Nikonissen

Thank you so much! I agree that it aesthetically is very pleasing to watch the train go around on the grand curves. But I had to use ball bearings in the wheels. Otherwise it would be too heavy to pull, and the rubber bands would not be able to keep the wagons close together. So I also have to apply fluid Teflon / Teflon spray in the axles to keep it running. It is the train that requires the most maintenance that I’ve owned. It looks great! Love that you've added the window frame to act as the gangway. I bet that it would make the coupling seem more smooth from the outside. I've had a very similar problem with R40 switches, which is why I've given up on making it work. On low speeds, most of the bogies would derail, but later re-rail after what sounds like a similar detour. For our LTC, R104 curves and switches are the future. So I've invested in those, ballasted them and put them on Moduverse-modules (A (better imo) Scandinavian equivalent to MILS). So now I know that I will always have a side track from where my train can go without any issues. But I imagine that I could run into an issue with your solution for the rodales, the reason being that my wagons are all 4 studs longer. So on R104 curves it would not be a problem, but it could cause derailing on smaller radii... ¡Saludos desde Perú!

Hi, first post here! So, before I show my train, I'll tell a little about myself I'm a 20-year-old Dane who loves trains. I'm part of the Danish LTC "Togklodsen" (The Train Brick) and Danish RLUG Byggepladen. I've been lurking in here for some years, but for some unexplainable reason never created a profile before now. For the next 4-5 months I won’t be building anything new since I live in Lima, Peru for the time being. The reason for that, is that I finished high school last summer, so I now have the time to get to know the family on my father’s side a bit better. (And to improve my Spanish 😉) Back to the build: I started in December last year, with the (to me) most interesting part: The “beak”. When I had the base design and scale for the locomotive in place, I started on the wagons. This was a fairly easy process since I reused a lot of design elements from a digital Talgo built in 2021 based on the German ECx or ICE L. When I had the design for the wagons in place, I ordered the parts only for those, the reason being that I wasn’t satisfied with the design of the locomotives yet. So, while I was still playing around with the design of the locomotives, I was also testing different types of couplings for the wagons. This was the most frustrating part of the process. It was important to me that the bogies looked good, maintained a close coupling, and of course, actually worked when running on a layout. And I tried out A LOT of different variations of the beak and the cab before I landed on the final solution. June 2022 August 2022 Final digital model from September 2022 Almost finished loco from September 2022 But just because I had built a full train, the problems weren’t gone. First of all, around 40% of the time the wagons would derail in R40 switches, and the wheels would occasionally come loose and derail in R40 curves/loops. Furthermore, when I took the train on a loop at Skærbæk Fan Weekend. The locomotive in the back, pushing the train pushed the back bogie of the Talgo carriages off the rails when the train exited the curves, making it Unusable. The coupling is made using the power of a rubberband and a letting the wagons rest on top of the one-axled bogies Picture of the coupling before the mount for rubberband was built into the wagon. But on straight track, the distance between the wagons is short like here On curved tracks, the distance between the wagon extends, creating space for the bogie to turn The derailing by the locomotive was solved by moving both batteries and motors to the front locomotive. And on a national model train event in Kolding (Modeltog for alle) One of the members had built a railyard with R104 switches, which made it possible for the train to drive by itself from the sidetrack onto the main line. So now, it drives, but only in one direction. And then there still is the elephant in the room for those who know the real design of the Renfe AVE 350: The livery design. Yes, I know that the color of the stripes is wrong. This is simply a result from unawareness. While building, I mostly used the pictures from talgo.com not noticing that the design and placement of the stripes where a fictitious livery made for the website. So, when I return from Peru, the first thing I’ll do is correcting the stripes. After that, I will play around with the coupling technique by Ferro-Friki. Perhaps make some decals as well. Looking forward to your posts and feedback! //Nikolai Nissen

I LOVE your model, and especially coupling solution, It seems more stabile than the one I'm using. So when I get back home, I'll definetly try it out!

Love the design! It almost seems like you've already seen my model as well! It's so weird that when I started the design process of my model last year, there were next to no one who had built Renfe AVEs. But now multiple versions are in the making, and I think that's great! My first "WIP" picture from december last year And here is the (somewhat) finished version from september But i'll make a seperate thread on it in a moment, so I don't hijack yours ;)

... If you are willing to "cheat" a little, you can use the red curved slopes, and make some grey stickers for the grey accent ;)) But I can only agree that overall, it looks amazing! If I were to add a smal detail, that would be opening the passage in the coupling and maybe add the gangway doors :D Looking forward to see it built with real bricks one day!