TVT - B is for Bunyip Part 2
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:55 am
Rolling right along.........
Having fitted the boiler and gas system, the loco could be steamed, but I now leave that until painting is complete, as it is impossible to remove residual steam oil from all the cracks and crevices and it will affect paint adhesion if not completely removed.
The build now moves into the last phase where experience tells us that the last 10% of the parts will take 90% of the time needed to build the model.
This pic shows the cab fitted in place. Clearances are tight, not helped by me building in 15mm:ft scale. By this time the cylinder covers have been fabricated to simulate piston valves and fitted. They look convincing from the front, but not so much from the rear. To improve the appearance from the rear would require new valves and valve chests so the valve spindle is in more or less the right place.
Tender body work is next. Basically a simple box, with no particular difficulties. Much easier than older designs with flared tops, rounded corners, etc.
Next job is the boiler cleading, including a dummy belpaire firebox. This is the first one I've built and was shall we say, interesting..... The boiler handrail has also been fitted and the dome machined out of a solid slug of brass. The handrails are split at the rear of the smokebox, which makes assembly and disassembly easier.
It now looks like a loco, but as mentioned early, the last detailing stage takes an inordinate amount of time. By late July it was completed and is sitting for it's portrait on a sunny winter day still in brass. Painting was put off for a while, as I wanted to do some work on the Garratt.
Finally I ran out of excuses and started painting. The sun eventually came out yesterday and the loco sat for it's final portrait. The livery is the same as the Sharp Stewart built last year and is based on the scheme used by the TGR before WW1. The loco is typically British colonial in appearance and there are echoes of other Aust. locos in it's appearance. It is now on the test rollers being run in. Performance so far is as expected, it runs like a Roundhouse......
When it finally gets a track test, it should perform about the same as a Roundhouse #24, as it is mechanically identical.
TVT Story
By the '30s the lines original small Baldwins were getting long in the tooth. Loadings were increasing as the Great Depression slowly waned and loco maintenance costs were rising rapidly.
The old engineer had retired and his successor wasn't able to out argue the empire loyalists on the management committee, so Bagnall got the job of supplying a modern loco design to the same specification as the Big Black Baldwin. They dusted off the LJR design and supplied a modern superheated, piston valve loco.
Being new and a bit faster, but a bit less powerful, than the remaining large Baldwin, the Bagnall has replaced the small Baldwins on the daily mixed train. The large Baldwin still runs the weekly roadside goods.
Regards,
Graeme
Having fitted the boiler and gas system, the loco could be steamed, but I now leave that until painting is complete, as it is impossible to remove residual steam oil from all the cracks and crevices and it will affect paint adhesion if not completely removed.
The build now moves into the last phase where experience tells us that the last 10% of the parts will take 90% of the time needed to build the model.
This pic shows the cab fitted in place. Clearances are tight, not helped by me building in 15mm:ft scale. By this time the cylinder covers have been fabricated to simulate piston valves and fitted. They look convincing from the front, but not so much from the rear. To improve the appearance from the rear would require new valves and valve chests so the valve spindle is in more or less the right place.
- Bunyip-r.jpg (102.99 KiB) Viewed 5624 times
Tender body work is next. Basically a simple box, with no particular difficulties. Much easier than older designs with flared tops, rounded corners, etc.
- Bunyip-t.jpg (69.68 KiB) Viewed 5624 times
Next job is the boiler cleading, including a dummy belpaire firebox. This is the first one I've built and was shall we say, interesting..... The boiler handrail has also been fitted and the dome machined out of a solid slug of brass. The handrails are split at the rear of the smokebox, which makes assembly and disassembly easier.
- Bunyip-w.jpg (111.12 KiB) Viewed 5624 times
It now looks like a loco, but as mentioned early, the last detailing stage takes an inordinate amount of time. By late July it was completed and is sitting for it's portrait on a sunny winter day still in brass. Painting was put off for a while, as I wanted to do some work on the Garratt.
- Bunyip-z.jpg (210.87 KiB) Viewed 5624 times
Finally I ran out of excuses and started painting. The sun eventually came out yesterday and the loco sat for it's final portrait. The livery is the same as the Sharp Stewart built last year and is based on the scheme used by the TGR before WW1. The loco is typically British colonial in appearance and there are echoes of other Aust. locos in it's appearance. It is now on the test rollers being run in. Performance so far is as expected, it runs like a Roundhouse......
When it finally gets a track test, it should perform about the same as a Roundhouse #24, as it is mechanically identical.
- Bunyip-z3.jpg (199.55 KiB) Viewed 5624 times
- Bunyip-z4.jpg (187.86 KiB) Viewed 5624 times
TVT Story
By the '30s the lines original small Baldwins were getting long in the tooth. Loadings were increasing as the Great Depression slowly waned and loco maintenance costs were rising rapidly.
The old engineer had retired and his successor wasn't able to out argue the empire loyalists on the management committee, so Bagnall got the job of supplying a modern loco design to the same specification as the Big Black Baldwin. They dusted off the LJR design and supplied a modern superheated, piston valve loco.
Being new and a bit faster, but a bit less powerful, than the remaining large Baldwin, the Bagnall has replaced the small Baldwins on the daily mixed train. The large Baldwin still runs the weekly roadside goods.
Regards,
Graeme
you make it look so easy! That is one lovely locomotive 
