# Bowande BR MK1 Coaches



## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Any one out there have any of the Bowande/Wuhu British Rail MK1 coaches ?. I have a set of these and have been having a frustrating time with the couplings. They seem to uncouple at any time without any reason. I think I have spotted the reason in the picture below.

View attachment 20458


The head seems to be able to move without any restraint leading to one coupler going over or under the other. This is made worse by the shank on the coupler not being restrained at the rear, allowing the whole coupler to move.

I had ordered some Kaydee 1904 as I was told they had metal shanks so could be modified to fit. They are a soft soapy plastic. Also the head is made out of the same material so they tend to slip across each other rather easy.

If any one has the same problems I would appreciate your views and any info on modifications carried out.

MTIA

DougieL


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

The link to the image isn't working for me.


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Try again. This shows the coupling removed from the coach. Hopefully !.

DougieL


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## boilingwater (Jan 27, 2010)

Dougiel,

Mine has standard 1/32 Kadee couplers (the same one David Leech uses on his cars the Kadee number escapes me...). I've not had any issues with those but i haven't put them to a major test (grades/uneven track).

I can take some pics later and try a more rigorous testing of these.

Sam


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Sam, thanks for that info. Do you mean Kadee 820 in a standard draft box ?.

Did they have these fitted from new ?.

I am womdering if the new batch of these coaches has been fitted with a different home brewed ( Bowande) coupler. I am wondering if I could remove the plate at the end of the chasiss that now houses the coupler and fit a standard Kadeee.

DougieL


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Well I have tried a further mod to these couplers. I removed the pins and locked them up with bolts. This made things even worse. It would seem I have to take a saw to the ends and fit Kadee's if I want couplers that may work.

Unfortunately Bowande have stopped talking to me. I have one bogie that has an axle box that will not stay in the frames. I had asked for dimensions to check the box and the horn guides. Bowande had failed to give these and suggested a new set of bogie frames. As I was not sure that the axle box was the right size I suggested a new bogie with axle boxes that did not fall out.

Complete silence. I have been told that they only sold 19 out of the last batch of 100. I wonder why anyone would purchase from firms like this. 

I think any thing with made in China on it is out now.

DougieL


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Just heard back from Bowande. The standard "found in junk mail box" excuse was used for the stoney silence.

They sent a couple of dimensioned drawings of the bogie frames and axleboxes. Nothing seems to tally with the dimensions in the metal.

Worst one is the size of the axlebox from the slot that the frames slide in in one side to the opposite end of the ear at the rear that stops it falling out of the frames. 9.7mm on the axlebox and 9.77mm on the frames !. Nothing really to stop the box falling out.  And it seems to be similar on all of the 16 bogies !.

DougieL


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

*Replaced couplings*

Have been doing some more work on the couplings on these coaches. Main reason for the uncoupling seems to be the two pins holding the knuckle to the hook. This, and a lack of support for the hook, tends to allow too much movement in the vertical plane. This picture shows the original.









I imported (UK) some Kadee 1904 straight shank couplings from the USA. I had thought these were metal but they are plastic. And the shank is thicker than the original hook shank. After some thought and so as not to alter the coach body I filled the shanks down. This did two things. Make them fit obviously but gave a support for the shank against the drawbar. This tends to stop or limit the movement in the vertical plane. It also tends to snap the coupler back into the right position vertical wise by the spring if it does get moved. Picture below is of the replaced coupling.









Testing on a flat surface and some pieces of track seem to show an improvement. Hopefully I will get a chance to try out behind a loco on our test track (85 inch radius) next Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

DougieL


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

I took seven of the eight out last Tuesday to give them a trial. In two half hour runs I did not get a single disconnect of the modified couplings. This compared to at least one every circuit with the originals. 

Only problem I came across was that some of the drop bars on the Kadee couplings were touching each other because the square hole in the drawbar was not square to the coach. This caused the head to tilt over and the drop bar to touch the opposite one. This opened the coupling and caused them to disconnect. If I slipped them together with the drop bars the wrong side of each other it was not happening. May have to remove the drop bars as I do not use remote uncoupling.

Now just need to get a new bogie from Bowande, repaint the roofs in some thing not metalic green and refix the loose partitions inside and I may have some useable coaches.

