Tomcat's 1/35 Trumpeter BR86 Dampflokomotive

[BigWall]

Beautiful priming.

I love the PE in the roof panel. It looks so RIGHT!

You know like when you see part of a kit and it just looks the business. Superb work.

I agree! Something about the PE for the roof panel just looks perfect. It's coming along very nicely.

[Tomcat64]

Really impressive progress since I last check ! Hope you celebrated with a good beer the end of the PE !!



Take Care !

Beautiful priming.

I love the PE in the roof panel. It looks so RIGHT!

You know like when you see part of a kit and it just looks the business. Superb work.

This is a hell of a build!! So much so that it almost tempts me to have a go at a steam loco!
It really is an impressive piece of work - especially the PE and resin detailing.

Love smooth primer there Neil, good enough to leave as top coat and just weather it

Tracks are looking good

Beautiful priming.

I love the PE in the roof panel. It looks so RIGHT!

You know like when you see part of a kit and it just looks the business. Superb work.

I agree! Something about the PE for the roof panel just looks perfect. It's coming along very nicely.

Thanks chaps

[Tomcat64]

I didn't manage to get any time at the bench in the evenings last week but have made some more progress this weekend

First I threw some ballast at the tracks and also primed & top-coated the rails with a dark brown. I realised afterwards that I'd probably end up stripping some of the paint off pushing the rails through the mounting points so bit the bullet and installed them anyways - so there's some touching up to do here and there (and also the fishplates which I completely forgot to paint!) The ballast was initially held with thin PVA to make it tacky and then sealed with AK's gravel & sand fixer and left to dry.


Whilst all that was drying off I finished priming & painting the main components with a couple of gallons of Anthracite grey


I now need to mask the outside of the cab and spray the inside with a darker shade of grey before picking out the floor, roof & ceiling details


Finally I picked out the edges of the wheels with steel and the driving gear with gun metal - both from the AK 3rd gen range. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the gun metal as yet but hopefully after it's had a couple of washes to dull it down a bit it'll look more like what I had in mind.


So we're nearly at the weathering stage so here's a loose dry fit of all the big bits in place


Thanks as always for looking

[digger303]

LOVELY....marvelous.
Wheels are fixed in place I guess ?

[Stokesy44]

Looks superb. Lovely priming and paint job

[BigWall]

Yesterday, the big boy came into town. We were hoping it would have to slow down for a nearby intersection allowing us to get some good pictures but it was moving pretty fast as it passed us and didn't slow down. My son and I did manage to get a couple decent pictures though.

Big Boy 1 by Big Wall, on Flickr

Big Boy by Big Wall, on Flickr

It's on display in Downtown Denver today, but being a holiday, there's probably a ton of people checking it out and I hate going downtown anyway. Luckily, we'll have the opportunity to see it again tomorrow morning as it leaves town. Hopefully we'll get some better pictures then.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Jeeze Neil, it looks fantastic all primed up and on the base
Really looking forward to the weathering

[Stokesy44]

Yesterday, the big boy came into town. We were hoping it would have to slow down for a nearby intersection allowing us to get some good pictures but it was moving pretty fast as it passed us and didn't slow down. My son and I did manage to get a couple decent pictures though.

Big Boy 1 by Big Wall, on Flickr

Big Boy by Big Wall, on Flickr

It's on display in Downtown Denver today, but being a holiday, there's probably a ton of people checking it out and I hate going downtown anyway. Luckily, we'll have the opportunity to see it again tomorrow morning as it leaves town. Hopefully we'll get some better pictures then.

I say! She's a little on the large side what?

[BigWall]

Yesterday, the big boy came into town. We were hoping it would have to slow down for a nearby intersection allowing us to get some good pictures but it was moving pretty fast as it passed us and didn't slow down. My son and I did manage to get a couple decent pictures though.

Big Boy 1 by Big Wall, on Flickr

Big Boy by Big Wall, on Flickr

It's on display in Downtown Denver today, but being a holiday, there's probably a ton of people checking it out and I hate going downtown anyway. Luckily, we'll have the opportunity to see it again tomorrow morning as it leaves town. Hopefully we'll get some better pictures then.

