I'd built some Groudle Glen Railway 'toastrack' carriages to go with the Accucraft 7/8ths" 'Sea Lion' that I had on order, so it seemed logical to build a model of one of the battery locos that ran on the line in the 1920's. In practical terms I've also found it useful to have a battery loco to run as a roadsweeper before a live steam loco to find all the twigs, stones in the point frogs etc. that I'd missed when preparing the permanent way.
The first task was to blow up drawings of the loco on a photocopier, which provided the main dimensions; and with such a simple loco, there isn't much need for anything but the main dimensions! Having decided that I was going to use either styrene or MDF for the body, drawings were prepared for the laser cutter at work. With hindsight I maybe should have considered brass sheet.
I had the opportunity to use a 3D printer too, and needed to learn how the software worked, so this provided an incentive. In the end the cab sheets, headlamps and buffer castings were made this way; the cab sheets ended up a bit 'faceted', and I think I would use brass sheet next time -not that there will be a next time, I suspect.
I then decided to produce an accurate mock-up of the chassis, again using laser cut MDF. The drawings scaled out at around 6mm, which seems excessive, but who am I to argue. I initially thought of mounting the motor vertically but quickly changed to having it slung between the frames for low-down weight. Brass bearings were turned up for the axles, and the axles themselves turned to fit a couple of pairs of 32mm gauge Accucraft wheelsets left over from my IOM pairs carriages.
Motor and gears were from Swift Sixteen; they seemed a bit noisy, but I think this was due to not quite getting the mesh right -the final model runs quietly.
Having proved the principle, I then moved on to make the real thing. A new body was cut, with rivets, corner strapping, handrails etc fitted. The chassis was cut from 3/16" steel strip, and the tapers milled on the ends -but in reality I could have cut and filed them, as it was pretty straightforward. The footplate was cut from 1mm brass sheet. 3/16ths frame spacers were fitted, and the footplate bolted on. The cab interior and seat was modelled in card and then cut and folded in 0.8mm brass sheet; the whole was then soft soldered to the footplate. Brake parts and battery box supports were 3-D printed, and the buffer 'castings' bolted onto the chassis end plates.
The body was glued up. When it was dry the door opening had distorted slightly, so I made a couple of brass sand boxes to keep them held in place.
Batteries and a swicth were fitted, and the body painted with Halfords 'Brunswick Green'.
Lettering and lining were cut from vinyl using a CNC cutter, LED lights were fitted and wooden window frames were fixed in place.
Then the brakes were fitted:
Finally, a Deltang Rx65b receiver was fitted -I'm just getting to grips with all the programming options!
Then out onto the line alongside Sea Lion...
The first task was to blow up drawings of the loco on a photocopier, which provided the main dimensions; and with such a simple loco, there isn't much need for anything but the main dimensions! Having decided that I was going to use either styrene or MDF for the body, drawings were prepared for the laser cutter at work. With hindsight I maybe should have considered brass sheet.
I had the opportunity to use a 3D printer too, and needed to learn how the software worked, so this provided an incentive. In the end the cab sheets, headlamps and buffer castings were made this way; the cab sheets ended up a bit 'faceted', and I think I would use brass sheet next time -not that there will be a next time, I suspect.
I then decided to produce an accurate mock-up of the chassis, again using laser cut MDF. The drawings scaled out at around 6mm, which seems excessive, but who am I to argue. I initially thought of mounting the motor vertically but quickly changed to having it slung between the frames for low-down weight. Brass bearings were turned up for the axles, and the axles themselves turned to fit a couple of pairs of 32mm gauge Accucraft wheelsets left over from my IOM pairs carriages.
Motor and gears were from Swift Sixteen; they seemed a bit noisy, but I think this was due to not quite getting the mesh right -the final model runs quietly.
Having proved the principle, I then moved on to make the real thing. A new body was cut, with rivets, corner strapping, handrails etc fitted. The chassis was cut from 3/16" steel strip, and the tapers milled on the ends -but in reality I could have cut and filed them, as it was pretty straightforward. The footplate was cut from 1mm brass sheet. 3/16ths frame spacers were fitted, and the footplate bolted on. The cab interior and seat was modelled in card and then cut and folded in 0.8mm brass sheet; the whole was then soft soldered to the footplate. Brake parts and battery box supports were 3-D printed, and the buffer 'castings' bolted onto the chassis end plates.
The body was glued up. When it was dry the door opening had distorted slightly, so I made a couple of brass sand boxes to keep them held in place.
Batteries and a swicth were fitted, and the body painted with Halfords 'Brunswick Green'.
Lettering and lining were cut from vinyl using a CNC cutter, LED lights were fitted and wooden window frames were fixed in place.
Then the brakes were fitted:
Finally, a Deltang Rx65b receiver was fitted -I'm just getting to grips with all the programming options!
Then out onto the line alongside Sea Lion...
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Aw, shucks!
