Back to the loft!

A few days ago, I posted this picture of some Messerschmitt bubble cars on flat wagons parked near Brighton.  I suggested that if one could find a suitable bubble car (not easy), these would make an excellent train, and look a bit unusual at exhibitions (whenever they might be.)

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Duncan, who had found a 3D file of an Isetta bubble car, and offered to print me off a few to see how they came out.  I had soon picked these up, nicely printed in clearish resin.

Purchase of an NGS ‘Lowfit’ wagon kit, and a little work in the loft gave me this result.  As this was a trial run, I just sprayed the bubble cars with a little primer – and missed a bit, as you can see.  The final run will have clear windows and need a lot of careful painting to pick our the window frames, headlights and bumpers.

The pictures also show that I should have dusted off the models before the photo.  The camera is cruel, picking up every little bit of plastic dust!  But this simple exercise has shown that Duncan has printed the bubble cars to the right size, and that a train of them will look impressive.

Of course, they are Isetta’s and not Messerschmitt’s, but if your eyesight is good enough to spot the difference – you’re welcome to complain as much as you want. [Update:  Duncan informs me that, not unusually, I have got it wrong, and they are Isetta’s in the picture.  So it is even more accurate…..]

I now have to wait until the NGS get some more Lowfits into stock, then Duncan will run me off some more cars.  They are not a great investment, as each one only takes a few pence worth of resin.  If no NGS wagons appear, one idea would be to use Peco single bolster wagons.  Unfortunately, these have a 10 ft wheelbase rather than the correct 9 ft, and a little filling will be needed where the bolster goes (hidden by the cars), but this might be acceptable.

It could be a rather colourful train.  There are certainly no shortage of colours to choose from, and I like the mixture of shades on the wagons in the top photograph.

We’ll see how this project goes!

PS. Problem solved.  BR Lowfits were 10 ft wheelbase.  The NGS ones are probably LNER or LMS versions.  I’d better buy some Peco kits….