Tomcat's 1/35 Trumpeter BR86 Dampflokomotive

[Tomcat64]

My entry into this GB will be Trumpeter's 1/35 BR86 Dampflokomotive - there isn't any background information included in the kit so here's some info and accompanying photographs that I've grabbed off the interweb. The German Dampflokomotive archive contains a lot of useful information & images for anyone interested in further research on this and other classes.

Overview

The DRG Class 86 was a standard 2-8-2 goods train tank locomotive with the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft. It was intended for duties on branch lines and was delivered by almost all the locomotive building firms working for the Reichsbahn. From 1942 it was built in a simplified version as a 'transitional war locomotive' (Übergangskriegslokomotive or ÜK). The most obvious changes were the omission of the second side windows in the cab and the solid disc carrying wheels.

Almost all German locomotive factories took part in building these engines, 775 examples being produced in the period from 1928 to 1943. Its area of operations was predominantly the routes in Germany's Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge); as a result the first 10 units were given a Riggenbach counter-pressure brake. Twenty locomotives were destroyed during the Second World War; lightly damaged engines were repaired. Of the original 775 units, 175 went to the GDR railways, 385 to the Deutsche Bundesbahn, 29 to the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), 44 to the PKP in Poland as the Class TKt3, 73 to the SZD and 62 to the CSD (6 of which later went to the SZD and 86 043 in 1958 to the GDR). On the last-mentioned 62 engines 28 became the CSD Class 455.2. Only 2 engines are still unaccounted for (86 016 and 86 469). The ÖBB began to retire them as early as 1945, but the last did not retire until 1972. However the Austrian engines had some of the most interesting duties, including working double-headed on heavy, empty, ore trains with a DRB Class 52.

The Bundesbahn stationed most of its 86's in Nuremberg for the Franconian branch lines and the marshalling yards there. The locomotive shed at Hof, Germany was also renowned Class 86 territory. Short, semi-fast trains were also regularly hauled by the Class 86. The DB retired its last one in 1974.

In the GDR railways the 86's were mainly stationed at Aue engine shed (with over 50 engines) for the surrounding Ore Mountain routes. Some DR engines stationed at Heringsdorf shed on the island of Usedom were even given smoke deflectors. One well-known service was a fast-stopping train with 7 Bghw coaches, but light express trains were also on their schedule in the Central Uplands. The Class 86's last (official) year in service in the DR was 1976, but several engines continued to run on into the 1980s.

Since its inauguration in 1928, no. 86 001/86 1001 was under steam almost every day, but in its latter years was often just used as a heating engine. Its last duties were on the stub line from Schlettau to Crottendorf, where it ended its steam services in 1988. Together with 86 501 this loco was once again taken into scheduled service for a week in 1989 to celebrate the centenary of the route. With a service age of 60 years, it became the longest serving of all the standard locomotives to be placed in scheduled service by a national railway.

Since 1999, no. 86 001 has been mothballed but No. 86 1056 met a tragic end in 1989 when it was the last victim of the GDR's scrapping policy and was converted into a mobile steam dispenser. Its driving gear and cylinders went into the furnace.

In addition to the aforementioned website I also picked up a copy of this book recently which includes preservation era photos of many locomotives used during WWII in Europe

The Kit

Onto the kit itself which was a new release in 2009 and comes in a sturdy 18"x12"x4" box crammed full of styrene


Inside the box is another box


Which contains the separately packaged parts for the display base


And there is a separate bag containing the frame with the sleepers, rails & fishplates


Onto the main sprues for the locomotive itself - most of these were bagged separately or in pairs


These had extra protection which I decided not to open at this point




















There are also some vinyl wiring/piping looms


Clear parts, decals and PE - all left bagged for now


Instruction book


A sample page looks clear but busy


And finally a sheet with a choice of two variants


At some point I also picked up some resin replacement parts and figures but at this stage I'm not sure how much of these I'll use... from memory the instructions are on the minidisc but I'll need to check that

I need to clear my bench first, but hoping to make a start on this one at the weekend - thanks as always for looking if you got this far

[DBMiller]

What a beast!

