It's been a long time since I posted any of my builds , purely I admit because of the hassle I have had posting pics on this forum ...... moan over !
Barney sent me details of an image resized which I have at last figured out , so now I have opportunity to salve my conscious for all the pleasure I get from this group by hopefully putting something back
I should warn those of a sensitive disposition that some of the in-progress shots show images which might might be upsetting to those more used to hi-tec engineering and associated equipment ....... my main tools still consist of ruler , scalpel & sanding sticks and the occasional use of a micrometer
So the Ransomes portable steam engine , circa 1890-5 came about after various conversations with Barney who is building something far too complicated for me but that did stir my interest in finding a rather simpler steam engine to try my hand at ...various web searches came with these portable steam engines which were used to provide power for threshing machines, etc on farms in the late 19th century .
I finally settled on the Ransomes one , basically because I loved the curved spokes on the flywheel ! And then further research un-earthed a very useful drawing
Further news to follow
Well that's a good start , photos loaded and showed up ;D >
Ok, as I said the curved spokes on the flywheel really appealed to me ...... so I started with the flywheel.
My normal method of laminating strips of 10thou plastic inside a circular template of the correct size to form the the outer rim.
Then the curved spokes , plastic again ..... I am not good with metal , again laminated against a curved former and when dry 1/2 round strips were added to to inner and outer edges to give the curved rounded appearance of the originals. The spokes were then added individually to the outer rim and and a central hub added, along with the detail of the strengthening ribs.
The laminating method was also used to create the rims for the wheels .
Well with the flywheel and wheels rims built ..... I moved on to creating the main components
In the first pic, you see the chimney, formed from from plastic tube, laminated base and the whole thing blended together with my usual mix of superglue and baking soda .... followed by some careful sanding .
The firebox, formed in plastic from various laminations .
Main boiler from a spare piece of tube that was just the right diameter ..... sometimes you do get lucky
Wheels etc
All these components were first just blocked out to check basic dimensions and fit before going to further detailed , as shown in the firebox where rivets from a variety of sources have been added , fire door and hinges etc, etc .
The steam cylinder and steam chest were again just blocked out first before detail was added ...... in this case was lucky enough to find a picture of one dis-assembled which helped greatly to get the look , if not the accuracy
So, starting to fit bits together ........ I did warn you at the start that ther would be some un-settling scenes and here they are , the bench :D
Last post tonight and the story nearly up to date ..... most of the components dry fitted together , wheels finally done .... ran out of supplies and in the current time took weeks for replenishment .
Since these were taken final details on the wheels done and most the riveting finished off , the front axle support has been rebuilt ..... why does the info always turn up just after you have built your best guess, which turns out to wrong !
The crankshaft need a rebuild ..... long story but I got the relationship between cylinder and crank wrong
More updates in a few days time
Nice to see you back - your build well I think its wonderful - and the technics used to build - it just shows what can be done without the use of 3D Printings and computer aided drawings and all things "mind boggling" well they are to me !! The one thing I like About Gordons work is that he appears to copy the real thing "to the book" a thing that I find hard to do - I suppose I end up getting away with it by building "Odd Bods" that have many variations of the prototypes - example many early Tractors were built at different factories and more than often built to different customers requirements - then its add on bits and repairs it gets though-out its life time of service eg: on the job field maintenance and different replacement parts all this I think adds to the "Odd bod-ness" to a machine
Sorry to ramble on a bit but its all about building models - with what you have - not that Im against all of this High Tech stuff its just that I and many others just don't understand it !
Back to the steam engine its just outstanding - just keep it coming I love it
Barney
Saying all that Im just about to ask the narrow gauge tractor man Bernard (and all others if they wish to join in) about Photo Etching process for his drive chains
Hi Gordon ,
Good to see you back at the coal face and producing great looking models again . I wouldn't worry about how you reach your destination and that you use "low tech" methods to achieve it , because once it is painted no one will be able to tell whether it is made of fancy brass , or lowly styrene .
Have you returned to civilisation yet after your sojourn in the land of the Haggis Munchers ?
Have a good Christmas ,
Nick
Looks just fine to me Gordon!!
Jerry
Wow, that model is more impressive than somewhat! It's also pretty small. It offers hope that someday I might develop sufficient manual skills to emulate such artistry. Satisfactory.
By the way, Gordon, welcome back.
Russ
Gordon, your workbench looks just like mine (except its staggering how many tiny pieces I have that fall to the carpet and just disappear!) Thanks for all that build info, very useful with superb results. Funny I was thinking of making something similar but was putting it "on the back burner" with the difficulty of the wheel spokes. You made it seem so simple.
