SCHNEIDER AND SOMUA get to work in H0-9 scale
In 1922, the Etat railway company contracted Schneider/SOMUA to convert a four-wheeler carriage into a railcar. Ten other vehicles underwent the same treatment in 1924. The prototype of this class is preserved in the Mulhouse railway museum. I felt it would be fun, but also realistic, to proceed likewise for a narrow gauge railcar in HO-9 scale.
1 Dismantling
The carriage must be completely dismantled. The roof is removed from the body shell by pressing upon the glazing and by inserting the blade of a scalpel, which will act as a lever, between both parts. The body shell is separated from the chassis using a screwdriver blade, by levering between the two parts inside the body, one side at a time. The two suspension/wheels/coupler assemblies aren’t used in this project, so you can store them in your scrapbox if you have one!
2 Driving mechanism
You will have to remove the buffers and the couplers from the driving chassis, as well as the handrails and the steps. On either side, drill a 1mm diam. hole, checking against the photo for the location (they will be re-drilled later to a diam. of 1.7mm, after having been used as a template for drilling the running plate and the body shell). At one end (one.
