Making Do

[relaxinghobby]

 

A Hornby van maskerading as a refrigerator van and the loco is the Bachmann 'Not Thomas' chassis with a Hornby Percy body and home made cab.

The chassis is a nice runner.

I must finish that backscene.

[brianthesnail96]

Can we have some more photos of the loco please? Looks great from where I'm sitting, well it all does really but that's the bit that caught my eye!

[relaxinghobby]

As requested here's some more pictures of the 0-6-0 saddle tank.

The chassis and footplate are original Bachmann with the front buffer beam raised up to the correct height.

The boiler, tank, cab and lower bunker are all the Hornby Percy, the upper cab is home made.

 

 

Under the Bachmann Billy body is a seperate footplate with nicely proportioned wheel splashers.

 

 

There it is with another original Bachmann 'Billy' or 'Not Thomas'. I don't know what to do with that one, maybe I could

paint it black, put a number thirteen on the side and call it the 'Evil Thomas' as a sort of counter-point to the usual jollyness of the other characters on Sodor island,perhaps he would be the fat controllers Nemesis.

 

 

The proportions of the Not Thomas seem too tall, sort of pulled upwards. The wheel base is very short, it's difficult to find a prototype

that would fit it.

 

It's 23 + 23 mm and 18mm diameter wheels.

[MartinWales]

An excellent effort and completely different! Well done that man!

[Colinw62]

I'll 2nd that - excellent. this show what can be achieved with something that is really designed as a Toy.

 

 

Slightly off topic...... I bought the deisel version, a "Harry" 0-6-0 diesel shunter a while back with the thought of it becoming an industrial shunter. At £14.50 NEW it was great value!! It runs smoothly and has an 8 pin socket for DCC, Once chipped it responds very well. Only problem I had at first was a stickyness to the running but this was down to pickups being interupted by paint on the rear of the wheel. A few minutes with a glass fibre pen cured this though. Not got round to working on it yet though. the biggest visual problem I can see with the diesel shunter is the size of the wheels which tend to look a little on the large size. Maybe some side skirts will disguise this though.

 

ColinW

[relaxinghobby]

Thanks for the encouragement folks.

 

It seems a pity to let the Bachmann series of 'toy' models get away from us modellers, especially at the low price they come at.

 

What is a mystery to me is, why do Bachmann make these toys? They are such a near hit to being accurate models, and nicely engineered so they

run well too, especially the Bachmann 'Emily', which is so close to a Stirling Single 4-2-2 they could have made her as a really nice scale model and it would have

still looked enough like the Thomas the Tank Engine character that it would have satisfied the kiddies too.

 

Is the serious scale market so small compared with the toy trade we are ignored? If the manufacturers all did a cheap range such as these Bachmann Thomas toys or the Hornby

Railroad range it would keep the kit bashing and model modifiers like us happy for years.

 

Oh well, it's back to the plastikard to get what I want.

 

OK, rant over you can come out of cover now.

[halfwit]

That saddle tank does look rather good. Sometimes 'freelance' locos don't quite look right but that one hits the spot. More please. (I rather enjoy your posts on cardboard rolling stock as well).

[Arthur]

Here's your prototype WICO 'Sol' of 1878

 

 

This Crewe influenced design was built by the Wigan Coal and Iron Company for use at their various collieries and at their Kirkless ironworks. Most had a full length saddle tank but some had the shortened version as seen on 'Sol'. Examples remained at work into the 1950's.

 

 

 

 

 

[brianthesnail96]

Thankyou- I really like that!

 

I also can't help but feel these locos were a missed opportunity for Bachmann. Nice to see someone has put one to good use! The Bachmann Percy chassis looks to have potential too.

[alastairq]

excellent prototype photo..thanks, Arthur!

Noticed that the driving wheels are not all the same....

[relaxinghobby]

 

 

Here's the Bachmann Thomas again, but this time with a few millimetres cut off from the bottom of the body so he does not look too tall.

 

This is an attempt to make him look like he has an actual prototype and is not an impressionist steam engine thought up by the artist illustrating

a children's story book. I'll try and make the details that I add look realistic too.

 

If there was a Thomas what was his prototype?

