Steam Roller

[Mike Stamper]

Dosser,

The following pictures may help you to decide. One thing I've done is to use thinner card for the backing than the recommended. Some parts are so small and the card so thick it's difficult to cut out.

The kit also includes templates for the "pipe work". I've kept these to the size for the straight parts - mainly axles however solid wire for parts that need bending would be challenging, so I am using telephone wire - it's easy to bend and small adjustments can be made when fitting the parts. The wire is plastic coated and in mixed colours and I found that mixing my watercolours with PVA glue works well.

The following will give you an idea of the detail - compare the kit's steering gear with Kevin's pictures of the real thing.To make the thread on the rods I wrapped thinner wire round the brass rods and used PVA and paint.

Now the bit about the modifications - On the left hand side the wheel will cover the break (I've left off the small red wheel and will add it later). The right hand side is even more complicated with a handfull of gear wheels that are made of various layers and thicker card. These will all be covered by - for want of a better word - the gearbox. Was it worth making all of them? That's a question that is an individual's choice. The pipe running round this side is telephone wire with gold paint and PVA.

Next, it's the wheels.

Cheers
Mike

[Mike Stamper]

Things are moving along - but slowly. For example each rear wheel has something like 16 pieces. The outer layer is a light grey and to this is glued a .5mm strip the same applies to the inner layer. The instructions then say to wrap layers of paper between these two layers so the wheel is the same size as the template.

I guess at this time I should reveal the scale of the roller. It's 1:25, which was one of the reasons I thought the photos were from a plastic kit. To give an idea of the size, it's 8 inches (20cm) long and 5 inches (12.5cm) to the top of the chimney. The rear wheels are 2 1/2 inches (6cm) in diameter.

As you will notice, the rear wheels are not finished - I haven't decided if I will leave them removable (also the gear box case) so that the gear wheels (some less than half an inch wide) can be seen. The 12 pieces on top of the steam valve gear are less than half an inch. The thin cross wire is one strand from a piece if telephone wire.

Oh well, back to work, the roller looks almost finished but there are still over 100 pieces to add.

Cheers
Mike

[Mike Stamper]

In an earlier reply Johhny asked if I was going to make the parts move. I said “no”. The following pictures will show that any attempt to have moving parts was doomed to fail.

After many hours trying to decode the instructions and figuring out how to make some of the smallest parts, I am now close to completing the model.

I even went to the trouble of making a slightly squashed tarmac – including a pin strip down the middle to account for the twin front rollers.

Following my earlier about the gearbox, I decided to include it and to glue the wheel to the axle. I had to do this so I could show how sad I can really be. The instructions say that the “gouge” on the side is an optional extra!

Apart from the extra four levers and associated arms, I've added the water pipes and “optics” in the cab. I must admit that I gave up with all the extras associated with the optics – there should be more pipes and taps. The optics are only a ¼ of an inch long, so I hope you will forgive the missing bits.

All that is left is the roof and three small wheels for the steering, the break and gouge. I will leave these till the end as they are quite delicate. There are also quite a few areas that need a bit of paint but they will be addressed when the roller is finished.

Cheers
Mike

[Kevin WS]

That's coming along well Mike.

I did a trip recently and wanted to take more of the stream roller detail on the way back, but we ended up having to come a different way back.

It's 500 km from home unfortunately so I can't nip out to it!

[Graham]

What a beauty! Magic stuff Mike.

[Tom Lapinski]

Very nice looking!

[Mike Stamper]

It's finished - perhaps a few touch ups are needed. The final parts where the hand wheels - making the rims were "fun" their diameter is less than half an inch. I added the coal by painting small "lumps" of cork.

One last point - if anyone decides to make this model one of the essential tools is a hole punch - cutting holes in all the cogs and wheels would be impossible without one;-)

Finally, thank you all for your comments and help

Cheers
Mike

[Vermin_King]

Very nicely done, sir. Builds like this make my head hurt trying to figure out how you do things so well at that scale

[Mike Stamper]

There's no secret --------

Very strong reading glasses and very sharp 15A blades ;-)

[rmks2000]

Great job!