halfwit

A number of Ruston 48DS locos were built to narrow gauge, mostly 3'6", 4' or metre gauge. All went overseas except one which was built to 3' gauge and was sold to British Railways for their Beeston sleeper depot and was numbered ED10. BR sold it in 1965 to TW Ward who passed it on to Cleveland Bridge and Engineering, being used on the Tinsley Motorway Viaduct near Sheffield. It went to Shepherd and Hill in 1969 and then to Trackbed Hovercraft where it was fitted with rubber tyres and outriggers and travelled on a 'Hovertrack' (whatever that is...). It eventually ended up at IrchesterNarrow Gauge Railway Museum in Northamptonshire where it was converted to metre gauge. So onto the model. I'm not going to try and make an exact copy of ED10, rather another 3' gauge 48DS. I'm using 12mm gauge to represent 3' gauge. The basis will be an A1 models cab and bonnet with a scratchbuilt chassis and footplate. The footplates and frames on the narrow gauge locos are, from what I've seen, longer than on the standard gauge ones so new frames and footplate will be fabricated from brass. The chassis has been started with the frames being cut out from .025" brass and bearings on the drive axle fitted (the non-driven front axle will be compensated, all will become clear...). Power will come from a Mashima 10/15 driving the rear axle through a High Level Slimliner Compact+ 54:1 gearbox. I don't expect that it will pull much but the real thing wasn't that powerfull anyway. Wheels will be Gibson 10.5mm discs. At the same time I'm building an EM version, this is seen in the photo below with the gearbox test fitted and the frame sides for the 12mm gauge version in front. The next job is to work out the width of the frame spacers for the NG version and build that chassis up. Also in the photo is the body and spud (shown next to the scratchbuilt chassis for comparison) of my existing A1 48DS. Inspiration for the chassis came from an article in the first MRJ Compendium which tackled the Impetus kit. (I do have an Impetus one knocking about waiting...) Information on ED10 came from 'The Ruston Class 48DS and 88DS Locomotives' by David R. Hall, published by the Moseley Railway Trust and an Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum guide. (Must visit them again...) See also 'Ruston and Hornsby Locomotives' by Eric Tonks (Industrial Railway Society). Paul.

The buffers, Gibson industrial pattern, need a bit of modifying. The base is square when it should be rectangular, easily rectified with a few file strokes. Just keep checking all is square, its too easy to take too much off one side. Here's a piccy, un-modified buffer on the left; They will be attached after the buffer beam is fully painted, along with the lifting brackets, to make applying the wasp stripes easier. On the subject of the buffer beam I drilled the buffer holes after the beams were laminated together with a slightly blunt 3mm drill. Unfortunatly the brass deformed around the holes, probably due to burrs forming between the layers. Nothing a few strokes fron a file couldn't put right but it would have been better to open out the holes before laminating. Now a photo of the roof beacon which again will be fitted after painting. This is by Details West, an American company, part number RB-106. I'm not going to make it work although the lens is cored for a bulb. Here's a shot of the side windows, as you can see they are very fine, especially the quarterlight strip. Personally I think too fine, I would have liked a bit more metal on the uprights as they are a bit too fragile for my liking. Again to be added after painting. Well thats it for the time being, the loco is now in the paintshop with the chassis/footplate having recieved its first coat of etch primer. I'll add updates as and when theres something worth sharing. A few notes on the kit. I have to say that I've really enjoyed building this and that I've learn't a lot from it. Everything has fitted together well and when it hasn't its been down to my lack of skill/patience rather than the kit design. The only exception was the undersize bonnet roller doors but Mike Edge sent me some more and has, I'm told, rectified the problem. In fact Mike has been very patient with my queries (even when I've been an idiot who can't count...) and has freely given advice and help when asked. (Usual disclaimer). I like the seperate body and footplate design which should make it easier to paint. I would have liked the exhaust included in the kit, the cowl is etched but there is no provision for the pipe which sits inside it, not easy to see on the prototype but noticable on a model which will be mostly viewed from above. A case for a resin moulding perhaps? Or am I being too picky? Still, it is easy to add from brass tube and we are modellers after all. Some of the detailing has been fiddly i.e. door hinges and bonnet catches but not as difficult as it first looks. I thought that the mainly text instructions would irritate me as I like exploded diagrams but I found them easy to follow and well written (there is a GA drawing as well). Photos of the prototype are included. Going slightly off topic, I found this at a recent exhibition; Its a flasher unit sold by Black Cat Technology and cost a very reasonable three pounds. The LED supplied is red, white ones are available on request, and measures 1.8mm. Its still too big to fit in the Steelman Royale but might find its way into a future project. Anyway as the Steelman gets a paintjob its time to start another project...

