New loco build - Kerr Stuart

[James from Devon]

With the weather a little unpredictable, I like to keep a few projects on the go in the workshop for rainy days! I have never made a loco in platicard as yet and having seen so many other lovely models made by people on the forum I though I should have a try. I settled on a Kerr Stuart inspired 0-4-0 loco which is to be RC and have a sound card.

I am really enjoying using the pasticard and am able to get some good results although I have ended up doing a lot of sanding with fine wet & dry to remove accidental file or knife marks!

Here are some picture of the build so far:

Chassis awaiting sanding of the joints:


Bonnet:


Starting to add door panels and drill holes for rivets:


Front of cab and rivets starting to go in. The spectacle plates are 3/4" fibre tap washers!


Access door and rivets finished on one side of the bonnet. I use cut off dressmakers pins for my rivets. They take ages but look good:


Cab coming together:


Trial fitting of the chassis:


Loco coming on, shutters added and other side of bonnet finished:


Underside of chassis with the compartment for the RC gear and brackets for the on / off switch and charger socket:


Brake standard and lamp bracket on the back of the cab:


I have begun painting today so there will be some more pictures and a track test very soon!

Thanks for reading my post.

[Gralyn]

Looking very Good.

[Peter Butler]

First attempt my 4*se, that is just brilliant! Clean lines, square build, well thought out and detailed. Looking forward to see it painted. You should be proud!

[James from Devon]

First attempt my 4*se, that is just brilliant! Clean lines, square build, well thought out and detailed. Looking forward to see it painted. You should be proud!

Hey thanks Pete, that's really nice of you. Definitely my first build in plasticard. I have made brass kits and scratch built rolling stock in wood and metal and even cast a few bits in resin but for some reason I never felt confident to build in plastic - which is a shame in itself as this material is lovely to work with. I'm really enjoying this build and already thinking about what loco to try next - maybe a bogie loco.??...

Cheers

J

[LNR]

I second what Peter has said.
Grant.

[James from Devon]

Nice job!
Have you worked this out from KS drawings?

If you get fed up of cutting the pins, drilling holes and fixing; for 'easy' rivets you could use 'half round pearls' - commonly used by folks decorating their fingernails among other crafts. Various sizes and colours and very very cheap.

Interested to see what livery and sound you will use.

Thanks, I am pleased with how its turning out. I didn't scale it on any drawing, rather I studied a lot of images and other builds (including yours I think?) I was just experimenting with the plasticard and love the look of the KS locos so built one based on the images rather than exact scale.

I have used the sticky jewels but find they get easily knocked off...they were from hobbycraft....did you have a different source? it is tedious drilling 100s of holes!

Cheers

J

[philipy]

I echo what the others have said, it's a beautiful job, well done.

My only thought, just in case you haven't already thought of it yourself, is weight. The one drawback of using styrene for loco's is lack of inherent weight and the need to find room and fixing points for a sizeable chunk of metal if you want any kind of reasonable hauling power.

[James from Devon]

I echo what the others have said, it's a beautiful job, well done.

My only thought, just in case you haven't already thought of it yourself, is weight. The one drawback of using styrene for loco's is lack of inherent weight and the need to find room and fixing points for a sizeable chunk of metal if you want any kind of reasonable hauling power.

Thanks Philipy! I had though about the weight as I was building the body but figured that the 16 x AA batteries and the brass chassis would be enough. I test ram today and its kind of OK but did start to slip on the curves with more than 6 wagons in tow. I have some spaces that I can add weight - I use casting resin with small fishing weights, that way it can me made to fit in any space.

PS...I watched the video of the drivers eye view of your railway this morning...really lovely railway, it blends in so well

[James from Devon]

So yesterday I stayed up until 3am giving the loco its first paint! Then I installed the RC this morning and had a test run on the track (the roof is temporary)

I have fitted 16 x AA batteries in banks of 8 giving 12 v and she ran for 3 hours solid and then I had to stop and pack up so very happy with the battery life. A little wheel slip with 6 weighted coal wagons so i will be adding some weight but on the whole I am over the moon!

