TurboSnail

I'm having a project dilemma - I've got hold of a Hattons' Barclay (poor thing doesn't know what's going to hit it). As with everything that comes my way, I'm going to ruin personalise it. I like the Grant Ritchie locos, so will make one of those, however, this is the choice I have to make: 0-4-0st open cab, with porthole windows (pic from Ribble Steam Railway site). This would be a nice easy cab conversion only, maybe replacement cylinders, buffers and chimney if I'm feeling really prototypical, or 0-4-2st, involving a new cab, bunker, rear frames, bufferbeam, wheelset, buffers, chimney and some chopping of the chassis. This would be much harder to execute neatly with the frame extensions necessary. (pic from The Transport Library) So, what should I go for?

eBay - I had a saved search on there and these turned up after a few months wait. If you're prepared to translate "fireless" into German and search ebay.de, you might come across something sooner. I've seen quite a few go for under £40, so the joker selling them for £150 on there is being optimistic... or maybe I'm the fool for making models out of them and not flogging them for vast profits EDIT: for those interested in the build process, it's linked here:

A Fireless pugbash (apologies to those who've already seen this elsewhere) - bashed from a Lilliput loco with significant changes to the body and chassis, and a new cab, inspired by the Hawthorne ones. All done cheaply with plasticard and bits from the spares box, the only thing I had to buy specially was the replacement wheels. Still missing a few details but good enough for now to start getting some use on the layout. I'm calling it a pugbash, as the donor locos can be picked up for around £35 these days, so it's not a high budget model! Now to decide what to do with the other one...

Last post on the Fireless (to give your eyes a rest from all that yellow), some slow TV of it running on the layout.

For a direct comparison:

The Fireless build was supposed to be one post a day, but I've been away the last week (on a work boat in the North Sea - the weather was pretty "exciting") Still, here's the final pics. Needs a bit of weathering to tone down the yellow, but I'm pretty happy with how different it looks from the starting point! Also needs sandboxes, the wheel centres touching in and a couple of small details, but it's done for now.

Bufferbeams cut from plasticard, backhead improvised from the leftovers when I shortened the pressure vessel. Fortunately Fireless controls are fairly simple!

Just to explain a little more about the wheel-swap, taking the wheels off was fairly easy, removing the crankpin screws, the valve gear held itself together. I had to remove one of the wheels from the driven axle to get access with a gear puller to get the drive gear off. The drive gear could then be fixed to the new Scale-link 3mm axle with a dot of superglue. Then the rest of the wheelset built up using a back-to-back gauge (working with drop-in RTR wheelsets is easier than having to poke axles through frames and square everything up in situ!). Finally, putting the valve gear back on with the brass tube bosses I made a few posts ago, and shortening a new fixing screw and reducing its head height to clear the valve gear. Phew!

Back in one piece, and the body has gained some lining, in case the paintwork wasn't already suitably hi-vis And it runs! https://youtu.be/yL8bz-Povkk

Time for the bit you've all been waiting for, replacing the wheels! I was dreading messing up the valve gear while doing this. I did try filing down the wheels first, which worked a bit, but they still looked too small and still caught on some of the trackwork. Painted up some Scale-link 12mm ones - the tyres are a bit shiny but I find they need cleaning less often than other brands. I also had to cut some brass tube down to replace the bosses on the old wheels, and cut down some M1.2 screws to replace the originals which were too thin to work in the new wheels.

It's quite vibrant...

Cutting off the continental style bits and filling the holes, and adding the Hawthorn disc bit at the front. It's not quite the right size, but it's the closest size tube I had so it'll have to do.

Back in one piece with the footplate cut down - starting too see how different it will be to the HO version.

