As some of you know I am mainly known for my work in Z scale, taking my four exhibition layouts around Europe during the Spring and Fall show seasons but like many aspects of life it has all come to a shuddering halt due to the Coronavirus pandemic. We managed to run the Macclesfield show in March where my new Japanese Z layout 'Hakuho' made its debut but even then we knew the rest of the calender was going to get wiped out including the big York, London, Bristol and Quorn shows. So I found myself with free weekends, no layouts to prep and no rush to finish some 1980's Z locos as the deadline disappeared. Seemed like a good time to finish some of the long term projects festering in the loft or the dark recesses of the workshop The first one to be brought blinking into the light is a C56 2-6-0 of the State railways of Thailand modelled in 1nM. 1/30th scale running on 0 scale track. I started it in 2007 a couple of years after my first trip railfanning Thailand and had a head start as I had a drawing of these locos in their initial Japanese form . These locos wre brought by the Imperial Japanese Army into Thailand during the second world war to construct the notorious 'Death railway' from Thailand to Burma (Bridge over the River Kwai ) I first encountered one plinthed at the end of the Platforms at Hua Lamphong main station in Bangkok and was able to take loads of detail pictures Now the locos got modified to fit Thai loading gauge( Cab roof mainly) and the smoke deflectors were removed so the first thing was to tweak the drawing This was the drawing with my notes on what alterations it needed Photoshop is excellent for removing the stuff you don't need and gives you a blank canvas to work on Early days back in 2007 more soon Kev
Construction is Nickel Silver body on a GFS (Gauge Plate) Steel chassis. This steel is dead flat, dead straight, accurate to size but really easy to work with. The bar frames were milled out. Most of the fittings are brass. The valve gear was cut out on a Pantograph engraver from patterns 4 times bigger than needed. Driving wheel, tender and leading truck castings came. I think. from a firm called Locosteam years before I started the model when I was at the height of my Gauge 1 modelling period And I'd got this stage Including some Thai freight wagons to go behind it on a projected garden layout when it slipped into the background more soon
The Thai Army had nearly every variant of the M113 in service although I never find one when I was there. Did find 'Deuce and a halfs', Humvees and jeeps aplenty. By rights the M113 should be on a BFH flat wagon. I've built six M113s in Thai army condition but they are 1/35th scale. As the garden layout is unlikely to ever get built I probably won't get round to doing the BFHs As I said the C56s were shipped to South east Asia by the Japanese and 45 came into SRT stock after the war. remarkably quite a few have survived So the last time I looked the following survive in Thailand Nam Tok 702 ex C56 .4 Bangkok Thonburi 713 ex C56.15 Bangkok Hua Lamphong 714 ex C56.16 Bangkok Thonburi 715 ex C56.17 Kanchanburi 719 ex C56.23 Nakhon Lampang 728 ex C56.36 Bangkok Makkasan 733 ex C56.47 (Actually 738) Salaya 738 ex C56.41 (Actually 733) Chang Mai 744 ex C56.53 and 725 and 735 have both been repatriated to Japan as C56.44 and C56.31 and there is at least one over the border in Burma Two are kept at Thonburi depot in working condition for the River Kwai celebrations. 713 still has its Japanese smokebox number plate fitted. Just before I got there one of the fitters had gone round with a tin of very rich red paint! In not quite such good condition was 733 lying derelict at Makkasan main workshops in Bangkok So the first thing was to strip the model down to see where I was at. A lot of the brass was tarnished but the steel axles and iron wheels were O.K The tender was nearly complete so I concentrated on that first more soon Kev
More of the tender So after some more cleaning the tender was grit blasted, cleaned off and then doused in white vinegar for about 20 minutes to etch it, washed off and dried I used Hycote red oxide primer (Aerosol) and then left it to not just dry but cure for a couple of days Part 1 of the build video more soon Kev
Wheels painted and tender finished in Hycote gloss acrylic black. Chassis painted and you can see the start of some of the strange, to western eyes, colour scheme with the valve gear painted white A warts and all picture of the firebox back head The chassis has had the cylinders painted green. I had a major headache resolving the different colour greens I kept finding on these. Back in the 1970s it was quite a dark Brunswick green but in later years seemed to fade quite badly, I eventually decided on Tamiya Flat green which has fantastic covering power when applied straight over black. Boiler painted and backhead tidied up. start made on planking underneath of cab roof pressure gauges ready to fit. I make these in batches and store them for further projects more soon Kev
The cab roof planking was quite a fiddly job but worth effort The white cab roof looks a bit odd until you get used to it part 3 of the video Kev
Chassis and superstructure re-united The tender is going to need a lot more logs! As there are no commercially available decals I end up taking a broadside picture of the cabside and tender. Cropping and reducing the image in Photoshop and then printing out onto self adhesive labels. These were stuck to 20 thou plasticard and the letters cut out to make stencils. I used a fine tip Pilot permanent paint marker to do the outline and then filled it in and added the yellow after. The video explains it better,probably The snifter valve filetrs have been added to the cylinders and the Vac pipes added