Still dont have any info on the lights fitted to these coaches though.

DougieL


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## davidarf (Jan 2, 2008)

My solution to the coupling issue was to eliminate all the vertical movement while still retaining the lateral and longitudinal movement. I found that two solutions were needed. 

The first is a plastic box fitted behind the buffer beam with a tension spring from the coupling arm to a mounting post. Hopefully the attached picture will make this clear. This box is a close fit for the height of the coupling arm when the box cover is bolted in.

The second part was to remove the outer circlip and pin and initially replace this with an M2 bolt and nut as shown in the photograph. This was not ideal, and has now been improved by tapping the pin hole 9BA and fitting a 9BA bolt. This has eliminated play at the knuckle head and also allows the coupling to operate correctly as a drop head coupler to reveal the hook if needed by simply backing out the bolt and then replacing it when the head is down.

This has allowed me to run a rake of 8 of these coaches over my track which has changes in gradient without uncoupling, as shown in this video of my test run with the new Accucraft live steam A3.


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

David,

very interesting method of locating the back of the original coupling. That was one of the problems I had come to realise was causing the uncoupling. When I filed down the shank on the Kadee couplings I left a shoulder on them. The original spring then holds this against the drag beam and keeps the head from moving. Trials with these have proved succesfull with two runs of seven coaches and no uncoupling on 85 inch radii curves. Problem though as the shank is still plastic.

I tried to bolt up some of mine. I did two and put them on the ends of two coaches to give them a try. Better but still the odd uncoupling. I have now come to the conclusion that perhaps soldering the head to the shank should eliminate this.

I am also going to drill through vertically just inboard of where the shank expands and solder a brass pin in. This should hold the shank vertically while allowing movement in the horizontal.

Dougie L


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## davidarf (Jan 2, 2008)

Dougie
My initial attempts to bolt the heads with M1.6 or M2 bolts and nut was also unsuccessful. In some cases the M2 were too big and the M1.6s were too loose. It was the change to tapping 9BA that gave the secure fit between the knuckle and the hook.

I also looked long and hard at possible solutions using Kadee couplers, but could not find one that would give the vertical stability without chopping large holes in the buffer beams to fit Kadee boxes. Kadee G1 knuckle heads are slightly larger than the ones supplied by Bowande and therefore are a bit more forgiving. Having fitted Kadees to most of my G1 stock, this would have been my preferred solution if achievable. 

Having got my solution working, I am very pleased with these coaches. They look great and are fantastic runners - so good that they clearly push along the locomotive when I shut the regulator, causing it to coast to a gentle stop.

David


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

I took my seven out of eight useable coaches to a GTG last Saturday. No derailments and thankfully no un-coupling. I did notice that the couplers were causing the ends of the coaches to move sideways with respect to each other. Will have to see what is causing that.

On inspection back home I came across a major problem though. There is a great amount of side play on the axles in the boxes. In at least three instances the bearing had moved on the axle and had come out of the axle box completely. This leaves that end of the wheelset unsupported. That wheel can then move about 3/8ths of an inch in the vertical plane. Enough to have the flange above rail head hight.

Have grounded them till I can sort out a solution.

DougieL


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

A picture of the wheel bearing which has come out of the axle box. Nothing to stop the axle moving in any direction. Seems to be down to bad design with too much play built into the boxes. And not very good manufacture which compounds the problem.

DougieL


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Just had a reply from Bowande about these and other problems with these coaches. Seems they are aware of the problems but seem to be doing little if anything to correct them.

As there seems to be no quality 1/32 rolling stock available I have now decided to limit further depression by pulling out of any further involvement with G1.

DougieL


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## John Allman (Jan 2, 2008)

I cant tell from the picture but it seems as if washers between the wheel and the journal would keep the trucks together.


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

John,
the washer would have to go between the wheel and the bearing. The bigger bright shiny bit is the bearing and not the axle. This means the end of the axle would still be unsupported as the bearing would be past the end of the axle and inside the axle box.

