Modifiying Kits

[relaxinghobby]

I could not post these pictures to Mikkel's Blog about old coaches and the Gem 2-4-0 tank kit now sold by Mainly Trains.

 

I've converted my kit to make it look closer to the original Sharp Stewart form by cutting off the bunker and cab and adding a scratch built cab made out of nickel- silver.

 

I hope any fans of the old pre-grouping Cambrian Railway will be able to recognise it.

 

 

Paint job not finished yet.

[Mikkel]

Many thanks for this, very much appreciated!

 

So, to backdate the loco/kit as it comes: remove top-feed, remove bunker, add new cab. That seems to be all, am I right? Sounds like a feasible christmas project. Oh wait, need to build a whole new layout for it first

 

That's some very nice stock being worked there by the way. What are they I wonder?

[relaxinghobby]

The providence of the above carriages is variable.

 

The van is a cut down Chivers Gresley LNER pigeon van on a spare Lima brake van chassis. It was Victorianised by cutting the ends down to a lower roof profile and making a new plastic card roof.

 

The sides where reduced in length slightly by cutting out the sections around the side lookouts because they look to0 modern and the top-lights filled in.

 

 

The Chivers mouldings provide lots of fine detail and it looks reasonably authentic from a distance.

 

 

 

 

The two coaches I bought at a swap meet because they are six wheelers, they appear to have bodies from Hornby clerestory coaches and home made tin roofs.

 

 

The under carriages are made up from brass W irons and brass angle, the middle ones have side-ways movement and they can just cope with series 3 curves.

 

 

Further to the back dating of the 2-4-0, I have found this drawing of the cab to be cut from 6 thou' nickel silver sheet. The odd dimensions show the vagaries of the CAD drawing program I used,

 

 

I have not noticed them before as I printed it out, glued it to the metal, and started cutting. I hate marking out directly onto the metal as I always make some sort of mistake with the measuring.

 

 

Using a paper pattern helps reduce errors, as long as the printer does not introduce any distortion.

 

It is designed to be folded into shape with a flat ceiling for strength, then the top rectangle is the curved roof.

 

 

 

 

I've also found the paper foldup test piece to see if the dimensions where correct? I thinks I had to

change them once, easy to do on the CAD drawing program.

 

 

 

An even older version of the Cambrian 2-4-0 tank from Gem/Mainly Trains. And it is much cheaper to build as it only uses their chassis, the body

 

is entirely of plastic card, scrap details from plastic RTR bodies and bought cast metal boiler fittings. It is in the form of the original loco from

 

 

Sharp Stewart with the curved-over cab sheet circa 1860, which was one of their standard designs and so could have been bought by any railway around the world.

 

This is how I justify such a model on a freelance model railway.

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure if I have made it wide enough, as I could not find a diagram or photo of the original showing a front view.

 

 

 

 

My photos shown here where taken in pre-digital days with a film camera, remember them? It had a much smaller depth of field, so only part of the length is in focus.

 

 

Makes you realise how much of an improvement these new fangled digital cameras are dispite drawbacks such as them being so small I keep loosing mine.

[Mikkel]

Many thanks for these details, very useful.

 

I have to say the curved-over cab sheet version immediately grabbed my attention, and if I decide to backdate the loco that's the way I would go, I think. Do you happen to know any source of drawings or photos for this later version?

 

I am curious as to whether this is the same design as the one that later became GWR 1384 "Hesperus", which I have always liked. Ie:

http://www.portishead.f2s.com/wcpr/Stock/Locos/Hesperus/hesperus.html

 

- and which Peter K has a kit for. Clearly there are some differences in the condition (firebox etc), but that may be later design changes? I never thought to connect the two.

[relaxinghobby]

A bit late but here is my reply to Mikkel above, the drawings were cobbled up from the drawing of No 57 to59 the prototype of the GEM kit. Figure 152 in J. H. Russel's book Great Western Absorbed Engines. There is also a good side photo of one of these locos with a curved steel sheet fro a cab.