Large Scale Thomas

[Rodimus Supreme]

It might not work with it being a slightly different gauge, but I happen to know that Marklin makes a Gauge 1 BR 78, the locomotive that, from what I've heard, is the type of Locomotive used to make Gordon and Henry in the show, specifically, their chassis. Gauge 1 is close to G Scale, but I don't know if it's close enough to be compatible, like HO Scale and OO Scale are.

G scale would be 1:24 scale and Gauge 1 (or #1 scale) is 1:32 scale which would be smaller than G.  The Bachmann Thomas & Friends models themselves are actually 1:22.5 scale which is in between both scales.  As I don't own too many Gauge 1 models, I can't really give you the best comparison out there, but I can hopefully show you somewhat of the difference between the two scales.  First up, here's Percy next to my Bachmann Gauge 1 speeder.  Winston would probably have been better to compare if I had him, but I choose not to waste my hard earned money on something so mediocre.



Next is James next to an Aristo-Craft Gauge 1 hopper car.  Keep in mind that a James should be pretty much in scale with the hopper if the model (James) were in fact Gauge 1.



As I said before, I can't really give you a picture perfect comparison as I don't have many Gauge 1 models.  I myself am looking to make 1 or 2 additional Thomas & Friends characters for my large scale collection in the future.  I did at first plan on building them in Gauge 1, but later decided to build them in 1:22.5 scale so they would be in scale with my other Thomas & Friends models.

By the way, anyone out there interested in a Bachmann Large Scale Thomas and/or Percy?



-Rusty

Yeah, I had read before that Gauge 1 is smaller than G Scale, but HO Scale is also smaller than OO Scale, yet both are generally compatible. So I wasn't sure if Gauge 1 and G Scale were compatible or not. If I remember correctly, HO and OO use the same voltage, right? So if the track diameter and voltage is the same between the two, they could be compatible?

[Large Scale Champion]

What country are you in?
I'm interested in Thomas & Percy

[thomasgleek444]

and speaking of customs, i know just above i was talking about a custom Henry and Gordon
while right now im trying to see if the base of a aristocraft pacific would be the right size for the drive wheels.
after that i would replace the other trailing wheels with some spare james trailing wheels, and then build a body on top. and scratch build the tender completely

It might not work with it being a slightly different gauge, but I happen to know that Marklin makes a Gauge 1 BR 78, the locomotive that, from what I've heard, is the type of Locomotive used to make Gordon and Henry in the show, specifically, their chassis. Gauge 1 is close to G Scale, but I don't know if it's close enough to be compatible, like HO Scale and OO Scale are.

yes but the marklin one would still be to small, and im not spending $3000 on an engine just to use the base and scrap most the rest, and then have it not measure up to the other bachmann models, i heard from someone on facebook that an aristocraft pacific would be the biggest drive wheels on a train i could find, but i just dont know.

[Chaz]

Quick question I always had for large scale modelers.  Have any of you guys considered making your own custom engines and rolling stock?  I haven't really seen too many custom projects aside from one or two things from Plow Bender.  I've always imagined in some cases you would have to make the bodies from scratch, like Mavis and using the motor and chassis from Toby but I've never seen it done before.

[thomasgleek444]

Quick question I always had for large scale modelers.  Have any of you guys considered making your own custom engines and rolling stock?  I haven't really seen too many custom projects aside from one or two things from Plow Bender.  I've always imagined in some cases you would have to make the bodies from scratch, like Mavis and using the motor and chassis from Toby but I've never seen it done before.

Right now I'm trying to SLOWLY work on a Gordon model to fit the same size as all the others. I got an engine and I'm going to build a body for it, and the tender from scratch.

[Large Scale Champion]

Its been fair disappointment here on Ruby's railway since the cancellation of Diesel, we keep are fingers crossed for 2019 as it will probably be the last for interest in Thomas at 9 years old but we'll run as long as possibly, we have the whole collection, some in multiple and a custom brake. However attention is shifting towards the live steam purchased whilst we wait...

[Plow_Bender]

Well, since things have been pretty quiet lately, I figure I'll go ahead and show you all the current progress on my large scale Victoria.  The last time I showed any progress on her, the coach itself was in primer, as was the roof which still needed more sanding and the top bits added to it.  Since then, the project has basically sat on my workbench collecting dust, but I recently started work on her again.