Les
Gordon, Like you I have only a few simple tools. Unlike you, I don't have the skills (yet) to make the quality of models that you do over & over, but repeatedly seeing what you can do encourages me to push on and try harder. Thanks for figuring out how to post photos and updating your work!
Absolutely awesome work, Gordon! Your laminating method for creating curved shapes is brilliant, and will be very useful to me. I have often avoided such shapes due to the difficulty of cutting such shapes from styrene sheet, as well as the tendency of the resulting shapes to warp.
Nice project, Gordon. Fascinating what you can build from plastic strips. And I'm very impressed by the regular rows of rivets on the boiler.
Bernhard
Thank you all for your kind and generous comments .......
Think the basic construction is now done , a new front axle and support has been made and everything is riveted ... I hope. A lot of pipe work and associated stuff like safety valve, etc, etc still needs to be done but that will all have to be after initial paint stages are completed .
Hopefully, shortly I will try and answer a few questions I have been asked about the wheel construction via SBS .... not my strongest skill so don't get to excited
Ok , I will try to add some detail on the wheel construction ...... there is nothing new here and if anybody wants to add a different way of doing something please feel free , there alway better or different ways to approach anything .
The first area I start with is the rim construction, I usually keep to the old wood working rule of laminating ..... the layers should always be an odd number ...3, 5, 7 etc , etc
In this case I wanted a fairly thin rim so I cut 3 strips of 10 thou approx 6mm wide .... sorry about the mix of imperial and metric . These strips are pre-curved by pulling them over the edge of the bench , they are then fitted into the relevant sized circle in the template ....... I prefer to butt fit the end of the strip but you can over lap them and then deal with subsequent step at the end.
The the three strips are added into the template , ensuring the the joints are well spaced apart .
You notice I add spacers under template so that I can push strips half way through , this helps to ensure rim stays square .
At this stage I use the thinnest liquid I have along the edges of the strips , the thin glue wicks down the strips and left for 20 minutes or so becomes reasonably secure .
Whist that is drying I cut the the inner support for the spokes to attach , this was cut from 20 thou card with a spring bow compass, first the outer , larger , diameter is cut and then the inner one is cut .
By using spacers of the relevant height this inner rim is then glued in the centre of the outside wheel rim
The completed rim is then positioned over a template showing the individual spoke positions.
You might find this site useful , as well as containing a lot of options it does a spoke one where you can feed in you wheel diameter and number of spokes ...... in this case 12 , 6 at front and 6 at rear
https://www.blocklayer.com/hub-spokes.aspx
You may also spot that the rim is raised off the template , this because in this case the spokes are dished and therefore the hub is wider than the wheel rim .... so the rim is raised by the width of hub minus width of rim , divided by 2
The hub is made from a variety of different sized rings cut from plastic tubes , you can see my high tech sanding jig to ensure rings are a consistent width..... I know there are a lot people who can cut accurate rings direct from tubes but it's a technique that I have never mastered .
The hub is centred on template by appropriately sized drill bit ...... the template itself is just glued to some cheap cork coaster I bought off eBay ..... handy as they take pins easily .
Keep going your nearly at the end, have a coffee that will help ; :D :D
Spokes are then cut to correct length and the ends of the spokes given a slight bend at each end to enable them to lie flat on both the rim support and the hub ........ yet another example of my high tech techniques , note the tape on pliers to enable me to bend the ends all the same length.
Spokes are then glued to rim and hub , complete one side and then leave to harden off for an hour or so, flip over and complete other side ....... All Done ;D ;D
It might be of interest , that for this wheel because I was a bit concerned over the strength of the spokes so I used 15 by 60 thou strips ...... in hindsight I wish I had used 10x60 thou which would have more than strong enough ... and would have looked better
Very helpful, thanks!
Thanks Gordon, some very "cunning" techniques. I would never have thought about inserting the wheel rims into a circle template, I was imagining a centre former with the wheel rim "wrapped" around the outside. Your lateral thinking looks a lot better. Now I just have to find a plastic template of the right size- there's probably an official name for them (I am currently working in 16mm scale).
Les
Another cuppa and it all became clear! I just cut a template to the right size using using a compass cutter.
Les
Gordon, which glue do you use to connect the fine parts together?
Everything looks very clean!
Frithjof,
I use the Tamiya extra thin glue and usually after everything is dry I lightly go over all the surfaces with one of those fibre glass pens ...... my aim is to keep the work as clean as Barney's who set the standard for me over the years, I'm close but still a way to go ;)
Great stuff and many new ways of doing things just keep it coming - and its nice to know that others have difficulties in some areas of construction but there is always a round it
thanks for sharing your methods
Barney
The use of templates & equations and myself thinking of Photo Etch production of parts its all getting a bit mind blowing !!
