Coupling & Buffer height with other mod's to Bachmann Emily coaches

[jeremy.viewing]

Santa, brought me a couple more Bachmann Emily coaches to go with my Stirling single.  Those of you that already have these or other  TTTE Bachmann G scale products may have noticed that the Buffers on the engine are higher than the coach buffers, this can be annoying and encourage buffer lock on tight curves.  Below is my solution to the problem which aligns the buffers and lowers the axles to give the carriages a more prototypical appearance.
Firstly I removed the coach body from the chassis, then removed the L shaped axle carriers by removing the two screws on each,  then mounted a 1/8" thick Styrene strip on the underside covering the existing axle slots, I then drilled through the original mounting screw positions into and through the styrene strip. It then was a simple job to remount the axle carriers on the chassis underside using  No 2 x 3/8" (2.2mm x 9mm) self tapping screws.

 

[jeremy.viewing]

I have opted for Gauge 3 sprung chain and hook couplings from Walsall Model Industries on the Sterling and carriages, the other external added features to the original Emily coach are brass wire grab rails, Cut down roof (Celestory top removed and replaced with Styrene sheet and Paraffin lamp tops) There are no added mouldings, the paint just brings out the ones that are there already.  In the early 20th century a lot of GNR coaches were a teak finish, and its easier than you think to get the effect.  I sprayed the coach bodies with White matt acrylic primer, I then brushed Revell wood Brown number 36382 Aqua Color over the white
primer, horizontal on the upper,centre and lower, mouldings and vertically on the panels and coach ends, but always with the brush stroke in the same direction. The paint is a water based Acrylic so dipping the brush in water
lightly you can thin it or go over the same area, use a tissue and touch the brush to it and that removes excess if needed.  The white shows through the brush strokes and leaves the effect of wood grain.

 

[jeremy.viewing]

Carriage roof

 

[jeremy.viewing]

Stirling with rake of four coaches.

 

[playmofire]

That looks very smart indeed.

 

[Jerry Barnes]

Ah, so that's how you do the white roofs. I thought you had started from scratch. Might have to do that to mine. You keep adding projects to my workbench! I have to quit coming to this forum.

 

[jeremy.viewing]

Jerry, that`s the way I do them now, quicker than making them out of wood as below