Full steam ahead!

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
So I've "ummed and arrghhed"about whether to or not to post what I'm up to with how my last little project scratch build went with a maker beating me to making the same model when a few people showed interest.

For a while I've hankered to make something "steam" but battery powered now that my little Gmeinder is nearing completion with a LocoRemote card in the post as I write this. I'd not really decided on what nor could I make my mind up which railway to look at. Dipping in on the archives of 16mmngm back issues I stumbled on something that hit home as a eureka moment and I knew I just HAD to build it.

The only other versions of this loco are meth's fired metal body loco's the 1st ones I could find being 1980's Hugh Sanders model (the one I've found plans for that show me at least 80/90% of what I need to make a base model) and another made by Steve Acton. Both I believe were small batch loco's and I only know of a couple of them being about one or two of them being abroad!

Acucraft an PDF models have made some rather beautiful loco's of others in the fleet but nether seemed to do a Ker Stuart 0-4-2T Tattoo "Edward Thomas" Number 4 Locomotive on The Talyllyn Railway. So there's my gap! I don't really plan to sell off copies of it after Ive finished mine or share what I've made as I rather like the idea that someone could in theory just as easy source the same plans and have their own bash at it!

Enough of the chit chat here's both my start images and the beginning of my project. Both working with some brass, 3D printed in both ABS, and small bits of resin and laser cut Acrylic it's going to be a real mixed bag of media but hopefully it'll all come together in the end with some wheels I'll be asking a friend and colleague in the heavy tools workshop on the lathe when I'm ready for them:

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The rather fab and very detailed plans kindly provided by Romney Marsh Model Engineering Society many moons ago to the 16mm society mag. All written out and measured in Inches! (D'oh!) so it's been a very slow process of inputting inches into CAD as I drew bits. One of the first things I did was have a bash at a chimney. Don't ask me why I just got curious how I'd draw the base of the funnel out to form that curved shape of the smoke box and the tapered top to the main body of the funnel.
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It turned out far better than I expected it to!
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So I painted it.
Next I tackled drawing up some frames. As per the meth's fired version I had a hunt around to see if anything matched the general measurement of a 2" radius boiler for a cardboard mock up. Woe and behold a paper towel we use in the lab had a "inner" that was exactly that size.
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Excusing all the junk and mess on my desk. (I'm supposed to be doing some real work on there too so a few bits of a project are in the pile!)
Carboard and more 3d Printed test bits drew me half way to it starting to look something like a locomotive...
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Yes. I know I'm a dreadful messy worker!

I then decided to tackle some cab work and drew up some cab panels to get a nice visual
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Masking tape happy I stuck it all together! the 1st cab roof I printed fell over mid print as it was too thin so I had half cab half spaghetti! Never mind I Just took to using more masking tape and some card
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After I got to this stage I decided I really needed to make a CAD assembly to test bits before making physical copies to know things will mesh together (provided I get the right tolerances).
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You can probably start to see the direction I'm headed with it!
I totally forgot to get images of how I formed some brass sheet into a water tank and stuck some Acetal ether end.
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I then decided it was time to really tape up and glue a very few bits that I'm happy will stay together so that I was comfortable actually picking the model up safely
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The smoke box skin needed cutting down as I drew it wrong and it was sitting far to tall. I still needed to trim a little more off at this point when I took the photo above. When I was happy with them I primed a couple of the non-grey bits to make it all match the same colour.
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I've moved forward a little more since this but I'll show those soon as I probably should be getting to bed rather soon...
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
So this will bring the last bits up to date in terms of photos. I've not taken lots of snaps along the way but these should hopefully show some of the other bits I've added.

Seeing as it will be motor controlled driven by an axle instead of valve gear the cylinders will be more of a show item for the rods to just mesh with but not push anything. I've left them hollow for this reason but drawn them to specification from the drawings. here are some snaps of the first design and test print. I later replaced the rear covers as the print quality was poor.
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The rear ones had a very small lip to mesh with the inside of the cylinder block but as this was then leaving a face raised off the print bed the supports did not print very well leaving a rather unsightly mess. A re print in resin quickly fixed this issue leaving some rather nice detailed ones in situ now.

I've now also printed two smoke box doors one in ABS and one in resin. the ABS one was to mock up that it fit and looked right as I had to guess the measurements for this a little. it seems the original ones were cast by an engineering company for the Hugh Sanders version back in the 80's and this was a one piece casting that slotted into the smoke box outer skin and didn't open in the slightest. I wanted to make my smoke box door hinge so set to designing it separate.
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above you can see the ABS version. another detail that was printed was the tank filler collar and lid. I'm still thinking about that one as I'm not quite happy with the outer edge and overall shape of the lid. the other detail that I copied to the same format of the meth's fired version is the steam take off for the boiler. I think I'll be redesigning this one at a later point to make it look more detailed like the real one much like I am doing for some of the other parts that don't have to function as it's not being fired.

