Garden Railway Forum

Hello again from the alternative reality where British Railways appears to have been 3'11" gauge – with a cartoon-scale 0-6-4T, based on one of Bulleid's satisfyingly brutal, Q1-derived tank engine proposals.

The consensus seems to have been that the Q1 defined 'ugly duckling', though personally I think they look terrific: uncompromising and functional, unconstrained by conventional styling sensitivities... all that sort of guff. Cheap to make and twice the power of an M7 but Bulleid, I've read, by now perhaps feeling his way towards the Leader project, abandoned it as 'boring and stodgy'. What a guy!

This one’s plasticard, with a few GRS and Walsall fittings, on a seriously customised Piko motorblock from G-bits (Thank you). About 390mm (15”+) length overall (rather shorter than prototypical, as usual). Not quite finished: spurious detailing and touching-up, varnish, glazing, crew, R/C, etc, to come. Made a bit of a mistake with that seam on the cab roof but, hell, I’m pretending not to notice, at least for now.

Scale, as always, is slippery.

Persuaded by reading so much about it on this forum, this is will be my first attempt at Deltang R/C battery power. Shedloads of room for it, I hope.

Brilliant..... you have done it again, I love the way you adjust reality and get away with it!
The Deltang system is the best money can buy (in my opinion) and is fitted to all my locos.

Awesome! What a handsome beast.
Video of it in action when you're ready please

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 10:08 pm '...you adjust reality and get away with it!'

That's very kind of you, thank you - I do, um, wonder what on earth I'm doing with this stuff occasionally. And, yeah, I'm beside myself with excitement regarding getting the Deltang stuff installed and working. Can't help but be aware though, that it may well make the rest of the home fleet immediately obsolete! Well, not quite so much fun, at least

invicta280 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:28 pm 'Video of it in action when you're ready please'

Yes, thank you. I'm rather hoping that the always-to-hand, immediacy of R/C ought to help improve my video efforts too...

You have loads of room for a Deltang setup in that loco as I can get my installs comfortably fitted into live steamers.

Treat yourself to a soundcard!

What a monster, I love it! And I didn't know Mr Bulleid had some Q1-esque tank engines planned - yours is very believable, a kind of Q1/Standard tank love child, certainly not "boring and stodgy", although I love the quote. You've got a great eye for messing about with scale and proportions whilst still capturing the essence of the original loco/idea - I'm looking forward to seeing this one running...

Cheers,

Andrew.

It’s all been said….Fantastic work. Forget about scale, who cares, it’s one of those builds that members and others should admire

By the way, what chassis did you use please.

Outstanding

Andrew wrote: ↑Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:26 am 'What a monster, ...a kind of Q1/Standard tank love child...'

Thank you. Exactly. I've not seen drawings of this proposal but I've read that a criticism of the Q1 at the time was poor visibility when running tender first, so adopting the LMS / Standard tank, bunker and rear window arrangement would have seemed an obvious way to go, I thought.

FWLR wrote: ↑Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:12 am '...By the way, what chassis did you use please?'

Thanks. It's the smaller Piko 0-6-0 (BR80) motorblock, with bespoke rods, from G-bits (who have helped me out a great deal over the past few years) with the pick-up skates removed and larger wheels fitted.

And thank you, everyone, for your kind remarks.

Lovely looking model. Always look forward to seeing your latest creations. Agree with you about G-Bits. I've found him to be vey helpful.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:53 pm 'Always look forward to seeing your latest creations'

That's very generous, thank you. I'm afraid you're (at least partly) to blame for my challenging new foray into Deltang R/C. But that's OK...

Rik got me into Deltang as well so you are not alone!

Thanks folks. Not sure I can shoulder all that responsibility. I think David at Deltang must take a large chunk of the credit for inventing such a clever system

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Thu Nov 08, 2018 6:11 pm 'Thanks folks. Not sure I can shoulder all that responsibility...'

You're too modest. Your explanatory posts and videos encouraged someone who’s completely clueless about this sort of thing (me), to give it a go.

* * * * *

Some months later and, needless to say, my cunning R/C installation plan turned out to be a bit silly: untidy and unnecessary.

The built-in battery box was OK but when the stuff finally turned up, a better Plan B turned out to be to shove the R/C components together in a single ‘drop-in module’ - a plasticard box, to sit wherever it can be hidden, in this case in the bunker. It’s a more sensible idea than the laboured, ‘domestic wiring’ approach I'd intended, anyway.

I’ve since found a copy of the book by Bulleid’s son about the great man which (among many other concepts and proposals) includes a 1945 drawing of the 0-6-4T (see below) - there are a couple of obvious outline differences (and a much longer wheelbase) but the model (compromised proportions apart) isn’t really too far away... I'm telling myself. Should have bought the book first.


There’s now a (very tall) member of the footplate crew, presumably a management trainee sent by Bulleid* from head office, judging by the over-the-top outfit, casually confident demeanour and disregard for safety. And, astonishingly for the 1950s, there’s a woman on the footplate as well. They’re glued to the same cab-width base, so they can each have a go at looking backwards.

Years after I started doodling Q1s (and preposterous derivatives) we’re almost up and running. A few repairs to do – then I’ll give it a go. Yikes!


(*Whoops! He would have gone by now, of course...)

Given the loco is not weathered you don't want a matt finish so the shine off the paint work looks right to me.

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Mon Jan 21, 2019 5:41 pm Given the loco is not weathered you don't want a matt finish so the shine off the paint work looks right to me.

You're quite right, I don't want flat matt - but a soft sheen. My problem is aiming for a soft 'satin' sheen but sometimes seeming to get 'gloss'. This one isn't as extreme as some previous attempts. Shiny tends to emphasise the dodgy bits.

BertieB wrote: ↑Mon Jan 21, 2019 5:09 pm
I’ve since found a copy of the book by Bulleid’s son about the great man which (among many other concepts and proposals) includes a 1945 drawing of the 0-6-4T (see below) - there are a couple of obvious outline differences (and a much longer wheelbase) but the model (compromised proportions apart) isn’t really too far away... I'm telling myself. Should have bought the book first.


Bulleid_plan_Q1_tank.JPG

I prefer yours I reckon - Bulleid would've gone for sloping tanks too once he'd built the prototype and realised his crew couldn't see anything...

I was always rather jealous that a friend who went to a different school had a "Mr Crick" as a form tutor and Technical Drawing teacher - he used to be Bulleid's assistant, I believe...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Andrew wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:35 am
'I prefer yours...'

'...a friend who went to a different school had a "Mr Crick" as a form tutor and Technical Drawing teacher - he used to be Bulleid's assistant, I believe...'

Thank you!

There’s a Mr JG Click, who features in ‘Bulleid of the Southern’: could he be the man?

Similarly, some years ago, when it was still professionally acceptable to pop into the pub at lunchtime, my way to the bar at the local boozer was invariably blocked by three seated elderly gents. The father of one of them (whose surname I never thought to ask) had, I learned, been an assistant to Bulleid and the son had proudly inherited an entertaining repertoire of Hilarious Anecdotes - not that I now remember any of them, sadly.

An interesting aspect of of the book is just how chummy with each other the (now revered) senior 'locomotive design community' of the time appear to have been, with a couple of obvious exceptions. They seem to have spent a lot time together socially as well as professionally: family visits, dinners, golf and generally taking the mick. Bulleid and Peppercorn for example, might seem unlikely cronies from their reputations today but they're pictured at Bulleid's place, grinning at the camera, way back in the mid 20s.