Heather Kay
Western Thunderer
I've always had a soft spot for the diminutive 2F 0-6-0T dock tank designed by Sir Henry Fowler (or more correctly, his head of the drawing office Tom Coleman). Looking like a slightly shrunken 3F tank, with incongruously large outside cylinders and complicated-looking Walschaerts valve gear, this little engine was a tiny class of only 10 locos, yet still warranted classification as an LMS standard design.
Best Beloved gave me a 4mm OO gauge whitemetal model he made many years ago. I repainted it to BR livery, and painted a chalked moniker on the tank side. "John Wayne" got his name because he waddled along the track, reminiscent of the famous movie star. I was hooked. When the opportunity came to acquire a 7mm scale version, how could I resist? Even though our modelling centred around north Bucks on the former LNWR mainline, and the dock tanks lived in places like Liverpool and north of Hadrian's Wall, I could invoke Rule 1: it's my trainset.
That was some time ago now. The etched brass kit originated with Jim Harris, but had been through a couple of hands by the time I got the box labelled with Acorn & Mercian. The photo on the box lid was obviously of a 4mm scale version, and close inspection of the box contents revealed some some details were a little off. The cylinders, particularly, bore little resemblance to the real thing. Nothing, I thought, I couldn't reasonably overcome.
I decided to get my research in. Irwell Press published a lovely illustrated article on the Fowler tank, with images of all of the class through much of their existence. Happily, No 47163, had good views from both sides - and it funnily enough, it was the same number I chose for the 4mm repaint all those years ago. Here, then, was my engine. I created a painting to show how it would look when finished, although a bit cleaner than I intended.
The class was originally fitted with oval buffers and three-link couplings. At some point, 47163 acquired standard round buffers and screw-links. Another loco was photographed with one oval and one round buffer on the front, so there's a prototype for everything!
I started the model well enough. Being My First Loco™, I decided to bring the frames out for S7 by overlaying with black styrene, studded with rod to represent the rivets and bolts. The wheels were reprofiled for S7. I got as far as the footplate, bunker, cab and tank sides, and then discovered the smokebox wrappers and door were way out. The door was from a 3F "Jinty", so it was too large. I failed completely in rolling the boiler to the right diameter, and simply couldn't get the smokebox to fit at all. Let's not even go where the Belpaire firebox is…
Back it all went in the box. I continued to ponder the problem - and have continued pondering for the past five or more years. Occasionally, I'd take the box off the shelf and rummage through the contents, but as I couldn't get past the boiler and smokebox problem it never progressed much further.
Being an interest bubble, I continued to acquire bits and bobs. "One day," I'd say to myself, "One day, I will finish this model." I got some lovely cast details from Laurie Griffin, got the right buffers from Slater's, got a crew, found a motor and suitable gearbox, and finally found an almost-suitable smokebox door casting. This year I found some brass tube of the right diameter for the boiler. There's every possibility 47163 might find its way to the front of the bench for a bit - within the next few years at least!
Best Beloved gave me a 4mm OO gauge whitemetal model he made many years ago. I repainted it to BR livery, and painted a chalked moniker on the tank side. "John Wayne" got his name because he waddled along the track, reminiscent of the famous movie star. I was hooked. When the opportunity came to acquire a 7mm scale version, how could I resist? Even though our modelling centred around north Bucks on the former LNWR mainline, and the dock tanks lived in places like Liverpool and north of Hadrian's Wall, I could invoke Rule 1: it's my trainset.
That was some time ago now. The etched brass kit originated with Jim Harris, but had been through a couple of hands by the time I got the box labelled with Acorn & Mercian. The photo on the box lid was obviously of a 4mm scale version, and close inspection of the box contents revealed some some details were a little off. The cylinders, particularly, bore little resemblance to the real thing. Nothing, I thought, I couldn't reasonably overcome.
I decided to get my research in. Irwell Press published a lovely illustrated article on the Fowler tank, with images of all of the class through much of their existence. Happily, No 47163, had good views from both sides - and it funnily enough, it was the same number I chose for the 4mm repaint all those years ago. Here, then, was my engine. I created a painting to show how it would look when finished, although a bit cleaner than I intended.
The class was originally fitted with oval buffers and three-link couplings. At some point, 47163 acquired standard round buffers and screw-links. Another loco was photographed with one oval and one round buffer on the front, so there's a prototype for everything!
I started the model well enough. Being My First Loco™, I decided to bring the frames out for S7 by overlaying with black styrene, studded with rod to represent the rivets and bolts. The wheels were reprofiled for S7. I got as far as the footplate, bunker, cab and tank sides, and then discovered the smokebox wrappers and door were way out. The door was from a 3F "Jinty", so it was too large. I failed completely in rolling the boiler to the right diameter, and simply couldn't get the smokebox to fit at all. Let's not even go where the Belpaire firebox is…
Back it all went in the box. I continued to ponder the problem - and have continued pondering for the past five or more years. Occasionally, I'd take the box off the shelf and rummage through the contents, but as I couldn't get past the boiler and smokebox problem it never progressed much further.
Being an interest bubble, I continued to acquire bits and bobs. "One day," I'd say to myself, "One day, I will finish this model." I got some lovely cast details from Laurie Griffin, got the right buffers from Slater's, got a crew, found a motor and suitable gearbox, and finally found an almost-suitable smokebox door casting. This year I found some brass tube of the right diameter for the boiler. There's every possibility 47163 might find its way to the front of the bench for a bit - within the next few years at least!
From the front, the smokebox ring would appear to be oval. 