DougieL


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

dougiel said:


> Just had a reply from Bowande about these and other problems with these coaches. Seems they are aware of the problems but seem to be doing little if anything to correct them.
> 
> As there seems to be no quality 1/32 rolling stock available I have now decided to limit further depression by pulling out of any further involvement with G1.
> 
> DougieL


Sorry to hear that due to one Chinese manufacturer, you are going to give up on Gauge 1.
Not too sure what type of quality you are looking for.
I have been modelling in this scale since the mid 1970's and it has always been a bit more of a 'do it yourself' scale until recently.
There is lots of good stuff around if you look.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

David,

I entered G1 here in the UK 18 months ago to have fun. I do not want to build anything, just buy and run. I want to run trains that look and run good. Not just locomotives of which I have a good quantity of very nice models. Money was never a problem after the person I cared for left me a sizeable amount in her will.

I have three lots of coaches. Bowande, Tower and G1MRCo. All have problems. I was still working on the Tower couplings but bits soldered onto the bogies keep falling off. The G1MRCo ones also have had failures with the materiel of the bogies. The Bowande ones have had a lot of work done on them to make the couplings work.

It would seem I can not even source some good quality bogies to replace those under both the Tower and Bowande models. I see no other source of 1/32nd BR MK1's in the UK except perhaps a couple of specialist builders. Therin lies another tale of a deposit being paid and nothing forthcoming.

Freight stock in 1/32nd seems to be even thinner on the ground. Even in 10mm there does not seem to be a source of either in any quality.

Perhaps this is one reason the Association does not see an increase in younger people joining.

DougieL


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Well, I think then perhaps this is indeed NOT the scale for you.
I always recommend to anyone who says they are interested in this scale to spend a year of research and see what is available before they jump in and start buying.
Gauge 1 will never be like OO or HO where there is a great volume of commercially produced items that are made in great numbers.
At least you tried, and too bad that it has not suited you.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

The really annoying thing David is that three manufacturers make Gauge 1 BR MK1 coaches. Unfortunately the quality is not very good and at least Bowande appear to be doing nothing to improve. They now have another supplier here in the UK who are advertising these coaches as "imminent". According to an email I have from a Bowande employee these are stock items that have the same faults on them as those I have.

Of course, it could just be Bowande fobbing me off with excuses to avoid having to repair or replace the faulty items.

DougieL


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## zubi (May 14, 2009)

dougiel said:


> View attachment 20466
> 
> 
> Try again. This shows the coupling removed from the coach. Hopefully !.
> ...


Dougiel, are you sure you removed them from the coach? They appear more as if they were removed from dog's mouth - by force;-) Sorry, could not resist... Best wishes from Tokyo, Zubi


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Hiya Zubi,

A little light hearted banter };^) . No dogs here just the odd cat walking down the garden railway.

Perhaps those are the teeth marks of the Bowande employee who was trying to get them to couple !. All the coupling shanks show the same marks.

Just weighed these coaches to estimate the weight of a train. They are 4lbs 12ozs (2.15kgs). No wonder seven (33lbs or 15kgs) made my Battle of Britain wince on a 1 in 100 grade (1%). And thats probably why axle boxes keep falling off !.

DougieL


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## RP3 (Jan 5, 2008)

Dougiel,

The type of coupler spring & shank mounting you showed in your very first picture is normally used with European Hook & Link couplers and it works fine in that configuration. I'm not surprised that the spring mounting does not work with the Kadee style of coupler or the Bowande knuckle coupler knock-off. Kadees are designed only move in one plane pivoting left and right as the car moves down the track. The spring shank mounting as done by Bowande will never stabilize the coupler in a way to eliminate the vertical movement and it is that vertical movement that will uncouple knuckle couplers -- at the worse possible time.

IIRC, the British trains normally use the Hook & Link style of couplers anyhow so my suggestion would be to go with Hook & Link couplers for your entire train. Märklin sells this style of coupler in sets of ten which you can use to change out for these non-prototypical couplers and eliminate the uncoupling problem in the process.

Good luck,

Ross Schlabach


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Ross,
That would be rather unprototypical (sort of).
Most post war British coaches were using knuckle couplers, especially BR Mark 1's, although they did have a way of having them fold down to reveal the hook and chain.
But I agree with you as to how Bowande have used them on these coaches.
Like many manufactured models, NOT designed by people who use them.
Cheers,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Ross,
thanks for the input. As David says from the British Rail MK1's on hook and chains were not used except to couple the loco. They all had buckeyes which coupled the coaches. That was one of the resons the health and safety people have allowed them to be used on the mainline to this day. All modern stock is semi permanent coupled in rakes.

