Scratch-Built Flatbeds | 16mm Scale

Making wooden wagons out of balsa creates unique cars with wood grain texture. Flatbeds with boarded tops display wood that's exposed to spills, dust, and stains from the cargo they carry. Here's progress I made on two I experimented making:

Often found in Welsh quarries to carry large boulders and rocks, and used to carry cargo in yards and on the waterfront, flat cars or skips are a common wagon and are quite easy to build in large quantities.

Just fresh from being painted and weathered, these cars sport bolts that hold the frame together, working couplings, and printed labels designed from Adobe illustrator as name plates for the railway they serve and their numbers.

All the wooden parts are glued together with White Glue, with Crazy Glue for the detail parts like the craft wire couplings drilled into the buffer beams.

I blended various natural colors of acrylics to create wood stains, sometimes using water to distribute darker pigments across specific boards, often using a paper towel handy to pick up excess water as it spreads.

I did the same thing for scrap pieces of balsa and driftwood in addition to pieces of cargo especially made for these cars to fit on for the diorama. They can carry rocks easily with their sturdy construction. A wound piece of rope to tie them down adds a finishing touch with the spare boards to cushion the load.

 These are fun and easy to make, and make a great way to display your cargo on any industrial set.

Scratch-Building Rheneas | 16mm Scale

Well, here he is! The second workhorse of the Skarloey Railway roster of narrow gauge locomotives:

The locomotive that started it all and has been the mascot of this fan blog, Rheneas certainly is one of my favorite of the Skarloey Railway characters. He is very handsome being equipped with his brass-work from the pipes and tubing and is an echo back to classic British and American locomotive design.

On the diorama, the Gallant Old Engine at the quarry yards with a loaded slate train from the old inclines of the Ulfstead Valley. 

I was inspired by looking at original illustrations of the Railway Series, and came up with a style for this scratch-build that matches features found in the classic books like his red livery and blue stripes, from his prototype, Dolgoch, and the style of his large scale season 5 television model. Here are photos of the finished model to showcase how he was constructed:

Here are measured drawing diagrams that served as the basis for Rheneas' construction, measured in centimeters and drawn with pencils.

Rheneas's cab details, on the workbench January 2016 before I added the roof to reveal how I made the interior. Controls like brakes, throttles, and gauges are linked together using craft-wire and painted balsa. Facets made with strips of paper, they are glued with Crazy Glue. All hand-made to look like the real thing.

Rheneas has his water tank in the back, so I made his special water nozzle. I rolled two strips of card stock into tubes, and after cutting away the excess to glue them together, I used my craft knife to shave away the bits needed to make it it's unique bent shape, then sanded it to paint. The cap is removable for a water spout to fill.

Here are details of the body. Rheneas sports a lot of brass valves and brass pipes, handle bars, and tubes. Something very American to me is including his lift-able cab hood on the roof. Really seems to give Rheneas a bit of character!

For the rivets and bolts, I use peel-able gems from the craft store, just spray primed and painted after gluing. The whistle is made from rolled index card strips.

Given the short wheel-base for the chassis, I converted him to be a classic 2-4-0T to accommodate the Lego 9V motor, with a leading truck compared to his long wheel-base as a 0-4-0T.

Added onto the wheels are working coupling rods made from balsa, card facets, and toothpicks that slide in motion. Rolled card strips hold them in place.

Rheneas is by far one of my favorite projects. He is pretty set for filming. The only thing I'd like to do is to make his open cab version from the drawings. He runs well and looks really good. I'm happy with him.

Until Next time!

"Slate Quarry," Walls & Sheds

So on my desk you can see a few new things I've arranged for you to see for today... including some wooden wagons I scratch-built from balsa wood for Prince's quarry train. They have the garden ballast I use for the large-scale Lego tracks for the Skarloey Railway.

This is one of two retaining walls, made from foam-core wrapped in Bazzill Basics cardstock, and painted with Plaid FolkArt and Apple Barrel acrylic paints. I also used balsa strips for the semi-columns and the cap running on top, with strips of thicker card folded over to give the illusion of individually placed blocks.

I was also in the middle of making an open-aired shed for this scale, so it could be in the slate quarry sidings and other scenes. It will have the A-frames and roof, shingled in card for the corrugated metal roof, and painted green and weathered.

