This is a LGB 20790 Corpet-Louvet French locomotive. Over the years, this model has appeared in various guises and liveries, this model starting life in red livery. I bought it some years ago, second hand, on eBay. A previous owner had fitted it with a decoder, but it had never work to my satisfaction, with a loud buzz coming from it. Nothing that I tried would rectify this fault and I came to the conclusion that the decoder was faulty. I had purchased some LGB 55027 decoders, again some time ago, with the intention of chipping some analogue locomotives. I allocated one of these decoders to this loco and set both aside until I was ready.
When the time came to modify the locomotive, the first job was to remove the existing decoder and install the new one. The locomotive now runs perfectly smoothly, thus confirming my initial suspicion.
Now for the alterations, the preferred livery for most of the Claptowte Railway steam locomotives is unlined black. Of all the various liveries applied to LGB Corpet-Louvet locomotives, I think they look at their best in black. To that end the relevant parts were stripped down for a repaint. Any French markings were sanded off and the moulded ovals on the side tank sides were sanded down. The makers name plates on the cab sides were masked off. The cab sides and roof, tank sides and pistons were initially sprayed with grey plastic primer, then Halfords satin black.
In order to Anglicise the appearance of the loco, the interior of the cab was painted cream, with various controls picked out in red.
The buffer beams were painted red. The buffer heads had the white rims sanded off and they were repainted black. The brake pipes were painted. The moveable cover on the top of the funnel was missing, so a new one was made from plasticard and screwed in place.
The loco came with no crew figures. I purchased two unpainted 3D printed G Scale figures from Clavey Models, via eBay, Driver Sam and Fireman Ed, painted them and installed them in the cab.
The final embellishment is to affix the etched brass name and number plates supplied by Light Railway Works – Custom Nameplate Studio. It is the custom of the Claptowte Railway to name the steam locomotives after female members of my family. Being a French locomotive, this was always destined to be named ‘Yvonne’, after my Mother-in-Law. Family rumour has it that she was named after a French girlfriend that her father had while serving in France during the First World War.
The completed locomotive.
David
When the time came to modify the locomotive, the first job was to remove the existing decoder and install the new one. The locomotive now runs perfectly smoothly, thus confirming my initial suspicion.
Now for the alterations, the preferred livery for most of the Claptowte Railway steam locomotives is unlined black. Of all the various liveries applied to LGB Corpet-Louvet locomotives, I think they look at their best in black. To that end the relevant parts were stripped down for a repaint. Any French markings were sanded off and the moulded ovals on the side tank sides were sanded down. The makers name plates on the cab sides were masked off. The cab sides and roof, tank sides and pistons were initially sprayed with grey plastic primer, then Halfords satin black.
In order to Anglicise the appearance of the loco, the interior of the cab was painted cream, with various controls picked out in red.
The buffer beams were painted red. The buffer heads had the white rims sanded off and they were repainted black. The brake pipes were painted. The moveable cover on the top of the funnel was missing, so a new one was made from plasticard and screwed in place.
The loco came with no crew figures. I purchased two unpainted 3D printed G Scale figures from Clavey Models, via eBay, Driver Sam and Fireman Ed, painted them and installed them in the cab.
The final embellishment is to affix the etched brass name and number plates supplied by Light Railway Works – Custom Nameplate Studio. It is the custom of the Claptowte Railway to name the steam locomotives after female members of my family. Being a French locomotive, this was always destined to be named ‘Yvonne’, after my Mother-in-Law. Family rumour has it that she was named after a French girlfriend that her father had while serving in France during the First World War.
The completed locomotive.
David
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