Blueprints: Rusty, 16mm scale

While making some measured drawings for buildings and such, I wanted to return to Rusty. As I had made him a few times before he will need an upgrade for a new model, so I gave Rusty a try!

Since Rheneas, Skarloey and Sir Handel look really good in their Railway Series liveries, Rusty is designed based on how I think he could have looked with more detail, and in his charcoal black livery. Rusty is drawn in pencil, and measured in centimeters to scale. He is in 16mm scale for large scale narrow gauge.

I studied really nice photographs of diesels built by Ruston and Hornsby, and I mixed designs from seasons 4 and 5, with his square face I really like, and even some details I had found from his CGI model. But I also had fun adding other details from the real prototype, like handrails, bolts, his shock absorbers and brake gear on his chassis, some headlights, even a shiny big horn on his cab! Every diesel needs one of those...

Just for fun, I even tried an open-cab design. There are many diesels like Rusty with no cabs, just roofs. They even have seats for the driver, the type made from cast metal found on tractors. Maybe this could be how Rusty looked when he came out of the workshops! He could have shunted trucks and helped out with the workman in the shops like Victor before he came to Sodor, which could have built his young character early in his life for the Skarloey Railway.

When made, he will be constructed with Bazzill Basics card stock and braced in balsa, glued together using white glue, crazy glue and scotch tape for tough angles and bendable parts. He will also be painted and weathered with Plaid FolkArt and Apple Barrel acrylic paints.

I believe this will be a great project. When finished he will be able to have the engine doors on his side open and close, and all of the extra detail in the drawing made on his body shell. I'm sure he'll look grand when he runs!