As I was browsing the internet one day I came across an article written by someone on the subject of locomotive wheel configurations which featured a photo of a Double Fairlie and I was quite taken by it as I'd never seen or heard of one before. I decided I'd like to try to make a model that represented the prototype in the article.
Here is one of the many pictures I subsequently found on researching the project, it's very atmospheric I think. It shows a Double Fairlie back in the days when the
The last entry I made some time ago was the CC1 'booster' loco. Unfortunately I ran into problems with designing and cutting the roof successfully and it lay abandoned and subsequently trodden underfoot in the everyday bid for survival. I've been pre-occupied with trying to get the house up together and ready for sale so haven't had much time to think about railways. However I did find time to buy a book about British Railways' road vehicles in particular the Commer Q25 van which first came into
In my last post I showed how I constructed the connecting rods, they looked a shade too heavy so I slimmed them down a bit. Next came the tricky bit, how to secure them on the crank pins. I sought advice on the questions page and have received some very sound advice, thanks to all who contributed.
Here's a picture of the rods on one side set up with oiled cigarette papers in place ready for the 'quick dab' with the new Antex 25 watt iron.
Once the soldering was sucessfully completed I
With the 1308 Lady Margaret on hold awaiting nameplates I thought I'd get my next project underway. For some time I've been researching the Foxfield Railway's preserved crane tank loco.
Affectionately known throughout its life as "Dubsy" but never actually named, this locomotive was built by Dubs and Co of Glasgow in 1901 and delivered to the Shelton Iron & Steel Works in Stoke-on-Trent. It remained at Shelton Bar throughout its life. "Dubsy" was originally coal fired but was converted t
I bought 3 damaged body shells on Ebay one was a dock authority shunter, one a Hornby detailed Castle [Neath Abbey] which I repaired and fitted with minimal alteration on to a 4-6-0 Hornby chassis. The third one was a cheapo Lima 0-4-0 'international' loco, they come in a train set. So this is how it started out :-
This is what I was aiming to represent :-
These USA class engines were ordered through the US Army Transport Corps during the 2nd World War from the Vulcan Ironworks
I first saw this loco on Google images, its character appealed to me together with its somewhat unusual wheel configuration, only found in locomotives built in the late 19th early 20th centuries, indeed this one being designed and built in 1902 by Andrew Barclay sons &Co.
On doing further research I found out it was built for use on the Liskeard and Looe Railway which was taken over by the GWR in 1905 where upon 1308 was transferred to Oswestry and latterly worked from Machynlleth shed from
As I said before I had shelved this project with no great desire to carry it on, however after a couple of months I was able to look at it in a different light.
The bogies I'd tried to use were completely wrong, the scale was all wrong too. In height it was ok but in length it was way too long, something like 8 scale feet too long. This was largely due to my trying to use the RTR bogies, something had to be done. With nothing to lose I proceeded to hack the thing to bits.
I had to lose somethi
I've been researching a Southern Railway diesel electric locomotive from the years immediately prior to nationalisation in 1948 and the subsequent birth of British Railways. The loco was designated D16/2, the original design was by O V Bulleid and was built at the Ashford works in Kent.
Only 3 were ever built, sadly they were all retired in the late 60s and cut up soon after, meaning none survived into preservation.
My search for information hasn't brought much up but fortunately I found an il
Hi everyone,
I've been at it again although nothing much seems to change, I painted the inside of the cab where it would be difficult to access when the back and roof were on. I've added the buffer beams and square buffers, cab roof, water tank filler cap. the shaft and flywheel are to drive the crane turntable, this is driven by a cylinder and con rod situated in the right corner of the cab (see previous entry). In one photo I found online it looked like coal hadspilled out onto the cab floor
Not too much has happened since part 2, the crane is now complete and painted ready for mounting on the locomotive when it's built. I'm just in the process of making out the orders from Mainly Traiins for the various detail parts such as Alan Gibson wheels and universal coupling rods, Mashima 1220D motor and a suitable gearbox yet to be determined.
I have no experience of chassis building or fitting motors and gearboxes, this is a complete learning curve for me so it's fingers and toes crossed
I bought a rather dilapidated castle arts/ Gaiety GWR 57xx pannier tank model for about £4. It was in quite a sad state, the drive gear on the axle had come loose so although I got the motor to turn it couldn't transmit any power to the wheels.
The body for this model was sold at one time on its own so that it could be matched up with a RTR [Triang/Hornby chassis. After a lot of faffing around I eventually acquired a suitable chassis for it and I modified it to accept the same method for fixing
I might have mentioned in an earlier blog that I was also putting some plastic wagon kits together. While the Mink G van is awaiting a slot in the paintshops I've posted a couple of photos of the Ratio bogie B passenger van I'm doing, alongside the Mink G, which has now had the body painted and the decals fixed. When it's been varnished and the underframe paintwork finished I'll post it up.
I find the Ratio plastic kits go together reasonably well and (this 'B' vans bogies aside), are quite
Well it's been a while again now since I posted anything, due in part to awaiting a coach kit to arrive from Comet Models and a very smart kit it is indeed, I hope I can do it justice when I come to assemble it as it will be my first brass kit build.
