S Scale Fowler 2-6-4T in card and metal

[steverabone]

To complete the trio of LMS two-cylinder 2-6-4Ts that I remember from my boyhood days in the North of England in the late 1950s and early 1960s I decided I wanted a model of the original Fowler class . The model uses the chassis and footplate from a spare Alan Gibson Stanier 2-cylinder 2-6-4T S Scale etch with some minor alterations, but l needed a scratchbuilt body, which has been built largely out of cardboard.

 

The chassis for the Fowler is now complete and has been built in much the same way as the Stanier version except for the method of constructing the crossheads.

Rather than fabricating them out of three small pieces of nickel silver sheet, which was extremely fiddly I've used the method I tried with my Deutsche Bundesbahn 2-6-2T. This German loco only has one slidebar and the crosshead was made from a strip of nickel silver folded at the top into a D shape which slides along the top slidebar. Using the same method for the British engine means that the crosshead doesn't actually use the lower slidebar. The piston rod is soldered onto the back of the strip whilst the connecting rod is pivoted from a pin passed through the strip.

 

Obviously, the crosshead is more clunky in appearance than the fabricated ones but isn't significantly worse than the Fairburn model that was built by Alan Gibson which has an equally large crosshead. Once the chassis is weathered and the loco is running I doubt it will be really noticeable.

 

I found a good scale drawing of the Fowler 2-6-4T on the internet showing all the necessary elevations. Having resized the drawing to S Scale I printed the cab, side tanks and bunker onto thin card. I joined them together with a extra piece for the rear bunker and then backed the majority of the thin card with a layer of mounting card. The cab roof extensions, the rear of the bunker and fronts of the side tanks were left as a single layer of card. The resulting net is shown below. It is very flimsy at the moment but will become completely rigid as construction progresses.

 

The tank sides, cab and bunker have now been secured to the brass footplate using strips of mounting board glued to the footplate as location points.

 

I've now added the front and rear of the cab and folded the roof to shape and secured it in place. The inside of the cab roof and the upper curved cab sides have been coated in a layer of epoxy resin to give it some rigidity. The cast metal firebox has been glued to the front of the cab and is also supported underneath by a strip of mounting board secured to the tank sides.

 

The rear of the cab has two circular windows which were cut out by making a series of cuts with a scalpel held vertically. A large circular file then tided up the edges of the card.

 

The boiler was made from a length of plastic central heating pipe. Several lengths of thin card were wrapped around the tube until the desired diameter was achieved. In order for the boiler to be secured to the curved extension at the front of the firebox this card wrapper was made about 2mm longer than the boiler tube. Two layers of card were the wrapped around the front of the boiler tube for the smokebox which on the Fowler boilers is very obviously of a different diameter to the boiler. The boiler is now secured in place to the firebox and to the base of the smokebox saddle using epoxy resin.

 

The loco superstructure is now complete. The various castings are by Alan Gibson. The cab roof and upper sides have been strengthened by coating inside with several layers of epoxy resin. As usual the card has also been given a coat of wood hardener.

 

This rear view shows the rear spectacle plates with the wire protection for the glass. These were made by soldering four lengths of fine brass wire across the end of a brass tube. After trimming the wire to the correct length the tube was cut about 3mm from the end and pushed into the holes in the cardboard. Various pieces of wire and metal strip have been used for the bunker steps and the balancing pipes for the rear water tank at the back of the cab. 

 

On the other side there are various pipes all made from wire and a few lost wax castings. The curious tank overflow outlet was fashioned from a length of thick brass wire and a shaped piece of solder for the domed top.

 

The final details have been added and the model now awaits painting.

Now of course there is another Fowler 2-6-4T I could build - the one with an enclosed cab - there is another etching in my kits box. Should I build one?

Edited September 26, 2021 by steverabone

[Rosedale]

Impressive results - I look forward to seeing it painted. I've long noted that real engines rarely had flat platework, whilst metal and plastic models are usually perfectly flat. So, card could get that subtle look. Very ingenious all round Stephen. And yes, you should build the second engine, particularly if it is another engine you remember.

[steverabone]

The model has now been painted and will be weathered shortly to make the lining less obvious. Everything above the footplate except boiler fittings is from cardboard.