Seen with the next unfinished project to get sorted. NS 8811 a Hunslet 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST bought by the Netherlands after WW2 and still in steam on a preserved line in Holland. Final part of video with rare footage of C56s in action from way back I did have a very nice pint of real ale to celebrate finishing this after all this time! Kev
So. After four years of not doing anything more on my Thai garden railway stuff I suddenly found myself laid up with an ankle broken in two places after going over on the ice. In plaster until March 1st and I can't get out to the workshop or up into the loft to get at anything. So I started remastering my Thai video footage from the 2000s and reloading onto my youtube channel. Got back in touch with fellow Thai railway modellers which set me off thinking what was still lurking around, half started First up was one of the stubby little BV Brake vans ( Caboose) seen al over the system. I have done some trips on these including a Khon Kaen to Tha Phra empty sugar cane working thanks to the local train crews This one was ex-works , they rarely look these clean Construction would be the same as the previous 4 wheel stock. Polystyrene bodies on ABS underframes. The rather technicolour look is due to my use of different coloured plasticard to record the construction sequence This has turned out to be quite a complicated little beast. Not helped by the fact that every photo I have of the real things seem to say that no two are identical The rather rudimentary toilet has been fitted ( against my better judgement I have had to use one of these in real life but only because I was desperate! ). The slding end doors and highly modified GIMRA axleboxes are fitted and Slaters 0 scale, coarse scale coach wheels are used. Couplers will be Kadees like the earlier stock Sat in the background with the aluminium elliptical roof and end framing fitted. In the foreground is my model of an LS Low side 4 wheeler Just for reference the two locos in the background are two of my Japanese 0 scale locos. A C57 4-6-2 and a D51 2-8-2 More on the LS later Kev
Bad news about the ankle Kev. Sure hope it heals up good for you The break can looks like a really neat project.
Settling down to watch the Superbowl but here is where the models are tonight The LS is ready for the Ultrasonic bath and the first coat of Hycote plastic primer. Finished as a vacuum braked example ( I thank god I never had to work on vac brakes in my entire Rail engineering career!). The vac pipes are on the same side of the wagon at either end.The wonky dropsides won't really show until the primer is on. The dropside bump stops are also showing signs of a hard life. The Kadee couplers should arrive in tomorrows post. The vac hoses are tightly wound tension springs I picked up from an Army surplus store and will connect along the train. Ithink I paid £5 for 1000, bargain of a lifetime! The BV is so frustrating. Every single one I photographed in Thailand is different. Only details, but no two look the same Since this photo was taken the roof gutters have been added. The roof is held on by four 10BA countersunk screws on the centreline with a 1/32 x 1/4" brass rivet as a locating peg on each corner to stiffen the end framing. The sliding door needs straightening This is a dual braked vehicle with the same arrangement for the vac brakes .The air brake hoses are on the opposite side. the window shutters are underway and I'll explain tomorrow about ,yet another quirk, I have had to work out regarding the colours of those more soon kev
So every picture I have of the BVs seems to have a different combination of grey or silver window shutters. Taken from the cupola end. The sliding doors actually slide and the wonky shutters are based on real photos Because of the ankle I can''t get in the loft but I got our Brooklyn to go up and get the C56 2-6-0 out The LS has started to be lettered and I'll have to get back into the groove of doing the Thai lettering free hand with a Pilot EF white marker. I do the Thai lettering onto clear wateslide decal sheet. Pick the best ones and aplly to the models Kev
This is the look I'm going for on the LS The lettering on the sides is there, just! Although my drop sides aren't as battered as this one Kev
Lets have a quick look back at the first four freight cars I made to go with the C56 Not much used now are the four wheel CF container wagons. These can only take one 20ft container and the move to 40ft containers has rendered them leess useful The CF Container flats were constrructed with ABS underframes (Plastruct) and polystyrene bodies.Home made resin cast axleboxes, Kadee 820 couplers and Slaters 0 gauge, Coarse scale , disc coach wheels All the lettering was taken from a broadside photo I took of a real one. Photoshopped and printed out on white waterslide decal sheet This was the finished artwork One was heavily weathered and the other less so the 20 ft containers came off some old 1/32nd scale truck kits. Esci/Humbrol Since I finished these I realised that most of the ones I saw were dual braked, Vacuum and Air brakes so need air hoses adding as well CG and SW Vans soon Kev
So the CG van was made from 80 thou plasticard with a roof made from a block of Perspex milled to profile. Home made resin axleboxes and Kadee 820s An early photo before the details were added The SW Salt van was also made from 80 thou. The corrugated roof was applied panel by panel like the real thing, In this case because it had oil axleboxes I used some heavily modified GIMRA white metal ones The Thai script lettering was done freehand using a Pilot EF White permanent marker and the English lettering was old school dry print transfers. In both cases applied to clear waterslide decal sheet and then applied as normal So I spent yesterday doing the Thai script for the BV brake van and LS Low side until my eyes went Squirly! More soon Kev
