicely to the first modification challenge, getting the body to sit lower. Not by much I should add, just a mere 2mm would probably be enough to both satisfy myself and make the body not look like it was about to topple over on the tiny bogies. Rather than hack about the supplied chassis plate, I decided to set too with the 40thou styrene sheet to fashion a new one.

Nothing fancy here, just taking my time with a ruler, set square and mechanical pencil, slowly taking measurements of the motor block and measuring them out onto the sheet. Checked and double checked, the centre was cut out and tested for size. 

It was during this trial fit I found that the clips on the Kato 107 chassis sit slightly higher than those on the four wheel 103 unit. Small strips of 60thou square strip were cut and glued in place where the clips connect with the plate, making sure to glue them on top so the plate still sits low! It's not a tight fit, but it is a snug one. Given that the railcar is probably going to run the majority of the time solo, or hauling only one wagon, this isn't particularly a problem. 

A quick side by side comparison with the Glyn Tram again shows how the height has been reduced. It is still slightly taller than the tram, but it's so minimal it would only be noticeable if they were parked cab to coach. The important thing is the railcar is lower than the tram's tall funnel.

Still having a little bit of a play around as I'm sure I could get it to sit just a tad lower by making what I can only describe as a 'double skinned' chassis plate and chopping the chassis itself down a bit at the ends. It can still be dropped down another 2mm before it starts interfering with the body.