James - relevent MOD nameplates are included, and others are available seperatly, but not transfers. Not sure if I'm the best person to ask for advice...

Thanks for the comments. Alastair, yes it will be MOD green and very shiny as well! The Bicester Military Railway DVD shows them to be super clean, even the wagons are shiny! The DVD was shot in '92, some of the locos are now purple and white... Incidently, on the small etch in the photos are 2 door hinges.

Resin mouldings are used for the air filter, radiater filler and fuel filler. These were attached with superglue. I've also soldered lengths of .5mm brass rod onto the roof for the airhorns to be attached to, the airhorns having holes drilled in them for the purpose. Airhorn positions vary between individual locos so beware... The exhaust can be seen in the photo at the front waiting to be attached into the exhaust casing. This was knocked up from 1mm thinwall brass tube and a piece of scrap fret. There are also 6 door hinges to be attached to the cab rear. These are tiny, about 1mm square, and were again attached with superglue. Spares are provided, luckily none were needed. You can just about see them in this photo; Here's a couple of photos of the body with the airhorns temporarily fitted (these will be glued in place after painting, along with the side window frames) and the exhaust in place; The Black Beetle is currently covered in masking as the wheels have received a coat of red car primer ready to be sprayed red. And the footplate/frame is being prepared for priming. Not many entries recently, I decided to do some overtime (rare for me!) which coincided with the forum being down.

I took a trip to MG Sharps in Sheffield today and picked up a couple of Details West beacons, non-working, part RB-106. One will be put aside in the 'could be usefull one day' box. It looks like I bought the entire stock of 2. It should look ok with a bit of work on the base. Thanks to New Puritan for the tip. I also picked up the start of another project... On a slightly more negative side I got turned away from a Sheffield scrapyard (with a firm NO) when I asked if I could photograph the locos in the yard. A shame as I had to walk past the locos to get to their office. Oh well. Paul.

Thanks Mark. Could be on to something here... although it means having a non-working beacon. But I can live with that. Pugsley - the LED is 3mm dia. I really should have planned this bit from the start... Alastair - thanks for the link - the guy in the shop said that they didn't do small battery holders... Kenton - I've re-watched the Bicester DVD and they did all have this beacon.

Resin is used for the axleboxes and the damper brackets and hornstays, as well as other detail parts. The damper brackets sit above the axleboxes in half etched recesses on the frames and need to be superglued in place before the axleboxes are fitted. On the photo below both damper brackets are fitted but only the right hand axlebox. On the left side the hornstay is fitted, the instructions state that these should be fitted between the horns but studying photos shows them to be fitted to the bottom of the horns, there being a plate between the horns for the hornstays to bolt onto from below. I glued pieces of .040" square plastic to the top of the stays to fit between the horns before gluing them in place. The other hornstays can be seen in the photo waiting to be fitted. Also fitted were the cheetahs on the valance sides, quite how cheetahs fit in with slow shunting locos I'm not sure (the're the Thomas Hill logo I think). Superglue was used for all of this. A shot of the loco with one frame side complete next to my new toy (arrived today); The next job will be preparing the frames for spraying. The body can wait untill I decide what I'm doing with the beacon...

At the moment I'm going to concentrate on the footplate/chassis detailing. So today I've been looking at the bufferbeam pipework. There are 4 pipes each end for air and stuff. I've used Hornby pipes from their class 31, available as spares, part number X5326. Mine came from Abbiegails Hornby Spares, so cheap that I bought 4 packs. Well, they might come in usefull again... The pipes as supplied will not fit, they need bending out away from the buffer beam. Easily done by holding the plug end, the part that fits into the bb, in a pin vice and waving a hot soldering iron near enough to soften the plastic but not too near to melt it. As it warms up you can persuade it to bend slightly, just don't overdo it... Another reason to buy several packs. As it happens I needed the contents of 2 packs anyway. Thanks to New Puritan for advice on what to use and sending me the link to Abbiegails. Here's some photos, untouched pipes in the foreground for comparison; The dodgy looking pipe has since been sorted. I also fitted the sandpipes today, just straight brass rod. I felt that it would be too much effort to try to replicate every kink and bend. First I soldered the rod to the frames then bent them to shape. More photos; Finally, I went to Maplins in Stockport th check out the flashing LED that Alastair suggested. Here it is; A bit too big perhaps, but as it was only 69p I thought that its worth a try. Unfortunatly Maplins don't sell battery holders for button sized batteries, the only thing that would fit into the bonnet. I think that I'll go for a non-working option.

