Kallisti Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 (edited) For something different, this is a vehicle that was definitely "made in Britian" in 1919:The box says "Steam Traction Engine" but its actually a Showman's Engine. Been looking forward to building this for a while after doing the Steam Roller a few years back.More later as I'm heading out now to a Family Xmas party... Edited April 6, 2016 by Kallisti 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 I have one, just not got round to starting it. I have all the spray paints ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders154 Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Is this the Pendell Princess? Rodders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richellis Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Cool, this is on my wants list, looking forward to seeing this build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Yes its the Pendle Princess. My aim is to strip the chrome and brass and use Alcads instead. I'd also like to add lighting to it since it has coloured light bulbs all around the canopy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeronut Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I'll be watching this one with interest. It may even inspire me to recover my part finished one from its corner of the loft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 An unusual choice of subject and all the more worthy for it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shermaniac Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Are all the fine decorative paintwork decals or shall you be getting creative?? Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Most are decals but they are a bit old so we'll have to see how well they cope... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Now that is a fine kit and quite collectable. I'll keep my eye on your build thread. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I will be fascinated to see this one going together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 I remember a work colleague making one of these many years ago, but I can't remember if it was produced by Bandai. I do recall him telling me that the kit had sticks of wood in the firebox though. He made a lovely job of his and this looks like it will be a great looking model too. I can't wait to see it come together, good luck with your build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 This should be glorious! Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 ...and so we begin... Lets start off with some sprue shots. Its a BIG box with lots of plastic (and other things) inside Here you see the red sprue, one of the brown sprues, the gold sprue (more of which later...) plus decal sheets, rubber tyres, rubber bands for the pully belts, roof, a bag of metal spindles and some gold stickers which will not be used. The gold sprue will have its paint stripped and Alcad used in its place. The second set of sprues has the second brown one, two yellows which will make the wheels and two black ones which contains lots of gears, controls and other bits. There are also 4 small transparency sprues with lightbulbs that I aim to try to illuminate. There is also a length of vinyl hose. Back to the gold sprue... Mr Muscle Oven cleaner and a plastic bag... It took a lot less effort than the gold sprue in the Christie Fire engine I did last year, so that within abotu half and hour the gold was gone! A rinse under the tap and this was the result So now I can begin the build properly. I think the first thing I should sort out is the lighting because if it doesn't work I don't want to damage the kit irretrievably! More later... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 This is certainly a mixed media kit. Those parts photos have made me sit up and take more notice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Lots done today and yesterday, first off some experiments with trying to light the transparent plastic bulbs - I'm using a bright white SMD LED inside a blob of blue tac to hold the bulb against it - this is an animated gif... As you can see the lighting is not as bright as it could be so I still don't really know if it will be enough. I've ordered another 40 SMD LEDs in any case as there are 40 of these bulbs to place. I'm not too worried about hiding the wires as if you see some photos of the real thing there are wires and cables all over the place in the roof space. To continue from that the next piece I've built is the dynamo that sits on the front - I'm goign well of the normal construction sequence, but this is very much a build with lots of sub assemblies so the order I build them isn't important IMHO Now this dynamo is significantly lacking in detail - in particualr the back bit should stick out much more as a sort of lattice frame which has the actual dynamo inside. I'm looking at scratch building that to give it more interest. One of the other changes I'm making is the voltage and switch panel in the kit is located ont he inside of the roof. In many photos I've seen this panel at the back of the dynamo, so I will do the same and add some cables and wires to "connect" to the lighting. Speaking of the roof, I've assbled the side panels of this in prep for whatever I'll do to it to get the lighting and lamps to work The dynamo sits on a platform at the front of the boiler so I've assembled the parts that make this and got it ready for assembly. As with most of these really old kits EVERY piece needs a lot of work to smooth the edges and joints. There is a lot of flash and quite a few mould lines, ejector pin marks and not a few sink marks. Makes you appreciate modern kits really The instructions want you to start with the front steering axle so I thought I'd play along just for the sake of it and here it is, lots of sanding and a bit of filler to make the joints work I learned a lesson from the steam roller and that is to paint the wheel pokes BEFORE assembly as that makes getting the linings done right much easier. So to that end the spokes for both front and back wheels are being primed already I'm using Halfords white primer, which goes on okay but the yellow of the plastic is still showing through. Next is the water tank that hangs under the boiler. This is appropriate for the Shwoman's Engine whereas it wasn't for the Steam Roller but it was obvious the SR was a crude conversion of this kit. This comes as 6 seperate pieces which need to be carefully aligned as there are very few alignment guides with the plastic. I've also sanded off the moulded on pipes which are supposed to join up witht he moulded pipes on the boiler below which have also since been sanded off. Holes have been drilled so that these can be replaced by wire painted with brass paint. So thats where things sit as of this afternoon. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Nit more progress this week, main body halves were joined together and as you can see a bit of filler was requierd Once this was settled, it required some more attention to set up the power requirements for the lighting later on... namely where to put the batteries and power switch. To start off with a hole was cut in the bottom of the main body. Then the piece that was cut out had some holes cut out to take the battery holders and switch Other holes have been drilled in other parts to allow the wires to reach where they need to The wires will go up through the dynamo attached to the front and then be distributed into the roof via cables "attached" to the dynamo as they would have been on the real thing. Next steps will be to start painting these sub assemblies... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Nice progress with an unusual subject Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawel Szczudlyk Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 It's nice to see something different. Keep it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestar12chris Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Coming along nicely Kallisti, always had a soft spot for theses, grandad used to work steam cranes on the grand union. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 (edited) Thanks for the interest guys. My job for today is to try to make the dynamo more accurate, ie turn this into something approaching this: Tickiest bit I reckon is doing the curved outer frame with spars at 120 degrees to each other... Edited January 10, 2016 by Kallisti 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeronut Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Tickiest bit I reckon is doing the curved outer frame with spars at 120 degrees to each other... I'd be looking in the spares box for an aircraft propeller to abuse. Its the windings and contactor brushes that would be giving me the willies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Funny you should mention propeller, I ended up using the template I was sent by propblur.com )which was intended to help you fix and align your individual propblurs to a 3 bladed hub) to do the alignment of the 3 struts. I've got the framework cut out and shaped using boiling water. I'll post a pic tonight. The winding and contactor brushes will be handled next Might require some fliddling with small bits of plastic card... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepers Creepers Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I'll bring you some fine s/steel wire to the meeting tonight, it may be useful ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallisti Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 So this week has been some scratch building using very small pieces of plastic... I need to add some small wiring detail but I'm tempted to hang on until is been painted for that. I need to add some other detail to the central cylinder and then stick it all together. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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