[smokeriderdon]

These trains that Trumpeter does have always fascinated me. Just not enough to actually build one. LOL

[Twokidsnosleep]

Cool build...certainly very heavy lifting

[Casper]

Nice looking kit and amazing loco

[digger303]

Great choice I think this is going to be my favorite build to watch.
This kit is a bit like building ships the cheapest part is the kit and the addon's quickly triple the original investment.



Ohh I goofed.....and now busy erasing the evidence
I have the Br52, but this is still going to be a fun build to follow.


Ps...Minart do a rail accessories tool set and workers.

[BigWall]

Ooooooo! This is going to be a fun build!

[Stokesy44]

Cool build...certainly very heavy lifting

Hmm, lifting or pulling?

[Stokesy44]

What an absolute monster of a chu-chu!

Some tasty after extras too, looking forward to seeing this one matey.

[digger303]

You have to use all the resin....please
The track ballast doesn't match up properly when you put it all together....just a heads up.

[Tomcat64]

What a beast!

These trains that Trumpeter does have always fascinated me. Just not enough to actually build one. LOL

Cool build...certainly very heavy lifting

Nice looking kit and amazing loco

Great choice I think this is going to be my favorite build to watch.
This kit is a bit like building ships the cheapest part is the kit and the addon's quickly triple the original investment.



Ohh I goofed.....and now busy erasing the evidence
I have the Br52, but this is still going to be a fun build to follow.


Ps...Minart do a rail accessories tool set and workers.

Ooooooo! This is going to be a fun build!

What an absolute monster of a chu-chu!

Some tasty after extras too, looking forward to seeing this one matey.

Thanks for checking in guys - hoping this one behaves itself

You have to use all the resin....please
The track ballast doesn't match up properly when you put it all together....just a heads up.

Thanks mate - yep spotted the mismatch on the ballast

I'm still undecided on all the resin - I managed to get the pdf instruction sheets off the minidisc and one set is specifically for the inside of the cab which will barely be visible once it's all closed up. I'm definitely thinking of using the larger items like the pumps if they go together ok though.

[Tomcat64]

Ok time to get this one rolling

Track Bed

The first section of the instructions deals with the track-bed and track sections


As you can see some surgery is required, but Trumpeter kindly cut grooves in the right places which finished off with a razor saw


I started assembling the sections - making sure they were on a flat surface, and added some reinforcement on the undersides


Once they were all together they were this long:


You also need to make sure that the parts are the right way around so you get the sleeper gaps spaced properly. But as digger mentioned once the sleepers were dry fitted the ballast sections will obviously need some attention where they meet the sleepers and also where the sections join


The joins between the sections will also need some attention


So I popped the sleepers back out for now and will be treating the track bed as a separate mini-project to tidy up and paint & weather.

Frames

Skipping section 2 which deals with adding the rails I moved onto the section 3 which is the first section with the loco itself and concerns initial building of the frames


I left the axle shafts & the component made up of J14&15 and C9 dry fitted so they could rotate if necessary to accommodate the parts that'll fit into them later


And here's the small subassembly in the side box labelled A-A


One thing to note here is that a quick dry-fit shows the edge of the indicated panel sticks out a bit too far so that'll need a little sanding to sit properly


Aside from that the parts look & feel good with very little in the way of flash or mould lines and any EPMs seem to be hidden on internal sections so don't need much attention either.

That's all for now - looking forward to cracking on in the evenings this week time permitting.

Thanks as always for looking

[RangerNeil]

Looks very interesting - I will be following this closely. The opportunities for weathering must be enormous!!
Never built a railway locomotive before so I get tempted after seeing this build I'll tell the wife and boss accountant its your fault..

[digger303]

I thought of keeping the sleepers and rail and making a new bed with some rail modelers ballast. Would look a heap better.
T-Model do a curved plastic track as well 720mm in length in case you wanted to super size.

[Tomcat64]

Looks very interesting - I will be following this closely. The opportunities for weathering must be enormous!!
Never built a railway locomotive before so I get tempted after seeing this build I'll tell the wife and boss accountant its your fault..

Will make a change from being in trouble with my missus

I thought of keeping the sleepers and rail and making a new bed with some rail modelers ballast. Would look a heap better.
T-Model do a curved plastic track as well 720mm in length in case you wanted to super size.