You are right about the Bowande couplings though. The fact they can move in a vertical plane means they come uncoupled all the time. On the Kadee's I fitted I made a step where I had filled the shank down. This held the couplings firm in the vertical plane and they worked every time. I was at one point going to drill the original Bowande shank and fit a pin in the vertical plane to stop vertical movement but allow side ways movement.

Unfortunately the coaches and especialy the bogies had far to many other problems and have been returned for a refund.

DougieL


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Ross, as an aside to the last reply. I have a rake of 8 tower brass MK1 coaches. They are fitted with hook and chain couplers. They are a pain in the harris !. They will come undone if the coaches overun and buffer up to each other. I now have the problem of fitting some thing else to them.

I have now had a full refund for these coaches.  Thank you Kingscale. Now to contemplate my future in G1.

DougieL


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## davidarf (Jan 2, 2008)

I have a rake of these coaches and continue to run them with great success. They are some of the best looking coaches that I have seen and run extremely well as shown in the film clip that I posted earlier.

The one issue that I have had is the tendency of the knuckle couplers to come apart, and as indicated above, the main reason for this is the movement in the vertical plane. I identified that there are two sources of this movement.

The first of these is simple to deal with. I found that there is too much movement of the knuckle head in the hook. The solution for me was to remove the front pin and circlip, tap the hole 9BA and fit a 9BA bolt. This locked the knuckle to the hook and has the bonus of making it simple to drop the knuckle if necessary by backing off the bolt - thereby making it a true drop-knuckle coupler.

The second source of movement is the way the hook arm is mounted under the coach. This is the tradition method for model hook and link couplings but is not suitable for drop-knuckle. This time the solution was a little more complicated, but turned out to be reasonably achievable. I designed a plastic housing using these components:







They assemble to form a box to hold the coupling allowing lateral movement and some extension:







When the box is closed it eliminates movement in the vertical plane:







This picture shows the knuckle fastened to the hook with an M1.5 bolt and nut. This was found to be not quite tight enough in the hook and very fiddly (M1.5 nuts are easy to lose). The 9BA solution is better.

I run the coaches in rakes of 4, 6 or 8 over a number of tracks, some of which have changes in gradient of up to 2% without the coaches parting when running.

Here is a link to another clip of 6 coaches in action:





David


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

David,

that is ingenious. I like that idea even better than the the single pin I was going to insert in the shank. The idea was to use the pin against the buffer beam to stop vertical movement but allow side swing.

Unfortunately when I discovered that the distance between the axle boxes was enough to let the axles fall out I called it a day. No way I could see to stop this happening. Coaches were returned to the seller for examination as not fit for purpose. He must have come to the same conclusion as I got a full refund on them.

DougieL


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## LveStmr2 (Nov 28, 2014)

David,

I'm thinking of buy these Bowande Mk 1 coaches and got contact finally from the
maker. Their email carrier, alibaba.com is horrid, had log-in problems etc. The error
message said they inactivated my account randomly for a routine check. Huh? 
I then got on the carrier's Live chat to report the problem to this carrier (or is it like 
our eBay counterpart?) started to ask my address and even my driver license. I 
swiftly disconnected them.


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## LveStmr2 (Nov 28, 2014)

For some reason, I'm having a bit of hard time posting here so I left an inquiry
at your Leichestershire youtube. Please answer my questions here or there about
the Bowande-Wuhu Mk1.

Thx


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

LveStmr2 (no real name/)

The Bowande coaches are made by WuHu. Their is a corporate website, bowandeusa.com, but you really need the US Distributor, Bob Clark at Stoke'm and Smoke'm.
http://www.livesteamg1us.com/


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## LveStmr2 (Nov 28, 2014)

Same questions here to anyone who have the Bowande brass Mk 1 coaches.

Thanks Pete for your reply and the distributor. My real question is whether the Bowande coaches are worth buying for the price. To me, the coupler, journal
falling out, and door
flopping uncontrollably are minor problems that anyone can fix. The real problem that
I've experienced as an 0-scale modeler back 20 yrs ago was that a long brass
coach is hard to solder straight and squarely. So, my questions for your brass
rake is how many of the coaches have following problems?

