1/35 Trumpeter BR86 Dampflok

[bangle]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, i'm really happy that you're all enjoying the journey!

I've been taking a couple of days off. I think I may have reach burn out stage with that one so I needed a bit of time to recover.

I've got some more progress pictures to post tomorrow though so i'm getting back into the swing of things (i've also been spending a small amount of time on CAD again!).

[Breaker]

With the amount of work going into this, I reckon it needs some LEDs for the lights!

[bangle]

With the amount of work going into this, I reckon it needs some LEDs for the lights!

It would look nice lit up in the cab with an LED, but i'd only need one, so i'll keep it simple and low tech I think. I am going to have the cab doors open, so a fair amount should be seen.

Back to the back of the second frame, this turned out to be far simpler than the front (well actually I haven't finished yet so maybe I shouldn't say that just yet). Trumpeter as usual provide a clunky part, what amazes me is that the blank side is the outward facing part! Here it is-

It isn't too far off the shape of the actual part though so I decided to work with the part, mainly because of its stability. I cut out the inside, thinned the plastic down a bit with my file, then made a plastic part to fit the hole (this time using the trial and error method of fit, remove material, fit again etc until I got the shape I wanted). When i'd made a part that fit I then took it out, I drew a triangle, drilled the corners and cut out the rest. I then lined the edges of this triangular hole with a thin plastic card and cut it down to size to make the size of lip I wanted.

To the back of the frame I added some bolts again, I couldn't find any pictures of the exact arrangement here so I made an educated guess. I also added some small ones to my part i'd just edited. I used my CAD picture to make my wrap around piece of plastic card for the edge, again this is just plastic welded on. Positioned the whole assembly looks like this:

There is an arm that comes out of the hole of my edited part and towards the front frame (obscures a lot of what i've just made). This is what i'm using the CAD for, again trumpeter have provided a very plain part with an over simplified shape. There is also an arm which comes out from behind the hole, up to another arm which hinges to travel somewhere behind the water tank. This is completely absent on the kit so i'm mapping out this set of linkages on CAD at the same time.

Also my replacement etch has come from eduard. I begin to get the impression that other people have noticed the absence of said parts before but maybe decided it was of no consequence. I received this tiny little sheet along with their 2014 product catalog which my husband is happily perusing.

[Bengalensis]

Again you treat us to a wonderful level of engineering work in small scale. What a lovely improvement on that plain and boring kit part.

[bangle]

Thank you, i've made my CAD designed parts now, they're smaller and more detailed than the kit part, although I should really have made one of them a little longer, but it will do. I also learnt this time to drill the holes before I began shaping the part. These would have almost certainly split if I hadn't done this as they are close to the edges. I'm not going to cut they're on right now off yet so I can alter the depth of the parts when I have more of my model together as i'm not yet sure how far back the arm with the rod has to go to fit behind the water tank.

[bangle]

Well progress has slowed quite a bit of late, i've been busy this weeks so not much model making time has come my way. Also getting these pistons sorted is a slow process, it seems i'm spending more time thinking than making right now. I've now turned my atention to the front of the pistons. It appears that 333 has been extensively modernised in this area with a lot of the heavy cast parts being replaced. This means that I can't use some of the kit parts which is a shame as they're actually quite good. Here's what the real thing looks like:-

This is how far i've come with building up the parts with the kit part placed on the piston housing on the left for comparison purposes. I started by adding the square plate to the bottom of the large circular plate (this is where you all become very aware of my total lack of knowledge of appropriate terminology). I also had the revelation that making the nuts and bolts is far simpler if you attach the hex rod then drill a hole in the middle for placing the rod for the protruding nut end. this makes my life a lot simpler as it means I can tidy things up with a bit of sand paper without losing the end of my rod. I also added a large nut and bolt to the top of the large circular plate. For the oval(ish) part at the top I first made a plastic card O shape then glued it onto another piece of plastic card, which I then shaped into the oval(ish) shape. I then built up the back with a piece of plastic card tubing for the thin end and a length of bent plastic card for the larger end to provide support for the thin piece of plastic card that I wrapped around to make the sides. For the sticky out rod thingy (apologies for the terrible description) I cut down a piece of 3.2mm diameter plastic rod, and sanded one end to a taper. I then inserted a piece of hex rod into the tapered end and a plain round rod into the other end to make a pin which I could insert into the hole I made in the centre of the circle on my oval(ish) shaped part, just like you would on a kit. My next job is to make some little triangle supports for my sticky out rod thingy ( ) and add the nuts and bolts.

