Table Top Model

You know when you see some thing , and the penny drops, you think to yourself... I like that!

Well that’s how this started.

I saw the original listed on Ebay in Germany, but funds were stretched to breaking and Senior Upper Management wasn’t taking the hint........

So I took a look in my stock cupboard and spotted a donor loco, my old 23600 DB diesel loco V14, it wasn’t used much, and I already had a Matra crane sat outside, for the last 4 years......

As you can see it looks pretty straight forward, lob off the back off the loco, mount the body of the crane and build a chassis, easy.........

O.K. reality check.

1st off, remove the nose of the loco by removing the two screws at the front, near the radiator. Carefully lift it away, while we are at it, strip the rest of the loco down to the motor block.




	Re fit motor block, back to front, so that the motor pins are near the front, this is so we can remount the MTS chip to run the ‘leccy. At this point I decided to install a blue LED on the control panel of the crane. This is controlled by function 7 on the MTS chip. I fitted a cab light and wired this to the MTS chip. This works off F8 on the chip. The front light is wired to F9 as normal. The rear lights are wired directly to pickup wheels on the rear of the crane. You will need to make the hole at the front, in the floor a bit bigger to allow the cable connecting the chip to the block to pass through. Strip down the cab, remove the windows and blank off the rear off the cab (it’s really the old front) with some plasticard, till its flush. Then try and mount the cab. You will find that the crane arm hits the back of the cab. Shorten the arm by about 1/2 inch (or for those of you who use metric - about that much).


	Making sure you keep all your screws and bits in a safe place (unlike me who balanced on the end of wifey’s kitchen worktops...) strip the crane down and remove the chassis. You should notice that under the cabin section, is a round lug , this is your mounting point, it will line up perfectly with the back of the loco. (LGB have even put the hole there for us!) Drill a small hole in this lug, it will go through into the tool cabinet on the crane, this is where it will pivot.I used a small self tapping screw to join them.

All the chassis for the crane is scratch built, so I'm afraid your on your own here.

I cheated and use a old Bachmann bogie, and half a chassis off an old caboose, I extended the pivot point using the wife’s ball point pen (it was a cheap one!) cut down. Then I nipped to my local model shop for some plastic girders / frames, etc. and made it up as I went along (sorry, but it spoils it if I plan anything..) The exhausts the rest of wifey’s pen.

I re-sprayed it all using Plasticoat spray paint, I masked off as much as possible, then rebuilt it.

This isn’t meant to be a blow by blow account, more a description of what can be achieved with very little thought and planning, all on the wife’s work top, in 2 days, using a battery drill, hacksaw, sharp craft knife, super glue, plasticard, and a tape measure.... oh! and a Philips screwdriver .........

If you want any more info....

E-mail me at

Talk to me at http://www.gscalemad.co.uk

Or arrange to visit me via the above two methods