Thanks for the link Alastair, I'll keep a note of that ready for when I start my Vangaurd. I've already got a OO Black Beetle for it, 15:1, at the time I didn't realise that EM ones were available. I like the idea of being able to change the gauge easily by swapping the bogie over so I'll keep the OO one as it is and get another EM one. Anyway, what is too slow? Paul.

Again thanks for the replies. I think a trip to Maplins is in order to have a good look at this flashing LED, at 69p if I don't use it I haven't wasted much. Otherwise option 4 might be the way. Anyway today will be spent on chassis detailing. Paul.

After watching the Bicester DVD its bacome very obvious that these locos were fitted with flashing beacons on the roof. And there are 2 round vents? up there as well. The vents should be straightforward being just flat discs, the only problem estimating the size and position, but as for the beacon... There are, as I see it, 4 options; 1, leave it off. Trouble is I've already told you... These seem to have been removed at some stage, possibly when the locos were painted purple with white stripes... But I want a green one. 2, make one out of plastic and paint it orange. Nice and easy. My locos tend to live in boxes and rarely move so a working one is a bit pointless. And it saves me searching for funny electricky bits. 3, fit a flashing one. I looked at a couple of battery powered flash units at Stafford, neither would fit in the bonnet even if it wasn't partially filled with lead. Connecting one up to the motor wouldn't work even if the voltage was right as LEDs, being diodes and only working with the power in one direction, would only work if the loco was moving in one direction. (I might be wrong about that bit, failed electronics at school). DCC is not an option right now, I'm somewhat behind with technology, I've only just got a digital camera! Anyway, probably a complicated option. 4, fit an LED and leave the wires unconnected. Which means that it could be made to work at a later date and the LED should, if its something close to scale size (anyone know how big beacons are?) look like a beacon rather than a piece of painted plastic. Decisions... Anyway, apart from that here's a list of jobs that need doing; Sort out the exhaust. I'm sure theres a pipe inside that casing that sits slightly proud of the top. And fill the gap around the casing. Fit the air horns to the roof after making some little L shaped brackets for them. Fit the resin detail parts - hornstays, axleboxes, fuel and rad. fillers, seats, control desk, air filter. Fit the door hinges - super fiddly! Fit the cheetahs... Fit sandpipes except that I'm not sure what they look like. The easy option is straight brass rod, the other option is to find a decent photo and try to replicate how they bend, failed to find that photo so far... and I'm sure no one will know if there wrong. Fit sandbox lids. Fit the brake shoes. There aren't any, its disc braked! More locos should be... Paint. This could take a while as the weather here is, well, grim on a good day and I'm not keen on spraying indoors if my wife is at home. Buffers, pipes and lifting lugs will be added after painting, as will the side window frames. Find some nice fine Instanter couplings. Once I've decided what I'm going to do with the beacon and the sandpipes I'll press on, until then it waits... Sorry, no photos today.

Wonderfull, absolutely wonderfull!

Thanks for asking about the running James - you've prompted me to check becouse until now it hadn't seen a piece of track! So out came the controller and my bent length of C+L. I'm pleased to say that it runs well, better than a spud. I have put lead in the body - the BB instructions state 'do not exceed a weight of about 100g on top of the centre pivot'. I've gone slightly over but my locos never run anyway as I don't own a layout. (Is there anyone in the Buxton area with an EM layout that would let me test run locos?) Apparently BB's are available with 27:1 reduction, mines 15:1. I've not seen any 27:1's for sale - anyone know a stockist? It is quite big. Apparently these were originally designed as an 0-6-0 but changed to 4w to cope with tight curves (according to the Bicester DVD). Paul.

