Atkinson Walker - Polishing Off

Work has continued on the under-frame of the Atkinson Walker, adding details like spring hangers, track rods (perhaps?), and those distinctive sand-boxes, made from pieces of plasticard, microstrip and microrod. I even added sand-pipes from brass wire, though they are barely visible.

You may also notice a change in the buffer-beams. The plastic ones were starting to bow already, and I thought they'd be vulnerable, so looked again at the ones on the etch. They seem to be based on the Clougher Valley loco rather than the Redlake one, and were too deep - and too wide too - so I trimmed them to size with a cut-out for the couplings. Although not quite the right shape they are pretty close now, so out came the soldering iron again. They are soldered to the bottom of the body, the square valences help to locate them. The under-frame then had the plastic buffer beams cut and filed away until it was a snug fit between the brass ones.

A bit more work with scraps of plastic made the odd shapes in the foreground - can you tell what they are for? A bit of time cleaning up excess solder and polishing the brass with fibreglass brushes and pencils, and I think it's ready for the paint shop.

Atkinson Walker: Steps and Chimney

The Worsley Works etch included the steps, so these would be simple I thought. However it quickly became apparent there was an error in the etch. As you can see the lower step is easily folded up, and the upper should slot onto the vertical - but the vertical plate narrows in the middle, so the upper step is too wide to fit. A check of the drawings and photos confirmed that the upper step should be narrower, in line with the vertical plate.

The only solution was to narrow the step. One "end" was cut off, the step cut short to match the narrow part of the vertical plate, and the locating tab shortened. Soldering the remaining tiny pieces together was rather fiddly, and I've got rather too much solder in there, but it worked and looks OK as long as you don't look too closely! The steps were then soldered to the underside of the body, behind the valance and in line with the cab entrance, and the plastic chassis support lower footplate was trimmed to clear.

Next the chimney, which is not very clear from the drawings and barely visible in any photos, so there is some guesswork. I found some brass tube, 2.3 mm diameter which seemed about right, though the hole in the roof needed filing out to accommodate it. To give it the impression of some kind of cap I made a loop of brass wire a tight fit around the tube, and applied plenty of solder. A little filing afterwards tidied it up and gave it a more probable shape. Since it is barely visible in photos it can only just have protruded through the roof, so I set it low to the roof and soldered it in place from behind. The nice thing about this is the chimney can be seen continuing through the cab.

The other roof feature which is also hard to make out from the drawings and pictures - though it protrudes enough to be noticeable - is the large plate or raised section. I found a piece of scrap brass the right width, and about 0.5mm thick, which was cut to length and curved to match the roof profile. Soldering it in place really tested the capability of my 25W Antex iron though!

The roof features and the steps really do start to give the model some character. I think that's all the soldering done now, so the body is being cleaned of flux, and I can add the final details to the chassis.

Atkinson-Walker: More Soldering!

At the weekend I'd managed to pick up some square section brass for a more reasonable price than I'd been able to find it at the Bognor show. This is just what I'd been looking for to make the valance along the bottom of the body, though at 1.6mm square it is slightly over-size it looks fine. This was carefully cut to length and soldered on.

With that done I could solder the upper body in place, taking great care to get the pieces vertical and fitting together. The roof took ages to roll, being quite a thick piece of brass - perhaps I should get some rolling bars, but the fingers/pencil/carpet along with holding one edge in a vice got me there eventually. Those mini pegs came in useful again, soldering the roof in place was easier than I'd feared.

The brass section valences actually do lot to keep the body rigid, particularly through the doorways, which helped when adding the roof. They also help locate the under-frame (which needed a little filing to fit nicely) and hides the lower plastic footplate.

So I couldn't resist posing the assembled loco on the layout. It is certainly large - not surprisingly for a 3' gauge loco modified from a Standard Gauge design - however it isn't so far off some larger stock that I have. I'll have to compare it to a GVT tram loco, which are quite bulky.

There's still lots to do. The drawings show a large plate or raised area on the roof - it's barely visible in photos, as is the top of the chimney, so I'm not sure what these should look like or how to make them. They will add a lot to the model though. I also need to solder on the steps, then it's on to detailing like the water filler cap (again it's not visible in pictures), cab doors, and perhaps some basic interior detail. Brass etched buffer beams are provided, but to the profile of the Irish loco rather than the Redlake one, so I've started cutting some from plastic which will attach to the under-frame, and need to allow for couplings. The under-frame also needs sand-boxes and a few other details to finish.

Atkinson-Walker: Making an Under-Frame

When I last posted about the Atkinson-Walker steam tractor I was pondering how to make the under-frame, which is not included in the Worsley Works "Scratch-aid" etch. I found some wagon under-frame mouldings in the bits box, I think from an W&L open wagon, and came up with a cunning plan.