Yep I've been thinking about that too - O-Gauge ballast is readily available and although it's 1/48 I think it'll do the trick, so maybe pin the track to a bit of hardboard (or even thick styrene sheet cut to size) and then build up the rails & ballast on top...

[Kevthemodeller]

And he's off, looking forward to this one Neil

[Tomcat64]

And he's off, looking forward to this one Neil

Cheers Kev

[Tomcat64]

I've made some more progress with this build in the evenings this week, but before I start on that here's a train themed song from my misspent youth that has come back to mind while I've been hacking plastic

Buffer Beams

Right enough of that... here's the progress on the Loco

The next page of the instructions covered the build up of the buffer beams as well as adding panels to the frames


A couple of things to note here - firstly the two beams look similar but have different top & bottom panels, second was that both parts C2 were slightly warped so needed pulling into shape. And here they are


I'd decided I was going for "Option 2" but didn't commit to it until I'd got the loops (part C44) off the sprue frames and cleaned up without breaking them


Here's the other end - again make sure you've attached the correct beam to the correct end of the frames


And here's the whole thing... starting to worry that it may not fit in the spray booth... will figure that out later

Trucks

The next section dealt with the leading & trailing trucks


And here they are built up


One went together well, but the other needed some filling as the parts were slightly "off"


Now... given that there are 12 wheels on these things one of the challenges is getting everything to sit properly so I grabbed and part built four of the driving wheels and dry fitted them to the frames


With that done the leading & trailing trucks were added - there was some manipulating required to get them into the frames and settled down but working on the assumption that my desk & cutting mat are flat I managed to get everything sitting nicely. For those that are interested in such things the front of the loco is to the left in this shot


And a final note on the steps... the instructions show them fitted to the wrong end to start with but then switch ends on the next diagram - just to be clear they need to go on the front end. And finally I would suggest attaching the legs to the loco frame before adding the steps themselves, doing it the other way around led to a lot of faffing about and removing them anyway but here they are in their final position

So that's some good progress this week and hopefully I'll get some more bench time this weekend

Here's another bit of music for you to finish with thanks as always for looking

[digger303]

Lovely update that had me wanting more. I do hope you use as much of the resin as possible Lz models do good work.
Praying you get some bench time in this weekend.

[BigWall]

Very nice and a post with a soundtrack! Genius!

[Stokesy44]

Wow, that is off to a cracking start. Nice to see a different subject but the jury's out on your music tastes sir!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Good train progress
That kit looks well detailed
You are a bit of a rocker mate

This old Elvis song is one of the few riffs I can play on my guitar..and it drives everyone crazy. As in oh god stop playing that damn guitar
Here performed by Clapton the magnificent(ego) and Scotty Moore


I am gonna go practice…

[Quax]

Nothing wrong with a bit of Saxon, I'm with you there!

Considering how well you're steaming along with this I'm going to settle down and watch this stay on track for a great finish!

Paul

[Tomcat64]

Lovely update that had me wanting more. I do hope you use as much of the resin as possible Lz models do good work.
Praying you get some bench time in this weekend.

Cheers mate - no resin in this update, but there may be some next time around

Very nice and a post with a soundtrack! Genius!

Thanks Joe

Wow, that is off to a cracking start. Nice to see a different subject but the jury's out on your music tastes sir!

Brace yerself - there's plenty more where that came from

Good train progress
That kit looks well detailed
You are a bit of a rocker mate

Very much so - rock has been the soundtrack of my life since I was a teenager and I'm a lapsed guitarist too ... need to dig one out and have a widdle

This old Elvis song is one of the few riffs I can play on my guitar..and it drives everyone crazy. As in oh god stop playing that damn guitar
Here performed by Clapton the magnificent(ego) and Scotty Moore


I am gonna go practice…

Thanks for sharing that - I hadn't come across that version of Mystery Train before

Nothing wrong with a bit of Saxon, I'm with you there!

Considering how well you're steaming along with this I'm going to settle down and watch this stay on track for a great finish!

Paul

Cheers Paul puntastic post! And hopefully that means my intention to crank up Wheels of Steel when I fit the main running gear won't be lost on everyone!

