Paris 1889

[rue_d_etropal]

On 05/08/2019 at 18:59, brack said:

Its scratchbuilt by charlie insley, photo is by james Hilton.

 

The drawings are fairly widely available, if you don't already have them:

 

The mallets showed up in lots of places around the world - france, Sweden, Norway (2'6" gauge), Vietnam, French Guiana and more!

If you're using the minitrix chassis the hard part is done for you, it's just plasticard for the body. Scratch building is always worth a go, don't be too intimidated, like many things it's just practise!

 

I think there mightve been a pechot bourdon at the 1889 exposition as well, but cant be sure. That'd be a more awkward scratch build.

 

 

I have done the Pechot Bourdon in 3D printing here http://www.rue-d-etropal.com/3D-printing/3d_printed_trains1.htm and had thought about the Mallet, but finding a suitable chassis for 1/35 scale project I was working on was difficult.

[faded_Glory]

Thank you all for your kind comments. This weekend there won't be any further modeling on this one, just some quiet contemplation. I am waiting on a few orders to come in and then hopefully there will be more progress. I also sorely need to finish connecting the points on my fixed layout, a job I have been putting off for far too long.

 

I love those French narrow gauge lines (although I am far from an expert in them). It is a shame that there seems to be so little RTR on the market, unlike for Swiss, Austrian, German and British prototypes. If Bemo would bring out a selection of French H0m models I would be sorely tempted! Last year I visited the Alpes Maritimes and the meter gauge railway from Nice to Digne, which would be a fantastic subject to model, either in ancient or modern form. Currently it would need a lot of kitbashing and scratch building to get something going. There are several French companies that produce very fine scenery kits so building a layout is certainly possible, but I think you would struggle to find things to run on it.

Edited August 10, 2019 by faded_Glory

[faded_Glory]

If I may, I can show off my other H0e models. Let's just say that several countries sent their latest and newest locomotive power to the World Fair as demonstrators

 

Germany:

 

 

 

Austria:

 

 

Switzerland:

 

 

 

[Kevin Johnson]

You have a very nice selection of HOe models and all from different countries.

[faded_Glory]

Some new developments to report on, some good, others not so good!

 

To begin with the latter, I thought I had sorted the lamps but the other day when I had the power on for a bit longer a rather disturbing smell began to emanate from under the baseboard. I turned it over to check and hey ho, all the little resistors had melted! So much for my electrical skills... Strangely enough the lamps were still lit up, albeit some a bit brighter than others. Even so, this was clearly not a sustainable situation.

 

So I ripped out all the cheapo Chinese lamps and replaced them with some solidly engineered German ones. These are from metal rather than plastic, come with all the necessary bits soldered on and, most importantly, with instructions on how to connect them to my transformer.

 

They are of single rather than double design but I still like them:

 

 

To properly wire them in I bought a small connection board from a well-known online auction site. When it arrived I had to scratch my head because I couldn't figure out how to connect half of the wires - until I realised they had soldered on one side the wrong way round!

 

 

So now I am waiting for a replacement before I can test the new lamps.

 

However, there is much more exciting news! The other day I posted a lovely contemporary birds-eye view of the Fair, and something on it attracted my attention:

 

A tethered balloon! Still a rather recent development at that time, it must have been an exciting and I imagine popular new way to see the world from above.

 

Obviosly my Fair can't do without one, so without further ado I present the latest addition to the layout:

 

 

 

 

A Montgolfière!

 

The lovely balloon model came from the Internet (where else?) and it is tethered with a 2mm steel rod that fits into a hole in the baseboard.

 

Of course now I am researching 19th century balloon winches....

 

So that is it for the latest progress.  I am still designing the train shed and am making some progress there, but I need to get some materials in before I can start building that for real. In the meantime I really must get on with painting those lovely period people...

 

 

 

Edited August 13, 2019 by faded_Glory

[Kevin Johnson]

It’s great to know you got rid of the cheapo lights and bought some better ones. I like the single lamps myself. The balloon idea is a great addition and your pictures of the layout in the garden are really nice.

[Bill_J]

The balloon is a great addition to a really nice layout. I really like the height your model has, it gives it a real presence that is often lacking in small layouts and dioramas - (including my own; when I can find time to do more).

 

Regards

[rue_d_etropal]

 

Love the baloon, where on internet? Please tell. Think I found it..

 

I have wanted to build a model of the Decauville Mallet, started with drawings  many years ago,but could not find a suitable chassis, wantin to model it in 1/35th scale to run on 16.5mm gauge track. Even had a discussion with Christopher Payne as he had built a model in 1/34 and he said he had had issues with non motored bogie, using I think a pair of Mehano/IHC/Rivarossi chassis. I thought I could adapt a couple of Hornby Bill/Ben chassis but they were a bit to simple , and so project was put on hold. Now with this thread I have started again, certainly on the design, for 3D printing.