I started by opening out a recess above the spring, which gave space to add a few extra leaves from micro-strip, a fiddly job but now they look like they could take the weight of a loco. The W-irons were cut away, and the axle-boxes rounded off slightly, as per an approximation of the drawing. The wagon frame was 1mm shorter than the wheelbase of the chassis so I cut and spliced in a piece of 40 thou, with a splice behind. The notches in the top are cut to clear lugs below the motor. In the photo below one frame is prepared, the other is just started on...

Then on to the outer frames. I'd remembered to take the book to work and photo-copy the drawing at 82%, bringing it to 4mm scale, which makes life easier. I did a few copies while I was at it, allowing me to cut out the frames and stick them to some 20 thou plasticard with a few drops of solvent. It is much easier than all that marking out, a few cuts and I had the basic shaped of the side-frames, there's a mark where the paper was stuck but I'll just stick that on the inside. 

Micro-strip was added to the frames according to the drawings and pictures, and the wagon-frames with axle-boxes and springs positioned behind. A dummy lower foot-plate was also cut out, as seen above. The nearest side-frame shows the rear with the wagon sole-bar, this sits just below the motor with notches to clear the plastic motor support brackets on the chassis. The 20 thou frame sits against the side of the motor, which should give the right ride-height. It's now clear why it was useful to have the springs and axle-boxes from one piece of plastic - there is nothing to support them except from the frame above, strictly speaking there should be a gap above the springs too but the lack of that won't be visible!

Holes were then drilled through the plastic lower footplate and the brass footplate of the body for the bolts - I decided one at each end, off-set to allow for couplings to fit centrally. An M2 nut is soldered above the floor, by threading a Vaseline covered bolt with another nut from below and tightening. A little flux applied around the nut with some small pieces of solder, then apply the iron. In theory the Vaseline stops the bolt getting soldered too, and it did - but on the second one some solder got into the bolt thread between the nut and the brass sheet. I managed to unscrew the bolt though, and as it didn't need to be so long, just cut off the clogged end!

Then the side-frames and lower foot-plate were joined with 40 thou plastic cross pieces, that are fitted to just clear the ends of the chassis. In the picture above you can just see a plastic "lug" is bonded to the inner face. This fits into the notch in the end of the chassis, it has a chamfered top edge but flat sides and bottom. The chassis is fitted into the frames from above, and with a screwdriver gently prising the cross-members over the ends of the chassis until the lug slots into the notch.

The frame/chassis assembly can then be bolted to the body from below as shown. A valance will need to be added below the body, which will disguise the edge of the plastic lower footplate. From above you can see I added some brass "M" shaped brackets from spare etch, which press on the top of the chassis. Actually the plastic lugs previously mentioned do the locating so these aren't really necessary, but may add some strength. Brass brackets also press against the motor sides to hold the chassis/body vertical.

The frames look OK, axle-boxes line up (reasonably), and ride height matches the drawing, so all good to continue with the build! I've yet to add buffer beams and some details to the under-frames, as well as the valance mentioned, but now I can progress the body too.

Atkinson Walker Steam Tractor

So here's a project I've already got on the go, albeit progress has been rather slow the last couple of months. I had a Halling chassis and having read the book on the Redlake Tramway, I thought an Atkinson Walker Steam Tractor would be an interesting model. These were vertical-boilered chain-driven locomotives, like the better known Sentinals they used road-vehicle ideas from the time, to make efficient and cheap shunting locomotives. Most were standard gauge but two were built to 3' gauge - the more famous one ended up on the County Donegal Railway in Ireland, where later rebuilt as a Diesel it was named Phoenix. More about that here, where I found this picture of the Redlake loco.

I'd wondered about a scratch-build in plasticard, which shouldn't be too hard apart from the curved corners. I might then have scaled down the body slightly from the 3' gauge versions, however looking at the dimensions I figured that although large, I could just about get away with it in 009. So to make life easier I picked up the Worsley Works scratch-aid kit at EXPO-NG.

As usual for these kits there's some etches for the body - and that's it, no under-frame parts, details, or instructions. The parts are obvious enough though, once I'd figured that the half-etch rebates in the top and bottom of the sides were to go at the outside, and allow beading to be added. So first I cut a hole in the footplate for the chassis to fit, then with the sides carefully curved around and soldered to the footplate and the tank-tops I found some 0.5mm brass wire that fitted into the rebate.

Bending to size, fitting, and soldering the wire was not a little fiddly! Some miniature clothes-pegs (no it isn't a 16mm scale model) from my wife's card-making oddments came in useful.