Two other reasons for my absence, one I've started work on the house renovation again after some considerable time so I now have less time and even less energy for the models.
The other reason is because of a spate of electrical breakdowns, in a f
Now I'm back from the UK and have some time to spare here is the update on the van. I'm limiting this to pictures only.
wheel parts
chassis parts and technical plans
1 assembled chassis 2 wheel silicon mould 3 tyre parts etc with one wheel completed van body painted
van body from different angles, windows are blanked out for painting but are clear plastic underneath
cheers
I'm sorry this blog hasn't been updated for so long, but work on the house has taken priority, so the only modelling done recently have been a couple of Ratio Vans. 1 is an LMS ventilated van the other an SR 28ton bogie 'B' luggage van and a Parkside Dundas 'vanwide' kit.
The two small vans were a doddle and a pleasure to build, the SR 'B' van was a bit of a pig with lots of fiddly bits making up the bogies and I'm not happy that I've got them right even now.
Another thing I wasn't happy about
Well at last it's finished, well as near as. It has now been painted in GWR freight grey and weathered to what I think it might have looked like. On checking online I had a lot of guidance on the state of some wagons when in service, on refering to some of Paul Bartletts work some wagons were virtually falling apart, I didn't want to overdo the weathering to that extent though.
See what you think,
I've ordered a sillhouette portrait vinyl cutter from Amazon which is due
So that's the faffing around all done now down to making the model. Despite a long lay off from Inkscape I managed to produce a workable drawing and cut the first sides which were entirely wrong but proved I could produce something here's the result
I hadn't got the scale right it was too high and too short but eventualy it came back to me and I got the hang of altering the measurements and cut the first sides, 5 in total. I stuck these together to form a side 2.5mm thick together with
So here's the model with it's final coat of Matt black acrylic paint brushed on, it's now got a chimney. These trams sometimes hauled a tram car behind them, very similar to the horse drawn trams but also similar in appearance to the later electrified trams that preceded these steam trams.
I'll leave you with the rest of the photos of this build.
This is only loosly based on any original because to tell you the truth I didn't think it would ever get to fruition, if I'd known I'd h
The two coats of Acrylic paint made a difference to the roof, making it harder and filling the course grain of the Balsa. Next came the base plate, I made this from 2mm thick plastic card with 2x2mm strips of angle along the sides to which I glued some T shaped strip to replicate the base in the photo.
Next came the bogie frames, these I cut from Slaters plastic card but the top section I cut from some French card which is softer and more 'bendy' than the British card, this enabled
I have made a start on this model but to date I haven't got very far with it due to other commitments. The model will be in O gauge either cardboard or plastic card possibly a mixture of both. I have drawn up the experimental parts for the roof,seen here I also took a couple of photos of the assembled parts.
This photo best illustrates the curves of the roof so this was my guide for producing the drawing in inkscape. After much adjustment I finally got the curves right. The end pan
I made and fitted the buffer beams, generally filled and cleaned up the body, finally giving it a coat of primer to highlight any faults. These were rectified and the primer coat proper was applied
Well that pretty well brings this blog up to date, The loco is now in the paint shop. It was coated with 2 coats of Railmatch GWR Loco Green but that didn't look too clever so I rubbed it all down with wet and dry and resprayed it again with Humbrol #3 Brunswick Green and it no
I got my tin of Humbrol Matt varnish out today to dull down the smokebox and cab roof on 1308. On opening the said tin I found it had separated, the same as my Humbrol Satin varnish had done previously, rendering it as 'dodgy' to use in the airbrush.
I applied it with a brush instead and when it dried it looked somewhat streaky, so not good. Afterwards I applied 3 coats of Johnson's Kleer or Klir as it's called here in France.
Today I thought I'd try experimenting with Klir Matt a la Sleeper.
I've had considerable problems with posting photos but when I posted them to the test area they came up ok [ called Murphy's law] or something like that.
Right in part 5 you'll see 12345 listed where the photo's should be here they are in that order:-
1
2
3
4
5
Shhh it seems to have worked.
Conclusions drawn? I talk to 'kin much!!
TTFN
While I overwintered in Wales I took with me some modelling stuff, well quite a large cardboard boxful to be more precise, along with the silhouette cutter, laptop, etc. While I was there I went to the O gauge society expo in Reading and was tempted into buying a Parkside LMS brake van kit, mainly to get a feel of working in this gauge in preparation for the forthcoming CC1 mentioned in an earlier entry's comments. I was impressed by the contents of the box, although the price is a bit on the he
Hi everyone,
Some time has passed since my last entry mainly due to waiting for replacement wheels, the arrival of which proved too much for my computer which sadly passed away despite desperate attempts to revive it. I now have a new little notebook, I chose this because hopefully being much smaller dimension wise might follow through on the problems front, wishful thinking I'm sure.
The said notebook is French of course as that's where I'm based, French computers don't have qwerty keyboar
