A4 Pacific Sir Nigel Gresley, O-scale

[Erik Zwaan]

Hi guys, back again after some time. Thanks for your feedback. Marcin, I agree with you, some coal parts are too big and I may correct this later on.

There was a bit of time pressure to finalize the tender in time for the Soesterberg model exhibition, where we as paper modelers had been allotted 35 meters of table length to display our art. Yes, it's indeed art and it's very impressive to see what can be made of paper. Simply anything and to stand behind the tables with a V2 in your back, a Spitfire overhead and amongst others a B25 at two o'clock is very, very inspirational. For me it was the first time! and I met a lot of interesting people with great stories and things to learn from.

The Gresley tender was there as well and I managed to find time to prepare a section of rails. The model provides a basic interpretation of the rails, which cries out loud for extra detailing. So I glued the rails on 1mm thick board, cut out the 19 sleepers, glued them on soft board with black and white template and added fine grain sand for a more realistic gravel structure (I wonder if this is the correct word for it....).

Finally glued the rails in position and brought it with me to the exhibition, only to find out that the pitch of the rails didn't match the distance between the tender wheels by some 2 millimeters. Don't know what went wrong here, I strictly adhered to the gluing positions of wheels and rails so there may be a scaling issue. Will find out later but need to correct the pitch of the rails in the mean time.

Cheers,
Erik

[elliott]

Hi Erik. I think the word you're looking for is ballast. The track looks very good, it's too bad about the scaling problem. I really like your last picture.

[Marcin Jakubiec]

Eirk, Maybe it is matter of scaling indeed. Standard rail gauge of 0 scale is 32 mm, but loco is in 1/48 scale, not 1:43,5 or 1:45 (as all of Polish paper models).

Tender on rails looks nice, I also like the exhibition mode (with booklet underneath a model).

Last week we (my modelers club) organized Scale Models Exhibition and Contest. We had over 1000 models (both plastic and paper) on tables. Lot of inspiration!!! Maybe you'll bring your models to Bielsko next year?

Here's a gallery of our event. Widownia | Miedzynarodowy Przegląd Modelarski

[Erik Zwaan]

Thanks Elliot, indeed "ballast bed" is the right word.

Marcin, the distance between the wheels is approximately 2.8cm. I have started to remove the rails and to put them back with a slightly wider pitch. No priority for the moment though. Would be nice to exhibit models in Poland but it's just a bit too far I'm afraid....

Well, in the mean time I have started with the wheels of the steam engine. Not the most interesting job for a good start, but the thought of having to do the mundane parts somewhere halfway the build puts me off a bit. Better to do it now.

The two back wheels required trimming of the tapered running thread (approximately 2mm too long), laser cut spokes and upper printed part. The laser cut is thinner than the actual wheel thickness (determined by the running thread), which I corrected by adding 200 grams paper underneath, to get the exact thickness.
Nothing problematic to handle, but these corrections take time. In that respect, yesterday was a perfect day. It only happens once per year but yesterday counted 25 hours, thanks to the start of winter time. The one extra hour was well spent .

Luckily the four front bogey wheels are ok, but are still work in progress. One out of four is ready. The last two pictures reveal how I installed the top print - a bit of creative dissecting . Next time more about the wheels.

Erik

[Tim Crowe]

Looking good Erik

Like your base too

Tim

[ricleite]

Hello Erik,

Even with laser cut parts, assembling the wheels is a tedious task! Just one question - the flange behind the spokes is solid (no holes)? It is a bit surprising...

[Erik Zwaan]

Thank you Tim and Ricardo!

Ricardo, that's a good point you bring up here. The wheels should indeed be fully open if you check pictures of the real machine, but the model suggests that the back side of the wheels is closed. As they will hardly be visible I chose to leave the back sides closed. The six main driving wheels will be fully open.

So what I did (for the front bogey and rear wheels - 6 in total) is to detail the front side in such a way that it gives the impression the wheels are open, as can be seen in attached pictures, and also the ones of the previous post.

Before working on the main driving wheels I started the rolling chassis of the rear wheels. It's not finished yet and you can see the temporary wheel axle in the pictures. The "real" one will be the paper version supplied with the model with a core of tightly rolled up paper. Didn't take a picture yet.

The chassis parts fit fine, although one remark about the inside lining: It is better to not pre-assemble the inside "box" and pushing it in place in the outside chassis box. Instead, cut the several sides apart and install them separately as they need to be trimmed considerably. The design of the inside box did not consider any paper thickness and would not fit otherwise.

Cheers,
Erik

[Erik Zwaan]

In the mean time the front bogey and trailer are complete. No specific items to be mentioned here, everything fits fine. At this point I have not fully glued one of the trailer wheels onto the axles, allowing me to correct the wheel pitch if required later on when fitting the locomotive on the rails.

Something on the axles: I pre-shape the axles as much as possible and then glue them "butt to butt". Then I roll a piece of 160 grams paper into a tight tube. Just keep on rolling as the paper will roll itself tighter and tighter, and use this as the core of the tube. The result is a perfect round and strong axle. There are other means of course but to stay as paper pure as possible, this is the closest you can get.

I have somewhat detailed the suspension of the trailer, which you can see in the close-up picture. I did similar detailing for the tender suspension as I think that the model could have provided more, especially considering the level of detail of the other parts.

I'm struggling a bit with the edge coloring - mostly I'm using a stabilo light grey felt marker, but it dries up too dark. The other color I'm using is Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey, which is lighter but also not exactly matching. In quite some instances I have been recoloring the felt marker edges with sky grey... For the very small touch-ups I use just a grey pencil. Neither of these methods are satisfying I must say. It's a difficult grey color, let's put it this way ...

Next will be the chassis, which hopefully takes less time than all these wheels .

Erik

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Interesting detail: when I visited the workshop in Grosmont (Yorkshire, UK) during my preparations for this model, one of the volunteers there explained that the axle boxes of the trailer are slightly 'deeper' than normal. The trailer does not swivel like the front bogey - the deeper boxes allow the axle to shift a little sideways in bends.
And to inspire you while working on the chassis, a picture from the workshop in York.

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Just found a new link to the overhaul of the Gresley, with many more pictures:
The 'Sir Nigel Gresley' Locomotive Trust Ltd
The picture gives a good idea of the massive size of the thing.