[SAMPSON]

Hi ,here's a carved wood body Alfa Romeo railcar made in the 1950s by a goldsmith. The chassis is handmade of brass.
thanks,
bernard sampson

 

[dgersh]

Thanks Bernard, I love these early rail cars! This must not have been among the very earliest, because that looks like the Eldi gear and front steering setup, which were being sold starting in 1956? or so... Tri-Ang motor I believe, unless it was an early MRRC - very much a conventional setup for the time, but extremely well made. Grounded through the chassis too, which seems to have been pretty standard on rail cars.

I'll try to add mine this weekend...

Don

 

[JamieG]

A beauty

I guess it is (approx) 1/24 scale. Can you tell what wood the body is made? Is it balsa or hard wood?
Thanks for sharing

Cheers,
JamieG

 

[SAMPSON]

hi don,looking forward to seeing your railcar.hi jamieg,the car is 1/32 scale.i think its made of hard wood.thanks,bernard sampson

 

[superhornets]

Hi Bernard
Looking at the body especially the grill ,I would be virtually certain that the body started life as an SMEC kit ,these were very popular in the early days of slot and rail ,and were very high quality especially the wheels and body fittings .
they were certainly a large contributory factor in the UK adopting 1/32 as their main scale

cheers tony

 

[SAMPSON]

hi tony,you maybe right.i have several railcars which may have come from smec kits.bernard

 

[superhornets]

Hi Bernard
The wheels I have noticed are also SMEC and that clinches it fo rme
If you want to know what other cars were in the series I can tell you

Cheers tony

 

[TSRF]

QUOTE I would be virtually certain that the body started life as an SMEC kit
It is. I have one built as a static model and it has exactly the same details.

 

[dgersh]

Here's a look at a one of the SMEC kits as supplied, a 1-1/2 litre Alta....

Hmm, a bit of work to do there... especially if you wanted to do a slot version. Here's another SMEC built up as a static model at the time, the Bugatti - nice job! Hand painted, no Dremel...

And as promised, an unfinished rail chassis I picked up on ebay US many years ago in a lot... It came with the guide soldered on, but without any pickups - I added these to try the car on Jeff Davies' rail track in Wales, but never got the chance. That's a Pittman DC-60 motor by the way, which seems to have been a favorite of the early US rail cars... The car is pretty much as found, except that the larger tires were on the front, not the rear, so I reversed them. Not sure why that would have been done... I believe that those are Eldi gears, one of the first accessories made for rail cars, in about 1956 - mail ordered from England by the US builder, as were most parts! And you can see the nice metal wheels and rubber tires that supposedly inspired Southport, etc. to adopt 1/32 as the official scale back in 55-56....

 

[TSRF]

Very cool! I had the SMEC Bugatti T59 when i was much, much younger, also as static dispaly since slot cars were still a few years down the road. it looked just the same, but had the radial wire wheels inserts fitted.
I still retain some of my Scamold cars including an Alta Grand Prix car that also made some cool rail-racing cars...