[YPLC] Toma Model Works “13ton open cab Shay”

Hello loggers,

after my short “trip” to Wales, I’m now back on logging related projects. The first project will be a new tiny Shay for 9mm gauge, which I bought mostly out of curiosity.

This kit is offered by Toma Model Works in Japan and is mostly made from 3D-printed UV-resin. As I feared the assembly of the drive mechanism, I ordered a kit with RTR chassis included. This kit only features a static, non roating drive shaft, but the parts to make the drive shaft working are available as a separate kit as well. So I decided to take this combination, as the full kit with working driveshaft was sold out at that time anyway.

The first look into the small boxes was very scary. There were tons of tiny parts. NO idea how to assemble them all into a working loco model. On the other hand, the quality and details are amazing. The boiler has full back head details.

The RTR chassis runs very smooth and slow from lowest voltage onwards. Small complain might be the buzzing spur gear drive. Maybe there are ways to silence it. We’ll see later, what’s possible or not.

The following posts will show the assembly progress on this loco.