'How many' out of total X coaches'

1. Doesn't sit squarely on rails (leaning left or right) on a level straight track while 
stationary

2. The chassis and roof tops are not parallel to the flat track (sloped?)

2. Same questions above while running

3. The body is twisted

4. Chassis is not square

5. Corner joints are not 90 deg

6. Truck frame is not square sitting (twisted, one side lower, etc)

7. General soldering job - a lot of the body panels can easily pop out/cracked at the
soldering joints (low temperature soldering job)*

*Small details need a low temp soldering so the structure won't unsolder, that's OK

The falling out journal box or axles falling out due to not enough support spanning
across the frames, that can be fixed by cutting (narrowing) a frame separator or 
soldering 2 square pieces of brass, drilled for the axle nipple, behind the frames. 
Yes, if you're paying > $100, why should you bother to fix it yourself - that's a good 
question to the maker/distributor - no, i won't enjoy doing it myself though i can. It 
maybe ok to fix one out of 7 - 10 units?

What's your experience on the Accucraft plastic version for above questions? I know
i didn't like the thick internal wall/framing around windows and though flushed glazing,
it has that thick lens effect. But in 0-scale, i learned these hi tech injection mold
cars are square. Usually, they come with heavy diecast floor (for stability) and die cast
truck frames which I thought a bit crude vs. lost wax brass but functionally make them
a better runner. Since it's been 20 yrs ago, perhaps the brass soldering equipment, technique, as will as Chinese skills have improved now?

Dorian


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## davidarf (Jan 2, 2008)

Dorian
I have not measured the coach angles, but my rake of 8 Bowande coaches seem fine to me. I know of a number of other rakes and no-one has mentioned problems of the sort that you are enquiring about. I have posted a number of film clips on Youtube of my rake and some others. If you search under my username davidarf you should find plenty of films of the Bowande coaches in action to help you to judge whether they look in line and of the right height.
As far as the "problem" with doors opening, out of 8 coaches I have only one door that tended to open and I have fixed that with a dab of adhesive. I have no problems with axles nor have any of the other sets that I have seen in action.
I used to own a set of four of the plastic coaches, then supplied by the Gauge One Model Company, and whilst they looked good and ran well, I was disappointed that I could only get the full 2nd and 2nd brake. Others had been suggested at one time, but never materialised. Bowande have a much wider range of coach types available, allowing me to have 7 different in my rake of 8.

David


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## LveStmr2 (Nov 28, 2014)

Hi Davidarf,

For some reason, my reply to you last night wasn't posted this AM.

Thank you for your vote of confidence. No warped brass coach bodies,
chassis, n' trucks. Yes, I saw 2 of your youtube with the long rake of
bowande coaches. They didn't swing/lean side 2 side as it ran. Do they
all sit squarely on rails in stationary (no motion) mode?

I'm also considering the Accucraft plastic version, which though I don't like
the lens effect of the pressed thick plastic window pane (the 'glass' edge
would look ugly thick*), the body and trucks look great at least on their
ad photos.

*There's no close up shot on the window pane edge in their ad so I'm
guessing from Golden Gate Depot-Sunset 0-scale US coaches:

http://www.goldengatedepot.com/images/prrp70far1.jpg

Yes, both importers claim the window surface is flushed (not really on
a prototype along the window edges) but so what if lensing-effect is
in place?

If anyone has an Accucraft's Ga. 1 plastic coach, please write me in
on this window effect.

Let me see if this one gets posted...

Dorian


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## Accucraft UK (Sep 16, 2013)

davidarf said:


> I used to own a set of four of the plastic coaches, then supplied by the Gauge One Model Company, and whilst they looked good and ran well, I was disappointed that I could only get the full 2nd and 2nd brake. Others had been suggested at one time, but never materialised. David


David, in case you missed the news, we (Accucraft UK) purchased the intellectual property and tooling of the G1MRCo earlier this year. As a priority we are re-running the Mk1 coaches and later in 2016 will be introducing an FK and an SO to add to the range.

Graham.


