TT - Bai - four-axle passenger car ČSD - kit (etching by Hekttor)

About the subject: the fleet of post-war ČSD four-axle cars has its own unmissable representative. It is the Bai car from Tatra Kopřivnice, developed from the second half of the 1940s, whose production started in 1952. To get to its roots, we must look to Slovakia. The electrification of the main lines started there. How does this relate to the car being described? It was expected that it would be possible to increase the line speed on electrified lines to 120 km/h and in selected sections up to 150 km/h. And here the double-axle "Rybáky" with a maximum speed of 100 km/h were no longer suitable.
And this was not the only incentive. Another was the international situation at the time, more precisely the Cold War, and the acute risk of a war conflict in Europe. And the new carriage was to play the role of a large-capacity "ambulance" in ambulance trains. This is also evident in its design. The double doors were intended to facilitate the loading of stretchers with the wounded. The toilet and washroom were at the end of the platform, so that the partition between the platform and the compartment could be removed, as well as the seats. In one day, a second-class passenger car could be transformed into a full-fledged ambulance. Several dozen of these cars were also detached, modified, and incorporated into four-car sets of Permanent Ambulance Trains, which were essentially mobile field hospitals. Thus, for example, some of the cars were also modified as operating theatres. These trains had their permanent home stations, from where they could operate in selected areas of the territory of the CSSR and could also operate within the CO of the CSSR in cases of major industrial or natural disasters.
The result of these requirements was perhaps at first sight an unusual, but at the same time handsome carriage, which was produced for the CSD in two series, namely 548 pieces of the 1st series and 562 pieces of the 2nd series, with another 14 pieces delivered to the NHKG plant in Ostrava-Kunčice for passenger racing transport. Its use was incredibly versatile - from deployment on long-distance fast trains to the role of a trailer to four-axle motor cars, e.g. series M 262. and even small M 131, or use on mixed trains of local lines. However, the focus of its service remained as a Class 2 carriage on regular passenger trains. Later, these cars were also modified for military transport, or converted as coaches for work trains.
Several general modifications to the original design were also made during service, the most visually striking of which are the removal of the original underframe covers, the replacement of the retractable canvas transition bellows with a more modern bellows with rubber baffles and a different type of bumpers.
The Bai Type 63 is an all-metal car of welded construction for speeds up to 120 km/h. Length over bumpers 23 236 mm (for Series 2), weight 33.5 t (for Series 2), chassis are Pennsylvanian type with a wheelbase of 2400 mm. Heating is steam and electric.
About the model: Initial considerations for a simplified model for use on the track have taken their toll over time, and the model was produced in an attempt to reproduce all visible details. The roof muster is designed by 3D CNC machining. The kit represents a Series 2 car in 1960s condition. It is possible to assemble the etched transition bellows as well as to use the die-cast rubber decal parts. It also manages to solve the problematic chassis travel, limited by the narrowing of the boarding area, so it can travel radii from 350mm. But between you and me - this really isn't a car for sidings or tram curves :-).

You can download the construction instructions here. Here there's one article about building the model, and here 's the other.

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Contents of the kit:

-etched brass sheet with vehicle body and chassis

- building instructions

- die-cast car roof

- set of cast details - seats, mock-ups of chassis suspension, rubber transition sleeves