Never to late to learn - I notice you use a spring bow compass for circle cutting - i have used some different types of cutters but never really satisfied with the finished job always seem to get a different finish with every cut - and some of the cutters appear to flex a little giving an uneven cut - seeing your use of a spring bow compass I thought I would give it a go so after many years of using the "Olfa cutting tool" I used a cheap Helix compass using a metal centre point for the cutter ( instead of the lead ) the results where astonishing a nice clean cut with very little finishing to do
One question do use a special cutting tool/tip or just use the standard centre point/tip that comes with the compass
So I think its time to invest in a spring bow compass
Barney
photo 1 the cheap compass using the standard centre/ tip
2 the OLFA compass cutter - used for many years but disappointing results - struggles with small circles
3 the PAT P cutter tends to "bend and distort the circle " Now in the bin
Please note these are my views on these tools - But its took up to today after many years to forget them even bin them
Yes I've found that the cheap plastic compass cutters bend somewhat and so you cannot always get the same size circle. Oh dear, I'll have to invest some money in a decent one. Gordon, I'm on the verge of ordering some circle drawing templates for some wheels!!
Les
Barney, yes I have those as well .... the circle cutters , one tip that have found when using them is to use them backwards i.e. use the back of the blade to score rather than cut .
Having said that I do prefer the spring bow compass , I just use the the standard supplied points .( but it is a good supplier so points are hardened steel ) ..... works reasonably well up to 40 thou thick card as long as you are patient and don't try to cut too much on each pass .
None of these tools are particularly good at cutting any circle under say 3/4" or about 15mm diameter unless you are using very thin , less than 15 thou material
Great tutorial! Such beautiful work.
One of the most universally useful explanations I've seen here ... because all of us have run into the same problem at some point. It's helped very experienced and accomplished modelers. -- Russ
I have the answer to cutting perfect circles every time ..... get Gordon to do them for me !
Thank you Russ , your comments are very much appreciated ......
Now if you can just send the lad to the corner, all will be well
For me as a brass model builder it is very interesting to see how such plastic parts are created and what kind of effort is behind it.
Bernhard
Well basic painting has commenced ..... boiler , smoke box and firebox have had initial weathering , need to finish these off before starting on the steam cylinder and steam chest which are currently in undercoat
Nice and subtle. You are master. -- Russ
Russ, ....... think you have the wrong Gordon :D
Progress continues ;)
Looking good!
Progress continues, lots still to do
And
And, finally
That's a beauty, Gordon!
Carlo
Very sharp!
Adequate ... so far. -- Russ
Very nice!
Awesome and ingenious work Gordon!
Franck
Well I actually finished this :D ;D
If you are on FB , there are more and higher quality ( sorry Russ ;)) here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3560474204040503&type=3
I have set it for Public viewing , so you should be able access
Anybody not on FB who wants more images posted here let me know and I will sort
That's about as perfect as a model can be. Most satisfactory.
As for the facebook link, there's nothing wrong with augmenting a posted photo with a link to others. Our forum software has real limitations; as you all know, it would be very expensive to replace it and we'd lose about a decade's worth of photos, threads, and tutorials.
Russ
Excellent bit of plastic engineering - paint jobs nice to - what's next !!
Barney
Beautiful work, Gordon! Top notch!
Very clean styrene work and paintjob! I like it very much!!!
I have also seen your (?) fabulous Lanz tractor - in a Russian forum ::) Hmmm... ;)
Cheers
Peter
Really excellent stuff and a wonderful paint job. Thanks for the advice regarding the building of it, that has "spurred me on" to build one in 16mm scale. Wheels done, now to start the boilerwork.
Les
Gordon the engine is looking good and great tutorial. I would like to add what I have learned about cutting circles in styrene over the years. I start by drilling a small hole clear though the the sheet at the center. Just big enough for the cutters point to fit tight in the hole and go down into the cutting pad when cutting I make light cuts going around over and over keeping the cut grove uniformed then I turn the work over and cut from the other side if you can get a good cut on both sides you can break it apart with your fingers or finish with the cutting tool. I used a set of dividers (compass) for 30 years it more like scoring or scraping not cutting. The past 10-15 years I've been using the PAT.P cutter, and if you learn how to use this tool it dose a great job.
Drill a small hole (small drill bit and a pin-vice). #67-65 good for .030, ..040, ..060. Smaller drill for the thinner sheets.
Use a sharp blade.
Light cuts round and round over and over.
Hold cutter with your thumb and first two fingers at the top of the tool twist and reset and twist and reset over and over until you finish the cut (light at first when you get a good grove going you can add pressure.)
Gordon Birrell
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gordonbirrell/
Thanks, Gordon. Very useful information. -- Russ
A great model, with really perfect paint job.
Bernhard
Gordon, your finish is first-rate love seeing your work.
cheers Kim.