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Justang's Loco-Building Corner: Poly Cement + Broken Locos


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4 hours ago, Devo63 said:

G'day Justang,

 

That line should be amended to "out of production since 1961" as that was the time that Kitmaster ceased producing their kits. I believe the tooling was passed to Airfix but this kit was one of the many in the range never to be re-introduced.

 

Dave R.

 

Thanks for the correction! I only did a little bit of research on the kit range, so any information on it is greatly welcomed.

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On 12/12/2019 at 17:27, AVS1998 said:

 

Hi Justang, great work going on here!

 

How did the resin casting go? I considered it myself, both for this kit and for a couple of other railway items but I'm rather less adventurous than you. 

 

- Alex

 

It's been going better than I'd expected. The tender top is the only part of the single that has been currently cast. When it was cast, we tried pouring the silicone over the tender top, but then it began to float to the middle (vertically) of the silicone. Once it dried, we had to cut it out of the silicone and found a lot of bubble holes left on the bottom half of the mold.IMG_20190629_125337.jpg.6fb5fc808caae9523d661e6bed8036a9.jpg

My dad tried casting resin with it, but the result was quite thin and brittle. That cast was turned into a coal load for a wagon, and my dad tried again. This time, he used just the top half of the mold. This proved to work better. Even though it is solid underneath, it looks alright.IMG_20191224_171421.jpg.72107c83ddc71a0e238a079e2c08d697.jpg

My dad has been doing lot of experimenting with the casting and I think once we are both more experienced at it, more casting will be done with the single. We have got some driving wheels for it and we'll probably modify a Triang single chassis block for the chassis.

 

I have been doing some work on other projects. However, I haven't had a lot of time to post about them due to school and homework. I have been finding quite recently that it's quite a bit more fun for me if I try smaller projects than large Pacific locomotives, so don't think I'll do much more on The Great Bear for a while. Soon, I will post an update on some of this smaller projects. For example, I've already got the parts to build a GWR metro tank and buffalo pannier and a bit of work has been done on the saint. The Ratio 4-4-0 has also been renovated to a really good running condition by my father.

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  • 1 month later...

I've done some more work on various projects. First of all, I wasn't happy with my saddle tank. I decided that it was too uneven (I should really stop using milliput), so I sanded it down a bit better than last time. I don't have any photos at the moment, but it does look a lot less bad than it did in my opinion.

 

The next thing I did was to begin building a chassis for my star class build. This meant cutting some brass strip to the correct length and drilling holes in for the wheels and spacers. My dad basically worked out all of the dimensions and made drawings to work from - thanks dad.

Here's what it looks like:IMG_20191022_210238.jpg.ee4261cb267b3353dc33f03a4f27426f.jpg

 

You might notice that the wheel spacing looks a bit odd. That's because the model's body is from a saint class. These - I think - were designed to use the B12 chassis and so the splashers are spaced apart evenly to go over the wheels. Also, I'm going to be using Bachmann A1 wheels with even length coupling rods. I hope this inaccuracy is relatively unnoticible on the finished model.

As always, I do like to take railway modelling very seriously, and so the next 2 hours of my time was spent putting the A1 wheels under various small damaged locomotive bodies. I honestly have not the slightest clue what went through my mind when this happened:IMG_20200202_223654.jpg.5808217367bd377bf137b5ef7314e2ba.jpg

 

 

Another thing I decided to do was to try and make the jinty look more pre-grouping. As it was, it was basically just a red-painted jinty with a ruined firebox. Therefore, I decided to ruin the tanks and bunker too. When looking at it, the narrow cab, wide tanks and wide bunker look quite Fowler to me. Therefore, to demonstrate how it is meant to be an earlier locomotive, I decided to narrow the tanks and bunker to cab width. I also wanted to shorten the tanks at the same time. Here's what it looked like after the bunker and tank sides were removed:IMG_20190804_183825_1.jpg.360a20304b24676536b50fde12040c3c.jpg

Then I put a side on the bunker.IMG_20191224_2042101.jpg.bb38b75b0cd3d8a685efac1ea7393a8d.jpg

And that concludes 6 months of work on a project. It should be finished in about 15 decades.