I really need to get myself some silicone bought as well as I need to fabricate a part for casting in resin as I really don't fancy making 8 or more of these, especially as they're about 6mm tall! I'm not sure exactly what they do but they're attached to the pipes at the top of the piston housing as well as the front and appear to be dotted around in many other places. This is what they look like anyway, i'm sure they won't be quite this detailed but i'll try and do the best approximation I can. I'm not all that experienced with casting so it may take a few attempts to get it right.

[bangle]

Nuts and bolts and triangle bits have now been added so that part has now been successfully constructed:

I've also completed building my part to cast, heres what the actual thing looks like from various angles

On my first attempt I made what appeared to be a good effort. However I then went on to check this part against my diagram only to discover i'd made it way over scale!

So after a break it was back to the drawing board. I was feeling like doing a step by step picture progress file this time as I knew the end result would probably be fine.

I started with drilling a hole in a piece of sprue. In this hole I fitted a length of plastic rod on which my parts would slide onto like beads on a string.

The first part to go on was a piece of cut down 1.5mm diameter hex rod, I have made this over-length so I can cut it down during fitting as the length of this portion varies depending on where it goes. I drilled a hole through the middle.....

so that it could slip onto my rod like this....

Next up was a smaller hex rod which got the same treatment

I then sanded it down to get the correct height and fitted it to the main part like so...

Next I took some styrene tubing and rounded off the end...

I then drilled a hole in the side and fitted a 0.5mm diameter rod

Then drilled out an 0.88 mm hex rod (my mini cutting and smoothing broaches were useful here to open out the hole and get rid of bits that kept clogging the hole)

After fitting this to the end of the 0.5mm rod I drilled a hole on the opposite side of the rod at an angle

I then drilled out a hole in another piece of rod, cut it at an angle and tapered it a bit (sorry about the blurry photo, it is small!)

Then I put a rod through the hole and threaded this part on.

Now that this part had been completed I cut down my big rod to the correct size, and drilled out the 0.5mm rods that were now clogging the hole. Suddenly it looked like a really odd teacup from a dolls house.

But it did look much better when added to the main part

Next I threaded on two different sizes of hex rod in the same thread and bead like manner as before to complete the part. I've left the rod protruding from the top whilst I decide how best to make a resin cast

After checking this part against my diagram I find it is still a little over scale, but I'd be hard pressed to make a part much smaller so i'm going to stick with it. Plus I've positioned it in areas where I want to place these and I don't think anyone who hasn't read this thread would notice when the part is on. I think the way i've photographed it makes the size difference seem huge when really it's not as bad as all that (the image on my screen is about 8 times the size of the real thing to give you an idea!)

Anyway that's it for me for today, I hope you've enjoyed your step by step guide to the Amanda way of making whatever these actually are!

[Bengalensis]

Amazing work! That's a lovely piece of miniature engineering.

[Madhatter]

holy heck!!! These parts your making: are they compatible with the 52 as well? If so, I'll buy a set

I thought I was a stickler for detail, but you over shadow me by leaps and bounds. Also helps you can use a CAD - whereas me, I wouldn't know what to do with one if I had one

Fantastic work Amanda - I always look forward to another installment

Si

[bangle]

holy heck!!! These parts your making: are they compatible with the 52 as well? If so, I'll buy a set

I thought I was a stickler for detail, but you over shadow me by leaps and bounds. Also helps you can use a CAD - whereas me, I wouldn't know what to do with one if I had one

Fantastic work Amanda - I always look forward to another installment

Si

There's probably some of these lurking around on the BR52 somewhere, they're a pretty standard part from what I can tell. I've yet to see how the casting goes (I've still not bought any silicone to make the mould as yet!) it may be a disaster.

CAD isn't all that hard. I've got a nice simple, old style version called delta CAD that's really instinctive to use (though it doesn't do any fancy 3D stuff), it takes about 5 minutes to master! You should have a go, you can download a free trial on their site that has all the functions, it just doesn't let you print unless you buy it. There are much more complicated ones out there but really for this kind of thing there's no need. I find myself using it a lot!

[bangle]

It's been a long time (it seems my model making time gets shorter and shorter!) but I finally have some more progress to show. I've been at the CAD again, starting with these reference photos:-

I scaled and drew myself a lovely diagram to work from:-

Then I set to work, I didn't take many progress photos this time as I just did little bits as and when but the photo below shows how I made several little separate parts to make up the whole thing, the red plastic is part of some spare 1/72 hawk drop tanks and the grey some random box section from my spares box. The rest is made up from plastic card, plastic hex rod and styrene tubing/rod.

