Yesterday I bought some of the new Bachmann-Farish Mk1 coaches, with the correct-pattern B1 bogies. They look good, event though all the detail on the BSK is printed on a flush clear shell. This may be shades of the ‘Super Detail’ Hornby Dublo Mk1s of the 1950s, but this is half the size, and fits the impressionistic style of N gauge.
They look good, that is, until you couple two of them together.
You could drive a bus through that gap! Anyone wanting to get to the buffet car would need to be an Olympic long-jumper. The Super BGs with B4 bogies were bad enough, but this is worse. It’s a step back into the dark ages. My 1960s Lone Star 000 stock was as close coupled as that.
It doesn’t have to be like this. These Roco SNCB Eurofimas show what can be done, and they’re considerably longer vehicles. And their close coupling mechanism means they’ll still go round 8″ radius curves.
Ironic, isn’t it? You buy into N for space reasons, and the infernal couplers make the train almost as long as a 4mm one anyway.
I assume there are interiors in those Mk 1s? I had a shufty at some in my local shop a while ago, and they looked better inside. One of my biggest problems with N is the translucent BachFar coaches. As my N plans are for downstairs I can’t really stop the sun shining through the things. The 170s are much better in this respect – totally opaque.
The TSO has an interior, but the BSK does not, although it’s promised in future releases, hopefully when the Blue/Grey and NSE versions appear.
They’re not translucent anymore, even without the interiors. The Chinese-made version use different printing from the ink used in the old Poole-made ones. The super BGs are the same, no translucentocity whatsoever.
Hmm, interesting. Have they fixed the translucency in the Mk 3s, I wonder? Although of recent Chinese build, mine are as translucent as a translucent thing.
Stick-a-bulb-inside-them-and-wear-them-to-a-Hawkwind-gig kind of translucent.
Last Mk3s I bought were a couple of years back, but I haven’t taken a close look at their translucentosity.
As for the Hawkwind gigs, who makes 2mm scale Stacias?
I think there’s some in the Preiser 3.5mm range.