I say! She's a little on the large side what?

She's just absolutely huge!

Unfortunately we assumed that she would leave town the same way she did last time and missed her this morning. But we did get to see her Saturday and that was really cool.

[Tomcat64]

Apologies for the late replies folks

LOVELY....marvelous.
Wheels are fixed in place I guess ?

Thanks mate - yep I decided to fix the wheels early on.

One rookie error I made though was to fix both sides in the same position - they should be offset, probably by about 90degrees.

Looks superb. Lovely priming and paint job

Thanks mate!

Yesterday, the big boy came into town. We were hoping it would have to slow down for a nearby intersection allowing us to get some good pictures but it was moving pretty fast as it passed us and didn't slow down. My son and I did manage to get a couple decent pictures though.

Big Boy 1 by Big Wall, on Flickr

Big Boy by Big Wall, on Flickr

It's on display in Downtown Denver today, but being a holiday, there's probably a ton of people checking it out and I hate going downtown anyway. Luckily, we'll have the opportunity to see it again tomorrow morning as it leaves town. Hopefully we'll get some better pictures then.

Awesome photos & thanks for sharing Joe - that really is an impressive bit of kit

Jeeze Neil, it looks fantastic all primed up and on the base
Really looking forward to the weathering

Thanks mate

[Tomcat64]

So it's fair to say that September didn't go entirely to plan, but I managed to get back to the bench this weekend with the aid of a few days off work so here's a quick precis of the good, the bad & the ugly

The cab was masked off and given a coat of NATO black. The controls were then picked out in red, with additional details some form of gun metal and the floor given a couple of coats of brown to start the decking.


Then the ugly... you might remember me putting a strip of wheel-weights in the boiler to give it some heft... well with all the handling this worked its way loose and took a run at the firebox door The impact smashed off some of the locks & pipes in the area so I took the decision to carefully cut the rest and remove the door so I could secure the weight back in...


Whilst pondering how best to do that I gave the inside of the cab roof the same black & brown coats as the cab


And then used a dark dirt clay wash which was streaked with a damp stippling brush to give an impression of dirty wood. This was then sealed with a wash of Citadel Earth Shade to lock it in a bit.


The rest of the cab was given the same treatment including an overall coat of EarthShade to try and grubby the place up a bit


And here it is with the final details added from the Eduard set. I've also unmasked the acetate windows and the masking has been a little hit & miss and some of the panes are scuffed so I'll see if there's anything I can do to clean that up.


The boiler & cab were then attached permanently (I hope) to the frames and I added the sanding pipes - attached to the first & third domes counting forward from the cab. These are made from soft vinyl which are flexible to get them in place, but the attachment points are a bit vague to be honest so might need a little tweaking as they're currently hanging loose around the wheels


With the boiler attachment done I went back and bodged together some scrap styrene to attach the weights back into the boiler with copious lashings of CA


And then reinstalled the smokebox door - there's one lock that I've not recovered from the carpet monster yet so I might need to scratch build a replacement from scrap. And I've also installed some of the remaining steps which will need to be painted up next. I also need to work out how to reattach the last couple of bits of boiler pipe that were pinged off & recovered!


That's all for now - hopefully things are back on track and I can keep this moving along regularly again.

Thanks as always for looking

[Tomcat64]

I forgot to add I did get back out to the Railway early in September and this loco was running which is probably the closest in shape & wheel configuration (2-8-0 vs 2-8-2) that the GWR produced in comparison to the German one I'm building


and yes... it rained...

[digger303]

I like the weathering effect you achieved around the boiler it looks like proper cast iron and coal dust gets every where.
England living up to it's reputation too....as soon as one goes out it rains.

[Garion77]

wow ..... I'm out of words. There's so much details and so much going on it's amazing. I love the floor... because it really looks like old wood with grease and soot on it. A masterpiece.