 

Onto the next project: a Metro tank for Sodor's little western. My main goal with these models is to make as many pre-grouping models as possible whilst pretending that they are somewhat based on characters from the railway series. In the books, Oliver the Great Western engine is portrayed as a 14xx. However, my lack of interest for engines that exist in preservation has caused me to change this to a metro tank in my "Thomas Universe". For those wondering, Henry's going to be a raven A2, Gordon's going to be a Thompson A1, Percy will be a Neilson "Coffee Pot" saddle tank (one of those is in preservation) and Duck will be a Buffalo pannier tank. Sorry to go off on a tangent, back to the metro tank. I started with an airfix body and chassis (both built from parts accumulated over time). I made a chimney from a brass tube with a brass ring soldered around the top and I got bored and made a safety valve cover from a broken Triang bogie Rivet (from a coach) with some brass rod.IMG_20191103_130103_1.jpg.51372a11b10d86c026964069ed3e16d1.jpg

Then I started work on the chassis. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of the chassis itself. First, I modified the chassis to fit under the body backwards. I then made a mount for the motor. Then I made mounts for both ends of the worm shaft. Then I made the shaft itself. The only part of the mechanism that I actually photographed. IMG_20200112_140700.jpg.f177b951d726e75ee154f9c17b73c786.jpg

That's from before I trimmed the sewing pin that held the gear in place - only the worm is an interference fit. After some modification to the chassis and overall mechanism for a few days, it runs ok. Here's what it looks like now:IMG_20191215_152752_1.jpg.eeeda2945ac739394c2f6450eb0d776f.jpg

Thanks for reading. I hope I end up posting more updates soon.

Edited by Justang
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  • 2 months later...

I've done a bit more work on the metro tank. I finished constructing the motor, worm shaft and mounts a while ago before realising that it locked up and wouldn't run. I presumed that this was due to the motor mount twisting from side to side on the single screw holding it, and due to the mount for the other end of the shaft which was sliding about too much. I added "smoke deflectors" on the either side of the motor mount to keep it between the chassis weights and I rebuilt the shaft mount from scratch.IMG_20200410_131753.jpg.d1987c98cff966b924a789d1313ce0c1.jpg

There is a bearing on the shaft mount so that it will spin more freely. I don't think the mechanism has a lot of torque so I'm hoping that the chassis will be able to move under its own weight. I haven't tried spinning the motor yet!

 

Then I moved onto work on the body of the loco. The smokebox needed shortening, so I sanded it back a bit. I removed the splashers and filled the gaps in the footplate with plastic.IMG_20200410_131555.jpg.0dd9b3ec27d0b355ddd640dc497f122c.jpg

The next job is to narrow the cab slightly and modify the cutouts. I'm going to turn this into a later modified variant of the metro tank class. It will have a full churchward cab with a collett bunker. I think I will also need to remove the top feed at some point but I will have to do a bit of research.

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  • 4 months later...

It has been a while since my last post, so this will be a post to explain my plans and progress.

 

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has liked posts on this topic, followed or left a kind reply. It's great that so many people are interested.

 

I have been a fan of Thomas and the Railway Series for basically my whole life and I have recently found it great to see how people like Corbs, NeilHB and Knuckles have modelled it.  These people originally inspired me to try it myself, and I want my version of Sodor to be different and original. I really like how Corbs' take on Sodor is so original and creative, yet still represents a version of Awdry's Sodor.

 

Obviously, by modelling the Railway Series, I am not being completely original, but I want my version to have differences. The first change I would make is to move back the date of the formation of the NWR to 1923, to fit with the grouping.

 

In Awdry's Island of Sodor book (kindly sent to me as a PDF by Corbs a while back), he states that there were 3 standard gauge railways on Sodor before the NWR. These railways were: The Sodor & Mainland, Wellsworth & Suddery, and the Tidmouth Knapford & Elsbridge. The latter 2 had planned to amalgamate, but instead became a part of the NWR in 1914. As I would be pushing back the date of the NWR's formation to 1923, this would allow the Wellsworth & Suddery and Tidmouth Knapford & Elsbridge to amalgamate in 1914. This leads to the problem of what to call this amalgamated railway. I have been thinking about this railway for the past month or two, and a few weeks ago I had come to the conclusion to name it the "West Sodor Railway". I had chosen this name as it fits with the initials of the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, meaning that after the amalgamation they wouldn't have to change lettering on rolling stock. The other day I looked on the Corbs' Cobbling topic and found that he had already had plans for a "West Sodor Railway". I do not know whether in Corbs' universe his West Sodor railway is a replacement of the Wellsworth and Suddery (like how he replaced the TK&E with the TK&F) or more similar to what I had planned. Either way, my West Sodor Railway will not be based on his, but I look forward to seeing the finished Terrier that Corbs is repainting at the moment.

