Hi,
Now its time to start my first construction report. I chose the Tw29 by Modelik in a scale of 1:25. Like my previous model, the Cn2t "Las", this model was designed by Jan Kołodziej. Thats why i hope that it will be another great model that is fun to build.
I couldn't find much but here is some information about the real thing:
In the years 1929-1930 the Fablok Factory in Chrzanów built 6 Steam Engines of the type Tw29 for the Upper Silesian narrow gauge railway. The construction is based on the Tw9 locomotives that were built in 1924 by Schwartzkopf Berlin (The Prussian T40). However the design was changed slightly to allow for the very tight radii found in the rail network: The second and fifth axle could move side by side by 15 (~0,6in) and 26mm (~1in) respectively. The third axle was also missing its wheel flanges (A trick that was also used on the Cn2t "Las"). After the second World War Fablok built multiple locomotives of the types Tw47 and Tw53, that are copies of the Tw29 and therefore only had slight differences.
The Tw29 was in service for quite some time and the last unit was only scrapped in 1976.
The locomotive in the kit was built in 1929 as Tw29-2611. During the Second World War it became property of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (German National Railway) and was renumbered as 99 457. After the war ended she went back to her original owners and was renumbered one last time to Tw29-2482 (This is the number used in the kit) On the 25. October 1973 the PKP delisted the locomotive from their rolling stock, then she was sold and scrapped.
A few technical details:
weight: 42t (~92,600lbs)
Power: 400HP
Bollard: 1000t (~2,204,620lbs)
max Speed: 30km/h (~19mp/h)
Boiler Pressure: 13atm
Wheel diameter: 800mm (~31.5in)
gauge: 785mm (~31in)
Wheel arrangement: E-H2T
Water capacity: 4,2m³
coal capacity: 1,65t (~3600lbs)
Sources:
Description in the kit
polish wikipedia article:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tw29
Thats it for the background, lets get to the kit. First a few numbers:
Publisher: Modelik
Designer: Jan Kołodziej
Scale: 1:25
Parts: 1185 + 73 Templates (I couldn't find an official number so i counted them myself)
Rivets&Co: 2579
Length: 35,2cm (~13.8in)
Price: ~25 (incl. the Lasercutset) Overseas this will obviously be higher.
And this is how the model should look like once its finished:
The kit is printed in A3 format and consists of 8* Pages with parts and 1 1/2 pages of templates. The Manual is nice and extensive. It contains one page of photos of the finished model (Two if you count the cover), one page with a Description and text instructions in polish, 3 1/2 Pages of 3D Drawings and last but not least one page with an 1:1 Drawing of the model (*This page also contains a few more parts). The printing is very crisp and even. What i don't like is the metal color. It is a metallic color that has a slight shine which is nice, but it is very blue. This looks strange in my opionion. Here is a picture of my backup scan coming somewhat close in color to the print:
I haven't finally decided yet but i will probably end up painting these parts.
Additionally i also bought the Lasercutset. This set contains 3 ~A3 Pages of 1mm Finnpap (not sure if that is the actaul english word for it, but google says so) with the wheels and most template parts. There is also a fourth, much smaller page with a thinner material. This page contains amongst other things some handwheels and engraved signs.
Of course i will also model every Rivet and Bolt.
The actual construction will start in my next post.
regards
Johannes