Hi all,
Here in Australia I managed to source Playcraft brand HO scale British coaches which were marketed in the UK and elsewhere in the 1960s.
These coaches were made by Jouef (France) for a UK toy distributor and branded same name as the company, Playcraft.
They were also sold by Jouef by arrangement, so you can find them with that name.
These are Era III British Railways 1955-68 Maroon used across the entire British system.
There are basically 4 standard mainline British Railways Mark 1 coaches, (plus a Royal Mail car) used in the 1950s/60s which are suitable to run behind Flying Scotsman.
There are 3 provisos:
1. The fitted plastic wheels may run OK on Märklin track, check yours first. I changed the wheels to Märklin so they act and sound like a Märklin trainset.
2. The couplers - you can find these coaches with the original Hornby Dublo style cup type couplings.
or you can find them with Tri-ang/Hornby style bar and hook type
or sometimes with one type at either end.
Note that you may have to bend up the un-coupling stem/s on both types to clear the Märklin track pukos. It took force to bend mine with pliers.
3. The distance between coupled cars is large (about 20mm+) and unsightly. It will take some thought to figure a method to reduce this.
All 5 Playcraft coach types are fitted with quality interiors, which can be improved with some colour painting.
In dolling up these coach interiors I noticed an error in the interior moulding of the composite 1st/3rd compartment coaches.
The larger 3rd class section has the 6 seat compartment which should be in the 1st class section.
The smaller 1st class section has the 8 seat moulding meant for 3rd class.
The interior moulding fits only one way inside the coach.
This really is not a problem if you can change the yellow figure 1 on the outside of the doors to be on the other ends of the coach.
I painted my 1st class a dull blue or red, and 3rd class a dull grey.
The brake 3rd coach does have a real problem though, because it had no 1st class section.
But the interior moulding is the 6 seat compartment for 1st class.
There is not much I can do about that, except paint the seats a dull grey.
The coaches are not fitted with any metal weight and run well but addition of a little weight would not hurt. The Märklin wheels certainly do that but is not cheap.
The bogies are correct for the early builds of Mark 1 coaches, and are fastened with a 3/16W or 5mm Hex bolt which is easily removed.
Both types of couplings are integral with the plastic bogie mould.
Once you open the car and remove windows and interiors I improved the coaches with a spray of clear laquer to make them shiny, and also sprayed the roof with a matt clear laquer.
When you buy these used cars, the clear window strip is usually dirty and I cleaned them in warm soapy water.
The British Railways gangwayed coach types in maroon colour (with Playcraft model number) are:
P455 RB Restaurant #1701
P456 SO 2nd class open with centre aisle between seat rows #M4372
P457 CK 1st and 2nd class compartments with corridor (named composite) #15100
P458 BSK 2nd class compartments w corridor, and a Brake/Guard section (named brake composite) #36040
P459 Royal Mail car with line-side catch equipment #W80300 (interior apparatus removed so as not to foul track pukos).
I will get you some pictures soon.
The above cars are also available in green, and chocolate and cream with different model number (except for the Mail car).
Paints I used are:
Clear laquer spray for a shiny surface on the coach exterior (I think it improves them remarkably).
Matt laquer spray for roofs (otherwise they look shiny plastic).
Humbrol #20 for exterior touch ups (not the Mail car).
Humbrol #115 dull blue/grey for seats or any shade of blue/grey
Humbrol dull crimson/purple for 1st class seats
Humbrol #63 to quieten the plastic gloss interior.
Kimball
Edited by user 10 March 2024 06:18:57(UTC)
| Reason: Added interior info March 2024