Once I was happy the smoke box looked okay I printed a lovely resin one with some hinge mountings also in resin that would accept a 1mm rod with a dab of glue each end to hold it all in place leaving it to function properly. I also drilled out some holes in the front of the smoke box for the door latches and quickly filed down a couple of washers to test the theory. I'll later design some proper little latches that look better than some stacked washers on a button head bolt
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and with the door open...
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I'm yet to make the handle in the middle of the door I'm still looking to find some reference material that shows me the inside of the smoke box and door to fully decide how I want that detail to look. the other thing that I have also started to work on is some of the cab detail building the boxes that sit inside for a coal bunker and I've made a dummy back plate with sliding fire box doors. This was purely to visualise the aesthetics as I will later build a better looking and more functional backplate when it comes to adding more detail to the cab. Here's a comparison of mine vs the real thing that I took back in August last year when I rode behind Edward for my birthday treat
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I've also updated my CAD assembly to the same point (admittedly my CAD model has a little more colour than the real thing!)
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That's it all up to date until I add more to the parts list!
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
A little bit more progress today. I decided upon trying to tackle some Rod gear (mocked up in ABS to trial before attempting to make something a bit stronger that will withstand the stress of running). The drawings are not the clearest on how things mount or where the slide bar attaches to the cylinders or where the bracket mounts on the frames.
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I propped what I had drawn up against the model and hoped it lined up enough to work out where things go. Alas it wasn’t helpful to me so I took to asking for images from other Hugh Sanders versions and 16mmngm Facebook group came up trumps!
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gives me plenty of food for thought!
I’ve also given the smoke box a very rough coat of black and made a boiler end plate to make it look a bit more realistic
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Above photo the cylinder plate was removed as I’ve had to remake it with a new hole for mounting the slide bar. Latches for the smoke box door are now made and fitted.
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next thing I need to tackle is remaking the rear of the cab as it seems my measurements are a few mm out and the rear is thinner than the front of the cab somehow?
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Lovely little project Tom watching with much interest.
Sum what envious of being able to do CAD and 3D print.
Cheers
Ade
I never thought i’d be as lucky to have such toys at my disposal, the job being one I never thought I’d get but hit the ground running and it’s been such a blessing to be employed by them. Well looked after for a change! It’s been a real learning curve teaching myself how to do it all. Proud of how far I’ve come from no knowledge of them at all apart from “wouldn’t mind a go on one of them”.
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Only some small updates for today. Overnight a print was put on for some more ornate items. One of them being a pair of whistles on the blow off valve turret. Designed on similar dimensions to the drawings but guesstimated looking at photos of the real loco.
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I was quite impressed how well it came out. Should look even better once painted.
Coal bunker side made along with a side panel for the other side. Eventually there will be a lid made for the opposite side to coal bunker.
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Trims along the top of the lower half of the cab have been added and a name plate designed and printed. 134A8058-2F17-4D34-A9C5-9ED007113CDC.jpeg
I’ve rather taken it to bits again as some rear cab adjustments are being made and I’m attempting more Rod work adjustments so once I’ve made them I’ll go for another test fitting session!
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Just before going on a weeks break from work I decided upon re-assembling Edward to be left at work until I return. Some of the new bits went Into place along with some slightly better resin mock wheels and stud work for offering up rods.
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they are halfway there and although there is still a lot of play meaning things didn’t line up completely all the time I managed to get a couple of rotations with rods meshing to a “okay” standard.
I also took a couple of snaps to show the alterations I made to the rear of the cab. Although the overall width doesn’t show you can visually see the change of doors on the lower half and the thicker side parts that match the front of the cab better and look more like the real loco’s cab!
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Excusing the poorly propped together rear but tape would of hidden the details too much!

back together sat waiting for the next working session I’m happy with my so far progress. Making a functional fire hole door has been stumping me a little so I’ve stepped away from it to clear my frustration and await a little more research and reference before making up a dummy backplate detail. For the cab and some gauges and bright work!
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For now I’ve a week of DIY and home improvement.. not all at a loss though as one of those home improvement’s include a countertop layout ;)
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Not too much progress so far this week. I decided to have a little go at the piston rods using stainless dowel pins. Filling a little bit flat and then drilling a hole to mount to the bracket on the slide bar and then trimmed to the required length to go into the cylinder.
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the next will be connecting rods to go from the balance shaft and steam chest then I might be ready to ask for some metal wheels to be made by a colleague at work that’s allowed to play with the big tools!
The second thing I decided to do was swap out the 2” tube butchered by me to mock up the sizing and work out how I wanted to cut holes in it for storing gubbins in it. A 3D printed version fitted nicely and looked a lot cleaner. Doing away with a support band underneath the boiler as I’ve added tabs and supports on the 3D model.
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Old boiler mock in the background and showing the padding added to the water tank to make it a nice snug fit. Next thing I need to look at is strengthening the front of the chassis frame as it’s all still locked together and wobbles quite a bit still!
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the whistles and blow off has also been raised up around 1.5mm just enough to be around the top of the cab roof which is more like the real thing. Predominantly down to boiler cladding around the firebox being wider so I’ll possibly work on adding that soon!