[Tomcat64]

Well as hoped I managed to get a good weekend in the engine shed but before we crack on with that here's today's theme tune

Frames

First up for this weekend was more work on the frames with adding various bulkheads and slide bars etc


This was a bit fiddly to get together but nothing major


And here's everything in place; one thing I have noticed now is that the prevalence of mould lines and EPMs has increased, most of the latter needed sanding out but again nothing too bad

Cylinders

Next was one of the sections I'd been really looking forward to tackling - adding the driving cylinders


One of the blocks went together pretty much flawlessly but the other had some join gaps (this is a theme through the build when building pairs of things) - I was going to break out the filler but then realised the gap would be covered by other components later on


Next up I luckily spotted a mistake in the instructions for building sub assemblies <E-E> and <F-F>. The instructions say to make these in pairs, and use E-4 for the base of the former and E-5 for the latter. In actuality you need to use one each of E-4 and E-5 for each sub assembly as they need to be mirrored pairs and aren't symmetrical


Here are the completed <E-E>s


And a pile of components less the steam pipes which I didn't add until later on as they're also "sided" and I didn't want to mix them up


Here are the completed cylinders


Attached to the front end of the frames


It's not clear from the instructions but the slide arms from the previous section connect to the slide-rods on the back ends of the cylinders
Edit: Nope - this isn't right. I checked through the instructions again and the slide arms from the previous section actually sit on top of the slide-rod housing out of the back of the cylinders and then connect to another rod way down in section 22 of the instructions. I'll leave them dry fitted as they are for the moment for safe-keeping so they don't float about.


Another view with everything in place


One final note is the bracket (H38) connects to the previously installed arm (G14) - this (I think) is part of the brake mechanism - again this isn't overly clear from the instructions

Tanks

Over the page and we add a bunch of tanks and build up a sub assembly for the next stage, as well as adding the opposite brake piston


Here's the individual sub assembly - this was not great to get all the cylindrical halves aligned and I'm still not happy with a couple of the seams but will check back to see if I want to add a swipe of filler


And here are the tanks in place - again when building up the pair of larger tanks one was fine but the join on the other was a little off on one side, so I've tidied that up and then tactically hidden it against the bulkhead

Final Frames

And then onto the final section of the frames


When adding the walkways & steps I learnt from the earlier set of steps and added the main walkway (L9) and rail (K16) first


Before building up and attaching the lower steps - be aware that Parts C-48 aren't symmetrical so you need to match them up the right way


The couplings are the fiddliest part of the kit so far - and after much faffing around I found the best way of getting these in place was to add the C40s to C8 first and then align them into C39 - mine have turned out a little wonky so I suspect that I needed to match up the C40 linkages better, but here's one set completed


Here they are attached


One thing they don't mentioned is that if the loco is sitting on a flat surface then the couplings hit the bench top - not a problem when the thing us up on rails so I've lifted it up on some chocks of square styrene to keep everything safe


And that's the frames done

The next stages of the build move up to the boiler - I have to say this kit is throwing up just the right amount of challenges and I'm really enjoying the way it's going together

Thanks as always for looking

[Stokesy44]

Coming together really nicely. Looks like its going to be quite a beast

[digger303]

Looks to be wonderfully complicated......love it.

[Casper]

wow superb read and excellent build

[Tomcat64]

Coming together really nicely. Looks like its going to be quite a beast

Looks to be wonderfully complicated......love it.

wow superb read and excellent build

Thanks chaps

[Tomcat64]

I didn't get much time at the bench last week or weekend but have already made some progress this week.

Here's today's theme tune

Drive wheels

Following on from where I left off, the instructions then make a start on the boiler, but my intention was to complete the running gear first and skipping ahead through the instructions I think there's only one potential hiccup with taking that route so I cracked on to section 20 to add the main driving wheels and brake mechanisms


The wheels are actually built in section 18 but simply require a hub and counter balance adding to each wheel


And then the brakes were added - this involved trying to access some tight spaces that I think would have been much harder with the boiler etc in place

Brake Linkages

The next stage involved adding the brake linkages and part of the piston mechanism out of the cylinders


Once again these are mirror images of each other so need to make sure they're assembled the right way around


And here they are in place

Running Gear

To complete the coupling rods for the drive wheels just a few more parts to add to each side


And again here's a closer view


The whole length with the running gear completed - as you can see I've dry built some track sections for this to sit on


So that's the running gear done and since we're heading back to the boiler next here's the two halves dry-fitted on top of the frames - this shows that some work is going to be needed to get the steam pipes lined up but otherwise looks pretty good

Just a couple of final notes; firstly I think that going ahead without the boiler & superstructure in place was probably the right decision as getting all those linkages in place was difficult enough with just the lower frames. Secondly by this stage there are a lot of delicate parts already assembled so care has to be taken when trying to push the linkages together as pressure in the wrong place will cause damage elsewhere.