The most recent changes I've made is adding the bits on top of the roof (I was told they were oil canisters for the lights inside), and given it a coat of satin black paint.  I think it will need another coat just because the first one doesn't appear to have gone on evenly.  This is where I ran into a snag, as one illustration of Victoria showed her with 4 of these, another showed her with 5.  I wasn't really sure what to do in this case, so I just decided to go ahead and use what I'm calling the "After Restoration Illustration" of Victoria as my main reference.



Another thing I did was go ahead and start scribing boards into the front and back of the coach.  This was a complete nail biter as my biggest fear was that the X-Acto knife would slip or the straightedge would move, therefore making the boards uneven and possibly cutting into the carriage where I didn't want to cut.  Thankfully everything went according to planned, and the board detail on both the front and rear came out damn near perfect.  Needless to say, it looked even more impressive after a coat of primer.



I also cut pieces of styrene out and glued them to the front of the coach for the steps.  I also had to make sure my measurements here were correct, as when I go to add the eyes, there should be just enough room under the steps for them.  Since I was out of brass rod, I turned to using copper wire for the handrails, which at first I thought would be a pain in the neck to shape, but they actually turned out perfectly.



Overall Victoria is ready for paint, once I manage to find a color that resembles here shade of blue.  The frame of the coach also requires what I believe to be a step running the length of the carriage, and I just got the styrene in today to do that.  As I said in my last post, I figured Victoria may end up being a hybrid, and that has proven correct.  After comparing the Clive Spong illustrations and also referring to Victoria's basis, neither match up accurately, so I'm loosely basing her off both and hoping it works.  In the end she may not be 100% accurate, but at least I can say I'm not like a majority of the modelers out there simply repainting and Annie/Clarabel and calling it a day.

I'm really hoping to have Victoria finished here in the next couple weeks, as I am going to be attending a show at the end of the month with my large scale trains and would like to bring her along to display as well.  I had planned to take Victoria to a show I wanted to attend last year around this time, but I was informed by the woman in charge that the show was for members only, so that's part of why Victoria has sat unfinished for almost a year now.  Feel free to tell me what you think of this project so far, and I'll be sure to post another update after the model is finished.

-Rusty

[Kemptown Branch]

Wow. I have enjoyed reading all of your projects so far, but this one is my favorite. I love reading about modellers who take one thing and add details to them to make them something different, and your projects are no exception, especially since they are Thomas themed. Good job.

[Streak]

I needed this. This looks absolutely stunning! The Thomas fandom Twitter scene is going through another negative phase so it's refreshing to see such genuine craftsmanship and art. If Bachmann was to make a Large Scale Victoria (which could happen someday at this rate), this is exactly how I'd think it would look minus the paint. I'm sure this will look amazing once it's finally completed. Keep up the good work.

P.S. I agree that it's been pretty quiet lately. Anyone got any ideas on how we can change that?

[Chaz]

Not sure if there's any way you can fix the forum from being quiet if there is no news on upcoming products.

Victoria looks great Plow Bender, I really like all the details you added to the model.  No doubt that would look great behind Toby (and Henrietta if ever made) once completed.  I also how the roof turned out as well. 

[Plow_Bender]

Well, as promised I'm going to show you my completed Victoria model.  In all I'm quite happy with how she turned out and I'm pretty sure this has to be the best attempt at a Victoria model to date.  I'm not trying to sound like I'm bragging or anything, but this is after all an actual kitbash and not just a repainted Annie/Clarabel.  I will say however that the model does have a few things I would have liked to have turned out better than they did, but l'll get to that here shortly.  In the meantime though, here she is!



Alright then, now that I've mentally scarred you all, let's get serious. 

Before I show you guys the actual completed Victoria, I just want to explain what all I did since I made my last post.  I mentioned before that Victoria was pretty much ready for paint, which was the next thing I took care of.  I used a base coat of blue which I felt came close to Victoria's color, if not an exact match.  Overall it took about 3 coats of paint to cover the model completely and to my satisfaction.  The white along the windows was added next, which had me worried the whole time I was applying it as the blue kept showing though along the edges.  I dare say this is what happens when you use name brand and generic paint on the same project.  In the end though, the paint came out perfectly, and although I was tempted to apply a clear coat over the model, I left well enough alone.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I did go ahead and give the roof another coat of satin black and it looked much better afterwards.

While the paint on the coach was drying, I turned my attention to the frame.  I started by building what I believe are steps under the model, which were made from styrene and copper wire.  I also took the time to drill holes in the bottom of the frame to accept the steps when I went to install them.  Due to the fact that the steps are positioned over where the screws are to hold the carriage to the frame, I wouldn't be able to reinstall them until after I had moved into the final assembly stage.  I did think about going ahead and just adding the steps to the frame and putting the model back together with epoxy, but that plan has backfired on me once before, so I decided not to risk it with this project.

