G1 Thomas the tank engine

[WhitehouseFilms]

Since I started my garden railway, I had been thinking of getting a Thomas to run on it. Now I know Bachmann do a nice line up of the engines but they are more G3 size. So I thought it would be nice to try something a little different and try and make my own Thomas at a scale of 1:32 Gauge 1. It was then I came across a model that was made by a man called Ronald Pointer. It was made up using an ERTL RC Thomas body fitted onto a G1 chassis and powered by RC. Now I quite liked this idea and decided to give it a try. You can see Ronald's Model via this link. GALLERY: Hundreds celebrate 100th birthday of Thomas the Tank Engine author
The first thing to do was to find an ERTL body for Thomas. As luck would have it, I found one on eBay and got it for £1.

The next stage was to find a suitable chassis for it to run on. This then came in the form of a PIKO motor block.
To fit the block onto Thomas I had to cut away part of the footplate, but this won't bee seen as the top will cover this.



The motor will have an LGB MTS decoder fitted to run on my garden layout.
Buffers and couplings were the next items to get and once they are fitted, I can repaint the footplate. A chimney cap for the funnel is also on order.
For Thomas's siderods, a friend in the USA designed these as he also has one of these motor blocks for a model he is currently making. I'm just waiting on some E clips to secure them on and will also need to seem out the holes in the wheels to fit these plugs on.

For now this is How Thomas is looking but theres still a little bit more that needs to be done before he can pull any trains. Let me know what you think and if there are any helpful tips that would be of any use to this build.

 

[dunnyrail]

Since I started my garden railway, I had been thinking of getting a Thomas to run on it. Now I know Bachmann do a nice line up of the engines but they are more G3 size. So I thought it would be nice to try something a little different and try and make my own Thomas at a scale of 1:32 Gauge 1. It was then I came across a model that was made by a man called Ronald Pointer. It was made up using an ERTL RC Thomas body fitted onto a G1 chassis and powered by RC. Now I quite liked this idea and decided to give it a try. You can see Ronald's Model via this link. GALLERY: Hundreds celebrate 100th birthday of Thomas the Tank Engine author
The first thing to do was to find an ERTL body for Thomas. As luck would have it, I found one on eBay and got it for £1.
View attachment 241575
The next stage was to find a suitable chassis for it to run on. This then came in the form of a PIKO motor block.
To fit the block onto Thomas I had to cut away part of the footplate, but this won't bee seen as the top will cover this.
View attachment 241576
View attachment 241577
View attachment 241579
The motor will have an LGB MTS decoder fitted to run on my garden layout.
Buffers and couplings were the next items to get and once they are fitted, I can repaint the footplate. A chimney cap for the funnel is also on order.
For Thomas's siderods, a friend in the USA designed these as he also has one of these motor blocks for a model he is currently making. I'm just waiting on some E clips to secure them on and will also need to seem out the holes in the wheels to fit these plugs on.
View attachment 241585
For now this is How Thomas is looking but theres still a little bit more that needs to be done before he can pull any trains. Let me know what you think and if there are any helpful tips that would be of any use to this build.
View attachment 241586

Looks perfectly acceptable for a Thomas to me. One good thing is that being to G1 Standard Gauge it will work fine on their layouts (if you visit) though they tend to be few that are DCC (well that is the case in UK) . You may like to consider if a Battery Powered Thomas may work better for you? As for when you use it with G Scale Narrow Gauge Trains, you could say if anyone thinks it looks a bit small that he has been on a Diet!

 

[stockers]

Looks perfectly acceptable for a Thomas to me. One good thing is that being to G1 Standard Gauge it will work fine on their layouts (if you visit) though they tend to be few that are DCC (well that is the case in UK) . You may like to consider if a Battery Powered Thomas may work better for you? As for when you use it with G Scale Narrow Gauge Trains, you could say if anyone thinks it looks a bit small that he has been on a Diet!

Mods note.- Please don't cut across a posters thread, especially so early in the life of the thread. The OP has stated quite clearly that he is fitting a decoder to run on his garden layout.

 

[PhilP]

Interesting conversion..
Was there any particular reason you went the way you have gone for the rods? - Piko spares are available..
Thanks,
PhilP.

 

[Firemangrumpy]

Mods note.- Please don't cut across a posters thread, especially so early in the life of the thread. The OP has stated quite clearly that he is fitting a decoder to run on his garden layout.

Harsh.

 

[JimmyB]

Harsh.

Didn't understand the "Mods note"

 

[PhilP]

Didn't understand the "Mods note"

I think the inference is that this is (in effect) a 'build-thread'.. One post in, and Jon was suggesting that the OP consider battery, rather then DCC, as Jon was thinking G1.

The Bachmann Thomas range are nearer G3, so quite large, and this conversion gives something more in keeping with 'our' other stock.


Back too thread:
The Piko block looks to be a 'starter set' block, and the wheel profile looks a lot more 'G scale' than 'G1' to me?

Perhaps the OP would like to clarify this?
Thanks.

 

[Rhinochugger]

I think the inference is that this is (in effect) a 'build-thread'.. One post in, and Jon was suggesting that the OP consider battery, rather then DCC, as Jon was thinking G1.

