Monday, October 30, 2023

Project Showcase | Bachmann Hawin

Today I'm happy to share with you one of my long term projects I've been working on this year, Hawin!  Griffin @TheBlueSnowplow made an interpretation of the illusive tank engine from  "The Monster Under the Shed," storybook for a whole YouTube saga based around this character. I took on the project of bringing him to life as a working model in OO scale with the help of a few friends from the community for prepping and printing! Here's how it turned out:

1) Concept and Design


It all started with an illustration of this character from the book. An unnamed blue tank engine trying to find his way home only to disappear forever running away from a monster that lived in an abandoned shed. It is an intriguing story, and Griffin wanted to create a series around the engine. He was named "Hawin," after the lake at the heart of the island his line served, inspired by a lot of the events that took place in the spooky episodes from series 5 of the TV show.

Working from the illustrations int he book, Cameron @Mainland_Studios was commissioned to design him in 3D, tying in a lot of design choices from the props to really make him feel like a character you would see on the classic TV show. I really like his design, and I wanted to stay as close to this design as possible while considering options for his running chassis.

2) Chassis and 3D Printing

For the chassis, I decided to go with a Bachmann Junior J94 for the offset counterweights and smooth running. I cut down the front of the chassis with an Atlas track saw to allow the cylinders to fit and a lead truck to fit and swivel around curves and switches. Noah had a spare Henry wheel on hand to fit a swiveling resin piece screwed into the bottom for that purpose. Then I mailed the chassis over to Noah to work with it for test fitting, printing and wiring.

Next came unwrapping the original design to be printable in resin! Cam gave the files to Noah @the_lbsc_Thomas and Green @Greens_Trains to thicken the walls and troubleshoot the various detail parts to translate well once printed.

After testing the proportions, Noah printed out the main pieces for the body and footplate to test fit. Henry's wheels were pulled from the axle and fitted back together into the resin truck support, which was painted to match the black paint of the chassis. It worked really well on curves and switches on testing, and all the parts were then sanded down for a smooth finish and glued down with modeler's glue for a secure fit. Then the chassis was screwed onto the resin shell.

3) Painting and Varnishing

After brass coach buffers from Romford was added to the bufferbeams, primer and painting were applied with masking for the smokebox, running board and window portals. I wanted a matte finish, so I recommended Noah to use amiya TS-80 matte varnish once painting was done.

Now for the details! Some parts were made using files from Jamos @JamosTrainos such as the brake pipes. Noah cut sections of flat red vinyl for striping around the boiler, bunker and splashers. Cal-Scale HO handrail sanctions and K&S 0.020 music wire were used for the handrails. Noah even used a separate firebox piece recycled from a model he had on hand, which added a nice detail to the interior! A dummy lamp inspired from Lady from Thomas and the Magic Railroad was decorated with a Sharpie for the case and added to the back of the bunker. I would add all of the other details once I got back the model. It was really coming together!

Something we wanted to try were spare side rods from Bachmann Bill and Ben. They had to cut them down so they had the correct shorter distance from the wheel to the crosshead. That way it can slide at the correct distance and without hitting the resin cylinder casing. But after cutting down and soldering the pieces back together, they needed to be recolored back to a silver-metal look. Noah uses a process to recolor metal that's been soldered or filed using a nickel plating solution. It's made up of vinegar and nickel "dust," and when a electrical charge is put through it the dust attaches itself to the negative end (part you're nickel plating) coating the part in nickel. Here's a comparison with spare pieces of metal Noah was cutting. You can see the nickel plate on the left that is corroded it's "dust" is now in the liquid. It's a great process to know and really handy, especially when it comes to scratch building.

*WARNING,* this can be a hazardous process dealing with chemicals and metal dust. If you want to try this, you can hit up Noah @The_lbsc_thomas in the Twitter DMs for questions you may have, but please make sure you research the process thoroughly and prepare your space and equipment to safely preform the steps properly. If you are younger, ask a trusted adult for help.