Well, after a couple of days thinking, I got the pliers out and attacked the front handrail - here's the result; Better, but not perfect. However it will do. I sorted out the sandbox lids today. The etched holes were opened out and .33mm rod soldered in to form handles whilst the lids were still attached to the etch, the half etched side is on the bottom to form a lip. Note the door hinges on the left of the etch. Then the lids were cut from the etch, held in pliers and cleaned up with a file. They will be glued in place later, in the angled holes in the valences. There is no mention of sandboxes in the instructions, they are pretty obvious though. Another thing thats not really covered is fitting the motor bogie. If fitted straight in the ride height is too low and the unit fouls the cab. To get this right I glued plasticard spacers to the motor mounting plate. Note the lead weight, 6mm wide strip sold as aquarium plant weight. I will need a washer on the top as the screw thread sits proud of the mounting plate. You can see why the body is seperate from the footplate, otherwise the bogie attachment screw would be inaccesable and to make the body easier to paint. I made the plastic spacers .050" high from .030" and .020" laminated together. It took several attempts to get the ride height to my liking, constantly checking the buffer height against another loco (assuming thats correct...) and checking the relationship between the axles and axleboxes. I think I've got it right. Arriving in the post today was a rather good DVD - 'The Bicester Military Railway'. Lots of good footage of very shiny Steelman Royales and of loose coupled trains and fly shunting. A few 37's knocking about as well (recorded in '92). No excuses now for getting livery details wrong...

Thanks for the comments guys - I'll start with pliers and if that doesn't work I'll have to start waving a soldering iron about... Paul.

Not sure what to do about this. If you look at the front handrail you will see that the angles on either side are different due to my dodgy bending. I could strip it down and start again but I'm worried about messing things up and I've already put a lot of effort in. On the other hand its not particulary noticable from most normal viewing angles. Hmmm..... Does anyone know what shade of green to use? Brunswick Green is mentioned in the Bicester book but I would like a second opinion. And has anyone got any ideas as to what transfers to use? I'm modelling number 272 'Royal Pioneer', nameplates included in with the kit, and need the transfers for 'M.O.D. 272 SA'. The reason that I chose that one is because it had wasp stripes on the bufferbeams only and some of the others had stripes on the beams and body ends.

Thanks for the comments guys. James - yes it is sitting on a Black Beetle. For pipes I've got some Hornby ones from a 31 (bought as spares) but I've yet to work out what I'm going to use (they only arrived today). Kenton - the handrails were a bit tricky and there is a small error but I'll come to that later... Mike and Judith - I'll try to get some better shots but I'm still getting used to using what is my first digital camera (I'm a Luddite...) Chris - nice to see you here.

Sorry Darren, I should have pointed out that its 4mm scale and EM gauge. Paul.

Hi James. Fox transfers for the stripes, sheet F4303/2. I used 4 pieces per end, main piece, top and sides. Buffer blocks were added after. The beams were sprayed with gloss enamal varnish before the transfers were added to prepare the surface then the transfers were sealed with a couple of coats of enamal matt varnish. Paul.

I left the bottom steps off until now as they are rather fine. They are sprung into place and soldered in. Here's a pic of one still on the etch, nice! Onto the handrails. Stanchions are etched and are very fine, luckily spares are provided. Luckily I didn't need any, I have plans for the spares... 2 types of stanchion are provided, one with a hole in the top and one where the handrail sits on the top. Again the photos should make things clearer. There are also kickplates to be added; More shots of the handrails coming together; And here's how it looks at the moment; The next job is to clean up and add the final details. Apologies for the number of photos!

Taking a break from the Steelman Royale I glazed the cab of my crane. I used 1mm perspex? laboriously filed to shape. I did scrap a few bits... The glazing for the cab side (the door and the small windows either side) was prepared before the body was glued together so I could lay the side on a piece of glazing and scribe around the opening, before cutting and shaping the material and storing the finished pieces in a safe place. This was definitely a good move... Back to the Steelman Royale... Paul.

Thanks for the comments, I'll keep the detail coming! Its nice to know that people are taking notice of my blog - I'm sure my workbench on the old rmweb was largely ignored... (but then it did feature some pretty obscure stuff). Missy - yes the photos were taken on the new camera, I'm still getting to grips with it. But I had to leave film behind at some stage...

4 per wheel, 16 in total. The inner ones are attached to a pair of spacers laminated together. To locate everything accuratly the inner horns and spacers are rivetted, the rivets in one part locating in the half etched holes in the other. The frames are also rivetted to locate the outer horns, which aren't rivetted. Perhaps some photos might help... And an outer horn in place; A little tricky to position, I used a crocadile clip to hold the outer horns in place. Crude but it worked... Lower steps and footplate handrails next. I hope I'm not boring people with too much detail...

Thanks Mark. As far as patience goes I think the key is to do a little bit every day and know when to put it down, I know from the past that if I try to do too much in one session something goes awry. Constantly checking the instructions, drawing and any photos you have helps as well. I also like Sentinals. I've got a Nonneminstre whitemetal one on a spud knocking about waiting for a respray - it'll feature on here when its done - and a Knightwing 0-6-0 one with a Roxey chassis waiting to be built but I could be tempted by a JE one as well... Paul.