There are lots of drawings online, but most don't show the front shape of the cab but I found a drawing on a French forum, although Ithink I must have found someone before and filed it away.

Anyway I have done my design here. As with myother designs in various scales, and more can be added.

Knowing my luck Minitrains will release one next year!

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by rue_d_etropal

[faded_Glory]

I got the balloon from an outfit called Hurn & Hurn. They do various colours and sizes.

 

Your printed Mallet looks great, is it designed to fit the Minitrix Mallet chassis?

 

In view of the carriages being close to 1/76, would it be possible to offer this body at that scale too?

 

 

If you look at this picture I think your cab front is correct, except that there are vertical stays at the front too, as well as at the back of the cab. It seems to me that the cab overhang might be slightly longer than on your model?

 

There is also a box on top of the buffer beam which might come in handy to receive a fixing screw from underneath the chassis.

 

I'm down with a bout of the flu rght now so no progress at this time. Hopefully I can pick it up again soon, there are still a number of things to be done.

Edited August 19, 2019 by faded_Glory

[rue_d_etropal]

design based on published drawings, there would have been variations, and small details can be added.Easier to add than remove in many cases. Not sure about chassis, I find it better to leave that to others. Many have found that if you design for a specific chassis, you find that that chassis disappears or is changed.

As for coaches, the drawing is suitable, just need to ceck some details. It is different to standard coach, certainly not same as others I have seen and not in 1916 catalogue. 

As an alternative to Paris 1889 there is Lyon 1914, and Decauville had some 4 wheel coaches there. I/C loco,not sure what type but in photos. Only steam locos in1916 catalogue, so must be another manufacturer.

 

 

The cab roof support at front is not that obvious inmany photos, but I have now added it. Looking at photos of Minitrix chssis and it fills cab, so in an open cab might not look right. There are some small 0-4-0 chassis around such as this one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Super-Mini-Size-Motorized-Chassis-TU-KOPPEL-A-Tsugawa-Yokou-14036-N-scale/362716811790?epid=28027261821&hash=item54739b520e:g:2q8AAOSwd4tUGlIo

 

 

Edited August 21, 2019 by rue_d_etropal
more info

[faded_Glory]

It's been a while since I showed some progress on this one. The main reason is that I had real trouble sourcing suitable materials for the type of train shed that I'm after. In the end I found a Noch laser cut kit (the Orangerie) that has the right kind of panels, so it was duly procured and promptly cannibalised.

 

Work is still in progress but this shows what I am cobbling together, basically by building up stuff bit by bit from Evergreen profiles and the Noch panels directly on the baseboard:

 

 

The front walls are in place and I have started on the roof. The centre section should hopefully not be too difficult because it is basically cylindrical, with gables from leftover bits of my Kibri train shed, so something like the core of a kitchen roll could be a suitabe former. The wings though are a different matter - they pretty much curve in all directions which causes considerable head scratching. To give me some guidance I have built a framework of bulkheads and now need to consider the actual roof itself.

 

 

Looking at the Galerie des Machines it would seem that some kind of corrugated material is in order:

 

 

I tried bending some sheets of thicker Willss corrugated 'asbestos' to follow the central roof shape, by tying them around a metal pan and attacking them with a heat gun. I had some success, actually a bit too much success so now it is a bit warped in places and looks more like a Dali painting than examples of solid French engineering...

 

Today I was roaming through my local craft shop and found some very thin and flexible plastic sheet material looking a bit corrugated. I will see what I can do with that - with my luck it will instantly dissolve as soon as I put some glue on it!

 

I will also make the back walls corrugated, I got a set of Wills corrugated glazing panels that are very thin and flexible and can easily be bent to follow the shape of the baseboard. I just ran out of spray paint to give them some colour so that is momentarily on hold.

 

I want to try and keep the central back panel removable, to allow access in case of derailment and for track cleaning. Not sure how I can do that just yet, perhaps I can put some small screws along the bottom and guide the rest of the sheet into the H post uprights. There will be a gap at the top where the curved wall meets, or rather won't meet, the straight gable - the wall has to be curved to leave enough clearance for the train - so I will need to faff some kind of filler for that.

 

 

 

 

In other developments, the base of the big fountain is made, as you can see in some of the pics,  and I am now waiting for some exciting further bits coming from China. Unfortunately the first time I ordered this the parcel got lost in the mail, so I had to order it again. Just hoping that it will turn out to be suitable if and when it finally arrives. If not, I do have a backup plan but that won't look quite as lavish as the original:

 

 

Finally on the balloon, it has to have a winch and I found a great picture of a mobile steam balloon winch used by the French army around that time:

 

 

I investigated if I could model this and actually found a suitable basis for conversion in a HAT plastic soldier set:

 

... but when I placed it on the layout it proved to be very big and far too dominating, so back to the drawing board with this one.

