DalaGStanator's Customs, Mods and Experiments

The last custom piece I made for the unknown small track was, predictably, a turntable. Part of the inspiration came from two users on the TTTE Wikia Discussions, who made cardboard turntables for Take 'n Play and Wooden Railway (respectively). It is mounted using a screw like on the bottom of a TOMY or TrackMaster one, allowing its stiffness to be adjusted (though it can easily come off if it makes too many counterclockwise revolutions). Being made of two layers, it had to be raised and aligned using triangular rails. Only one track (or two) is a bit out of alignment, but the others line up alright.



A handle was eventually added like on some Wooden Railway turntables (the ones without gears or a knob), in the form of an old paint bottle cap. Quite possibly the best piece I've made for the system.




Even before trying to design individual chassis for the NG engines, I decided to make Rheneas and a new Rusty to join the other four as promised. You might remember I didn't make them for the Junior Train chassis due to Rheneas' longer wheelbase and Rusty being a diesel; regardless, I still built them around it to be consistent (even though it won't be used anymore). Rheneas was going to be painted simply orange, but I found a mixture of red and orange looked more like his vermilion colour. Rusty was painted with an orange permanent marker (over the cardboard's brown), making him the only one painted using another technique. Like on the first version from last year, the radiator is folded over itself. Due to a sudden height change with his bonnet, the entire shell became slightly crooked and warped. The name is also much clearer on the other side.

Rheneas having a tapered boiler wasn't intentional, but I did avoid making the mistake I made with Duncan's (i.e., it's not laying on one side and both sides look the same). And no, I won't make one off recolours like Smudger or Proteus. After redesigning Duncan, I plan to replace all the handwritten names and numbers with printed ones in the right colours.