Tender Project

[dougrail]

And another project....but this one is vital. The safety valve's a small thing, and the other Mamod is slumbering, in pieces awaiting decent liquid paint stripper. So, this is my main project.

An approximation of the curved tender-cab that the Ffestinog Railway built for its Penrhyn Lady "Blanche". To fit onto my WIP Mamod conversion.

I don't intend to build a 16mm 'scale' version of the prototype however. Just an approximation, but with the elegant curves from tank-to-backcab and the fact the cab is slightly higher than the tank height.

Only snag is that I don't have the dimensions from which I can base something off; would anyone here [especially as this forum seems to have a very strong FR connection *wards off evil*] happen to be able to give dimensions or obtain them or have any 16mm scale drawings?



Pretty much what I'm after. I do know that in the end the height will be the same as a Mamod loco; the cab-rest will have to be level with the cab rest on the overlays present on Nova and lastly, the length we propose working on is 3/4 the length of a Mamod wagon chassis.

I have tried contacting the FR itself to no avail mind!
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Second issue: chassis. Proposal is to cut a new chassis sideframe set that hooks into the Mamod wagon drawbars. My issue is axleboxes: can we etch the actual axle-holders as part of the frameplate and fix on 'fake' axlebox detail, or is it better to do the frames plain and solder on 'hanging down' real axleboxes?

Many thanks

[GTB]

Only snag is that I don't have the dimensions from which I can base something off; would anyone here [especially as this forum seems to have a very strong FR connection *wards off evil*] happen to be able to give dimensions or obtain them or have any 16mm scale drawings?

There was an Ian Beattie drawing of Linda in the April '93 Railway Modeller. That shows a 5'0" driven wheelbase for these locos with a cab height of 8'0". The photo you show is more or less dead side on, so you should be able to scale the tender dimensions near enough for your purposes.

I usually use something like Photoshop to blow up the photo until the image is full size for the scale I'm using and then print it on paper. The tender isn't very big, so in 16mm scale it should fit on a single A4 sheet. It won't be particularly sharp, but will be enough to mock up a drawing to match the Mamod. For that matter, scan in the cab of the Mamod and fiddle with the tender in the graphics program until you get the result you want, then print it out.

Second issue: chassis. Proposal is to cut a new chassis sideframe set that hooks into the Mamod wagon drawbars. My issue is axleboxes: can we etch the actual axle-holders as part of the frameplate and fix on 'fake' axlebox detail, or is it better to do the frames plain and solder on 'hanging down' real axleboxes?

It is easier to get the axles square if you etch, or laser cut, two identical tender side frames including the outline of the axleboxes and apply detail to that.

If you add separate axleboxes, you really need a jig to make sure they come out identical. If you fix them freehand, the axles can end up out of square and prone to derailment.

Regards,
Graeme