This is a Bachmann/Lilliput chassis, I don't know about the Hornby Nellie chassis and don't own one be able to check. The 7ft 6in wheelbase measurement is approximate, it's probably done to a round number in HO scale, so probably won't be such a neat number in OO. I don't think there's ever been a UK outline RTR Fireless, but there are a few models about, including my Barclay (sadly now sold, video below) and the thread that inspired this model - using the same starting point - a build by Gwynraven of this parish. I think my modifications will end up being a bit more extreme than theirs though!

Will this do? It's had the ends (which include the buffers) chopped off and the DCC bits taken off.

I think it was designed in as an option, but it runs on DC well enough (apart from the wheel flanges issue). It's also (or was) DCC fitted.

The aim with this loco is to make something like the Hawthorn Firelesses - I think this is the closest resemblance to some of the existing parts. This will mean: - shortening the pressure vessel - changing the cab - shortening the chassis - removing some of the extra bits on the top of the pressure vessel - new bufferbeams - modifying the front of the pressure vessel - pipework detail etc. The conversion started by chopping a section out of the pressure vessel and tweaking a B2 cab to look like the Hawthorn type. I've also removed the DCC bits, hardwired for DC, removed the AC skid plate and removed the lighting from the chassis at this point, as it all took up space in the cab I didn't want obscuring.

If it helps, it equates to roughly 7ft 6in wheelbase in 4mm scale, too long for a UK fireless really, but I'm choosing to ignore that! 10mm wheels (2ft 6in-ish). The other factor is that it's very wide, about 35mm over cylinders for this one, and there's another variant of the chassis that's even wider, so it might not work for that reason. The flanges are also massive, so it bumps along on Code 75 track, it had AC pickups fitted that I've removed, and there's a traction tyre... I'm not quite sure what to make of this chassis, the valve gear is great, the motor and gearing is smooth and at a good speed, but flanges/traction tyre let it down, and it'll take quite a bit of work to get it running nicely because of those. I don't have access to a lathe, so turning them down isn't an option, but might be able to file them... or more likely, swap to a set of Scale-link 3ft wheels to get a better size for a UK prototype and get rid of the awkward flanges and traction tyre in one shot.

Time to do some chopping, perhaps! Continuing the Fireless fixation, this one will get Anglicised - an exercise in plasticard and filler, no 3D printing to be seen.

A Pack of Pecketts! W4: Hornby W4 with replacement cab in plasticard, larger buffer heads, repainted B1: Hornby B2 with 3D printed replacement cab, replacement bufferbeam and buffers, repainted Y: 3D printed on custom chassis X: 3D printed on a modified Hattons P Class chassis

Having said I might not finish this project for a while, I was planning to design a proper backhead and reverser, brake standard, a couple of boiler fittings etc. and 3D print them - I changed my mind and raided the scrap box instead. Not perfectly accurate, but I'm pretty happy with it! Better that than waiting an indeterminate amount of time until I get the 3D printer back up and running.

But the photo I copied was black and white! The livery I copied was actually an NCB one, but I've no idea what the colour was - the chassis I had was black, so that made the choice for me!

I'm not doing very well on the 'get projects finished' front - here's another one that might be delayed for a while. A Peckett X Class - waiting for me work out how to scratch build a backhead, then fit buffers, hooks, pipework and other assorted details.

And now for something a wee bit different... Back to industrial, and I have a bit of a thing for Fireless locos, so here's another one. This time based on a 2ft gauge prototype, of which four were supplied to Gretna Munitions factory, by Barclay in 1917. My version is necessarily a bit different, due to the chassis I had available, so it's an 0-4-0 instead of an 0-2-2, rides a little bit higher, and is effectively "half-gauge" (or 2ft 4in to scale). Designed to be ultra-lightweight, with features like the wooden cab, and as the source material says "only weighed 3 ton 17 cwt... (complete with lady driver)"!

Happy new year everyone! Hope it's all a bit more fun than the doom-mongering of recent times! Sticking strictly to modelling, my hope is that I'll get better at finishing projects, instead of starting them then leaving them on the sidelines for years at a time. We shall see how that turns out!