Here's some shots of the completed part from a few angles, there is still a rod to go through the centre but as that is shiny silver and the rest is black i'm going to paint the part up then slide the rod in last (of course I have made sure that it will just slide in when the time comes!)

Here's a nice comparison shot of the finished article against the kit part

I'm quite happy with how it's turned out, I was also musing on the fact that if someone had shown me my build thread when I first started the kit (or maybe even a few months ago!) and told me i'd be producing scratch built parts like this I wouldn't have believed them at all!

[bangle]

I've just spotted I missed something too! It's time for me to go and get those bolts on the end of that circular piece connected to the rod at the end!

[Madhatter]

My goodness,that's some fantastic scratch building you have going on there. I was wondering where you were up to. Mine has stalled due to no hex rod, but I should be getting some soon. Your really upping the ante with your build.

Looking forward to seeing more of this

MH

[Breaker]

Saw this whilst browsing the web, thought it might come in useful for this build.

[bangle]

Thanks for the link, that's a very interesting and useful method, I think i'll have to remember that one and try it out sometime!

[Caerbannog]

Incredible work Bangle

Rene

[bangle]

Incredible work Bangle

Rene

Thank you

Well I got back last week from my trip to Germany, I did get to go visit the Sauschwaenzle Bahn where 86 333 is but I didn't get to see it as it wasn't running that day. I enjoyed every minute though, I did get to go in the cab of the loco that was running and we took the 21/2 hour return trip along the railway. The views were amazing

I've also started work on my model again although as yet progress is slow.

[bangle]

It's finally time for another update, it's difficult getting back into this model at such a heavy stage, these pistons really take a lot of work! I'm working on the rearward facing end now, some parts aren't so bad, I just had to make up simpler versions of some housing for this bit, add some of the photo etch to a slightly different area, add a couple of hexes and add flat spots to either side of a rod.

Th lower portion was a bit of a pain. I was really tempted to just stick with the kit part but the over simplification began to annoy me so I got to work. The picture below shows how my modification turned out on the left and the original kit part on the right.

As I rather inconveniently don't have any plastic rod of a large enough diameter to scratch build from and no means of getting any locally I began to search among my spare parts. I decided the trumpeter kit parts for the compressor that i'm not going to use would be great. I worked out that I could chop off some of the veins but keep the last two to make the end portion.

For stability and workability I then reamed out the centre so that it was large enough to fit some styrene rod of the correct internal diameter (I still need a hole for a rod to go though). Once this was done I then added a thin plastic card cap to the end which I would later drill out. Next I marked up the position of the 6 bolts that go through the part, then I drilled through the top to create a recess in which I could fit some plastic rod.

After all these rods had been glued in I had the effect I was hoping for and I could then fit the part and add the bolts and things. All I have to do now is to repeat the process on the other side!

[Madhatter]

it's great to see you back at this Amanda

I still think you should cast these and sell them as AM parts though.... just saying

Si

[Will Vale]

Trip photos look excellent, as does the new cylinder part - accurate and crisp as always.

All these trains on Britmodeller have persuaded my to drag my Hoellentalbahn layout from the garage and think about what needs to happen to finish it. Keep it coming!

Will

[Ozzy]

Fantastic detail, I'm currently building one but mine is very much out of the box. I've never built a train before, and am really enjoying the build. This is where I'm up to at the moment.

Need to do some filling and other bits but am happy so far.

Ozzy

[Madhatter]

Its great to see another engine coming to life.

I hope Amanda continues to build here up as I was really enjoying the thread.

Why don't u start one up Ozzy?

[Ozzy]

Its great to see another engine coming to life.

I hope Amanda continues to build here up as I was really enjoying the thread.

Why don't u start one up Ozzy?

Yes Amanda's build looks fantastic the detail looks amazing.

I have one on going on the dio forum called not 009 or 007, I only brought this by chance of Marty to pull my Schwere plattformwagen type ssyms 80, I've got some more photos to go on as the under side is as detailed as the rest of the train. I have been watching your thread in Orr, hope mine will look as good, I was toying with the idea or your paint job, but don't think it would suit, I insted found a picture of a black very sooty engine I think I will do. The only extras are a driver and a coal shoveller, I will get in the new year.

Ozzy

[Marty]

Great work here..! And fab to see the kit I sold Ozzy a few weeks ago being built already

Keep up the good work both of you..!

[GruntZone360]

Fantastic detail, I'm currently building one but mine is very much out of the box. I've never built a train before, and am really enjoying the build. This is where I'm up to at the moment.

Need to do some filling and other bits but am happy so far.

Ozzy

How do you expect to paint it? And nice build so far Bangle!