TangoOscarMike

But seriously though... The intention was to make it easier to paint the cab interior. It's not tremendously easy, but I'm sure it would be much harder without the cutout.

Thank you. I agree, of course. From time to time I take measurements and make some doodles, in the hope of coming up with a kit for a decent-looking mechanism that: Is simple to install. Does not disturb the outline of the cylinders, so that replacement superstructures such as mine will still fit. I'm sure it can be done - perhaps I'll revisit this soon.

Painting is proceeding in fits and starts - standard procedure for me. Mostly I've been working on the computer images for the lining. I'm also adapting two Dapol figures for the crew. I'm elongating their jackets into coats (I started with a tube of Revell plastic putty, but found this too hard to work, so I switched to Green Stuff, which is what I should have used in the first place). The fireman's hat is whittled from a piece of sprue, the brim is thin plasticard cut with a leather hole punch. There's a piece of wire inside for the alignment. I'm now facing one of those big life choices (marry Liz or become a monk, study astrophysics or join a circus, cream or jam first on a scone.....). I must decide whether to give the driver a top hat or a bowler. Not a tricorn - that would be silly.

Exactly. It's five compartments from two four-wheelers, on a six wheeled chassis. The saga is here.

I've been staying out of this thread (perhaps unnecessarily) because I offer these 3D printed bodies for sale. But I'm pleased enough with this engine to overcome my reticence. It is exactly what I had in mind when I started experimenting with replacement bodies for the Holden 101 chassis. This paint job is more a matter of cunning than skill - the lining panels and the boiler bands are all waterslide transfers, printed with an ordinary inkjet printer. The difficulty with this technique is that it's necessary to get a good match between the printed colour and the painted colour. But that difficulty goes away if you have panels of colour on a black background.

I've made a couple of 3D printed coach bodies for the Hornby 4-wheeler chassis, neither of them 100% satisfactory. And when I started thinking about steampunk engines, I also tried to make a Victorian-retro-futuristic coach body. It was going to have exaggerated tumblehome (very curved, barrel-like sides), elliptical windows and ornate beading. I didn't get very far with this, but I might try again.

And now you've got me seeing it in a pink-and-chrome finish, like a steam-propelled diner! It does indeed. I already have a few sketches of double-decker coaches..... I had this conversation with @Gibbo675 a while ago, and he pointed out that I share my pipe-dream with a nasty Austrian/German (a guy with a silly moustache who was responsible for a lot of deaths). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitspurbahn But I'm sure that a determined modeller could reclaim the concept, and make a nice preposterous broad gauge railway (with cider) in the idyllic West Country....

Thank you! For the paint-job I have in mind (futuristic Victorian) I think anything small and old-fashioned would do - the new Hattons or Hornby coaches, the Triang Clerestories, the Hornby 4-wheelers, the Ratio kits.... Your Silberling and Pullman suggestions would work for Corbs single, I think, but they'd be too long for my engine. And there you've touched on one of my pipe dreams. I think it would be fun to model a hypothetical Edwardian GWR, in which broad gauge survived and express locomotive development took advantage of it. And 32mm track would certainly be an option for this - I don't think Brunel would begrudge us the extra foot.

Thank you! It will be for sale on shapeways, but I don't like to offer anything for sale until I've painted it and run it on some track, and generally made sure there aren't any pitfalls. In this particular case, there are steps up the back of the tender, and the steps call for handrails. And since nice-looking handrails can't be printed in Versatile Plastic, I've also printed some handrail knobs in Fine Detail Plastic. I need 8 knobs, so I've printed 48. I don't anticipate any problems with the engine and tender, but I need to know whether or not the handrail knobs work before I offer these things for sale. They are awfully small. Of course, handrails aren't compulsory - it would be easy to fill the holes.

Golly, did you in fact recognise that as a piece of HO track? It is - it's Fleischmann track - I live in Germany, so I'm using whatever's to hand! I just held a piece of Hornby track next to it, and measured them both. The Hornby sleeper length and spacing are slightly bigger, but not in proportion to the scale difference. They could be models of different prototypes, or perhaps not realistic scale models at all. I guess there are people here with detailed knowledge. If when I get round to making my layout, it will be "Freelance Pre-Grouping", by which I mean "Colourful toy trains in a vaguely Edwardian/Victorian setting, with some GWR bits and pieces thrown in". For these purposes I need the railway to look "believable", but with very low standards of realism. As far as track is concerned, I'll probably be happy with anything that has wooden sleepers. And I won't be going for a strong steampunk aesthetic. I'm planning to put normal old-fashioned lining on this engine (but maybe make it slightly more ornate), to make something that might look slightly futuristic to Victorian eyes (an alternative would be a 1930s colour scheme, to make it look like a baby streamlined Coronation). But you make a valid point - for a more thorough steampunk treatment, the track could make all the difference. And baulk road is an exotic look. Well, "exotic" for the likes of us.