That's all for now - thanks as always for looking

[Stokesy44]

That is looking seriously busy. The running gear looks great and I'm just thinking how awesome it will look with paint on.

Really nice clean build mate

[digger303]

Marvelous update and build.
This won't roll at all will it and it's going to be a dickens of a job spraying paint behind all those parts or are the wheels only dry fitted atm ?

[Stokesy44]

Marvelous update and build.
This won't roll at all will it and it's going to be a dickens of a job spraying paint behind all those parts or are the wheels only dry fitted atm ?

Dude, its got to roll. How else is TC going to push it round the room going 'choo choo'!

[digger303]

Marvelous update and build.
This won't roll at all will it and it's going to be a dickens of a job spraying paint behind all those parts or are the wheels only dry fitted atm ?

Dude, its got to roll. How else is TC going to push it round the room going 'choo choo'!

Does he have a engineers cap yet....I'll chip in for a ebay special one of the the blue and white striped ones

[Tomcat64]

Marvelous update and build.
This won't roll at all will it and it's going to be a dickens of a job spraying paint behind all those parts or are the wheels only dry fitted atm ?

Dude, its got to roll. How else is TC going to push it round the room going 'choo choo'!

Does he have a engineers cap yet....I'll chip in for a ebay special one of the the blue and white striped ones

I knew all those Saturday mornings watching Casey Jones would come in handy one day


Everything is glued as some of the connections on the rods are a little loose otherwise, and yep it's going to be a challenge to prime & paint so I'm thinking I'll have to take my time and do it over several sessions to make sure everything is covered.

[Kevthemodeller]

What a great looking kit Neil it's really staring to spring into life now

[Stokesy44]

Casey Jones - the similarities are amazing!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Really incredibly detailed kit
It is coming together marvelously

[RangerNeil]

I am looking at the assembly thus far and am impressed beyond measure - and getting a headache thinking of painting and weathering that complex assembly. I keep finding bits of BTR suspension I've missed when painting.....

[BigWall]

So much detail to paint and weather! It looks amazing already and is only going to get better once the painting starts!

[digger303]

I am looking at the assembly thus far and am impressed beyond measure - and getting a headache thinking of painting and weathering that complex assembly. I keep finding bits of BTR suspension I've missed when painting.....

All you need now is a RIVET counter to add his 2 bob's worth to ruin ya fun...

[RangerNeil]

I am looking at the assembly thus far and am impressed beyond measure - and getting a headache thinking of painting and weathering that complex assembly. I keep finding bits of BTR suspension I've missed when painting.....

All you need now is a RIVET counter to add his 2 bob's worth to ruin ya fun...

Oh gawd - don't even think of going there... I get enough of those at MV shows.... After a day of being asked "where are the Rad-Haz warnings"* or "You f*ck*d that up - should only have one ammeter in a box between the seats, not 2 in the dash"** you realise why show organisers have a "no fixed bayonets" policy.....

* Series 3 FFR with Clansman never had them.
** Late S3's had the shunt box between the seats - mine is one of the first and has the carry over from S2/S2A.

We digress from the topic though - I am looking forwards to seeing the cab part of the build and how much detsil Trumpeter have included.

[digger303]

I am looking at the assembly thus far and am impressed beyond measure - and getting a headache thinking of painting and weathering that complex assembly. I keep finding bits of BTR suspension I've missed when painting.....

All you need now is a RIVET counter to add his 2 bob's worth to ruin ya fun...

Oh gawd - don't even think of going there... I get enough of those at MV shows.... After a day of being asked "where are the Rad-Haz warnings"* or "You f*ck*d that up - should only have one ammeter in a box between the seats, not 2 in the dash"** you realise why show organisers have a "no fixed bayonets" policy.....