Since everything was done in terms of design for the frame, I went ahead and painted it with the same satin black that I used for roof.  The steps were also painted to match.  The buffers were actually painted when I first started on Victoria, which is why they've never been seen up until this post.  Basically I painted the red parts satin black, and the buffers themselves were painted silver.  After all the paint had dried on the coach portion of the model, I took the time to paint the handrails and door handles with a silver paint maker which I found to be very effective.

With all the painting taken care of, I moved on to assembling the model.  I started by reinstalling the buffers which were slid into place and glued back in from behind.  I then put the coach back on the frame, and installed the screws that came out.  Lastly was the steps underneath, which were simply slid into the holes I drilled earlier.  Only 3 of the 5 rods hold the steps on, as the two middle rods go up into the holes where the screws are.  In the case that I ever have to take the model apart again (which I doubt I will), I was careful and used the tiniest bit of superglue to hold the steps in place.  There's also a small drop of glue on each side of the axle boxes.

The windows were a little tedious to install as I had to carefully test fit them and remove paint wherever necessary.  The was however not unexpected, as I knew how tightly they were on the coach when I first took them off, and my heavy layering of the white paint only added  to the issue.  Careful scraping of the paint with an X-Acto knife managed to solve this little dilemma and the windows snapped in easily after that.  I used a little bit of superglue at the top to hold the windows in place as the original plastic tabs which held them before broke during disassembly.

Lastly was the face, which is a mix of printed stickers for the eyes and electrical tape for the eyebrows and mouth.  This is in a way similar to how I did the face with my Season 1 Troublesome Truck project, only this time I didn't use masking tape.  The eyes turned out just as I wanted them too, but the eyebrows needed another go as the first ones were just awful.  The mouth was by far the most challenging, and while I'm not going to embarrass myself and say how many attempts it took to get right, I will say I'm very happy with my final attempt.

Now is time for the official reveal of the completed model.  Here she is!

Before and After:

Victoria with my new DCC Sound Equiped Thomas and Percy models:

Victoria in comparison with my Season 1 truck:


Overall I think Victoria turned out almost perfect, but I do have a few nagging issues about her.  The first thing I will say is that technically, Victoria should have 5 doors, and not 4, but she still keeps the total of 12 windows all together.  The windows are however supposed to run the length of the carriage without the 3 large gaps in between, and although I was tempted to paint these area's black to compensate the issue, this would result in Victoria having more windows than she really should.  Really the only way to correct these issues would have been to just build the model from scratch rather than substituting something else as a basis.  As I said before though, I was basing my model off the Clive Spong illustrations, and those too don't match up accurately with Victoria's basis either. 

So at the end of the day, I personally feel like Victoria turned out to be a really nice model considering she's just a kitbashed Clarabel coach with many handmade parts added on.  The overall colors and shape is right, and the face is pretty close which in the end leaves me content.  I'll also say that I'm really looking forward to displaying her at the upcoming train show here next weekend.  I'm pretty sure I'll get a lot of questions and comments about her, and considering I don't have Toby at this time, I'll probably run her with Percy instead.  Anyways, let me know what you all think about this kitbash and maybe I can look into another large scale project now that Victoria is finished.

-Rusty

[Streak]

Rusty... you are a god.

This is one of the best custom models I have ever seen in my whole life. I've already said how the added details were perfect but the paint elevates it tenfold. I have no doubt that whenever you get a Large Scale Toby, this Victoria model will look perfect next to it. Now if only we had a Large Scale Henrietta.

This model is so good that if it was an official product, I would buy it and I don't even collect Large Scale. I honestly hope that maybe Bachmann considers making Victoria for the Large Scale and HO Scale line. But even if they did, I honestly doubt it could measure up to the passion and hard work of this custom right here. Keep up the great work and I hope you make more amazing customs in the future.

[Kemptown Branch]

Wow. You got all of that done really fast. That honestly looks amazing. Well done!

[TrainshockeylifE]

So this is sort of obvious but I'm not 100% sure, is the large scale Thomas able to go in the snow if I put a snowplow on?

[Streak]

So this is sort of obvious but I'm not 100% sure, is the large scale Thomas able to go in the snow if I put a snowplow on?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn6T4CCV8OY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rybQnSMPBjY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCIrajwWCFo

I believe any of these videos could answer your question. Happy to help!