Model Engine Works: 0 4 4 Blessingbourne

Updated 2018

It was whilst reading through my copy of “The Clougher Valley Railway” by E.M.Patterson that I came across the 0 4 4 engine Blessingbourne. This was the seventh of the Clougher Valley engines to be built, this one by Hudswell Clark in 1910, and according to the account in the book, not the most successful of engines. There were two good photographs in the book, a rear view and a good side view. I liked the semi- plated tram style of the engine and gave some thought as to the type of chassis I could build it on. The side plates hiding the driving wheels and rear wheels exposed, sparked the idea of using one of the Kato 11-105 type chassis.

This would give the right appearance if I could re-proportion the overall size of the bodywork to suit with as little overhang as possible.

After several nights on the computer drawing up sketches and re-jigging the boiler and footplate to suit the chassis, a passable 3D model was achieved. Not an exact copy but recognisable. It was printed in Frosted Ultra-Detail plastic to highlight details such as the cab window bars and the smoke box door handles.

The chassis was intended to fit with minimum modification, the rear base needing a small notch in order to accommodate the Peco NEM coupler pockets if used.

The other additions added to the bodywork were the hand rails: I used Gibson from Mainly Trains http://www.mainlytrains.co.uk which uses 0.45mm brass wire and some really small brass handrail knobs. Seven of the short versions of these were used on this engine – they are fiddly to handle but look very much to scale. These were added to the front of each water tank and round the boiler and smoke box front.

With this chassis being very light and really quite powerful for its size, with small wheels and a low gearing, it has a tendency to slip on track with any gradients. This is much as the original did; it was very unpopular with the crews because of this. To reduce this with the model it is necessary to add a good bit of weight over the driving bogie, and with the size of this body there is plenty of space to do this.

It was suggested that there is alternative chassis, the Bandai B-Train Shorty Chassis 3. This has different wheel centres, so the rear bogie looks a bit long but the benefit of all the wheels being driven are worth living with. It has much better traction and fits within the same aperture on the model. The only addition being a small piece of Blu Tack being used at the rear end to pack the chassis level.

Like all Shapeways F.U.D., it is important to remove the wax residue from the surface before painting. I soak the model in a small pot of white spirits and then give it a good wash with soapy water, allowing it to dry overnight before painting with at least three thin coats of spray acrylic light grey primer.

Because of the way the chassis was mounted the crew has to be mounted on a base. This does mean chopping their legs off and glueing them to a small rectangle of plasticard. The top surface of this is painted matt black to disguise the lack of depth within the cab.

I made the headlamp using 3 disks of 1mm thick plasticard to form the body and two small squares fitted top and bottom to give the lamp its distinctive shape. These are the later acetylene lamps used on the C.V.R. The lenses were formed by using a suitable sized drill bit and forming a concave shape hollow in the face of the lamp, which was then lined with aluminium foil shiny side outward. The lamp was then painted matt black and left to fit to the cab between the windows after painting was completed.

Painting starting with the red on the cowcatcher and the area around the front coupling, I have used a red spray paint purchased from Aldi which gives a good bright red finish. The body and foot plate requires masking off well when using this, and I also used masking fluid in the areas around the coupler pockets.

Once a couple of coats of this was applied I moved on to the main bodywork, for which I used Humbrol Brunswick Green acrylic spray paint, masking off the areas of red and black first. The black areas round the skirts and smoke box were finished with Humbrol Matt Black 33.

The finishing touches round the windows and safety valves are in Humbrol Metallic Bronze. It is usually a good bet to leave the model for a few days after painting the top coats, as particularly on the Shapeways body shells there always seems to be a slight reaction to the carrier wax residue, and the paint stays soft. When I am quite happy that the paint has cured I add the cab glazing and crew, then fix the roof in place.

The engine name and number are added next using Model Master water slide transfers. As this was a prototype I just used the C.V.R. initials and No 8 which did not exist on the railway as I wanted to add a bit of simple detail for show.

When these have dried overnight I apply a coat of matt varnish, usually Humbrol enamel brushed or acrylic spray.

The final touch is to add the coal. This is done using PVA wood glue and crushed real coal. The coal bunker is filled with the PVA and the coal pieces added using a small piece of tube sliced back at an angle to form a scoop. This gives me a bit of control over where the coal is applied.

In conclusion, this may not be the best chassis to use on this engine but it runs very well and if weighted right will pull a resizable load. The overall size of the engine is not too large to work on a small layout. It may be I will develop this body to suit a different chassis in the future.

If you would like to try one of these 3D prints please visit my shop on Shapeways at: https://www.shapeways.com/product/DS9BJHE27/009-blessingbourne

Saturday, 14 November 2015

0 4 4 Blessingbourne

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