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Showing results for tags 'Deutsche Bundesbahn'.
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Greetings, Train Tech! I build a lot of locomotives, but I hadn't really built any models of rolling stock with the same effort as I put into my locomotives. Until now. This is a model of a German Umbauwagen, or "rebuilt coach". They were constructed in the post-WW2 period by modernizing prewar compartment coaches, as the Deutsche Bundesbahn was strapped for cash at the time. They came in two main "flavors": the three-axle 3yg, and the four-axle 4yg I've modeled here. I initially learned about Umbauwagen while doing research for this passenger car (which itself was found while doing research for the glaskasten...). Inspecting an engineering diagram convinced me that it would be possible to build the 4-axle variant at my usual scale of 15 inches / stud (~1/48) and have it go around standard Lego curves. The main compromise I made was to reduce the length of the body from 51 to 50 studs. An even length made it possible to use the 2x8 double curved slope for the roof and the 1x4x3 train window. Since the window only comes in a limited palette of colors I wound up building in blue. My understanding is that Umbauwagen ran most of their lives in green livery, but I found photos of models in a variety of colors. I'd appreciate it if someone more familiar with these cars could shed some light on this subject. Of course, it's not much of a train with only one car... ... so I built two. I'm pleased with how closely the cars couple to each other while still being able to make it around turns. While doing background research for this model I came across Duq's rendition. Duq's model features an excellent rendition of the Minden-Deutz MD 36 bogie. Rather than just steal those, I decided to model the my cars with the Schwanenhals ("swan neck") bogies. These bogies have a somewhat American appearance with their arched outside frame. The buffers and stairs are attached to the trucks and rotate with them in curves. The trucks use Big Ben Bricks wheels. This may mark the first time I've completed cars without a locomotive to go with them. Full Brickshelf gallery here (pending moderation). Thanks for reading!