So the lower body looks OK, though there may be some more cleaning up of excess solder. I've got hand-rails to add in the doorways, then the upper body (windows) and roof to solder on. The roof will restrict access, though the body will be floppy without it, so I need to figure out what's going on below and inside first!

I have added a couple of brackets inside from scrap brass to centre the chassis in place, but I haven't yet figured out how to attach it. I tried making up brass clips to fit into the ends of the chassis, but that's tricky. I also need to make the underframe, which may be narrower than the motor, so I'm thinking of making frames and buffer-beams as a plasticard sub-assembly to which the chassis clips, and can be bolted to the body. Those springs are quite distinctive, any suggestions for suitable mouldings?

Railcar ready for painting

I've just completed the final details, so the railcar is now ready for painting. Well, it needs a good clean and polish first, but there's not much point in doing that until I am ready to paint it! The trouble is, I don't have any etch primer and I'm not sure my usual Halfords primer will be the best for brass, so painting might be a little delayed.

Final details included door handles (bent s

taples), the ventilators over the doors (from the etch), a battery box and more unkown rodding under the side shown, and a starting handle on the "front" (right of coupling in the lower photo). The glazing cut previously was trimmed to clear door-handles and roof and slid back in (of course it will be removed for painting). I did wonder about putting driving controls inside, but since they are not visible in photo's and I am not sure where they would be, I thought better not to guess and get it wrong. However I will also need to amputate the legs of some passengers!

So final verdict on the kit? Well I am still not a fan of brass, plastic kits are much easier and to my mind, the results just as good. Also the description of a "scratch aid" kit is spot-on, although the sides are nicely etched and you don't have to cut the windows out, the rest of the model has to be scratch built, and to build anything approaching the prototype research is required too. I have found a lot of help on the NGRM forum as well as through comments on this blog, a real benefit of the internet! But for models of less-well known prototypes the Worsley Works range are a big bonus.

That said, while it has not been an easy project, it was not exactly difficult either, just challenging enough to make it interesting and enjoyable. I have managed with standard tools found in just about every modellers toolbox, and my average skills, and has taken a couple of months at my sedate pace of about 3 evenings a week, so it should not be beyond the capabilities of anyone with a little kit-bashing experience. It's been fun, and has resulted in an attractive and unusual model I think!

Now, what colour to paint it?

Railcar - Tackling the underside!

Recent progress with the railcar has focussed on the underframe and all detail below the body. This has highlighted that as a "scratch aid" kit there is an awful lot of scratchbuilding involved!

First two layers of 40 thou plastic plus further packing has been added below the floor, which had been set further up the body to get the chassis the right height. The plastic extends slightly below the lower beading as per the photo's I have. Then an underframe was added from plastruct "H" section - allowing for couplings. The very distinctive radiators under the ends were made from plasticard scored with a razor saw, giving the grille effect, then detailed with microstrip strapping, though they have been cut around the coupling.


The Kato chassis has had as much of the "N-gauge" detail removed as possible, but the plastic frames hold the wheels and motor in place so care was taken not to weaken them. Very simple detail was then added for W-irons, axleboxes, and truss-rods, from plastic. Not much of this will be visible! Incedentally the chassis is now a fairly tight fit into the plastic hole left under the body!

Much thought was given to the steps - although the prototype has two steps to each door, I settled on one, as this model has been built lower and on smaller wheels than the prototype. I was also concerned that lower steps might hit platforms, as well as being very vulnerable! The steps were made from off-cuts of the brass etch and soldered to springy wire, which was then bent to suitable supports and glued into holes in the floor behind the solebars. Hopefully this would make them robust enough!


Finally the prototype railcar has some unusual and distinctive rodding (or pipework?) along the side of the chassis, I think these are controls to the driving positions but I'm not sure. Since they are always in shadow, and hard to see clearly on prototype photos, I have made a representation from micro-rod.


This view of the underside of the body, and the chassis removed, shows the basic detail on the chassis as well as the plasticard packing under the body, supports for radiators and details, the brass and wire steps, and how the Microtrains couplers are screwed into place - they can be removed for painting.

Railcar Interior

The railcar has been making steady progress recently, an hour or two at a time in an evening, although it doesn't look like dramatic progress! Layers of 40-thou plasticard have been added above and below the floor, cut to be a tight fit around the chassis, such that it seems to stay in place with friction at the moment! However the main focus recently has been on the glazing and the interior, which because of the large windows all round, will be very visible.