[BigWall]

Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Freaking fabulous work
You painting is excellent
You could fill the boiler up with some cheap silicone sealant to lock that weight into place

[Stokesy44]

Beautiful weathering Sir. The difference achieved between base coat and final look is top drawer

I really like the rain 'effects' in the 2 live action pics too

[Donkeywalloper]

Blow all that, the cake is the tops. Well done chap
DW

[Tomcat64]

I like the weathering effect you achieved around the boiler it looks like proper cast iron and coal dust gets every where.
England living up to it's reputation too....as soon as one goes out it rains.

Thanks mate - and yep, it seems every time I pick up my camera these days the heavens open

wow ..... I'm out of words. There's so much details and so much going on it's amazing. I love the floor... because it really looks like old wood with grease and soot on it. A masterpiece.

Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW!

Thanks Francis & Joe

Freaking fabulous work
You painting is excellent
You could fill the boiler up with some cheap silicone sealant to lock that weight into place

Thanks mate - great idea about the sealant, that's tucked away for the next time I nause something up like this

Beautiful weathering Sir. The difference achieved between base coat and final look is top drawer

I really like the rain 'effects' in the 2 live action pics too

Cheers mate

Blow all that, the cake is the tops. Well done chap
DW

Thanks for checking in DW - I'm probably overdue for more baking

In other news, I figured out where the bits of pipework need to go back on but still haven't found the missing door lock thingy.

[Kevthemodeller]

Beautiful weathering Sir. The difference achieved between base coat and final look is top drawer

I really like the rain 'effects' in the 2 live action pics too

What he said, lovely work here Neil

[Tomcat64]

Beautiful weathering Sir. The difference achieved between base coat and final look is top drawer

I really like the rain 'effects' in the 2 live action pics too

What he said, lovely work here Neil

Thanks Kev

[Tomcat64]

So I'm still struggling for bench time at the moment for a variety of reasons but determined to get this one finished (hopefully before the end of the year!)

I decided that I needed to accept that the carpet monster wasn't going to cough up the one remaining smokebox door latch so cobbled one together from styrene


And with that done everything was given another coat of primer & Anthracite and I think it'll do the job


Down the back end the cab unit was attached, and I don't know if it's a result of my adding the PE but this showed up a couple of gaps, one at the bottom which I've attacked with CA and then the roof


The roof really isn't sitting nicely at all so I think I'm going to have to get creative on that - but can't make the final fitting until I've got the crew onboard a bit later


With that done I added the few decals which mostly behaved well, but only needed a breath of water to detach from the backing. And also added the "electric charge" placards from the Eduard set.


And then started to "weather" them by misting thinned down anthracite over them to fade them in a bit


That's all for now - thanks as always for looking, I'll keep plugging away at this and still hopeful it'll pick up some speed again at some point.

Have a great weekend folks

[Stokesy44]

Really like the toned down decals.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Solidly Awesome!

[digger303]

There is always something that doesn't fit right. In this case the roof, a prominent item visually and if it did fit properly at least half of the door gap would disappear I guess.
Good call weathering the decals and the build IS as Scott says .....AWESOME !

[Tomcat64]

Really like the toned down decals.

Solidly Awesome!

Thanks chaps

There is always something that doesn't fit right. In this case the roof, a prominent item visually and if it did fit properly at least half of the door gap would disappear I guess.
Good call weathering the decals and the build IS as Scott says .....AWESOME !

Yeah so what's happened here is that the additional PE (especially the floor) means that the bunker no longer sits properly against the back of the cab so the gap at the bottom is slightly narrower than at the top - hence the door gap... sooooo I've removed the doors and am adding styrene blanking plates to try and disguise some of the poor fit - will add pics later.

And I also think the roof bow would have been easier to bend into shape without the PE bits up there, but again I've added some shims & stuff so we'll see where that gets us

[digger303]

Ah that explains it very well ...thank you.
I don't think it will be a issue with my kit of the 52 cause the whole roof gets replaced.

[Kevthemodeller]

Looking good Neil, some good saves on the PE induced fit issues. I've found the same with PE, I'm now very, very selective with PE as it not only cost a small fortune but can crate unforeseen fit problems.

