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4mm Plasser & Theurer 08-16 tamper


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Hi everyone,

 

Over the last 8 months I have been working on a Plasser 08-16 tamper. Those of you who are members of DEMU might have been following the project over there.

 

The genesis for the project was a desire to build something quite different. I'd been given some auto ballasters for Christmas so thought a tamper would be an ideal candidate.

 

I started by scouring the web for any suitable plans and after much hunting arrived at the German language site for Kibri, where they have the instruction sheets for their DST. Being a similar outline to the 08-16 I took a copy and dropped it into AutoCAD and used it a s a template for the overall proportions. I also found assembly diagrams from an OEM parts supplier for the tamping head, so I was able to work from that information and photos both form Flickr, and DEMU members to produce a 3d cad model.

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From here the parts were cut out on my laser cutter. Armed with a collection of parts the basic super structure went together very quickly. Skip forward a few months and with the construction broardly complete the model was given a coat of primer.

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The livery for the tamper is present day Amey Rail, yellow with a serves of the blue stripes on the sides. For the yellow I have used rail match sunshine yellow, the best colour match for the blue was NSE dark blue. To get the stripes I went back to the cad drawing a designed a stencil which I cut from Tamiya masking tape on the laser and was able to lay on the sides and spray thoroughpost-3114-0-90899300-1344247359.jpg

 

The results were reasnoble with some blue overspray which proved quite a challenge to correct (weathering will help). The final two images are of the model to date posed on a fellow SHMRC club members layout. The next job will be to apply Testors glosscote as a base for the decals, then weathering.post-3114-0-96716400-1344251298_thumb.jpgpost-3114-0-27152600-1344251365_thumb.jpg

 

Jonathan

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Great work! I was thinking about trying one of these in N gauge at some point. I saw one at Edge Hill a few years back and it seemed that the body was a bit more boxy than some other track machines, which I thought would make fitting a mechanism a bit easier. The one i saw was in First Group Engineering's livery of white with purple and green trim: the yellow and blue is rather handsome, though.

 

Jim

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Now you really should market that as a kit

 

Depends on the level of interest and the rights holder e,g Plasser & theurer given that it is a model/likeness of one of their products - thinking of the current issues with DB and licence of graphics for EWS decals.

 

Here are a few pictures of the underside of the tamper pre primer.

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This area had to be worked out almost entirly by guess work and reasoned logic, but with the help of photos kindly supplied by Demu members, i think it looks plausable. The air tanks are from intercity models.

 

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The front and rear measurement frames (thats what i've been calling them) were the single most fiddly bits to put together. This is because each frame is mounted on four lengths of 1mm x 1mm suqare micro strip with a tiny length of round rod on the end to represent the ram. Then add to this the fact that when travelling the frames are lifted up at an angle to the track, means that its all too easy to assemble them back to front and upside down. The buffers, hoses, and wipac fronts are from Shawplan and the horns which are just visable are from a Hornby class 60.

 

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The last two photos show the rear cab bulkhead. As I mentioned earlier I originally started working from the kibri DST plan, and on this model the door was offset to one side similar to the Windhoff MPV. However subsequent study of prototype photos showed that the doors are central. It took quite a bit of work to carefully remove the incorrect parts and replace them, but fortunately Rowmark is a very forgiving plastic.

 

Jonathan

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Hi everyone,

 

The single most complicated part of the whole build was the tamping head itself. This is one of the most noticeable parts of the whole vehicle and the area I struggled to work out how to fabricate. Way back when i was contemplating the project before Christmas I did think I could use parts from either BPM or at a stretch the Bachmann HO tamper, but both of these options had significant short comings. I put this problem on the back burner for a few months, thinking that a solution would present itself eventually and it sort of did.

 

A laser cutter works by focusing a laser beam through a set of mirrors and lenses. By adjusting the speed that the cutting head moves around the work area and the power output of the laser tube it is possible to vary the cut from full depth to just marking the surface. Following a lot of trial end error, with a few lumps of melted acrylic along the way i worked out a set of speed and power ratings to allow me to produce the parts needed for the tamping heads.

 

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This photo shows the results of several hours of trial and error. The parts have been cut from 2mm acrylic. Of all the materials readily available for laser cutting acrylic has the best thermal resilience. Laser cutting generates a lot of heat, as the material is 'burnt' away. This can lead to parts deforming and warping. For some reason clear acrylic seems to suffer from this less than other materials. Each bank is assembled from 10 layers.

 

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Jump forward and most of the plumbing is in place. A mix of .45 brass wire and solid core wire was used here. I had to make an educated guess as to where the pipes went as even with photographs for guidance its something of a spiders web in there.

 

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The final shot is of the painted module after a coat of Testors gloss as preparation for a weathering wash of oil paint.

 

Jonathan

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Hi everyone,

 

The next major task was to produce the decals.

 

Since the demise of the SuperCal, I've been using Experts Choice range of decal paper. This is, in my opinion the best decal paper on the market. The backing is super thin which allows it to conform to compound surfaces, and its also compatible with micro sol and set. Other papers I have used just disintegrate or shrivel up when you apply the softening or setting solution, but the experts choice stuff just works.

 

All the graphics were put together in Photodraw (ancient bit of graphics editing software from '97 but it does for me). From here each element is inserted into AutoCAD and placed on the model to check size, shape, etc. After a couple of evenings work the decals ware complete and ready to print.

 

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The printed sheets - I've used both clear and white paper, were sprayed with several light layers of Keen Top Crystal Clear. This is a very fast drying varnish which when dry, adds little thickness to the backing film, and increases the strength of the decal.

 

Some photos of the tramper taken outside yesterday.

 

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Now just need to seal the decals with a coat of satin varnish, then onto weathering!

 

Jonathan

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Hi everyone,

 

The laser is a LS3060 (300x600 cutting bed) with a 40w tube from HPC laser Ltd. I did look at the epilog range of lasers at the design technology show last year. While they are nice looking machines with lots of refinements the entry level machine is around 12k!

 

With the decals applied and a layer of satin varnish sprayed on the next step was to apply a fade to the paintwork. This is something I have been playing around with on a couple of other projects with quite pleasing results. The basic process involves airbrushing Lifecolor portland stone, thinned 3:1 with their own thinners over the model, very slowly building up the colour. The effect is very subtle and gives a nice sun bleached look to the sunshine yellow.

 

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One other job I did was to add the windows and control panels to the no 3 cab.

 

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Jonathan

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Hi everyone,

 

Getting really close to finishing the build.

 

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Having applied t fade and let is dry for a few days i applied the oil wash. For this I use W&N griffin alkyd fast drying oil colour (by fast drying they mean 24 hours to be touch dry, and 3 months for a full cure) mainly raw umber, heavily thinned with white spirit so that it flows on the surface and finds its way into corners and panel lines.

 

After 24 hours I then apply a rust texture layer. For this I mix raw umber, yellow ochre, light red and mixing white together with a couple of brush loads of black weathering powder. This mix is then dabbed on the areas to be rusted with a small piece of cosmetic sponge, held in a pair of self locking tweezers. The same application technique was used for the exhaust staining with a mix of lamp black and black weathering powder.

 

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Just visible inside the cabs are the crew. These are Bachmann scenecraft, modified and repainted with the correct ppe decoration. One of the last things to add to the cabs is the ever present mug of tea and copy of The Sun.

 

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Just need the etched name plates to complete the cab sides...

 

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Jonathan

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