Model Engine Works: Hudswell Clarke

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

00n3 Hudswell Clarke/Fowler Inspired Diesel Loco

UpDated 2020

I have been working with Paul Titmuss again this time to produce a freelance 3 foot gauge Diesel loco. A combination of two small industrial engines, the foot plate, bonnet and chimney come from a Hudswell Clarke used at Davyhulme sewage works, and the cab comes from a Fowler used at Marland Clay Pits. This blend of two small industrial locos has been used to produce what might have run on the 3 foot gauge Castlederg and Victoria Bridge Tramway, if they had gone ahead and purchased a Hudswell loco in the 1930s.

We again worked around the Halling motor bogie with 9mm wheels at 12mm gauge and set at 23mm wheel centres. This did mean that the bonnet had to be wider than the Hudswell Clarke images indicated and has given the engine its own look, different from the donor locos.

The plan was to make this a multiple part model - foot plate, body, roof and radiator grill. Holes would be made for the bonnet door handles and hand rails both at the cab door and bonnet sides. These holes could be filled if they were not required, but are much easier to use than setting out and drilling for holes on a blank model.

With the radiator grill being loose it is possible to exchange the printed grill for a brass etched mesh to give the engine a more bespoke look. This is best pre-painted and fitted before the body is fixed to the footplate.

Further to producing the 00n3 model I have also worked on a 009 and TTn3 version which I will make available at the same time through Model Engine Works on Shapeways. The prints for the 00n3 and TTn3 will be printable in Frosted Ultra Detail only and the 009 will be available in White Strong & Flexible Polished as well as Frosted Ultra Detail.

The 009 version will be designed to run on the Kato 11-104 chassis and the TTn3 will run on the TU-TMC100 - Tsugawa Yokou 14033 mini 4 wheeled N gauge chassis.

Wire work

The wire used is 0.45 mm on the 4 mm scale and 0.33 mm on the 3 mm scale model, and it is fixed with cyclonic type glue. Note it will be necessary on the Strong & Flexible plastic models to drill out the holes with a suitable size drill as the printing process can leave residue in the pilot holes.

All of the proto type models have small bent wire handles on the bonnet doors; these are inserted in the pilot holes formed on the model and glued from the rear. The cab hand rails have been formed by bending a D-shape in the appropriate wire and using the holes provided in the cab, passing the wire right through and gluing from the inside. It is best to do all of the wire fitting with the body separated from the footplate.

For the bonnet handrails Paul and I have used different methods - which the model allows for. Paul has used the three top holes on each side of the bonnet and added small hand rail posts and wire. I used the four side holes with wire only, and formed a pair of a D-shaped handrail sections to locate in the end holes. I then passed wire right through the bonnet in the middle holes, just sticking out enough to form the mid supports. I have glued the wire in place and this has made a robust handrail with two mid supports.

Cab Details

Paul has added a level of detail to the cab interior including a reversing lever and brake. The production print in 00n3 will have holes for these so they can be added to the footplate inside the cab. It will also have a more closely fitting footplate to the rear fly wheel of the chassis, which should give more floor area for crew and details.

Couplings

We have tried a few variations on these models; Paul has a specific height to maintain for his existing rolling stock so he has used a standard Greenwich coupling. A pair of printed couplings comes as part of the footplate on the 00n3 print.

I have used the printed couplings from the 009 version on the TTn3 model to see how they perform and RT Models 4NLP005 Penryhn Locomotive couplings in white metal on the 009 version. This required the holes provided in the buffer beams for the NEM pockets to be filled with small rectangles of Plasticard. I plan to print all of the versions of the model with base couplings.

Ballast

All of the prints have weights added: as much as possible to the footplates; the rest as low down on the body as possible. This will keep the centre of weight as low as possible, and prevent the model being top heavy.

Maker's name plate

I have had a bespoke “Hudswell” maker’s nameplate etched by Narrow Planet to suit the 00n3 and 009 versions of the model. This sits on the curved flat area above the radiator, and will hopefully add that finishing touch to each of the 4mm models. It is possible to order one of these separately from Narrow Planet should you want to add one to your model.

Painting

Paul will be building the 00n3 version of the model in Frosted Ultra Detail, and I will work on the 009 in White Strong & Flexible Polished and the TTn3 in Frosted Ultra Detail. We have both had our own ideas for the paint scheme on the locos. Paul has chosen to go with the dark green as used on his Clogher Valley Tram engines; this diesel will eventually be used on the same layout, yet to evolve. I, on the other hand, have decided to go with a black finish on the 009 engine using what is actually a dark grey Revel No 9 paint; and a dark blue Humbrol No 104 on the TTn3 engine. Both have black/dark grey footplates, and both will have red buffer beams at front and rear. The 009 has a more worn industrial look about it - I hope this will help to show the very different looks that can be achieved with this print.

In early 2020 Kato introduced there new and updated versions of their popular 11-103 and 11-104 chassis, these are now phasing out and being replaced by the 11-109 and 11-110. With this change, I have made some simple alterations to my models using these chassis.

If you would like a copy of this model visit Model Engine Works at:

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

Sources of Additional Materials

Cab interior details from:

RT Models 4NLP022 Etched Brass locomotive cab detailing

Handrail wire and knobs:

Alan Gibson Brass Wire ref 0.45 mm and 0.33 G4M136, and Handrail Knobs 4mm short ref G4M53

Couplings:

Coupling Pockets Peco NEM ref GR-103

Greenwich Coupling ref CPL 3 for NEM pockets

RT Models 4NLP005 Penryhn Locomotive Couplings in white metal

Engine crew:

Crew ideas Dapol C002 Railway Workmen

Modelu-3d printed railway figures

Engine number:
Number on 009 engine Old Time Workshop Talyllyn Coach Numbers 1-25
Custom Maker's Name Plate, brass etched by Narrow Planet

Saturday, 14 November 2015

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