Stuart's occasional loco thread - Boot Lane Works 'Lilibet'

[Andrew]

I like that very much, a lovely little loco!

[StuartJ]

So, pretty much done apart from a few details. I have plans for an alternate set of buffer beams with side buffers, and also a cab that wlll slot into the rear bufferbeams instead of the rail. The handbrake and reversing lever will stay unfixed until I have thought this through a bit more.

I have made the following changes to the basic kit:

• Replaced bufferbeams with timber, and added neodymium magnets into frame stretchers to secure them
• Replaced supplied couplings with H Jones Engineering FR Waggon buffers
• Replaced all the supplied brass rod for slide bars, piston rods, handrails etc with steel
• Wrapped most of the 3D printed surfaces with thin styrene to avoid sanding - cylinders, smokebox, tank wrapper, firebox wrapper, cab sides
• Altered the cab arrangement to give a bit more space and different handrails
• Replaced the supplied modern safety valves with a bonnet made from the lid of one of my father's insulin pens
• Replaced the supplied brake column with a Cambrian ModelRail one
• Added a Talisman/Trenarren Models reverser

There are 4x AAA Nimh batteries and a LocoRemote miniB in the tank for power and control.


Boot Lane Works Lilibet by Stuart, on Flickr


Boot Lane Works Lilibet by Stuart, on Flickr


Boot Lane Works Lilibet by Stuart, on Flickr

[Peter Butler]

Very nice, I like that a lot!

[Old Man Aaron]

Schmick. Real schmick.

[ge_rik]

Lovely loco, beautifully finished

Rik

[LNR]

A superb surface finish and great matt colours. Real museum quality.
Grant.

[Lonsdaler]

Nicely done.

[StuartJ]

Thanks all. I've been able to make the second set of bufferbeams this week. These have side buffers instead, and also have a second magnet in the back of the beam so that they are held much more firmly. The buffers are the Cambrian ModelRail 'modern' Talyllyn buffers backdated with some plywood discs (ex Timpdon Models carriage roof vents). The drawhooks are from Tenmille as the Cambrian ones were even bigger.


Boot Lane Works Lilibet by Stuart, on Flickr


Boot Lane Works Lilibet by Stuart, on Flickr

The LocoRemote MiniB fits neatly in the boiler, attached to 4xAAA Nimh batteries with a sticky pad.


Boot Lane Works Lilibet by Stuart, on Flickr

[ge_rik]

Beautifully finished. Not just outside but inside as well.

Rik

[drewzero1]

I think the switchable bufferbeams are a great idea! Both sets look like they've turned out well. Interested to see what you come up with for the cab.

[Preseli Chris]

Hi Stuart.

Just Come across your build thread and very good it is too.l noticed Captain Haddock on the footplate. One wouldn't be able to tell your locos are of plastic construction due to their fine finish. You have done an excellent job on them .l also have problems with the Revell Contacta glue. It can be really frustrating when it dries up in the needle applicator. Although I usually forget to put the cover back on .I use a peco fine track pin to clear the blockage and swap the end of the needle so the poly glue dissolves the dried up glue . We all suffer from low modelling mojo from time to time . Good to see you have got yours back.

Chris.

[Andrew]

What a lovely loco - and beautifully finished too!

[StuartJ]

Thanks all
I suspect that 4xAAA may be too high a voltage, going from initial testing across the carpet! I hope to take it to an open day at the end of the month, where I can test it properly on an actual railway (I live in an apartment).

Interested to see what you come up with for the cab.

Ideally it needs a proper Manning Wardle wrapover cab, but that would need to be brass which is beyond my skills and facilities. Some options/inspiration below; given that it will be removable I can always make more than one!

[StuartJ]

A visit to the lovely Barle Valley Railway on the weekend provided an opportunity to test some of stock I have been building over the past few years. The Manning Wardle performed faultlessly, although it did display some hunting when running cab first which caused Driver Haddock to wobble off, narrowly missing the pond!


20240728_145403 by Stuart, on Flickr


20240728_145602_1 by Stuart, on Flickr

The performance of the Brush battery loco was rather disappointing, until I realised that it was slipping badly. I left off the weights included in the kit, reasoning that the change from a small LiPo battery to 3x AAA would make them unnecessary but clearly I was wrong. Easily fixed though.

[Andrew]

That loco and landscape combo is the very essence of garden railwaying - just lovely...

[Old Man Aaron]

Superb work all round.

[StuartJ]

Thanks both

I can't take any credit for the railway though!
https://centralsomerset16mm.wordpress.c ... -78-scale/

I visited this line as a child back in the late 1980s (when it was still 16mm scale) and it's been in my head as the ideal garden railway ever since. It's very much a "railway in a landscape" - @Andrew Your line reminds me of this, especially the section down the bank past the pw hut/coach