* Series 3 FFR with Clansman never had them.
** Late S3's had the shunt box between the seats - mine is one of the first and has the carry over from S2/S2A.

We digress from the topic though - I am looking forwards to seeing the cab part of the build and how much detsil Trumpeter have included.

I googled it cause I'm not up with all the abbreviations the young ones throw about and " detsil " has me stumped. Your way too hip and with it than I am...

[RangerNeil]

I googled it cause I'm not up with all the abbreviations the young ones throw about and " detsil " has me stumped. Your way too hip and with it than I am...

Err - for "detsil" read "detail"....

[Tomcat64]

Thanks for checking in guys - I'll be adding some more of those pesky detsils in this update

But first here's today's tune

Boiler and Firebox

Following my foray into the running gear last time out we return to section 10 of the instructions to make a start on the boiler


The joins down the middle were a little "off" but nothing any worse than joining up the fuselage halves on an aircraft kit and some careful sanding later resulted in the two sections


Anyone that's followed one of my armour builds will know that I like to add weights where possible to give the kit a little "heft" and make it sit a bit better, so Ive done the same with the main boiler tube and will add more to the bunker at the back to balance this out


Now... onto some of the resin updates... the "instructions" consist of a number of pages with photos, and if you're lucky some part numbers and you're left to work out where they might fit. I won't share all of them but here's a sample - the green letters on the second page have been added by me for reference later...




This last page might have been useful if the casting blocks were complete and the parts hadn't come off already


So... after some head scratching I decided that photos A & B related to the valve assembly on top of the firebox section...


This was made more challenging in that part 9 was incorrectly labelled


And I'm still not convinced that I've got it right - but can't figure out any other way of putting the bits together as it looks ok from one side but not the other


Then... pictures D & E relate to the fittings on the rearmost steam dome on the main boiler


This also includes removing the original mounting points as they're at the wrong angle - in this photo the original styrene rear mounts were in place, they were later removed when I realised there were resin replacements later in the add-on kit


Finally photos C & F relate to the forward steam dome


And here they are all in place - the detail is nice, but I can foresee additional headaches coming along when I need to fit the pipework so there may be some chopping & joining to do to get everything lined up. Anything not quite accurate will be designated a "field modification"


Here's the firebox assembly - I've left the pipe (H6) off for now until I can see how it aligns with the cab front


So with that done onto section 11


The first thing I spotted was that there is a replacement for parts F7 & F8 in the electrical & interior set (top is the resin - bottom is the kit assembly)


The fit of some of the firebox parts required a little filling & sanding to get tidied up


As did the remaining domes - still some work to do on this one


The smokebox door went together with no drama


I used Tamiya standard cement to weld the boiler & firebox together and there was also a little filling required along that join


Finally here's the boiler sitting on the frames - starting to take shape now

Next up I'll be building the compressor & water pumps from the add on sets and then start adding the external pipework to the boiler

Thanks as always for looking

[digger303]

Super complicated made worse when the instructions aren't great, but she's looking sweet.
That flange work like you say doesn't look quite right looks unbalanced, but over all it looks smashing.



Ps....This is good https://www.passion132.com/gb/pigments/ ... -45ml.html

[Stokesy44]

Absolutely awesome work.

That resin looks great and will look B E A Utiful when painted

[RangerNeil]

Nicely done getting the resin parts sorted!!

[Kevthemodeller]

Just keeps getting better Neil

[Tomcat64]

Super complicated made worse when the instructions aren't great, but she's looking sweet.
That flange work like you say doesn't look quite right looks unbalanced, but over all it looks smashing.



Ps....This is good https://www.passion132.com/gb/pigments/ ... -45ml.html

Absolutely awesome work.

That resin looks great and will look B E A Utiful when painted

Nicely done getting the resin parts sorted!!

Just keeps getting better Neil

Thanks chaps and for that link as well @digger303 - these things got really grubby so definitely planning on giving it a damn good weathering when we get there.

For anyone wanting to tackle this on a smaller scale Hobbyboss do what look to be the same kits in 1/72 (just in case @RangerNeil needs to smuggle it past the wife )