 

 

All in all some progress but still lots to do, so watch this space!

Edited September 2, 2019 by faded_Glory

[Nearholmer]

Superbe!

[OhOh]

Merveilleux! 

[faded_Glory]

Some more progress to report.

 

First of all I had some success with the rear walls of the shed. I used thin Wills sheet for the wings, they can be curved enough to fit in between the uprights, and used some cardboard for the centre panel. All three panels are removable, they slide into the H posts and are held in place with little screws at the bottom edge.

 

 

I then fixed up a roof from some very soft and pliable 'corrugated' plastic sheet I foud at the craft shop. It kind of fits although the curved shape of the wings causes issues and there is some deformation at the back. Fortunately this is not too obvious when viewing the layout from the front:

 

 

This stuff is hard to work with, after I fitted some strips to break up the monotony it all came loose again. Using stronger glue they are now more or less forced into place. I then tried to paint it, but brushing on acrylics was a disaster, the paint didn't grab, it lifted at successive brush strokes and it all looked like a right old mess. So I wiped it all off again. The only thing I could do was spray paint it, and not having an airbrush this had to be done with a rattle can. So, I masked the entire layout with a bin bag and lots of low-tack tape:

 

 

A coat of grey primer and a thin coat of silver gave acceptable results. Ideally I'd like to weather it a bit but I don't trust the paint not to come off again, so it will have to stay as it is.

 

 

It is not perfect but I'll live with it.

 

Then, the fountain. I have given up waiting for the Chinese stuff and used some other bits I got earlier instead.

 

 

I think it looks ok, they aren't Greek goddesses but birds, even though not the kind of birds that the French would appreciate

 

I may experiment with filling the basin with 'water', and perhaps simulate the water flowing over the edge of the top fountain, although I have no idea how to go about that. Stretched transparent sprue perhaps?

 

Finally the winch. I have concluded that anything simulating a steam winch is going to be far too big for this little corner of the layout, so I found a manual winch from an old ship kit and mounted that on a base plate. Hard work for the troops but tough luck!

 

 

I'm also making good progress with the painting of the figures and I hope to add them to the layout over the next few days. Already one brave soul has ventured up in the balloon, although there isn't anyone yet to winch him down again. Zut alors!

 

 

A few small details left to do, but on the whole it is all coming together now!

 

 

 

 

And the view from above:

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by faded_Glory

[Kevin Johnson]

Hi your work on this layout is fantastic, the attention to the tiniest detail is great.

[Ian Morgan]

To weather the roof, you could try powders, and then spray with matt varnish (Dullcote).

 

[faded_Glory]

14 minutes ago, Ian Morgan said:

To weather the roof, you could try powders, and then spray with matt varnish (Dullcote).

 

 

Thanks, I did think of that but I'm a bit weary to rub any powders on in case the paint comes right off again - I might try this first on a piece of scrap that I can spray the same way I did with the roof.

[faded_Glory]

22 minutes ago, OOman said:

Hi your work on this layout is fantastic, the attention to the tiniest detail is great.

 

Thank you Kevin for your kind comment. This thing has got more and more involved over time, I thought it would just take me a couple of weeks to finish but it has been well over a month already! I do need to wrap it up because there are other projects waiting.

[eastwestdivide]

On the other hand, a grand exhibition like that might be kept pretty clean, so any weathering could easily go over the top.

[The Cable Guy]

Brillant

[faded_Glory]

57 minutes ago, eastwestdivide said:

On the other hand, a grand exhibition like that might be kept pretty clean, so any weathering could easily go over the top.

 

This is true, the building was after all constructed specifically for the Fair, so it is only a few weeks old here.

[OhOh]

Your perseverance with painting the pavilion really has paid off. It looks superb, as does everything else. I wonder if strung-out UHU or PVA might work for the fountain?

[monkeysarefun]

Re the fountain - Woodland Scenics have a product called Water Effects which is a bit like thick PVA. You spread it onto a flat surface in a streaking style that is hard to explain but there are videos and tutes online if you search. Once dry it is peeled off and glued onto the model  - mainly used for waterfalls but should work on your fountain since it is the same look. Maybe try the same method but using actual PVA as per the above post from OhOh?

 

If you are after nymphs and godesses, the Scan The World  project has hundreds of statues and major art pieces free in 3D .stl format. They look great printed on a resin printer like the Photon where the detail is exquisite. Someone on the Photon thread would probably print some off if you asked. I'd do it but the time and postage from Oz might be a drawback, but let me know if you want to give it a go.

 

Your model is really lovely.

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by monkeysarefun

[faded_Glory]

Thank you monkeysarefun, that is really useful information!

[PatB]

Is it too late to suggest that, with enough clearance/a strategically placed hole in the tabletop, it would be entirely possible to animate the ascent and descent of the balloon?