[Sailor Charon]

 

 

Here's the Bachmann Thomas again, but this time with a few millimetres cut off from the bottom of the body so he does not look too tall.

 

This is an attempt to make him look like he has an actual prototype and is not an impressionist steam engine thought up by the artist illustrating

a children's story book. I'll try and make the details that I add look realistic too.

 

If there was a Thomas what was his prototype?

 

I believe that Thomas was based on the later version of the LBSC E2 with extended side tanks. The main difference (other than proportions) is that Thomas has splashers over the front pair of wheels. Actually, there's more detail here.

[Guest stuartp]

What is a mystery to me is, why do Bachmann make these toys? They are such a near hit to being accurate models, and nicely engineered so they

run well too, especially the Bachmann 'Emily', which is so close to a Stirling Single 4-2-2 they could have made her as a really nice scale model and it would have

still looked enough like the Thomas the Tank Engine character that it would have satisfied the kiddies too.

 

I believe it's a requirement of their licence from HIT that they look exactly like the ones in the TV series rather than the real locos Awdry based them on. Hornby's range predates the takeover of Britt Allcroft/Gullaine/whatever by HIT which is presumably why their's don't have to. Thomas was indeed based on an E2, as is the Hornby version.

 

an impressionist steam engine thought up by the artist illustrating a children's story book.

 

I believe Thomas's uselessly low front bufferbeam and Henry's change of shape both involved words between the good Rev. and his illustrator !

 

Lovely job there Relaxing hobby !

[relaxinghobby]

Making do, removable wagon loads, barrels from the Knightwing 'loads' kit.

 

 

The Half-barrels glued to a rectangle of balsa wood and then painted.

 

The lower second layer of balsa is only part length so to enable easy removal of the load out of the wagon you just push down

 

 

one end and the load tips up and can then be held and lifted out.

 

 

 

[relaxinghobby]

Poor old Thomas is still undergoing plasticard surgery in the workshops,

 

I hope making his tanks wider he will look better proportioned and more prototypical.

 

 

I guess this Bachmann Thomas which is meant for the US market must be in H0 scale so he is a bit smaller than my 4mm 00 mind expected?

 

 

[S.A.C Martin]

The Bachmann models are based on the TV series models from the TTTE television show. They are not HO but actually closer to OO but neither one nor the other really as the overall proportions of the TV series models was debatable!

 

All the coaches and trucks in the Bachmann Thomas, bar a few of the new toolings, are older 00 UK toolings, re-liveried. The loco models are pretty much adapted to look the part in front of those models.

 

Really quite taken with your saddletank - it's an excellent bash and extremely convincing.

[relaxinghobby]

 

A before picture for comparison

 

 

A 4mm strip added to the rear of the boiler and the cab moved back, two layers of 40†thou added to the front of the boiler to make it 2mm longer so it over hang the front wheels more. The front of the foot plate has been snapped off in the violence of this effort.

 

 

 

The rear frames extended at the back with shaped plastikard.

 

 

 

The foot plate seems very high compared to the van. The gap under the boiler will be filled by the motor and gearbox unit.

 

 

Note to self, do some work on the back scene, the trouble with a shelf layout like this is that it is just that, a shelf and tends to fill up with half finished modeling projects that are put out of the way up on the shelf

[relaxinghobby]

More work done to make Thomas seem more prototypical, at least to my eyes.

 

Footplate repaired and reinforced by frame shaped brackets, the blue bits.

 

 

The smoke box has been extended about 2mm forward and a new smoke box rapper added.

 

 

The dome and chimney polished but not glued yet, don't worry about the wonky angle.

[relaxinghobby]

Thomas (Billy) has been made more realistic, at least in my opinion, but he is quiet small compared to his Hornby cousin.

 

Here's the motor which is now held down with screws fixed into plastic blocks that have been glued onto the splashers.

 

 

What's wrong with my digital photography technique? Too close, not enough light?

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...What is a mystery to me is, why do Bachmann make these toys? They are such a near hit to being accurate models, and nicely engineered so they

run well too, especially the Bachmann 'Emily', which is so close to a Stirling Single 4-2-2 they could have made her as a really nice scale model ...

