Sunday, February 5, 2012

Messing with brass

One of the issues as I see it of freelancing a narrow gauge railway set in Australia is the issue of motive power. While Australia imported loco's from all over the world most of these were Australianised so they look a little different to the same makers loco's back home.

 On my model railway it is tempting to use the Bachmann On30 engines straight out of the box as they run well and are good value for money. In my eyes though, they don't look right for Australia. I had a go converting a Bachmann 2-8-0 using styrene that was written up in Narrow Gauge Downunder

I was pleased with the look I got with this conversion but I made it too big. It looks massive beside my rolling stock. The cab also stands a bit tall and the styrene body being lighter than the original Bachmann body didn't do a lot for how well it pulled.
So I decided to have another go this time using brass. I have built a couple of brass kits before but I have never tried scratch building with metal before. I have found it surprisingly easier than I thought it would be.

Inspiration has come from South African railways NG15, Commonwealth Railways NM and various Indian 30 inch gauge locos. I still have to add running boards, air pump & plumbing, hand rails and cab details. The white metal details are not yet attached ( I know the smoke box door is crooked) but I am pleased with how it is all progressing

2 comments:

  1. G'day Murray,
    Nice work on the brass rebuild. The smaller boiler and lower cab sits much better in front of that rolling stock now. How did you go with the brass shaping...did you have any spare parts from previous projects, or was it a few tedious nights with the saw?

    Cheers,
    Dan

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  2. Hey, amazing. I'm just about to do the same thing.

    I picked up a 2-8-0 a couple of years back and will use it to build a O16.5 scale NG15. Just taking measurements for now and researching the details (hence finding your site).

    http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=13977&view=findpost&p=238246

    Regards,
    Doug

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