 

I have decided that I want to model a transition period at the time of the 1923 grouping. This will allow me to have models in liveries of the NWR and its predecessors. Before its amalgamation with the TK&E, I plan to have had the Wellsworth and Suddery as having been a railway which was focused on freight duties primarily, and the Tidmouth Knapford & Elsbridge will have been a railway with many industrial, privately-built engines. This would have been a lot like Colonel Stephens' Railways, or possibly even one of them if he would have owned any railways as far north as Sodor. I have plans for the Sodor & Mainland to have been a passenger railway primarily. The Peel Godred Joint Railway would have been a joint venture between the West Sodor and S&M railways. This would have been built some time between 1914 and 1923.

 

The Sodor & Mainland Railway would have been, in my universe, one of the first railways of Sodor. They would have had Sharp Stewart engines and second-hand locos. By 1923, their line would go from Vicarstown to Killdane, with a branch line to Norramby. Their engines would have a blue livery which would be similar to the Peel Godred Joint Railway.

 

The Tidmouth Knapford & Elsbridge was a light railway on the west of Sodor. It would have been run by small locomotives from various builders, including Neilson 0-4-0ST 12 inch mineral locos (known quite often as "coffee pots"). Awdry originally intended for the engines on this line to be vertical boiler locomotives, but I like Neilson engines more. I have a 3D-printed Sharp Stewart 0-4-0ST kit from Shapeways which will become a loco for this line. The engines of the TK&ER will have been in different liveries and had different names.

 

The Wellsworth & Suddery Railway would have been a railway which ran in the south west of Sodor with a branch to Brendam Docks. They would have bought a few Manning Wardle 0-6-0STs in their early days, before buying old Metropolitan Beyer Peacock 4-4-0Ts some time around 1900. This railway would have had a red livery, which would be inherited by the West Sodor Railway in 1914.

 

The West Sodor Railway would have existed from 1914 to 1923 and would be an amalgamation of the TK&ER and the W&S. A young Topham Hatt would have been in charge of the railway's works, keeping engines and rolling stock running. He would rebuild engines with cabs where necessary and convert the Metropolitan 4-4-0T tanks to tender engines. He might have also bought some old Adams Radial Tanks from the LSWR to convert to tender engines. He would also introduce new powerful 0-6-0T locomotives and an 0-6-2T (which would be used as a banker for the Maron Hill incline). The railway would have a similar red livery to the Wellsworth & Suddery.

 

Going from Killdane to Peel Godred, the Peel Godred Joint Railway would be a joint venture between the West Sodor and Sodor & Mainland railways. Locomotives and rolling stock would have been provided by both the WSR and S&M, and the railway would have had a blue livery similar to the S&M.

 

The North Western Railway would be formed in 1923 as an amalgamation of the West Sodor, Peel Godred Joint Railway and Sodor & Mainland railways. The locomotives of the railway would be painted in a similar blue livery to the S&M. Sir Topham Hatt would work as CME for the railway, keeping the railway running whilst trying to save money. He would buy an old pannier tank and a Metro Tank from the GWR to run trains from Tidmouth to Arlesburgh and 2 Scottish engines for use around the railway.

 

So those are my plans for the history of my version of Sodor. I have organised this post very badly, but hopefully it makes sense. My plans aren't particularly inventive, but I think they will allow me to model an interesting version of Sodor. I'm not likely to represent everything of this universe in model form, but having an outline of the universe planned helps to maintain continuity. At the moment, I have been working primarily on making my Metro Tank, but I will have more projects to finish afterwards (such as the Great Bear and the Star). I will post an update on my progress soon, but I first need to find a way to prepare the photos for it without going over the file size limit of RMweb posts.

 

Thanks for reading,
Justang

Edited by Justang
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This post will be an update for my progress on the Metro Tank.