The weathering looks superb.

[DRUMS01]

I agree with the PE issues as well, and that is across all modeling subjects; the same can be said for resin retro fits too.

Kudos for your problem solving ideas. I have really enjoyed this build and look forward to you steaming across the finish line (see what I did there?). How many crew members are you going to add? Is it just the two shown at the beginning of the build?

[Tomcat64]

Looking good Neil, some good saves on the PE induced fit issues. I've found the same with PE, I'm now very, very selective with PE as it not only cost a small fortune but can crate unforeseen fit problems.

The weathering looks superb.

I agree with the PE issues as well, and that is across all modeling subjects; the same can be said for resin retro fits too.

Kudos for your problem solving ideas. I have really enjoyed this build and look forward to you steaming across the finish line (see what I did there?). How many crew members are you going to add? Is it just the two shown at the beginning of the build?

Thanks guys - yep a lot of this is due to me retrofitting the PE as well, but I've made a start adding some styrene "blanking plates" which will hopefully disguise some of this

And yep Ben, I'm just adding the two crew members to the loco cab itself, but am intending to put a couple of figures on the dio base as well to give a sense of scale to the thing

[digger303]

Looking good Neil, some good saves on the PE induced fit issues. I've found the same with PE, I'm now very, very selective with PE as it not only cost a small fortune but can crate unforeseen fit problems.

The weathering looks superb.

I agree with the PE issues as well, and that is across all modeling subjects; the same can be said for resin retro fits too.

Kudos for your problem solving ideas. I have really enjoyed this build and look forward to you steaming across the finish line (see what I did there?). How many crew members are you going to add? Is it just the two shown at the beginning of the build?

Thanks guys - yep a lot of this is due to me retrofitting the PE as well, but I've made a start adding some styrene "blanking plates" which will hopefully disguise some of this

And yep Ben, I'm just adding the two crew members to the loco cab itself, but am intending to put a couple of figures on the dio base as well to give a sense of scale to the thing

Figures too, I wonder which ones your going to use. Suspense to the end....love this build.

[Tomcat64]

Figures too, I wonder which ones your going to use. Suspense to the end....love this build.

Well... without clobbering all the suspense I'm thinking of adding this to the dirt track that runs alongside the rails


And possibly a couple of random dudes that I've not decided on yet - I've also got some ideas about additional clutter for the trackside stuff

I've bitten the bullet and decided I'm not going to get time to do the "Not Now John" Tirpitz build this year so basically decided to throw bits of the kitchen sink at this one and make sure I'm happy with the way it all turns out

Besides which it lets me build another kit in the same project

[ForeverPlasticKits]

19 pages of an amazing build, this "lokomotive" is "kolossal"!

[Tomcat64]

19 pages of an amazing build, this "lokomotive" is "kolossal"!

Thanks for checking in mate

[Tomcat64]

I managed to get some decent bench time this past weekend

Taking a break from the loco I decided to make a start painting up the buffer stop - the beam was painted in Model Air grey-white, then masked and had the black added with Nato black the following day. This was then weathered with a drybrush of Life Color's cold wood, and the rest of the metal work was brushed with LC's Rust Dark Shadow - more weathering to come on this


Onto the lock itself and first up here are the non-authentic shims & beams I've added to try and get the doors & roof tidied up a bit


And after a couple of coats of grey


The roof is sitting a bit better and I'd still like to leave it removeable to see the detail in the cab if possible so I may just live with any minor gaps


I then started using oils to weather the inside of the water tanks, primarily because they'll be mostly hidden when installed so I can experiment a little. I'm using Mig's oilbrushers in black, white, starship filth, and a little brown & rust for streaks. The top one in this pic has had it's initial treatment and the bottom one is clean


My plan is to do the initial weathering on the boiler & lower components and cab front, and then install the water tanks and do the rest before final weathering. It started off ok and I'd weathered up the first two sections of the boiler when I managed to snag the chimney somehow and nearly lost the whole thing off the desk I did catch it but damaged a few components in the process - I found all the bits and glued them back in so in the following photo the green arrow shows the weathered sections and the red arrows show the bits I broke off and had to reinstall