This week I will be fitting the ACME sound card (2 stroke) and I am going to try and make a radiator for the cab. Sandboxes, a driver, axleboxes and weathering should see her done.

Resting in the station:


Out on the line:


Artistic shot just for fun:


I'll keep the updates coming but big smiles here today!

Thanks so much for all of the support, advice and comments.

[ge_rik]

That looks magnificent! I wish my first efforts (and even some of my more recent ones) looked half as good as that. Is she 4wd? I found adding chain drive to power both axles made a heck of a difference to my Simplex - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gVYGVcHGw0

Rik

[Peter Butler]

She's a real stunner! You have made a plain and simple design look interesting and attractive. The rivet detailing was well worth the effort.
Question...... please explain how you have made 16 AA batteries put out only 12v? Even rechargeable batteries (1.2v each) would make 19.2v, but that's OK if your motor is rated up to 24v.

[James from Devon]

She's a real stunner! You have made a plain and simple design look interesting and attractive. The rivet detailing was well worth the effort.
Question...... please explain how you have made 16 AA batteries put out only 12v? Even rechargeable batteries (1.2v each) would make 19.2v, but that's OK if your motor is rated up to 24v.

Hi Pete - Thank you kindly! I am making the exhaust as we speak!

As for the batteries, I use Nickle-Zinc batteries which are 1.6v per cell rather than 1.2v (they nominally charge to 1.5v) I make up 2 sets of 8 (12v per pack) and connect them both to the circuit in parallel which gives a 12v supply with a really long life. If I hooked the packs up in series then I would get 19.2v.

These batteries are expensive and there isn't a great range of chargers out there. I was sent these in error by Amazon and last year and they told me not to return them! - so I am putting them to good use!

[James from Devon]

That looks magnificent! I wish my first efforts (and even some of my more recent ones) looked half as good as that. Is she 4wd? I found adding chain drive to power both axles made a heck of a difference to my Simplex - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gVYGVcHGw0

Rik

Thanks Rik - when I said in my earlier post that I was looking at others locos - I was referring to yours. Your locos look great, I regularly look at your you tube page for a little inspiration

It is 4 wheel drive, the Swift Sixteen chassis comes as standard with 4wd.

I'm going to look at your simplex video right now.

[LNR]

You've built a nice well performing loco in quite a short space of time. Looking forward to the final paint job and finish.
Grant.

[markoteal]

James - stunning as always - can't believe how quick you've produced it and to such a high standard - the waft noise you can hear is me doffing my cap to you!

And all those rivets - my next build will have to feature some - albeit I may go for the superglue stick on method

Cheers again


Mark

[jim@NAL]

wow great work looks fantastic

[planty]

Excellent loco!

Out of interest what did you use to glue the plasticard together? I've used it for buildings and for the base of an IP loco. Have used evostik serious glue, unibond extreme repair and gorilla glue. Hate GG, the other two are excellent for buildings but found with constant handling of locos even these struggled on certain joints.

[philipy]

Excellent loco!

Out of interest what did you use to glue the plasticard together? I've used it for buildings and for the base of an IP loco. Have used evostik serious glue, unibond extreme repair and gorilla glue. Hate GG, the other two are excellent for buildings but found with constant handling of locos even these struggled on certain joints.

For Plasticard/HIPS you should use a solvent, applied with a brush. There are many on the market, for instance there are Slaters Mekpak and a Humbrol version, etc. However the best by far (IMO of course) is EMA Plasticweld.

[-steves-]

The Revell like the one above is absolutely perfect for plasticard, never used anything better for it



.

[markoteal]

Gents - what thickness generally do you use for building locos - I guess the chassis may have a more heavyweight thickness than other areas of the body? Armed with your responses, you'll be able to spot me at Peterborough carrying unfeasible amounts of sheeting around!