I’m going to have to brave making the backhead but keep putting it off a bit as I’m miffed by designing the sliding firebox doors. I know there’s a lot of geometry and then some involved but lacking some proper drawings to start from. Can’t find some nice scale images ether :headbang:
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Thank you AdeMoore, I really hope I can do it justice when it comes to making the parts and getting them all to function as I intend them to.

I have now done a little more to the designs and can show what I started from. Yesterday afternoon I decided to put the feelers out with the 16mmngm Facebook page asking if anyone had some basic dimensions or drawings or even nice photos that I can use to draw up some firebox doors to start adding some detailed parts to the cab. I was not disappointed as early this morning I got a notification pop up on my phone that I could read saying "here you go, Hope that helps!" . Eager to see what I'd been given in picture form I was not expecting such a helpful resource but boy did it answer my problems! The kind fellow producing a 2" loco sent me a snap of his plans!

Bingo.
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Initially I decided I would copy straght the same dimensions into Solidworks and make a basic assembly of all the parts to work out how to mesh them together and they worked perfectly. the only real issue I had was my handle was the wrong way for me!
With some quick adjustments and then just simply flipping the hole assembly plate upside down (I prefer the two mounting bolts atop anyway) and moved some holes around on the handle.
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Here you can see I first tried it with the handle the other way before doing too much work.
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With a backhead model made up I set to adding a few additional features like the water glasses and a reverser leaver. a few rivets along the bottom then put this assembly into the master assembly I usually use to check how things will fit together before committing to printing/cutting them. I also can add to this that I've also taken some time trawling the interwebs for some RGB figures so I could program them into the appearance of parts on Soldworks so the above loco is proper "BS381C 224 Deep Bronze Green".

And last of all I took the back of the cab off to show properly the backhead and the tiny other detail I added just for aesthetics inside the fire box to make it look like a real one!
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Some of it I've tried to be as real to the genuine article but some parts are down to my own creative license. I feel as long as it gives that same look and makes you think "Oh yes, that's Edward Thomas' cab alright" without looking too closely to say "wait a minute that water glass handle is not pro-typical to the designs there was actually X".

Tomorrow morning I'm going to commit a few parts to the printers and see how they turn out.
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Well not to disappoint the test print went on this morning along with the so far progress of the backhead.
The first to come off the printer was the sliding doors and it's pretty evident that the ABS was not sturdy enough and the fine detail just wasn't going to come through on a 0.4 nozzle. It was however still functional with some careful fettling, re-drilling holes and the careful operation!
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Once I was happy it moved okay as it is gently I eagerly waited for the backhead to finish on the other printer. Whilst I waited I cut some 5mm clear acrylic and drilled a hole down the middle of it. filed one side down gently and then used a fine marker to draw some stripes on it...
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All put together I couldn't believe how well it came out. So had to take some photos of it in the cab!
I did do a video of it but I'll upload that later.
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I put a small SMD underneath to show the other bit I printed for the back of the fire box (all you could see was light from down an empty tube so that wouldn't do. I had to make a dummy back plate!). I then proceeded to colour some of it in with a sharpie just to see if it would all blend in too much?
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I will admit it looks bloody awful but thankfully it's not the final product! ;) Come payday I'm going to invest in a couple of tins of proper paint (I've got BS381C 224 Deep bronze green on my list. some satin black will also be a must!
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Just a small update from me at the moment as I've changed the door mechanism slightly to test the strength of a new operating lever with handle (printed sideways which the printer liked better). and a reverser lever. I've also taken to putting fitted bolts on the pivot points on the mechanism to hold it all in place as the previous version had pins. the original plans stated a hole drilled with a split pin to retain the mechanism. on my scale there was no way that would have worked so I compromised to something that was achievable.

I'll let the rest of the images do the talking.
I'm hoping to get some cab photos soon so I can start making some of the other bits and work on making a little flickering light for the firebox!

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that's yer lot folks! (for now)
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Not loads to update with but I did have a little happy moment when testing out a theory that's cheap and simple.

I have spent a little time playing with knobs and pipe work but I'm still not 100% happy with those so I'll probably scrap them and start again at some point!
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I knew the detail was not going to remotely touch the scale I was printing it at but it gave me a "sort of" idea of how it sat in the cab, and comparing it to photos I wasn't 100% happy.

I can do better when I have more data!

The other one I'm particularly happy with though is these little things...
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They came apart really easily and I've already destroyed a couple in aid of testing. butchered and taped to a bit of ol wood and with one of them the LED swapped from warm yellow to red.. I think the results were quite nifty. I'll make a proper version where the LED's are hidden properly beneath or near a "fire pile" and out of sight as you could see one of the LED's how I've put it in at the moment.
But this was just a proof of concept more than anything.

The inside of the firebox was lined with some aluminium foil out of sight behind the fire hole and on the top inside of the boiler to reflect the light and hopefully make things a bit brighter.


I'll let the video do the talking and excuse my fat fingers and slightly heavier than expected closing of the doors...
 

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