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## John 842 (Oct 1, 2015)

LveStmr2 said:


> ............If anyone has an Accucraft's Ga. 1 plastic coach, please write me in on this window effect.............
> 
> 
> Dorian


Yes - there is a noticeable prismatic effect with the moulded windows - the fix is to paint the edges of the window mouldings with black paint - or a black magic marker.

John.

EDIT - Hey Dorian, I noticed my reply didn't get posted on my first try - I finally got it to stick by holding the 'submit reply' button down a moment longer - hope that works for you ....


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## srwade01 (Jun 26, 2008)

Looking for some advice from anyone who owns the Bowande MK1 coaches. I purchased 4 of them a while back and getting the LED lighting to work was a simple task of connecting the red and black loose wires to a 9v battery connector, adding a battery and using the switch on the underside to turn on and off.

I have now taken delivery of an additional 8 coaches and have tried to connect up the lighting in the same manner and NONE of the batch of 8 seem to have working lights. I am wondering if I have a bad batch or if the design has changed and there is a new wiring method. 

I know several people ordered coaches at Diamondhead so I am curious to see if they have encountered the same issue.

thanks


Steve Wade


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Steve,

never did get the lights to work on the eight I returned. I did notice a couple of the switches were broken or loose and one had a wire loose. Enquiries to China proved fruitless, they did not seem to know there were lights in these coaches !.

Have you seen any excessive side play on the axles ?. Any loose axle boxes ?. I was a bit sad when mine went back as they are nice looking models but the problems far outweighed the looks.

Was looking at ordering the upgraded British Railways 4MT 2-6-4T from Bowande but it would seem no dealer here in the UK is going to advertise them.

DougieL


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## srwade01 (Jun 26, 2008)

Found the problem with the lighting in my MK1 coaches. While the first set were correct and simply required the connection of a 9v battery to the free red and black wires the later batch are wired incorrectly from the factory. 
To access the wiring remove the end of the coach body by removing the 4 screws, one on each corner. The pipes to the roof are just loose fitted and come out easily. The wiring is in a channel on the interior roof.

As supplied the red and black wires are a dead short. The problem is rectified by following the black wire located next to the red wire on the circuit board. This is supposed to be the black wire to the battery but is incorrectly wired to the on off switch. Snip this wire and keep it with the red wire for connection to a 9v battery terminal and take the previously noted free black wire and connected it to the wire to the switch (which you just snipped). Solder and insulate your connection here, connect, solder and insulate your connections to the battery terminal, hook up a battery and your lights will function. Note that when you pull the circuit board out some of the light strand may come out as well. To slide it back in lay the coach on its troop and gravity will assist. You can also guide them under the clear strip using a flat blade screwdriver.

Correct wiring photo attached.


Good luck 


Steve


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## srwade01 (Jun 26, 2008)

Dougie

I have not had axel box issues with mine yet. I have run 4 of my 12 but not the remainder. I ran them for about 4 hours at Diamondhead and only had a minor issue with the coupler height on one of the four which I was able to bend to suit. So far they have bee great. I have also had no issues with the factory. My contact is a lady by the name of Flower and she is in email at [email protected]. She has been very helpful and will sell to you direct. She gave me the information on the wiring problem. Their fix was not quite correct as it would have bypassed the switch but it was enough to help me resolve the issue. I also had one interior damaged in shipping and she is sending spare parts to resolve the issue at no charge. It's a minor fix - 4 screw total to remove and replace the broken compartment dividers.

Hope this helps.

Steve


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## dougiel (Jun 3, 2008)

Morning Steve,

I also communicated with Ms. Flower Hu at the factory. She never gave me any info on the lighting but did send a new bogie after I sent her pictures and dimensions of the one the axle box kept falling out of. Trouble was it was from the same batch as the bad one. Although she advised the factory of the problems with the bogies they said there was not enough interest in this product to change anything !.

It was when it became apparent that most of the frames on the bogies I had were far too wide and were allowing the bearings to come out of the axle box that I returned them. As I got a full refund from the agent here in the UK I can only presume he agreed the problems did exist.

I did report this problem to Ms. Hu bit never got any reply. It would appear they had a sale so tough. Hence my request to return the defective items to the seller.

Pity as they did look good. I also was very interested in the British Rail standard 4MT tank engine but after the problems encountered I have stayed shy of this factory.

Dougie L


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