Taking that as a sign that I needed to step away from the loco to let everything set again if nothing else, I moved onto the previously mentioned kettenkrad for the dio - you've already seen the box but here are the sprues




And the instructions which in a neat touch come pre-stained so you know where to put your coffee cup








There are six marking options included and I'm planning on doing the camo'd one on the left of this page


This is actually a rebox of a Dragon kit from 2001 and I have to say the fit & general moulding is a little disappointing, nothing major but just not as crisp as I was expecting. Anyway I assembled a bunch of bits and this is where I got to - the EPMs have been filled but not sanded at this point


That's all for now - thanks as always for stopping by & commenting

[digger303]

Absorbing post giving the reader lots to think about. I see the sprues for the Kettenrad tracks and you have my deepest sympathy.
Having the original dragon offering I am curious to see how this pans out.
Can't see any damage to the loco now it's been fixed so all's well.

[Stokesy44]

That buffer looks great.

Rather you than me with those tracks for the Kettenkrad

[digger303]

I meant to ask did the buffer come with the loco ? It does look very good.

[Twokidsnosleep]

It is all so awesome
Really love the subtle decal on the side of the cab

[BigWall]

Very nice work and progress! Nice save. It would have been heart breaking if you hadn't caught it!

[Kevthemodeller]

Very nice work on the buffer Neil great save on the door/roof to

That Kettenkrad could pose a few challenges especially in the track area

[Twokidsnosleep]

Pretty custom high falootin kit coming with pre-stained instructions like that
I never know quite where to put my coffee cup
Such a weird take on a motorcycle

[Quax]

I'm afraid I have no superlatives to offer other than "rather well done old boy!"

Paul

[ForeverPlasticKits]

It's really a huge build with so much work ... and so much pleasure to follow it!

[DRUMS01]

Nice, very nice! A modeler with a vision, parts, skill, and determination is a beautiful thing.

[Tomcat64]

Absorbing post giving the reader lots to think about. I see the sprues for the Kettenrad tracks and you have my deepest sympathy.
Having the original dragon offering I am curious to see how this pans out.
Can't see any damage to the loco now it's been fixed so all's well.

That buffer looks great.

Rather you than me with those tracks for the Kettenkrad

It is all so awesome
Really love the subtle decal on the side of the cab

Very nice work on the buffer Neil great save on the door/roof to

That Kettenkrad could pose a few challenges especially in the track area

Pretty custom high falootin kit coming with pre-stained instructions like that
I never know quite where to put my coffee cup
Such a weird take on a motorcycle

I'm afraid I have no superlatives to offer other than "rather well done old boy!"

Paul

It's really a huge build with so much work ... and so much pleasure to follow it!

Nice, very nice! A modeler with a vision, parts, skill, and determination is a beautiful thing.

Thanks for all the positive comments chaps

And Yep I think there's more "fun" to be had with the Kettenkrad

We've been away for a week in a cottage in the Lake District so no progress to share for the moment, but hopefully I'll be able to get back to the bench this weekend now all the laundry is done

But here are some photos off my phone of where we've been

I meant to ask did the buffer come with the loco ? It does look very good.

Nope - it's the miniart one I picked up separately

Very nice work and progress! Nice save. It would have been heart breaking if you hadn't caught it!

Thanks Joe - it was definitely one of these moments...

[digger303]

Lovely country side, as my late father in law would have said " Not more damn scenery " He was a English man from Northampton.
All in jest, it is a beautiful view. Nice spot to chuck a line in.

[Tomcat64]

Lovely country side, as my late father in law would have said " Not more damn scenery " He was a English man from Northampton.
All in jest, it is a beautiful view. Nice spot to chuck a line in.

Yeah it's one of our favourite parts of the country although I've never fished up there... not enough room in the car for tackle once we've loaded it up with all the other "necessities"

[Twokidsnosleep]

Lovely countryside, excellent photography

[BigWall]

Gorgeous place to spend some time!