In the corners of the body, between the doors and the end, plasticard was built up to make the recesses behind the handrails. Strips of 20-thou plasticard were cut for the panelling up to the windows, and these were glued in place with packing strips so that they form a slot for the glazing - cut from 20-thou plasticard - to slot into. The end glazing also slots behind the plasticard corner pieces. The pictures hopefully show this better than I can describe.

I've been given a drawing of the interior, which has been most helpful. I thought the best way to hide the chassis was with a dummy floor, made from 40-thou plasticard. This left enough space either side of the chassis for a couple of strips of roofing lead - in this scale the more weight the better, and it does help make the running more smooth.

With the dummy floor in place (the cut-out is to clear the capacitor, which is the highest part of the chassis) the tops of the seats have been glued on, and the end seats made up. The wide strip at the right-hand end would be the engine cover. The floor is about 3mm higher than it should be to rebate the chassis to the right ride-height., and the dummy floor over the chassis is only just below the window line, so any passengers will have to suffer major surgery in order to fit!

Bold as Brass

Now I've not worked with etched brass much before, other than a simple diesel kit (where I used epoxy glue) and the cab of the Ruston I built a few years ago. So this is a bit of a first, and I did consider glueing the body together around a plasticard inner body. But that would be cheating, and more to the point, I knew it would be much stronger if soldered. I'm used to soldering wires when wiring up the layout, but I don't have flux, special solders, shaped iron bits, etc., however in this case I have managed (just about) with conventional multi-core solder and a standard Antex 25W iron. Reading Phil Parker's guide in this months Hornby magazine, other than the lack of flux I was not far wrong! Still, it seems to have worked ...

First challenge was to form the tumblehome on the sides, I did this by rolling them heavily with a wooden dowel onto a piece of card, a little at a time until the profile matched the ends. Then I soldered each end to each side, using the brackets supplied soldered to the ends first. The kit comes with no instructions, so thanks to the NGRM forum on tips of how to assemble.

Eventually I got the whole body assembled, pretty square and without much solder on the outside. The corner joints have come out pretty well, so I'm pleased with the result!

Here it is on the chassis, posed next to a Vale of Rheidol brake van (by Parkside Dundas) to give an idea of size. I mounted the brackets for the floor 3mm up the ends, so the chassis is set about 2.5mm up inside the body, which looks about right - possibly slightly lower than the prototype but will look in keeping with my other stock.

Don't forget this kit isn't designed for any particular chassis, so I have had to cut a hole in the floor to accommodate the Kato chassis. That was hard work, I don't find brass as nice to work with as plasticard. The floor is intended to bolt up into the body using the holes in the brackets at the ends, as shown below, thus allowing the chassis to be attached to the floor and glazing to be fitted after painting.

However here I am not sure. The body will be much stronger if I solder the floor in place, using the side tabs to reinforce the body sides. It will be easier to add glazing and an interior from above, as will be painting it without a roof, so I will have to make the roof (not supplied) removable anyway. In any case, those bolt holes will clash with where I would want to mount couplings, and I will need to add underframe detail below the floor too. So that leaves me with the problem of how to mount the chassis - I can't get it to clip in, I might be able to drill holes through the coupling pockets for bolts, but that means new holes in the floor ...

A Railcar Project

I've finally got around to starting a railcar kit that I picked up at Expo NG in October. Well, I say kit, but it is a Worsley Works "Scratch Aid" kit, and consists simply of the sides, ends, and a floor for the railcar, etched in brass. I also got a Kato 4-wheel chassis that should fit nicely, albeit with somewhat small wheels, but I doubt that will be obvious when complete. So there will be quite a lot of extra work involved with this one, mating the body to the chassis (it isn't designed for any particular chassis), adding glazing, interior, a roof, underframe, and all the other details needed to complete the model.

The prototype for this railcar was one Drewry supplied to the West Clare railway in Ireland in 1927, it was actually made by Baguley. Of course it was also 3' gauge, but it was quite small so will look fine against my stock, which is mostly based on 2' to 2'6" prototypes. The specs were:

- weight: 5½Tons
- engine: 4 cyl petrol; 40hp?
- driving wheels: 24"
- wheelbase: 8'9"
- length: 20'0"
- width: 6'9"

Thanks to help from the NGRM forum, I also found some prototype photos, which seem quite hard to come by, at the Clare Library website, Here and Here. The Weston, Clevendon, and Portishead standard gauge light railway had a similar design of railcar from the same company, as seen here.

Now I've fancied a railcar for Awngate for a while, but many seemed to be too modern, required turning or running in pairs, or just looked a bit tricky to model! This one seems to have the right character, size, and being a generic sort of design from a company that sold to anyone (rather than a design associated with a certain line), it should seem at home on Awngate. I've already made a start on assembling the body, so more updates should follow soon.