Time to scratch the Euro itch, it bounces between O and Gauge 1 but I'm not fighting either scale just yet.
After a torrid few weeks with the 4F I ended up u tubing...as one does...by going back through old saved links, naturally V200 and DSB My feature heavily but this time some nice coach and cab rides on Mz's, I didn't know the Mz 645 block could sound so good when it really pulls at high speeds and I've yet to determine if they transition like the earlier 567 blocks, I suspect not.
Anyway, one rabbit hole led to another and bored of hitting F5 on Ebay US brass models, decided to changed pages to German Gauge 1 and some how walked away with this
Sellers images.
I'm quite smug for several reasons, it's DCC (probably Marklins own system...need to research that) sound and Epoch IV, better yet about 30% off the going price (that might be a clue that there's something wrong with it, but the sellers notes didn't mention anything) and to top it off, #12 which was loaned to Denmark in the summer of 1981 of which I saw several whilst on holiday.
You do not often see Epoch IV models go for sale as a whole, which could be an indication of their cheapness, lack of interest I suppose.
I do have some more photos, my fathers actually, which niggles me as at this age I think I did have my first camera but never took any pictures of them.
By 1981 they were not in their best shape and rumour has it Lubeck (not Marklins model is from Hamburg so would of been before their transfer to Lubeck) didn't send their best, they kept those for their own diagrams
whilst on loan to DSB they always ran in pairs, even on local one and two coach trains, the reason being they were displacing Mz diagrams which are rated at 3300hp. A diagram might be a two coach local followed by a 2000t freight train, if you split the V200s down then chances are the second unit would not be where it was needed for heavier trains.
Whilst the Marklin models are reasonably good, they can be upgraded and the recent win means I need a second, so, a quick delve in the loft and the big red Zeppelin was recovered, it's straight DC and not even German, damaged, but quite frankly, was very cheap, as are most SBB variants on Ebay; even less interest than Epoch IV engines it seems.
The problem with the SBB versions is that Marklin actually went and altered the moulds to make them more authentic, something MTH and their GEVOs might learn from. Consequently you need to do some work to bring it back to DB ownership.
First up the damage, at this stage I've stripped all the extras off, glazing, handrails, buffers and any other fittings.
The model has taken quite a punt in the left hand buffer beam and skirt area at #1 end, it'll heal up with some solvent and some straps of plasticard inside and big dollops of double bubble to hold it all secure. With luck the sand filler door will not look to bad and with some careful fettling will hopefully pass muster. The corner step has broken off, as has another at the other end. you can just about see the mould line running down from the corner post to near the crack by the handrail holes, this is on each corner and will need rubbing down and blending in.
Internally the damage is easier to see.
Having solved that it'll be time to bring the model back to DB times, most if not all of the remedial work is on the roof.
The roof is split into seven sections, cab 1 panel, engine 1 panel, cooling 1 panel, boiler panel, cooling 2 panel, engine 2 panel and finally cab 2 panel. The only panels you don't really need to touch are the cooling panels, but hey, wheres the fun in that
luckily each end is identical but flipped around the boiler panel.
In order we need to carry out the following:-
Cab panel;
Removal of the large thin riveted panel and replace with two flip up vents, removal of blade antenna. Depending on era and engine chosen then the torpedo vent might need to go as well and be replaced by another flip up vent. Flip up vents come in two types, pure flat lid or shallow pyramid as seen on the model, they can be all of one or the other or move often as not, mixed.
Engine panel;
Removal of large riveted panel and filling of void around SBB exhaust (removed) port.
Installation of new DB circular exhaust and four flip up vents.
Notice the nice sink hole in the upper body work between the engine and radiator intakes, it'll need filling.
Radiator panel;
Nothing if you choose to but i'm going to open out the grills, add etched ones and fans below.
Boiler panel;
I've a distant niggle there are two types of panel here and I need to research some more, this panel may be correct for some engines, if not then it needs smoothing down, four flip up vents adding and a oval (except it's not oval, it's an elongated circular ends affair, there will be a correct name for it....I don't know what it is) boiler vent adding.
On the body general I need to work out how to add thin etched overlays to all the window frames, the engine ones should have four panels which can be angled inward, in O gauge I'd run a mile, but in Gauge 1 it might be possible to get them to be angled and open.
On the cab fronts I need to add the upper headlight bezel from turned aluminium or nickel silver, I'll probably end up printing one and painting it silver in the end as the lower ones will have to be painted as they are already moulded in.
One other point of note is the silver V strip, on earlier engines this was a steel moulding and extended along the body sides, in later life the body work rotted away underneath the strips and many had them removed and the stripe painted on, I've a feeling some engines retained the moulded strips until the end, but not many. The Markin version has them removed, if you wish to model with them attached then they'll need adding.
The drawbar hook fitting is woefully small, a forced compromise for the slot that accommodates the 'toy' hook, that'll all get filed in and a new fittings added, I'd like to replace the plastic moulded steps over the buffers with etched see through grids, the same will have to be applied to the corner skirt ones and the main entrance steps (fitted to chassis).
I also need to add the very low level cow catcher (single bar) that runs across under the lower cowling, a sort of flat strip guard iron across the front of the engine, you can just see it on the 1:1 photo of #22 above.
I am toying with opening a couple of cab doors up to expose more of the cab interior.
It's not too bad and comes in two sections, one fitted to the chassis, the other (bulkhead) into slots in the body, I'll merge the two and either look to detailing what we have here or scratch build something from some new etches and 3D prints. To be fair it's a get out of jail free card but if you're doing the other work then it might pay to do this as well.
As for the chassis, like the cab it's okay, but there are a few nick nacks that can be added, pipework, sanding lines and fittings and a few other bits and bobs to lift it a little.