AK47 Terrain [2]

As part of the terrain scratchbuilding I'm hoping to use my existing collection of old TT gauge railway track to create some modular rail sections. This shouldn't be too difficult using 1.5'' strips of cork tile as a trackbed then gluing the rail sections in place with PVA before adding some ballast.

The actual trains and rolling stock are a bit more of a problem. The TT gauge stuff on ebay goes for quite a lot and much more than I'm willing to pay for just a bit of scenery. I have some old Thomas the Tank Engine diecast carriages but they're a bit crude and would need quite a lot of work to look decent. I also have some old Matchbox wagons but they're a bit too big for the track and the loco is more 1/72nd scale than 1/100th.

As a result, I was pleased to find this Siku 1/120th scale diesel locomotive and wagon set in my local toy shop yesterday while Xmas shopping for the kids. It scales out well against 15mm figures although the wagon is a bit narrow. It also looks like the sort of thing you'd find on an African railway. You can get extra wagons on their own as well for £2.50 or so, making it easy to have a whole train if you want.

 I have ordered a couple more wagons from an online toy shop to make up the numbers. When they arrive the whole train will get an undercoat in black then a rust streaked and dirty coat of paint in suitably African looking colours. I might have a go at adjusting the wheels first, though, as they don't quite fit the TT 12mm gauge track, not that you'd notice.

These are Malawi Railways locomotives originally built in Birmingham but now mostly rusting away on sidings up and down the eastern half of Africa. I like the paint scheme so will try to replicate something similar for the toy locomotive and the wagons. The wagons will also get some removable loads and, perhaps some modular crew bases with HMG's, turning them into the equivalent of trucks for transport purposes.