LNWR Crane Tank and Shunting Engine Kit

[kipford]

The crane tank is finished! Production etch artwork with the etchers and the instructions sent to John. So it is over to LRM now. I have spent the last week or so completing the train the crane tank will pull on Hope-under-Dinmore. It consists of the loco, an LNWR single plank wagon and a 10 ton LNWR brake van. The formation is based on a photo John supplied to me it is prototypical. The brake van is one of LRM’s (I have three of them). The single plank wagon proved a bit more elusive, you used to be able to buy them from Ratio. But it seems they no longer do the kit only the underframes. So I solved that by 3D printing my own body taking the opportunity at the same time to print some tool boxes to go on the wagon. So the following photos show the prototype and then the model taken on my Brighton East layout, hence the third rail in the back ground.

So after some 700 hours or so of work and two locomotive kits designed and built that is it. Or is it?

First I have to finish my 5” Aspinall Class 27, but then I am seriously considering designing a 5” gauge live steam version of the shunting engine and that is a whole different ball game! It would make a great loco for shunting at Ground Level 5 inch Gauge Mainline Association (GL5) events (I will leave you to google that) and with scale wagons be great on a 5” gauge inglenook in the garden. I have done some preliminary work already. The chassis/cylinders/valve gear is the easy bit. The boiler is the main concern, being a marine one, whether it can be made to provide sufficient steam for the loco in model form. Then there is the nightmare of the saddle tank/smoke box/cylinder fronts assembly when you have no drawings of what the prototype is like on the inside to at least guide you. So I am going to have to work a lot of it out from first principles and use judgement on what the designers are likely to have done.

 

PS Thanks to John Redrup and Jol Wilkinson for their support, advice to a novice kit designer and bearing with me when I lost my mojo occasionally with the project.

 

Prototype formation:

 

The model

 

 

 

5" gauge embryonic chassis, cylinders and valve gear

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by kipford
Restoration of images

[Bucoops]

Congratulations It's not my area of interest but I have been dipping into your thread from time to time. 

 

Well done, it looks fantastic

[kipford]

John Redrup tells me the production etches are due very shortly so the kit release is imminent. We attended Basingstoke last weekend for our first exhibition with Hope-under-Dinmore for two years. The full crane tank train made a very sucessful debut, the photo courtesy of Penrith Beacon shows the the train waiting to proceed from the branch line over the up line and onto the down.

[zr2498]

1 hour ago, kipford said:

John Redrup tells me the production etches are due very shortly so the kit release is imminent. We attended Basingstoke last weekend for our first exhibition with Hope-under-Dinmore for two years. The full crane tank train made a very sucessful debut, the photo courtesy of Penrith Beacon shows the the train waiting to proceed from the branch line over the up line and onto the down.

Pleased you managed to get out to an exhibition. Thanks for the photo - looking great. When do you reckon the kit is likely to be added to the LRM website?

Cheers, David

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

4 hours ago, zr2498 said:

Pleased you managed to get out to an exhibition. Thanks for the photo - looking great. When do you reckon the kit is likely to be added to the LRM website?

Cheers, David

 

I expect it will appear on the front page in the News section. John Redrup has had issues with the site since WordPress binned the theme that the site used and it changed to the current format. A new site is being developed by a friend of his but this is taking some time.

 

You could send him an email at londonroadmodels@btinternet.com for availability and price details.

[Jol Wilkinson]

John Redrup telephoned earlier today to say that the first batch of the LNWR 0-4-2 Crane Tank are now packed and available. He should be updating the website in the near future.

 

He said that the kit is essentially the same as the 0-4-0T with additional etched parts for the crane and 3D printed gear wheels. It is priced at £135:00

[zr2498]

3 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

John Redrup telephoned earlier today to say that the first batch of the LNWR 0-4-2 Crane Tank are now packed and available. He should be updating the website in the near future.

 

He said that the kit is essentially the same as the 0-4-0T with additional etched parts for the crane and 3D printed gear wheels. It is priced at £135:00

Thanks for the information Jol

I have just emailed LRM

Cheers

Dave

[Norton961]

Having bought the Shunter ( not started yet) I would like to thank Kipford for producing a superb kit utilising the latest technology. As a founder of Brassmasters I know what is involved in designing and producing etched kits and Kipford has moved the etched kit goal posts forward. 
 

David