Anchor-esqe in O9

A couple of weeks ago I took delivery of a new O9 locomotive from John Flower at A1 Models. He had advised that something was on the way and I had mis-read the email thinking it would be etched, imagine my surprise to receive a 3D print and for it to be a proper 15" gauge miniature railway outline locomotive!

Now of course that shows it after a bit of treatment as I forgot to get a decent shot of it as it came, but you can get an idea from John's pictures on eBay (and indeed buy one). The print quality as it comes is smoother than the last Alan Keef loco, but not quite to Shapeways FUD standards (but not as brittle).

The design is based on 'Royal Anchor', built by Charles Lane of Liphook at the pub of the same name, tested at New Romney and then resident at Ravenglass for many years before moving to Carnforth and subsequently to California. Dimensionally it is pretty spot-on, to be hyper-critical the cab front should be gently curved across the width and the front windows maybe a touch bigger but I don't find that too distracting. The doors really ought to be flush with the sides and by John's own admission he has forgotten to add the bufferbeams! I will be completing the model as a freelance 'inspired by' machine, typical of a 1960s miniature railway style.

The first job was to prepare the print, as the roofline was a little ridged I actually went over the curve of the roof with an emery board to start the smoothing process, then after a clean up sprayed red plastic primer as the initial coating, as seen here:

That tends to make things look worse than they are! After 24 hours drying, 400 grit wet and dry was then used to smooth back the finish, using home made sanding sticks. After another clean up, yellow filler primer was then sprayed and after another 24 hours drying, 800 grit, used both wet and dry used to smooth a lot of it away, resulting in a Wisconsin Central/EWS camouflage finish (!)

After a further clean-up I then opted to spray the roof and cab window areas in another coat of filler primer, and after another 24 hours smoothed everything back with 1200 grit, used wet, ready for a last clean and then a coat of grey primer.

The print slips nicely over the cheapest Bachmann US N gauge bogie diesel chassis, in my case a U36B. It will also fit over a range of other suitable chassis in a similar mould. I've posed it on the Bachmann chassis but I will check how well it performs before making a final choice as I have an Atlas chassis that would also fit which has the advantages of flywheels and maybe smoother starting. I suppose it depends on how much it will actually get used... 

More as the project develops.

 

Colin