Yeah, I think this was one of the things that had been giving grief, along with the politics issue, and that we all signed up to recently without reading it properly

............ and I think I can understand the point where someone is saying that they're going to fit a decoder as they've got a system with MTS, it could be construed as being rude to start saying, 'Now I don't think you really wanted to do that............'

 

[stockers]

Exactly, and not an easy situation to moderate - but we will try to be fair. We are not tying to control thread drift but give the OP a chance to tell his story.

 

[Zerogee]

Yeah, I think this was one of the things that had been giving grief, along with the politics issue, and that we all signed up to recently without reading it properly

............ and I think I can understand the point where someone is saying that they're going to fit a decoder as they've got a system with MTS, it could be construed as being rude to start saying, 'Now I don't think you really wanted to do that............'

Agreed, there is a world of difference between a thread like this, which is someone posting "this is what I've built" (and jolly nice it is too....), and a "request for advice" type thread where someone says "I'm thinking of doing this, what do others think about it?".
In the latter case, then advice has been asked for and the discussion is open, but in the former case it's not really helpful to anyone to start second-guessing what the builder has already done (or decided to do).

Jon.

 

[stockers]

Thanks for the support folks - it is not an easy situation. Back to the thread now please - and apologies to 'Whitehousefilms'.

 

[PhilP]

Thanks for the support folks - it is not an easy situation. Back to the thread now please - and apologies to 'Whitehousefilms'.

Once the Original Poster comes back to the thread.. Might it be worth trimming out many of the above?

 

[WhitehouseFilms]

Hello again, everyone.
I see there has been some discussion here while I was away so I'll talk about this first before I continue with my post.
My garden railway mainly consists of LGB track as it was sold to me 2nd hand by a friend who had a garden railway in his back garden. He also sold me the MTS he used to power it so I mainly use this to power my trains. I do also have battery and live steam so I like to mix my stock every so often. I'm still a beginner with MTS so I would like to stick with this method so I will learn more about it. I hope that clarifies everything.
Anyway back to the model.

Interesting conversion..
Was there any particular reason you went the way you have gone for the rods? - Piko spares are available..
Thanks,
PhilP.

Well I chose these because I think the PIKO ones don't really look right for this build. But I might get them for another built which I'm thinking of doing maybe next year.

The Piko block looks to be a 'starter set' block, and the wheel profile looks a lot more 'G scale' than 'G1' to me?

I chose this because it had the correct wheel spacing for the body. I'm not too fussed about the wheels although i know what you mean as they do look odd and the number of spokes are incorrect. But I can make do with them till I find a better solution. I could change them to the Mogul type but this would make the model too tall. I might buy a set and do some tests and see.
So yesterday Thomas had his front buffers and couplings fitted. I sawn off the old ones and the large ERTL hoop coupling and fit a new buffer beam on board. Looks alright so far.

Also I know the coupling chain isn't right but Like I said I'm using Ronald Pointer's Thomas as the main reference with this build.
I'll be fitting the other buffers and coupling today and then I'll see about making the cab steps before I start painting the footplate.

 

[Alec K]

Hello again, everyone.
I see there has been some discussion here while I was away so I'll talk about this first before I continue with my post.
My garden railway mainly consists of LGB track as it was sold to me 2nd hand by a friend who had a garden railway in his back garden. He also sold me the MTS he used to power it so I mainly use this to power my trains. I do also have battery and live steam so I like to mix my stock every so often. I'm still a beginner with MTS so I would like to stick with this method so I will learn more about it. I hope that clarifies everything.
Anyway back to the model.

Well I chose these because I think the PIKO ones don't really look right for this build. But I might get them for another built which I'm thinking of doing maybe next year.


I chose this because it had the correct wheel spacing for the body. I'm not too fussed about the wheels although i know what you mean as they do look odd and the number of spokes are incorrect. But I can make do with them till I find a better solution. I could change them to the Mogul type but this would make the model too tall. I might buy a set and do some tests and see.
So yesterday Thomas had his front buffers and couplings fitted. I sawn off the old ones and the large ERTL hoop coupling and fit a new buffer beam on board. Looks alright so far.
View attachment 241700
Also I know the coupling chain isn't right but Like I said I'm using Ronald Pointer's Thomas as the main reference with this build.
I'll be fitting the other buffers and coupling today and then I'll see about making the cab steps before I start painting the footplate.

Looks fantastic - this is coming along well and it's a very useful account, too.

 

[Firemangrumpy]

I love it.

 

[PhilP]

The change of buffer beam really makes a difference..

PS Is there something other than 'WhitehouseFilms' we can call you?
PhilP - The 'P' to distinguish me from the other Phil's!

 

[WhitehouseFilms]

The change of buffer beam really makes a difference..

PS Is there something other than 'WhitehouseFilms' we can call you?
PhilP - The 'P' to distinguish me from the other Phil's!

Sure, you can call me Michael. WhitehouseFilms is just my YouTube and forum username.

 

[PhilP]

Welcome to the Forum Michael..
You can see how things can 'drift' already.

So in the interest of keeping things 'on track' (as it were)..
Where did you get your buffers from, please?

 

[WhitehouseFilms]

Where did you get your buffers from, please?

The buffers and couplings came from Walsall Model Industries. Like Tenmille, it's a good supplier of G1 parts.

 

[Zerogee]

Welcome Michael, very nice job so far on your Thomas!

Jon.