Billard T100 in 009...

So during a recent order at Shapeways there was a nice discount, that meant due to the number of EuroNG and Narrow Planet kit bodies I was ordering I managed to pick up this (centre in top photo) Billard T100...

The model is offered by Engineer on Shapeways in a variety of scales. I chose 1:76. The first thing the strikes you is how low slung the prototype is, especially compared to the tall thin Coferna - but even the Jung ZL233 is taller!

The print is lovely and crisp with lots of detail, including a full cab interior (removable for painting). In these photos all I've done is a little smoothing with a knife blade, drilled out the handrail holes and started chassis fitting...

Here you can see it alongside one of Eric Fresne's Decauville sugar-beet wagons. The diesel is destined to become one of the sugar refineries shunters if I can get it running ok.

The chassis unit is a much butchered Roco feldbahn diesel chassis, which is a snug fit. There will be space for a Nigel Lawton micro motor driving the original Roco drive-train.

Here an lightly modified Roco chassis (left) is posed with the cut down example. I'll add pickups afterwards, there isn't a lot of space inside the Billard body...

Final shot shows it posed with the Coferna - which in comparison is a real brute! More soon...