Modeling modern VIA equipment in HO

I was wondering all the time to get a VIA P42DC in HO scale.
Finaly,I get lucky and had the chance to put the hand on one.
HO scale VIA 917 P42DC,a custom painting..
I made a round trip to do the picture.


For now,I'm searching some cars to reproduce Renaissance cars,but I need tips,to know with model I have to get to make some....

That's a good looking loco. I really like the picture with the real thing in the background. Very nice!

I have custom painted two P42s like the one below, in addition to having one of the limited run Athearn/Hobbycraft ones from a few years back. The unfortunate thing is having a lack of coaches to pull with them. I now have a trio of Rapido Trains resin LRC coaches I built, and am waiting on the RTR ones from Rapido. But I would love the Renaissance cars as well. In HO scale, you'll have a hard time building them. \

I did try to kitbash one about a year ago. I started with a Hornby OO scale British Rail MK-4 coach, kind of like this one: http://www.hornby.com/passenger-rolling ... oduct.html

I then covered the windows next to the door at the one end, and removed the door from the other, filling it all with putty and sanding it clean. I also removed the steps from the trucks, and fixed them to the car body. I then painted the car and added Rapido Trains LRC coach decals. The final product looks like this:



The only problem is that the coach is too big. British OO scale runs on the same track as HO scale trains, but is a larger scale. So the car simply looks too big behind my P42 or F40PH locomotives. You could make one to scale, but you would have to cut and splice the car to make it narrower and not as tall. Then you would have the problem of the windows and trucks still being too big. I had four coaches I was going to do, but I gave up after finishing one.

For now, that's your only real option, besides scratch-building the cars. Otherwise, you'll have to wait and hope that either someone eventually makes the cars RTR, or perhaps a resin kit for them. The resin option is much more likely.

I remember that Rennaissance car,it's done pretty well,but we can't do nothing for the oversized appearence,but realisable by a slicing in the midle..

I did some reshearch on ROCO european models but nothing are enough close to the real thing.exept a panoramic car,but need to do all the roof on the car..

By now,I'm keep waiting for LRC cars,event if I can found some resin kit,but they are discontinued and the RTR model alway delayed.

Thank for your tips,so I can do a search for this paricular 00 scale model and see what I can do with that..

Yeah, the MK4 is really the best option. It is oversized, but since the Renaissance (ex-Nightstar) cars were essentially modified MK4s, there is less modification required. It's just that the size problem means a lot of extra work. It might be easier than scratchbuilding or casting your own cars, but it's not something I wish to attempt. Good luck if you do try to make some of your own!

(On a side note, making Renaissance cars in N scale is actually much easier. A company called Electra Railway Graphics, in the UK, makes self-adhesive vinyls for the Nightstar and Renaissance cars. All you have to do is get an N scale MK4 coach, strip the paint, and add the vinyls. The problem is still that British N scale is larger than everyone else's N scale, so they look a little big. However, it's not quite as noticeable in N scale. You can see my completed N scale Renaissance cars here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/timberley5 ... 553694791/. Scroll through those few pictures. This doesn't help for HO scale, but it's neat anyway. I model primarily in HO, but lacking space at the moment for a decent HO layout, I have dabbled in N scale as well)

The resin kit LRCs are hard to find (there are still some floating around), but have no fear! The RTR LRCs from Rapido were supposed to be FINALLY in production back in July, so they should actually be here this winter. It sure has been a long wait.