Model Engine Works: Corries railway

Friday, 16 November 2018

009 Tattoo Class 0 4 2

A venture into white metal kit building.

The Kerr Stuart “Tattoo Class” is a favourite of mine and I have built quite a few models based around this type of engine. They were built by Kerr Stuart & Co in large numbers at the beginning of the 1900’s as a small workhorse engine, the majority being for 2 ft gauge lines and having outside frames, to accommodate the firebox. There were however quite a few built for wider gauges 2ft 6” and 3ft with inside frames. Being a basic engine, most had open cabs, though some had enclosed cabs added in different forms at the time of manufacture, or later by their owners.

A Christmas gift I once received was a white metal version of the Talyllyn Railway’s engine Edward Thomas. I had also had an Ndrive Productions 0 4 0 Chassis which was a suitable size to fit the kit, needing only the addition of a rear pony wheel. The spark that prompted me to finally build the model was a holiday in mid Wales, where I planned to visit the Talyllyn Railway and perhaps see Edward Thomas in person.

I started by looking for the right candidate for a pony wheel, which needed to be around 5.3 mm. There was also the question of how to mount the wheel onto the chassis. Now Ndrive Productions (Neville) has a nifty little etched universal mount to do this job, a cross with several holes to fit the wheels and create a pivot. The only thing was that you needed a wheel set that separates from the axles (to pass through the holes in the pony truck etch).

I discovered that the Kato wheel sets are held together with a plastic tube (to electrically insulate the wheels) and are close to the right size for the pony wheel. By filing off the pinpoint bearing and carefully opening out the hole in the etch I had a basic pony wheel and mount. Having selected the suitable pivot hole on the etch, it was then a fiddly job to drill a small very accurate hole to take a 10 BA cheese head machine screw in the base of the chassis. Care is needed as you are working very close to the gears, (so don’t slip)?

This pony wheel assembly is very light and does not ride on the track well in reverse, although its wheels are free moving and it pivots easily. The etch being a cross shaped form does give the opportunity to add a little weight at the back of the wheels. The 10 BA cheese head needed to be filed down to a thin disk with a new slot cut across it, to avoid catching on the track at points. It was also necessary to file down the wheel pick-ups at the back of the chassis or the etch for the pony wheel would not pass over these.

The other areas of the chassis that needed to be fettled were above and in front the cylinders. These needed to be filed off and cut to allow the chassis to sit tightly up to the underside of the footplate. Also, the width of the rear bar needed reducing at both sides.

To say that this kit was designed for another type of chassis, it was a surprisingly good fit. There was a small area for the cab front and underside of the boiler to remove to accommodate the slightly bigger motor, a few tweaks to the footplate at the front a small square to cut out for the worm gear, and that was it. The body and the chassis were held together by forming a small L shaped bracket at the back and glueing this to the underside of the cab, this formed a channel for the rear of the chassis to hook into.

The front fixing of the bodywork uses the existing counter-sunk machine screw and nut supplied with the chassis. This was done by slightly deepening the counter sink in the chassis and glueing the nut to the top face of the footplate situated above the existing hole. All of this was done before the bulk of the model was put together. I also added the blast under the saddle tank and in the smoke box before final assembly. It needed more weight at the front to counter the overhang of the cab, and partly to reduce this weight. I did not use the cab roof since this appeared too thick and bulky ,but instead formed one in Plasticard sheet, creating the gutters which the metal roof lacked.

Other modifications to the model included adding brass 0.45 mm wire handrails to the cab sides and above the smoke box. Also water feed pipe work under the saddle tank was added to hide the cogs and worm gear. The shape of the cylinders was changed by using some Plasticard sheet to make them look more like the prototype. The buffers were not used on this model, only the supplied coupling plus some lamps and tool boxes.

Paintwork on this model was completed when it was fully assembled, apart from the cab roof which was left loose to allow the cab interior to be finished. To prime the metal and plastic structure I used a matt grey spray primer suitable for metal and plastic surfaces. The finishing paints where oil-based enamels. The green used was a mix of deep Brunswick green and light grey green. The black areas were a mix of matt black on the smoke box and funnel, the other areas being painted in a charcoal grey. I used a signal red on the buffer beams, whilst inside the cab was left in the grey primer finish. Small details such as pipework and safety valves were picked out in a brass metallic finish. The whole model was finished in either a matt varnish or satin clear varnish once details such as the works plates and name plates were fitted.

