Thursday 27 August 2015

A Driver for a HR Yankee Tank

Yankee Tank Driver about 1900

I used this photo of the driver of HR14 as the basis of my own 1:43 scale model. The driver here is standing on the fireman's side of the engine however, so I had to model him on the other side. Apart from his cap there doesn't seem to be any clothing that could be described as a uniform, he's dressed in his own working clothes.


Yankee Tank Driver in 1:43 scale.

The figure is posed similarly to the photograph but on the driver's side of the engine. The entry to a Yankee Tank is very tight and the cab is similarly cramped so poses have to be designed to maximise the space. You can just see the fireman, who has adopted a space saving pose too, on his side of the engine. See the "For Sale" page for further details.


Yankee Tank crew at work. Note how the poses of the figures maximise the space available in the cramped cab.



 

Friday 14 August 2015

HR 53 Lybster, progress.




Lybster pick-up arrangements.


On the right side of the engine all the wheels, both drivers and bogie, are shorted out with a wire soldered between the tyre and the brass centre boss. Pick-ups on the left side are wipers bearing against the back of the wheels and mounted on copper clad insulation board. The bogie pick-ups can be seen clearly above, the red wire is soldered to a metal tab which is screwed to the copper clad and is easily removable. The screw goes through a hole larger than itself in the metal mount to which the CCIB is glued. The red wire leads to another piece of CCIB near the motor from which it is also dismountable.




Base of roof in place
 
The bunker and cab rear unit is held in place on the footplate with two screws inside the bunker, the roof, of which only the base is in place above, will be attached to the cab rear and will slot into a tongue on the top of the cab front plate. 
 
 
 
 

Domed roof and jig.

 
 
 The domed roof was constructed from four triangular pieces of 0.4 n/s with the help of the jig on the right. When all four pieces were accurately lined up on the jig they were soldered together using thin paper as a barrier to prevent the roof being soldered to the jig. The roof was then removed from the jig, squared up and finished with files and abrasive paper.

  
Lybster with domed roof in place.

A raised edge to form a rain channel and a transvers strengthening strip need to be added to the roof before it is complete. The backhead can be seen in place inside the cab, the flywheel fits neatly inside this, however it had to be made a little slimmer before it would fit inside on my mate Bob Goodyear's lathe.
The backhead itself is constructed from a Lochgorm Kits etch, it fitted well and needed no alteration, it's a good starting point and will be detailed with LGM components which are on order.

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Heroes of the Footplate.



Figures from Pete's 1 :43 scale Heroes of the Footplate range 


Pete has sold Heroes of the Footplate to Chris Smith of Invertrain who will continue to manufacture the range of 1:43 scale figures. The sale will enable Pete to spend more time on creative projects, progress will be posted on this Blog at regular intervals.
A tutorial on painting gauge 0 figures can be accessed on this blog, see... "Painting Figures" above.