Model Engine Works: October 2018

Sunday 28 October 2018

009 Industrial Diesel

This is a small industrial loco based on the one used at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin. It is now an exhibit at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum which is situated in Cultra near Belfast.

My idea was to find a small to medium size industrial loco with an interesting look about it, I wanted a compact design where the cab was low enough to be used for both industrial and mining purposes. The one used at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin fitted this model very well, being designed to be used within the tight clearances around the Brewery complex in Dublin.

The other good point about this engine was that it was no plain Jane; it had a good level of detail both under the footplate and around the bodywork. This is very good for adapting the design to suit a particular chassis. With the small size and narrow wheel base of this engine I have looked at using the Tomy-tec H1 chassis. It has turned out slightly larger than I planned, more on the medium size, but looks as if it is man enough to do most types of industrial haulage jobs.

The model is printed in separate parts: the footplate, (which could be the basis of a different model) the body, the roof and the radiator. There are also smaller details printed within the body and footplate, including an exhaust system crash bars, work lamp, brake handle, and cab seat. Some generic couplings are also included, but other types can be used also.

The Tomy Tec HM-01 chassis I have used needed to have its footplate reduced in width so I dismantled the chassis and cut the footplate down. This is much easier to do and a neater job is achieved. It all just clips back together again.

Because of the engines size and the level of detail it is only suitable to print in the Fine Detailed Plastic.

When using the Find Detailed Plastic form Shapeways the first thing I do before removing any of the parts is the soak the print in a paint remover / petroleum sprits (white sprits in the UK). This is to remove the wax support residue left from printing, and then a wash in warm soapy water should leave the surface ready for painting after it is fully dried.

I use a grey or white spray primer to prep the model for finishing. In some areas it will be necessary to remove print lines from the surface. These sometimes only show up after the primer is applied and can be removed with a burnishing tool. I use a hardwood stick with a rounded point to get in the tight spaces. Further light coats of the primer will give a good working surface on which to apply the finishing coats of paint .

At this stage it is time to separate all the detail parts from the main body and footplate of the model. Most of the small parts will snap off the sprues with a genital push or twist, as the base of the sprues are smaller and weaken to allow for this. The main parts however are best cut from each other using a razor saw.

There may be a little more cleaning up to do on these small parts now that they are accessible all-round. Once this is done check that they all fitted into the corresponding holes made for them on the body of the engine. The fiddly ones are the driver’s seat and the brake handle column, for which I used small tweezers to hold the parts while putting them in place.

The chassis was tried in place next. I have allowed a little bit more clearance on this model than some of my previous ones, so the chassis will seem loose. This is because the Fine Detailed plastic is less flexible and would break if put under too much pressure. The use of a small piece of Blu Tack at each end of the chassis footplate will take this tolerance up.

I found it easier to paint the small detailed parts before fitting them to the model. It also made the body and footplate much more accessible to paint in detail. I used Revel 09 charcoal on the chassis and a light blue mix on the bodywork. The cab interior had a thinned wash of a cream mix which included the brake column and driver’s seat. The buffer beams and axle boxes had a wash of bright red over the grey primer so that the grey showed through. I did not want the paint to look new but worn. I added rust streaks down various parts of the body work, from the corners of window and bonnet doors hinges and the radiator brackets. Soot and grime were added using a black and brown thinned wash applied with a dry brush, which helped to pick out areas like the side and front grills. Bare metal and metal components were picked out with a mixture of dark grey and silver (gunmetal). To finish the whole model was given a coat of satin varnish.

The ballast was added to the model wherever I could find space, some each end of the foot plate and some centrally over the chassis. I could have but more in the front of the body behind the radiator but that would make the model imbalanced.

I found it difficult to find a driver for this particular little engine because of the seated and twisted position the figure would need to take. So I found a suitable Dapold line side figure and adjusted its posture to seating with arms out and head turned to the left. As these figures are on the tall side the loss of a bit of height did not seem to look out of place.

If you would like a copy of this model it is available on Shapeways at Model Engine Works:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/3ZFQ7FDJ3/009-industrial-diesel?optionId=70632891

Monday 15 October 2018

009 Hoppers - Skips and Tubs

(4 mm Scale)

Designed to print in Black Versatile Plastic

These small wagons started out as a 3D printing job for Unity Gifts http://www.unitygifts.co.uk/ who wanted a pattern for moulding a small ore wagon which was used by a Luxembourg ore mine. After doing this work I was left with a drawing of a neat little wagon, quite different from the typical Vee tippers that seem popular. I decided to do a little rework to develop them for use as 009 models.

After several prototypes and a few suggestions, the basis of a series of small wagons has evolved. Using the same basic wagon frame and wheel arrangements with different bodies, I have come up with a varied selection of different small wagons. So far these include a wooden coal hopper, the original ore skip and two types of metal coal tubs. Perhaps more could be suggested? Their size and simple looks mean it would be possible to use them for 3 mm scale also.

The wagons are generally all printed in blocks of 2 or 3 held together with rods and sprues and all the parts should be removed before assembly. The wheel clip and the couplings are printed inside the bodies and are easily removed by using a craft knife to cut the connecting sprues between the part and the wagon body. The sprues can then be trimmed back flush with the body sides. The wagons are connected by rods at each end, sprues attaching them to each of the wagon frames. Again, these are cut flush with the end of the frames.

The little ore wagons are different in having a body that is also removed and can be reattached in a tipping position as well as in the loaded position. This was a good idea suggested by a fellow modeller.

They are all assembled in a similar fashion, first the wheels are altered to remove the needle point bearings. I have formed a small jig to hold the wheel while I remove the metal point with a small flat file. Much easier than trying to hold them with your fingers. The wheels are then poisoned in the U-shaped saddles and checked for free running. Sometimes a rub with a round file will smooth the rough surface of the plastic to allow better running of the wheels. The base plate is then fitted to hold the wheels in place. This is a clip in place item on most, only the coal hopper has a push fit plate. I have found that some easing of the clips is necessary depending on the print.

The only other items to fit are the couplings. If you use the universal ones they have both the hook and eye with a ball between and it is a simple matter of reversing the coupling at each end of the wagon. The ball fits into a split socket at the end of the frames.

I have found that it is a good idea on the hook to cut off the ring on the eye leaving the cross bar which fits under the lower part of the frames and stops the hook twisting out of alignment.

It is advisable to add a small amount of ballast to the bottom of the body of each wagon to help with smooth running. The load can be added above this either on a base or just fill the body with coal or rock / ore, them fix in place with some clear PVA glue.

Finishing most of the wagons is done by dry brushing red rust, brown and a little silver to the surface of the metal wagons. On the wooden hoppers I used two shades of brown and a little gunmetal metallic to the metal straps with a small amount of rust colour round these also. The Hudson tubs were finished in a grey wash with shades of rust dry brushed on the sides.

If you order the wagons in the White Versatile Plastic, it is possible to use an acrylic cloth dye to colour them in a similar manner to Shapeways. The product is Rit water based dye which was recommended on the narrow gauge forum by “TeBee” Tom Bell, but this is only suitable for the Versatile type plastic prints.
https://www.ritdye.com/products/cocoa-brown-powder/

If you would like copies of these models they are available on Shapeways at

Model Engine Works:

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/model-engine-works