Krokodil Driver

[Ralphmp]

I'm trying to find a suitable figure for the driver of my brown Krokodil. I looked on the web for photos of a Krokodil with drivers visible and I found the episode of Swiss Railway Journeys where a Krokodil travels the Albula Line and there are several shots of the driver - a large chap with a beard wearing a two piece set of overalls and smoking a cigar!

I had a good rummage around the Preiser figures when I was at GRS the other day but the only engineers they had are for steam locos. Whilst the engineers have suitable clothing (apart from the ones wearing caps) they all seem to have their arms raised and that doesn’t really fit with the typical stance of a Krokodil driver.

Just wondered if anyone has a suggestion for a suitable figure I could use “as is” or could modify easily.

Thanks.

 

[playmofire]

Would it be feasible to modify a steam driver by carefully cutting off the raised arm and repositioning it?

 

[rentren]

I haven't found a believable engineer's figure for any RhB driver. All G Scale figures of railway personnel wear caps fitting e.g. Germany but not Switzerland. While steam engineers wear a cap, engineers on electro-veterans tend not to wear one but they too done the blue 2-piece work clothing. Nowadays a driver in a current RhB engine or motor coach wears often plain old any kind of clothing as if going to the office.

 

[craigwrdouglas2]

If you can get a hold of the driver from the Furka Rack loco - good images here:

Shourt Line - Soft Works Ltd. - Products - Rare LGB 24460 FO Rack Electric Loco HGe 2/2 24 MTS DCC factory installed

Or this other original lgb figure:

Elita Modelle Figur Spur G Lokführer-Heizer ohne Stock unbemalt

Entdecken Sie bei Elita eine riesige Auswahl an handbemalten und unbemalten Modellfiguren (1:22,5) mit Sammlerwert. Hergestellt bis 2004 für die LGB.

elita-shop.de

Don't know where exactly you'd get it now though. Elita don't ship to the uk and it's out of stock in any case.

 

[rentren]

TNX. Yeah the Rack loco figure comes kinda close. The Elita sports the more typically German head gear. RhB cap is a soft cap here worn on his Pensionierungsfahrt by RhB engineer Hess (holding an add'l steam eng. license), and getting his last fun run in the Engadine, March 19, 2017.

 

[Ralphmp]

Thanks for the replies. Some lateral thinking needed - or the ability to “decap“ an otherwise suitable figure…

 

[Zerogee]

Thanks for the replies. Some lateral thinking needed - or the ability to “decap“ an otherwise suitable figure…

On a plastic figure (LGB, Preiser, Bachmann etc) it's pretty easy to do a "head swap" - find a suitable bareheaded figure (a spare passenger?), razor-saw off his head (oo-er...), do the same to your selected driver, drill a small hole into both donor head and driver's neck to take a short piece of wire to strengthen the join, and then glue them together... a spot of modelling filler round the join, a dab of paint when the filler is dry, and your name is Dr. Frankenstein*....

* "That's pronounced "Fronk-en-shteen"....!

Jon.

Edit: actually it's almost as easy on a metal figure, just a bit more sawing to get the head off...

 

[Ralphmp]

Regrettably, after various treatments have successfully both suppressed my ailment and increased my cackhandedness coefficient, I’m not checked out on implements such as a razor saw . Good suggestion, though. Thanks.