The cylinder casing was a separate resin piece installed with metal wire to support the crossheads to smoothly operate in motion, and it looked really good with testing, matching the original design and functional!

4) Faces

Cam also designed Hawin's faces, so while Noah was working on the engine, Green printed the faces out for me with open eye sockets for 6mm airsoft pellets for eyeballs. After scrubbing them down with soap and hot water to get rid of any printing residue, I let them dry and then painted them with my RustOleum chalked aged grey spraypaint in a few light coats in different angles to give a smooth application.

Once left to completely dry, I used my technical pencil to draw out the eyebrows very lightly to erase and go over with my Faber-Castell XS ink pen, following Cam's renders for the design, and painted the mouths and teeth out with my acrylics. Once finished, they looked great when laid out together for testing under natural LED lighting.

5) Weathering and Final Detailing

At last, Hawin arrived in the mail and I couldn't wait to finish him! After checking he ran well on my test track, I oiled his motor gear with my XL modeler's lubricants for smooth running. Then I got out my weathering powders to apply rust, dust, soot and grime in suitable places around the model. I added lamp irons made from 20 gauge wire and Sticky-Note strips glued in place on the front. He was really beginning to look like a real, working locomotive!

Then I added Smith's screw links from gaugemasterretail.com in the UK. I used the LP8 kit I like to customize and fit them in the sockets on either end for pulling rolling stock. LP5's are an assembled version of the screw links I also recommend for easy installation!

For the cab interior, I added JTT Scenics plastic wood planking I painted and weathered up for floorboards, which looked amazing once installed with an ink wash. It makes a huge difference for added realism. I'll add a Old Baily figure inside to drive him once finished!

Something I also did was darken the side rods even further with an enamel wash from Mig, recmmended to me by ED @EDsTrainz. I like how grimy and oily it makes the rods look, and once completely dried helps make the soldered side rods look completely solid with the dark application of the wash. It feels very industrial along with the spots of weathering powders on the engine.

A finishing touch was the whistle, a brass print by from Shapeways store, which is just Thomas' whistle mounted in front of the cab. The natural finish helps give a nice polished look!

6) Gallery


And now for some test shots on the layout! I was pleased how nicely he ran and how well the modified rods looked in motion. The studio lighitng brinds out the right colors and weathering powders perfectly, and I think he looks quite smart with the Bachmann museum coaches!

My favorite shots have to be at night captured with my LED studio lights dimmed down and using the fog machine to create mist around the track as Hawin makes his way on the branchline, working in some influence from season 5 and Griffin's visuals for inspiration. I captured the spooky feeling I wanted to have with these photos, and Hawin looks great with his worried faces under the moonlight.

Hawin was a joy to work on. It was quite a challenge but taking longer to get him running right and fully tested helped make him a better model, and one I'm thankful to have. Thanks to Griffin and Cam for giving me their blessing to manifest this for OO, and Noah, Green and Jamos for helping with the printing process. It was a pleasure working with you all on this project! Hawin is a great addition to the collection, and will make a lovely cameo for my own sets and future videos.

As always, happy modeling!


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1 comment:

  1. PlokmanDecember 23, 2023 at 12:12 AM

    You know I just had a crazy idea, based off Hawin I can make a more realistic looking design for Chuffy from Banjo Tooie. Add a extra guide wheel, make some changes to the running board and American style inside Stephenson valve geared cylinders (like Sierra No. 3 or Porter) add a bit of a cow catcher, lengthen the running board, boiler and Smokebox and give him a fully enclosed cab with a larger bunker.

    Do you mind if I use your photos for the purpose of Rotoscoping purposes, my design will be first lined out in the style of a Diagram (or blueprint, whatever you call those types of drawings Hornby tell you not to scale on their boxes and you get in model magazines. I have never gotten a consistent answer) as realistic before I do the Toy style for my DTC work (Dash Terrier Creations) would that be fair as long as I link to your blog as credit?

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