What did you do to your trains today?

I've taken the powered ex Annie and replaced the (separate) front axles. Now they are more secure with less of a chance for the wheels to get pressed in, and it takes ever so slightly more effort to pop them out (even if the coach is turned upside down). I've also begun an experiment to see if I could duplicate functional Plarail components, namely a standard wheel and both types of regular couplings. Due to having separate front wheels and not a full axle, that was the real reason why I brought the powered coach indoors. While the couplings should hopefully turn out like they're supposed to, I'm not 100% sure about the wheel's accuracy (and the way the hook coupling was moulded). I shall see what'll happen once the mould fully dries tomorrow.

While I did have moderate success with the eye coupling and wheel casts, the hook coupling failed and I even lost the one used for the mould. For my second attempt, I took one of my assembled trucks (which will have its hook back after an adequate result). I'm hoping to try and accurately reproduce the body and chassis in addition to the moving parts. If this will turn out well, it would hopefully change the way I'll build scratch built vehicles from then on. At this point, hot melt glue is the only decent material I can use for casting reproduced parts (clay doesn't have the same properties and might be a bit coarse or heavy in some areas).

I got to work on a custom derek model using Salty, I've got more photos of the process along with some videos.

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Look forward to your progress F-far. Why don't you start your own Thread to keep everything together in one spot for us to follow?

I didn't know what forum category to post it in, so I posted it here.

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Depending on what you have you could Post in either the Plarail or the Trackmaster or a good place could be the General Forum. There is also the Modification Gallery Forum too.

So i did another pac man box car.  This time I used a trackmaster 2 box car.  It is more difficult due to its size.  Open top trucks will be more difficult due to more uneven surfaces.  I hope to get a larger resolution photo soon.  

So, I remembered I still have this one piece of track from one of my very old non Thomas train sets (one of numerous variants of Junior Train). I brought in a Take Along engine to see if it would fit and they're just a millimeter too wide, but it does technically suit their gauge better. The fact I tried it with Thomas (who has six wheels) when it should've been Percy or another four wheeled item might be the real cause. Now, seeing as it's one size down from TrackMaster (like Capsule Plarail), it has given me an ambitious idea I don't recall thinking of until a few days back.

In case I would ever need one of the smaller gauge railways (Skarloey/Culdee Fell/Arlesdale), I would not build or buy the oversized TrackMaster engines. The Take Along ones would look odd and Capsule Plarail track and engines (the ideal option) are off limits for me. Instead, I've thought about moulding this curve and casting it in large quantities along with new parts like straights and points. For the duplicates, I would remove the sleepers and paint the parts light blue to look like Plarail (and the points would also have yellow blades).



I also have the wind up engine that came with this track. Next to the Take Along, it happens to be about the height the Skarloey engines would be. When I caught its resemblance to Victor, I removed the cowcatcher and painted the cab roof and smokebox black (though I never used it as him). Once I'd have enough track parts to build a basic layout, I would cast parts of my TA standard gauge engines and "kitbash" the narrow gauge ones from them (bodies and running boards only since their chassis would be more TrackMaster style). Furthermore, I even looked up how clockwork motors work in hopes of being able to power them, albeit with a big difference; The keys would be disguised as the funnels or domes to avoid having intrusive knobs on the sides. In Peter Sam's case, one of his domes might be the key instead due to his new funnel having an odd shape. I'd build Rusty first and do the steam engines if he'd be successful. I'm hoping to build the original six (motorised or not, with or without Duke) as well as the rolling stock for them. #Season4isBack.

I gave my First Tomy Murdoch a lamp since he was missing a lampiron where the lamp is. I used Milliput to shape it then oil-based sharpies to color it up. It was superglued down to the model once colored.

I primed my Trackmaster Derek and Tomy Old Slow Coach today using Tamiya White Plastic and Metal Primer.