As one of the photos just above reveals, for this extremely demanding market sector, instead of a three pole motor as typical in the OO models Bach use a five pole skew wound design. The kids into TTTE are obviously much fussier than modellers about the running qualities. That came as a real surprise to me when I bought a not-Thomas for a repaint and face fitting. I like the idea of an evil twin, Thomas/Judas maybe?

[relaxinghobby]

The current progress with some adaptations to readily available toy trains.

 

The Bachmann Thomas

 

 

Thomas' details have been completed and as much lead crammed into the nooks and crannys of the body and chassis as possible.

 

 

 

 

We'll see how he looks with a coat of blue paint, must get some couplings fitted.

 

The separate motor unit, the wires have become detached again.

 

 

 

 

What is that little circuit board in the roofof the cab for? It just gets in the way, it does not seem to have any effect on the running of the train.

[relaxinghobby]

Making do or adapting older RTR models.

Bachman Diesel chassis and the Ertl Stepney body and an old Tri-ang goods brake van of which you see loads of 2^nd hand stalls at shows.

 

 

 

The Ertl Stepney body is a bit over sized for a LBSCR Terrier but it is much closer to the North British Railway R class, a Drummond designed derivative of the Brighton Terrier. And the Bachman diesel chassis is a near fit for it too.

 

The arc cab roof is from a Bachmann GWR pannier tank body, a piece of cardboard has been quickly cut out to make a template for a footplate.

 

 

A drawing of a Terrier was enlarged on the computer until the wheels were shown as 18mm to match the 4ft 6" of the NBR R class prototype.

 

I cant decide on the length of the boiler yet.

 

 

 

I've always thought that the Tri-ang Brake van is a good representational model of an old mineral brake, I don't know if it has a prototype. If any thing it seems a bit tall so I've cut it down to the same height ashown in drawings of older vans, that's about 6 foot and made a flatter roof. Although the plastic has bubbled a bit where I've used too much glue.

 

 

 

The original metal chassis is easy to convert by using modern wheels and sliding in PECO plastic coned pin point bearings into the axles holes until the wheels run freely.

[37255]

Work in progress...

 

Since nobody seems to produce a RTR Turkish 8F in this country (funny that!), here's my attempt at converting a Hornby 8F (only half finished for now mind). Yes I'm aware the numbers stopped short of 45197, but there's an in joke involved... I'm also aware how dodgy that number plate looks, will have to re-do that at some point...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Budget so far:

Loco itself: £50

Westinghouse Pump: £2

Smokebox door: £2

Also bits of plasticard, brake cylinders grabbed from my bits box, and some matchsticks (the latter will be used later).

[relaxinghobby]

It's good to see other conversions of RTR models of little know provenance, would the prototype have been run on British Railways before being shipped over seas? I'm assuming it was a wartime 8F

built before the cheaper austerity 8Fs and the USA 2-8-0s ( 8F power rating too? ) which ran on British rails until D-Day then went to the continent.

 

They have the remains of one of the USA 2-8-0 at the Nottingham Heritage Railway at Ruddington, the only one in the UK? Other possible protoypes which could perhaps be justified to 'might have' run on

UK lines where the USA 2-8-2s for the French post war railway? Perhaps some could have turned up in the UK?

 

Does your 8F run on a Turkish themed layout?

 

There where some carbon copy British steam railways in South America where the complete infrastucture and stock was imported; signals, stations and rolling stock. Old photo's of them are hard to tell apart from UK home railways.

[37255]

I'm not entirely sure on the history of the Turkish 8Fs prior to being exported, I gather information's quite hard to come by as it was done in relative secrecy in war time... There are a few USA 2-8-0s around, though none currently in working order, but I believe Churnet's second one isn't too far off now.

 

Thankfully I don't have the patience to build a Turkish themed layout! Instead I'm working on a slightly ropey late 80s/early 90s preserved line (will upload some photos etc when there's a bit more to look at than the current baseboard and loosely placed track!), so it's just about feasible that this may have been imported/repatriated (depending on your point of view) following the 'end' of the Cold War... I believe 45160 did run in this country for a brief period in the late 80s/early 90s before being stopped for overhaul, so there is a prototype! Once complete, it'll be operating alongside locos more widespread amongst slightly ropey preserved lines, such as Hunslet austerities and probably a jinty or two.