Oh absolutely! It can be gritty and gnarly with rivets and exposed gears, but it can also be elegant, involving fine ladies with parasols and whatnot.

Way back in February @Corbs produced his elegant response to Hornby's steampunk range. In the mean time, I've been pottering away at my design, with help from @Gibbo675 and @LNWR18901910. And now, finally, I have a picture of my 0-4-0 streamliner, sitting on a Holden chassis. Now it's time to slosh some paint on.

Good stuff! That's about two months worth of my modelling that you've done in a few days! My parent's neighbour was a teenager in the 20s or so. His first "job" (with other boys) was to accompany the horses of the local gentry, inside some kind of large road lorry. The ostensible role was to calm and comfort the horses, but the real role was just to be padding in between them. Or so I was told.

Straightforward if the length of the chassis is close to a whole number of compartments (maybe 4 in this case?), otherwise there will be a need for fettling!

Thank you! If I was vain and foolish I would say that Hattons copied me before Hornby ever copied them! But I'm not those things (no, actually I am). In any case, this piece of deft work by @Nilewas my starting point, inspiration-wise:

Some projects get finished, and some projects don't. And on some projects, work stops when it reaches a satisfactory state. I've glued in the glazing, and I'm calling it a day. I might revisit this one day to add lighting and an interior, or make other improvements. A rogues' gallery of GWR impostors. This is why I did it: When I was 11-ish, my Hornby County of Bedford was my pride and joy. And my three 4-wheel coaches were my pride and joy as well. But I knew full well that between them they made a rather feeble train. One fine day I'll make a layout and get my County running again. It'll be a small layout, so realistic-length trains are out of the question. And in any case, my Hornby 4-wheeler nostalgia has no place in a realistic train. But I think that I've added enough length and variety to create the illusion that this is a "proper" train, whereas three identical 4-wheelers clearly aren't. Maybe I should add a horsebox, as a finishing touch. Of course, I could have achieved a similar effect with two Triang clerestories or some Ratio kits. But that's not the point. I have enough leftover pieces (including a complete Brassmaster's Cleminson kit) for another of these. Perhaps I will make a brake/luggage coach and paint it in a freelance livery. All in good time.

I've just been watching Star Trek. They're scooting backwards and forwards in time as well.

You just need to make four of them - problem solved! Tom

I agree. It's not as clumsy or random as 0-4-0 or 0-6-0. An elegant weapon wheel arrangement for a more civilized age.

Well, they say that everyone has their price. And in the same way, I reckon everyone has a threshold of model-locomotive size, below which they put the motor in something behind the train-puller. Perhaps for some people it's a little vertical-boilered cabless thing. And I reckon that people modelling the palatial Eton picnic outing train, pulled by a team of starving ponys orphans, in Z-gauge, will probably put the electric motor in a coach. It's hard to make robotic children's legs in such a small scale when they're so malnourished. Anyway, I'm glad to see that the rebuilt Rocket is above your threshold! Merry Yuletide everyone. Tom

You showed me pictures of your Rocket -> Northumbrian in the summer of 2018 - how time flies. That 3D print has an impressive level of detail, for something so small printed in grainy "white strong and flexible". Did you consider propelling it from behind (as per the Newman Miniatures recommendation), or would that be the sort of thing that you avoid if at all possible?

I have fond memories of Linka, although I have no idea where the moulds of my childhood are.

Magnets glued in place. Metal studs fixed to the roof with blobs of "green stuff" epoxy putty. And it seems to have done the trick. The roof is held on firmly, but I can still remove it.

Inching towards completion... The second rain strip came off while I was thinning it, so I said "enough messing about", and went in search of 0.5mm x 0.5mm strip. Instead of looking online, I went to the local craft shop then the local model shop (several weeks apart), neither of which had it. So I said "enough messing about", and cut a strip off the end of a 0.5mm sheet. Here it is, glued in place (on the left). I'm not altogether happy, because of the asymmetry, both in the curves and in the strips themselves. But it's time to move on: A piece of tube with a magnet in it and a pair of slits. A slot cut into a compartment partition. The magnet in position, prior to gluing.

I wonder if I'm the only person whose brain said "India Pale Ale? surely not..... International Phonetic Alphabet? no....." I got there in the end.