 

When I removed the splashers in the last update, I noticed that the bottom half of the boiler was missing in order for the original chassis weight to fit in it. Since I had turned the chassis around, the weight was no longer taking up space in the boiler. Therefore, I decided that I ought to fill the gap in the boiler. I first built a basic structure for a thin curved piece of styrene to sit on.IMG_20200830_215108.png.71474ac32f7b76ff8d96dd215c215dfb.png

Then I stuck a few thin curved pieces of styrene on top before sanding them smooth.IMG_20200830_215302.png.38c8a05e7e02ca8d8354f00fb03cf9d3.png

I then fitted the lower boiler structure to the underside of the boiler and stuck it in place. I used styrene strip to put boiler bands over the lower boiler. Conveniently, the boiler is removableIMG_20200830_215527.png.f4eae6f26e1afb25a7e7ffa84893dd4f.png

 

The next job was to backdate the cab of the model. I first removed the original cab sides. Then, because I couldn't be bothered to cut out new cab sides from styrene, I just modified the original cab sides by rounding the cutouts with a file. I then used thin styrene strip to act as the beading for the modified sections of the cutouts.IMG_20200830_215713.png.b031548f3059c4fb7a3f1c0ecf99a0af.png

I narrowed the cab front and this is what the cab sides looked like on the model.IMG_20200830_215918.png.1b796fd66833622aeb762812759342e8.png

I then made a new backside of the cab and I cut out pieces of styrene with round window holes to fill in the original cab front windows. I also made a new cab roof from half millimetre styrene. This is what it looked like assembled.IMG_20200830_220158.png.ed8d77fe77100c136e6f104d83962d10.png

 

The next task was to make new outside frames for the front wheels. The original outside frames looked alright, but they were not in line with the vertical beam which the footsteps are attached to. The reasons for this were that 00 is not scale standard gauge and that I think the footplate on a 14xx is wider than on a Metro Tank. I will change the width of the footplate later, but the next thing I did was to remove the original vertical beams which the footsteps were a part of. I also removed the original outside frames for the front wheels and cut out the axle boxes and springs to keep them for use later on.IMG_20200830_220610.png.9efb4e2cbdd02d8c0dbb24a499f7d00c.png

I then cut out a paper template to use for the outside frames and footstep beam. I put it on the model to see if it was the right size.IMG_20200830_220623.png.29bab0b0807de01b24781434f290416c.png

It looked the right size so I cut around the template on styrene and filed it to the right shape. I have cut out another outside frame/beam for the other side but I haven't filed it to shape yet.

 

So that is my progress on the Metro Tank so far. I haven't done much to it, but hopefully I can get it finished soon (perhaps by the end of this year).

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On 03/02/2020 at 07:08, Justang said:

I've done some more work on various projects. First of all, I wasn't happy with my saddle tank. I decided that it was too uneven (I should really stop using milliput), so I sanded it down a bit better than last time. I don't have any photos at the moment, but it does look a lot less bad than it did in my opinion.

 

The next thing I did was to begin building a chassis for my star class build. This meant cutting some brass strip to the correct length and drilling holes in for the wheels and spacers. My dad basically worked out all of the dimensions and made drawings to work from - thanks dad.

Here's what it looks like:IMG_20191022_210238.jpg.ee4261cb267b3353dc33f03a4f27426f.jpg

 

You might notice that the wheel spacing looks a bit odd. That's because the model's body is from a saint class. These - I think - were designed to use the B12 chassis and so the splashers are spaced apart evenly to go over the wheels. Also, I'm going to be using Bachmann A1 wheels with even length coupling rods. I hope this inaccuracy is relatively unnoticible on the finished model.

As always, I do like to take railway modelling very seriously, and so the next 2 hours of my time was spent putting the A1 wheels under various small damaged locomotive bodies. I honestly have not the slightest clue what went through my mind when this happened:IMG_20200202_223654.jpg.5808217367bd377bf137b5ef7314e2ba.jpg

 

 

Another thing I decided to do was to try and make the jinty look more pre-grouping. As it was, it was basically just a red-painted jinty with a ruined firebox. Therefore, I decided to ruin the tanks and bunker too. When looking at it, the narrow cab, wide tanks and wide bunker look quite Fowler to me. Therefore, to demonstrate how it is meant to be an earlier locomotive, I decided to narrow the tanks and bunker to cab width. I also wanted to shorten the tanks at the same time. Here's what it looked like after the bunker and tank sides were removed:IMG_20190804_183825_1.jpg.360a20304b24676536b50fde12040c3c.jpg

Then I put a side on the bunker.IMG_20191224_2042101.jpg.bb38b75b0cd3d8a685efac1ea7393a8d.jpg

And that concludes 6 months of work on a project. It should be finished in about 15 decades.

