Having completed a pair of water towers for the Claptowte Railway, I was in need of a pair of water cranes as a means of getting water from the tanks in the towers, to the tanks on the locomotives. I found a suitable 3D printed model on eBay and bought two of them. It is actually 16mm scale and slightly on the large side, but still fits in well.
The model as purchased, the black item, beside it, is a length of heat shrink tubing, to form the hose.
I do not know what material the model was printed from, but it is extremely hard. When it came to cleaning up the print by rubbing down some of the print lines, I had to attack it with quite a coarse file to make any impression on it, before I could attempt to sand it smooth. As purchased, the models had small finials, on the top, these were vulnerable and soon broke off. My first thought was to drill the tops and insert a map pin in the top to make a ball finial. I then thought it would be more appropriate to fit a support strut, so instead i inserted a handrail knob. I drilled and inserted a second knob at the end of the outlet pipe and joined the two with a strut made from brass handrail wire. I drilled a second hole in the end of the pipe and inserted a cotter pin to which I attached a length of chain.
The altered model
The whole model was sprayed with grey plastic primer prior to painting.
The model was painted. The heat shrink tube was attached and heated with a hair drier to crinkle it up. Th model was lightly weathered and some tufts of grass were added. A thin piece of plasticard was painted matt black and glued to the underside of the base, beneath the drain grating. To keep everything level another piece of plasicard was glued under the opposite end of the base.
The completed model
The two water cranes, one for Gernise End Station, the other, for Phidell Yard
David
The model as purchased, the black item, beside it, is a length of heat shrink tubing, to form the hose.
I do not know what material the model was printed from, but it is extremely hard. When it came to cleaning up the print by rubbing down some of the print lines, I had to attack it with quite a coarse file to make any impression on it, before I could attempt to sand it smooth. As purchased, the models had small finials, on the top, these were vulnerable and soon broke off. My first thought was to drill the tops and insert a map pin in the top to make a ball finial. I then thought it would be more appropriate to fit a support strut, so instead i inserted a handrail knob. I drilled and inserted a second knob at the end of the outlet pipe and joined the two with a strut made from brass handrail wire. I drilled a second hole in the end of the pipe and inserted a cotter pin to which I attached a length of chain.
The altered model
The whole model was sprayed with grey plastic primer prior to painting.
The model was painted. The heat shrink tube was attached and heated with a hair drier to crinkle it up. Th model was lightly weathered and some tufts of grass were added. A thin piece of plasticard was painted matt black and glued to the underside of the base, beneath the drain grating. To keep everything level another piece of plasicard was glued under the opposite end of the base.
The completed model
The two water cranes, one for Gernise End Station, the other, for Phidell Yard
David
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