The set of etched brass plates were supplied by Narrow Planet, who produce a set specifically for “Edward Thomas” from the Talyllyn Railway.

The engine crew was an adapted Dapol Line side work crew figure , with one leg shortened to suit the height of the footplate whilst still looking like a 4 mm scale figure.

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

009 Edward Thomas Type Engine

Up dated 2020

3D print of this engine is now available at Model Engine Works on Shapeways.

One type of engine that sums up a typical Welsh narrow gauge engine to me, is the small saddle tank such as the Kerr Stuart 0 4 2 Edward Thomas. This was built for the Corries railway and later moved to Talyllyn when the Corries line closed.

When my interest in 009 was rekindled a few years ago after a long lapse, I started scratch building rolling stock and engines like my original ones, and after a little practice I decided to have a go at my own version of Edward Thomas. As I was looking to build something in this style rather than recreating the actual engine, there were possibilities to make a few changes to the model and still keep the look and spirit of that style of engine.

I got as many reference pictures as I could find together and also one of the Kato 11-104 chassis. These are very good when getting into building 009 narrow gauge engines as they are so reliable and inexpensive.

I started by making a mock-up footplate, to get the right sized opening to fit the chassis. Once I had that sorted I made a few scale drawings of the bodywork, using the pictures as guidance. To get the cab to look lower than the foot plate it was necessary to cheat, by adding sides to the foot plate inside the cab entrance. I planned to disguise these by painting them matt black.

My plan to hide the chassis was to add part side plates and show the rear wheel like the pony wheel on the actual engine. I must admit this is not my idea, but a really good solution. I had seen it on a blog post by a fellow modeller Michael Campbell who used it on his Kerr Stuart Skylark:

http://michaelsrailways.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/a-little-bit-of-skirt.html

To make the body I printed some paper patterns - these were temporally fixed to various thickness of plasticard with Pritt stick. This holds them long enough to cut out and the paper then just peels off afterwards. The saddle tank was the most complex bit to form, I made a series of formers and linked them together at the base, and then using two thin plasticard laminations over them I formed the upper skin of the tank. I did the same with the smoke box.

The chimney was made using lime wood and turned in the chuck of a small electric drill.

If I had known about the “Gem 9104” white metal OO-9/ Industrial Loco Fittings beforehand I would have used one of these chimneys. I know for next time now.

http://www.lytchettmanor.co.uk/lytchett-manor/oo-9-couplings-fittings

The smoke box door was made up of several discs of plasticard sanded to shape whilst the hinges and handles were added using spare bites from an Airfix 040 saddle tank kit. I formed the spectacle windows by drilling an oversized hole and lining this with strips of thin plasticard sheet to give the impression of a brass frame when painted. I made use of a pair of vacuum pipes from a Vale of Rheidol coach that I had spare.

To further hide the footplate side I used a Dapol track side figure: I shortened one of the legs to fit on the footplate inside the cab, and the other one which is seen was thinned down on the inside to look as though standing at the edge of the cab step. This made the figure look to be standing on a lower level footplate.

I made the lamps in bulk some time ago using white 1 mm thick plasticard rectangles to form a 3 x 2 x 2mm block and then added a 2 diameter x 1mm disk on top. For the lenses I used a small 2mm clear or red rhinestone.

The paint was a mixture of various Humbrol greens with a final coats of matt adding to the footplate and smoke box, then satin varnish added over the other painted areas. I used real crushed coal in the bunker – you need to get this almost like dust at this scale to look right. The finishing touch was a set of name and works plates from Narrow Planet who do the complete set for Edward Thomas.

http://shop.narrowplanet.co.uk/products/NPP-309

Although not the best model of this engine you may find, I am pleased with the result-it has been a good practice run for me. I'm thinking of getting an N-Drive Productions chassis for my next attempt at this or a similar engine.

http://www.n-driveproductions.com

This engine based on the Kerr Stuart “Tattoo Class” is now available as a 3D print to run on the readily available Kato 11-104 chassis. It has separate footplate body and roof to allow for interior details to be added, there are also a pair of simple couplings printed under the footplate of the model.

Additional details will be needed to complete the model as shown, these include smokebox door handles, cab side handrails and working lamps.

If you would like a 3D print of this model visit Shapeways at:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/XU43MXCAQ/009-saddle-tank-tram-engine