 

Onto the next project: a Metro tank for Sodor's little western. My main goal with these models is to make as many pre-grouping models as possible whilst pretending that they are somewhat based on characters from the railway series. In the books, Oliver the Great Western engine is portrayed as a 14xx. However, my lack of interest for engines that exist in preservation has caused me to change this to a metro tank in my "Thomas Universe". For those wondering, Henry's going to be a raven A2, Gordon's going to be a Thompson A1, Percy will be a Neilson "Coffee Pot" saddle tank (one of those is in preservation) and Duck will be a Buffalo pannier tank. Sorry to go off on a tangent, back to the metro tank. I started with an airfix body and chassis (both built from parts accumulated over time). I made a chimney from a brass tube with a brass ring soldered around the top and I got bored and made a safety valve cover from a broken Triang bogie Rivet (from a coach) with some brass rod.

[...]

Thanks for reading. I hope I end up posting more updates soon.

 

Have a look at the earlier Midland engines,

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Midland_Railway_2441_Class#/media/File:Derby_7_works_geograph-2212766.jpg

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Midland_Railway_2441_Class#/media/File:Cricklewood_Locomotive_Depot_geograph-2822011-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

 

The biggest visaul differences between Jinties and earlier engines IMHO are having a smokebox that doesn't protrude slightly in front of the smokebox saddle, not having a keyhole in the side tank for sandboxes, and having a flat-backed bunker.

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23 hours ago, TonyMay said:

Have a look at the earlier Midland engines,

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Midland_Railway_2441_Class#/media/File:Derby_7_works_geograph-2212766.jpg

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Midland_Railway_2441_Class#/media/File:Cricklewood_Locomotive_Depot_geograph-2822011-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

 

The biggest visaul differences between Jinties and earlier engines IMHO are having a smokebox that doesn't protrude slightly in front of the smokebox saddle, not having a keyhole in the side tank for sandboxes, and having a flat-backed bunker.

 

Thanks for the information. If I were to try to modify a Jinty to look like an earlier locomotive now, I would probably do it differently. I think the features that you've pointed out are definitely things I would change. I did not know the side tank keyholes were for sandboxes, so that is quite useful to know. I don't think that making the tanks narrower, like I tried to, would make the engine look like an earlier design, having looked at early 0-6-0Ts. I think next time I try backdating a model to a freelance design I ought to research what early locomotives of a similar design would have looked like.

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  • 1 month later...

Loving your work, and like you, i would look further back in time at the loco designs. The amount of different types from 1845 on is astounding. If you have an idea in your head and a loco in your hand, guaranteed it existed somewhere.

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On 31/08/2020 at 00:12, RAWRlab said:

That's an interesting and well-thought-out plan to scrape together some custom locos with a purpose. I'll be watching keenly. :D

 

On 31/08/2020 at 11:39, Corbs said:

Loving your work so far! 

 

On 30/10/2020 at 19:10, darrel said:

Fantastic work if I compare it to my modelling when I was your age you are way ahead of where I was then. Keep up the good work

Thanks for all of the kind messages. Its great to see that so many people are interested in what I post here.

 

On 30/10/2020 at 18:51, 33C said:

Loving your work, and like you, i would look further back in time at the loco designs. The amount of different types from 1845 on is astounding. If you have an idea in your head and a loco in your hand, guaranteed it existed somewhere.

That's a good idea and I think its what I ought to consider in future when I try to make freelance locos. Thanks for commenting.

 

Hopefully I will soon be able to post another update. I have plans for what to do next with the metro tank and I really want to return to working on the Great Bear. I think I just need to take a bit of time to work out what needs doing, and how to go about working on it.

 

Thanks for all of the interest people have shown.

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