Garden Railway Forum

Hello again from almost three months of lockdown – and the fantasy Southern Region that seems to be 3’11” gauge – this time with a go at Bulleid’s challenging, 1946 ‘well wagon’, 0-4-4-0 proposal (two power bogies with the firebox sitting in the ‘well’ between them), one of the many ‘total adhesion’ concepts he investigated.

Published drawings show rods and inside cylinders (6!) but I’ve done it with the external chain cover thingies* (which helpfully give the bogies a bit more width) as seen on the (slightly later) Leader. Water tanks are hidden by the ‘air-smoothed’ cladding (and under the boiler), or at least seem to be... a neat solution, at least for me. Weight distribution was considered to be an issue apparently and subsequent proposals grew more axles – and eventually a cab at each end.

Aside from the awesome aesthetics and wonderful weirdness, of course, an attraction for me is that there’s no long, coupled wheelbase (difficult to source, let alone make) to struggle with (my) tight garden railway curves or, conversely, no need to use an under-scale motorblock that would dictate a shortened model.

It’s largely plasticard, on customised motor blocks from G-bits, battery-powered with Deltang R/C and not too much in the way of detail (or accuracy). Looks the part though, I hope...

It’s 22in (560mm) long, 5lb 11oz (2.6kg) and, when you add everything up (quietly), the best part of 300 quid...

I’m arguing with myself about how to paint it. Don’t know yet. Wondering whether to do each side differently; after all you can’t see both at the same time…

*I don’t understand any of this stuff

Cheers.

Another little beauty to join the stable of your eccentric locomotive stock..... I love them all!

That is phenominal!
When I read the title, before reading the thread, I thought "How on earth will he get a realistic 'Spamcan' look". Dunno how you've done it, but done it you certainly have! Amazing.

Really impressive! Got to ask, what's your method for getting the curved parts just right in plasticard?
Had no idea about this prototype - fascinating stuff. Bulleid is a bit of an enigma to me - on the one hand, clinging to steam with advanced concepts like Leader, when even by the late '40s electricity was clearly the answer for high-intensity suburban routes that made up much of the SR. Yet at the same time designing diesel shunters and EMU stock. I wish this concept had been produced though. Oh well, we'll have to make do with seeing it in model form. I'd love to see this once the paint job's done

Thank you all!

Tom85 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 05, 2020 6:04 pm “...what's your method for getting the curved parts just right in plasticard?“

Hot water and forcing larger sheets than I require around the inside of a large saucepan, pressure cooker, cafetière, whatever... Or curving the lighter weights by hand and hot water, or a hairdryer (not both!).

This one, though, is mainly flat 2mm sheet glued to formers (bulkheads) and then vigorously sanded at the joins to get the gentle curve. It’s a large model aeroplane fuselage really, if you know what I mean. The roof is thinner sheet glued in stages (so it sets and keeps the shape) to carved and sanded foamboard and balsa, itself glued permanently to the formers. (I’ve got some early build pictures somewhere, which I can post when I’ve found them)

I’m not sure Bulleid was ‘clinging to steam’, as much as attempting to cope (not always successfully) with economic realities. He did, after all, design a couple of capable electric and diesel locomotives. I vaguely recall reading that he saw electrification to be the long term goal but the war had messed that up. Afterwards there just wasn’t the money, so in the mid 1940s (for the routes outside of the 3rd rail network) his aim was to design efficient, modern steam locomotives (that would use home grown coal rather than imported oil) as the Southern simply couldn’t afford a large-scale expanded electrification programme.

That is brilliant modelling. Nice to see a model of 'what might have been'.

I like it! Beautifully done! One of the joys of scratch bashing imho is making something which appeals to your own tastes and isn't available commercially. This is a case in point - absolutely unique and masterfully executed.

Rik

Fantastic! I think it's safe to say that OSVB would be proud.

Andrew

Thanks for the kind comments!

Here’s a sequence of scruffy, early build pictures, as threatened.

Self explanatory, I think: pretty basic stuff really, which I suspect many of you achieve with rather more polish and precision. I rely on industrial quantities of filler and enthusiastic sanding.

However, I did adapt / draw up a more usefully accurate plan this time and made templates for the formers, sheeted roof sections and various other awkward bits, which I’m usually too lazy or impatient to do – and which certainly helped.


The cowl above the smokebox door is simply layers of foamboard cut and sanded to shape. I abandoned any idea of moulding it in celluloid (like a cockpit canopy) as being too much like hard work.

BertieB wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:49 pm ..........I rely on industrial quantities of filler and enthusiastic sanding. ......

You don't know how reassuring that simple statement is to some of us ....

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:40 am

BertieB wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:49 pm ..........I rely on industrial quantities of filler and enthusiastic sanding. ......

You don't know how reassuring that simple statement is to some of us ....

Rik

+1 for that

Thanks very much for sharing these. Great to see how it's done!

You always know that anything posted under the Semi-scale BR heading is going to be interesting, and refreshingly different.
The latest offering doesn't disappoint !
You got the air smoothed Bulleid look to a tee. Well done. As to livery I'd suggest one or the other. Green or Black. Malachite? BR green?

Love these "might've been" models.

Are these drawings available on the net?
I still need a new project idea when the repair queue will be cleared.

Scrat wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 11:38 am Are these drawings available on the net?

I wasn’t able to find anything.

I got the info from Bulleid of the Southern by his son. It’s out of print but you can find it second-hand at online bookstores.

Thanks for the info.
Found it on abebooks for 6 GBP.

invicta280 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:34 pm "...I'd suggest one or the other. Green or Black. Malachite? BR green?"

I’ve stared dozily at the thing in primer for weeks – and then gone for another interpretation of ‘large logo’, BR mixed traffic, lined black (as usual), which makes sense, sort of. It’s not an express passenger engine, after all.

Tank engines don’t generally get named but clearly the chaps at Waterloo decided this class were special enough, so it’s from the ‘Distinguished Literary Figures associated with the Southern Railway Area' class (they’ll have come up with a snappier title than that). Predictably, as you can see, this one’s ‘Jane Austen’.

Lining and graphics done in Photoshop, assembled into an A4 ‘page’, exported to PDF and inkjet printed on to white decal paper. Had to be careful (and quick) not to cause ‘stretch marks’, when applying the particularly long decals (the ink and varnish surface can split revealing the white layer underneath, if you fiddle with them for too long). Fortunately I’d printed off duplicates. A lot of white edges to touch up afterwards, unavoidably.

R/C still to be fitted, should be here soon, one hopes.

If some of Bulleid’s bonkers reinventions of the (British) steam locomotive had been properly developed and in service, who knows... Perhaps British Railways might have removed the ‘air-smoothed’ cladding in the mid 50s, or built BR Standard 0-4-4-0s and 0-6-6-0s?

Now there’s an idea for another one.

Looks stunning in black as do the decals. Looking forward to the video .....

Rik

Thanks again for all the generous comments.

invicta280 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:34 pm "...interesting and refreshingly different"

Thank you very much.

Anyway, here’s the present Bulleid line up, with (now rather scruffy looking) similarly semi-scale Leader and Q1 tank. It wasn’t planned, it just sort of happened that way (other locomotive designers are available). Cheers.