Fueling up.

Another project that has seen the light of day in the 16mm scale workshop over the past few months, is this fuel bowser arrangement. It’s a project I’ve wanted to create for a long time. In fact, I think I’ve considered it in most narrow gauge scales I’ve modelled in. This is the first time I’ve put my thoughts into action. 

The first time I saw the set up was in Roy C Link’s Industrial Narrow Gauge Modelling Handbook. Ostensibly a vehicle for his own products, the book contains a lot of useful information about industrial narrow gauge railways and how to recreate them using his products (the range is now produced by KB Scale and carried by Light Railway Stores.co.uk). The arrangement was meticulously drawn out in Roy’s own inimitable style and I knew one day I’d model it. Wether it would be using the kit in 0:14 scale or a creation of my own, was hidden in the future. 

Waiting for final details and the paint shop.

I thought that the internet would be filled with pictures of a prototype. I was wrong. I could only find a couple of images online in the Industrial Railway Society archives. Even asking fellow modellers only produced the same pictures. Anyone who had modelled it was using the same source material as me. I was going to be on my own. 

However, it was a pretty simple job. Binnie tipper chassis are used as the base, and the oil drums are produced by a company called American Diorama. These accessories are made for the automotive modeller, in scales such as 1:43, 1:14 and 1:18 There are nice items for workshops, as well as mechanics, workmen, and even bikini clad car wash girls.

The rest of the work on the project, like the cradles for the oil drums and the hand pump was modelled using styrene tube, rod and angle. The main achievement was the bending of some 2.4mm styrene rod on a convoluted path from the oil drum to the pump. A task completed at the first attempt.

Bending the pipe around the chassis at the first attempt.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with this.

Simple but effective

There we go. It was little more than a day’s work. Though I expect it would have been longer if I hadn’t been able to bend that styrene rod correctly the first time…

Tasks to finish the model include strapping to hold the drums in place, a handle for the pump, and a hose for dispensing the fuel. These tasks wait for things to warm up, so I can get into the garage to spray paint everything.

LocoRemote Motor Rail 12HP

 It’s been a while since I last updated this blog, so please excuse a couple of rapid entries as I get you back up to speed on the project.

First up, the LocoRemote Motor Rail kit. 

As you well know, my enthusiasm for Chris Rennie’s kits knows no bounds. They have introduced me to a whole new world of railway modelling I didn’t know existed. If you would have told me before the Covid epidemic that I would be modelling in 16mm scale. I would have laughed at you and asked where I was getting the money from to run live steam in the garden. But Chris’s products have shown me otherwise. I’ve said previously that working on 16mm scale micro layouts fills me with the same kind of excitement that I got from the early days of Gn15, all those years ago. It’s all down to these kits that give me little locomotives full of character, for about $100. 

A loco with a working headlight that sits on your hand in 16mm scale.

The unique boxy lines of the prototype are well captured.

The kit is as simple as the Huddy and Brush Amberley loco’s that I have. So there’s little else to say about the construction, other than they go together perfectly. I decided not to add any little bits and pieces to it in the way of detailing like I did with the Huddy. There’s barely any fettling to do to get the parts to fit together. The LocoRemote control unit and battery fit snugly in the engine compartment and the on/off switch is invisible, mounted so that the switch is under the chassis. In fact the only problem I have is my impatience with the glue setting. Revell Contacta professional is recommended, and it’s a fine glue, that when set makes good strong bond. It just takes a long time to get there. Too long, when I want to be getting on with things. Some of the superglues I’ve used previously also take a long time to set for me. So I must just be too impatient for the material to be bonded together.

The loco now sits awaiting primer and paint. Winter has been especially long this year in Minnesota. I’m not complaining as it has given me more time to cross country ski. But it’s also stopped me going down to the garage to spray paint all the projects I’ve accumulated over the past months. As I write this the snow has gone. But things are not warming up much. So painting is still a few weeks away.