"Codename: Industrial Saddletank" - Part 2
Entry posted by S.A.C Martin
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A little recap of the "Proof of Concept": I am embarking on a joint endeavor with a friend to produce a range of bodyshell and basic model kits to try and encourage younger modellers and beginners of all ages into the hobby. Something more basic than the old Airfix kits, and more durable than the current plastic Dapol kits of varying heritage.
The above picture has had a great deal of care and attention to get it to this stage, though it looks simplistic in the extreme, and very plain. This is what I have termed the "template" on which Sean O'Connor and I are designing some preliminary bodyshell kits for beginners to modelling. This template has been designed to fit the standard Hornby 0-4-0 chassis (with cylinders). I am also developing a template for the 0-4-0 chassis sans cylinders, but that will have to wait for another day.
Part of the development of our long-running project to produce bodyshell kits for beginners, is producing a pair of shunting engines: one steam, and one diesel, as our first attempts. In the last update, I showed how we had worked though a previous Sentinel mesh for some time, and learned a lot from developing it to the stage of a proving model, to fit on a specific 00 gauge chassis.
The Sentinel appeals to me greatly as it looks very different, unusual and very unique - the light blue paintwork I picked (taken from my photographs of Musketeer, the locomotive we based the original mesh on) was striking and gave the mesh a certain appeal. In this respect, if we were trying to produce an all singing, all dancing, ready-to-run locomotive then I'd be looking over the plans for the little geared engine much more closely. I can fully understand why Model Rail picked a Sentinel themselves - the locomotives have a certain "Je ne sais quoi" about them.
However, given that our intended market will have little knowledge of the prototype, but recognize various forms of tank engine, we decided to change our chosen prototype for our first steam model to something more conventional looking.
Sean and I spent several months discussing the choice, and throwing ideas into the mixing pot and thinking it through. We looked at what was available, and what wasn't, and what sort of chassis would be most likely to suit a bodyshell kit for a beginner to the hobby. We ended up back at the standard Hornby 0-4-0s quite often, and finally made a decision to get some drawings of a particular type of locomotive, and take a few photographs in order to develop a first new mesh.
The above is our new "Proof of Concept" for the proposed steam engine bodyshell kit. It is a simple industrial shunter, based on a Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST. It's not one hundred per cent accurate to prototype, as it has been designed to fit onto the Hornby 0-4-0 chassis (and therefore there is a little stretching in the proportions, although not as much as I had initially feared). It is based on a few scale drawings, and several hundred photographs I took of the Hawthorn Leslie locomotive in question!
The way Sean and I are developing the meshes is as thus: I design and create a basic bodyshell, minus details, that will fit onto a specific chassis. Once satisfied with the overall dimensions and proportions, I send the mesh onto Sean who uses it as a further template for one with better detail (as we did with the Sentinel shunter before).
The final mesh is checked carefully, and - hopefully in this case - will produce a physical first prototype in order to gauge the next step - a full reworking or minor modifications. I do not envisage not having problems of some form in the prototype: no one is infallible and certainly not me!
Overall the project is giving me greater insight into the trials and tribulations of model railway manufacturers: though admittedly on a much smaller scale, and done in one's spare time rather than as a business...yet.
This week Sean is working on the next stage of the mesh's development, so hopefully will have a little more to show and develop in the next update.
Until next time.
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