Inspired by Sir Douglas's efforts I decided to make a start on a loco, built from plasti-card sheet over the chassis of a dodgy old Bachmann US outline loco picked up for £8 on ebay. First I chopped the chassis by 20mm to help fit the tighter radii of our railway. I also added as much weight as I could at this stage as it is a pancake motor. Not ideal for reliability I know but this one seems to run OK.

First I sat and drew out the concept model onto graph paper, stuck it to box card and produced the mock up, shown here with the running plate and chassis.

The mock up was used to check the fit on the loading gauge and the scaling. In the end I decided the cab needed cutting down a bit and the window height needed to drop down to match.

This left me satisfied I could produce a rigid structure that looked suitable beefy from flat sheet, so I started scribing the design onto plasticard and cutting out. After 6 hours or so I got this far:

the top is not fitted yet as I had to make up a method of attaching the body securely. I am probably going to hide one screw in the exhaust and another under a suitable bump in the body. I still have to design a face for the loco as well. There will be rails to allow a soldier to ride shotgun on the front!

I was quite pleased with the result for a first run, especially sat on the chasssis. The bogies will be invisible as armoured skirts will be fitted down each side.

One detail I did want was some see thru sections of the body, the grill mesh is a bit over scale, but I had nothing else suitable. I will mock up some heat exchangers/radiators for the inside to hide the wires.

Here you can see how it fits over the mechanism. I am in two minds about wether to go mad on cab details, as boxing in the motor will be tricky as the bogie and motor pivot together.

Any suggestions or comments welcome, I am going to use the Archers rivet transfers for surface detail, but have to finish and fill the body first.