Modeling the Prince: Part 3

Here he is! The Pride of the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway is finished... thought I'd upload some photos of the finished 16mm scale model, with a lot of detail and a few surprising features!

It was a lot of fun building this famous locomotive from scratch, and it feels exciting that I'm getting back to my model-making for my Junior Animation Seminar Stop Motion class project. It did take a little longer than expected, even with the heavy workload for my classes and other important obligations. Well today, the George England has pulled out of the workshops from the glory days of the Ffestiniog Railway's operations.

Since I published the photos of the cab interior, I gave it the roof it needed, finished his tender, and added a lot of other details, such as his number and name plates, bolts, his whistles, valve gear, and even working couplings.

Here are his working coupling rods! I have been hoping for a long time to have the rods of my scratch-built models actually work and move for my narrow gauge stock. I decided try and make them myself.

1. I cut some disks of cardstock to make the wheels, with a lip and a center bolt
2. I glued four of these onto the wheels of the Lego chassis, with spokes to place the rods, made from very thin cardstock tubes
3. The coupling rods themselves are made from balsa and wooden barbecue skewers
4. They have fasteners made from cardstock to allow the rods to be linked and slide smoothly together
5. The sliders are toothpicks glued to the cylinders
6. After they are assembled, they were painted using Medium Gray, Dove Grey, and a little weathering

After running the locomotive on the tracks for a while to loosen the parts, the movement was quite smooth, and the coupling rods work very well. They look so much more realistic compared to static mockups! I am very happy that they came out nicely.

In the first photo of this selection, you can see the Lego track ballasted using the Woodland Scenics Grey Ballast I have used for my HO scale dioramas, which does look very realistic, and I think it might be useful for the yard scenes.

Here you can see Prince's new smoke box, as I thought the first from a few years back looked too old. After gluing a strip of cardstock to make a ring, I glued it on a flat piece and cut when dry to make his door. Then some strips were placed for his door hinges, and for the door handle, I cut anther smaller ring with a few strips for the spokes, and the handle.

The coupling can be raised or lowered, and his lamps are replaceable. His water tank cap can be lifted too.

Prince's name-boards and number-boards were made, with strips of gold-colored cardstock glued for the edges. I wrote his letters using an EK Success Dual Tip Metallic Pen, which I recommend for writing gold calligraphy for nameplates or for any art project. It flows like a liquid, and after a bit of practice, it's really fun to use.

I mixed some colors to weather the body's tanks and cab, with grime, rust and dust, using Plaid FolkArt and Apple Barrel paints. His coat is Light Red Oxide, which I mixed with a few other colors for the weathering:

1. Light Red Oxide and Terra Cotta was mixed with Dark Gray and Wrought Iron for the grime
2. Calico Red was used for his buffer beams
3. Honeycomb and Caramel Candy for dust

I decided to model Palmerson's smaller tender as I liked its narrow size. I folded strips of paper and cut the angles to glue for the angled trimmings. Here you can also see his rear lamp.

A few of the gauges on the firebox can be seen inside the back of the cab. I assembled a bumper, which in real life allowed the tender to glide smoothly without it bashing against the back as it moved.

Overall I am very happy with how Price has turned out. This scratch-built and Lego hybrid running system has evolved to something very special for me, which has allowed me to produce my model locomotives I always wanted to make and work with what I have. It feels great to see how far this has come since the Skarloey Railway models, and now I can also make my own railway rolling stock for some short film projects, since I really love the history of these little railways of Wales and their trains.

I also have made the bodies of my freight cars, and they need to be painted and detailed, so pictures of these will be published soon. Let me know what you think and feel free to drop a comment or question!

Enjoy the photographs, and happy modeling!

"Slate Quarry:" A Short Film: Storyboards

Last semester in the fall, I created a storyboard project for my final assignment for Pre-Production, and here I am posting a few of my chosen panels to give you a rough idea of how I want the dioramas and the shows to look.

These are all drawn with Cole-erase pencils and graphite, on index cards. Now as a scale modeler, I do know that it takes a long time to model each diorama, and all of the elements that make it special, so while every single detail in these boards might not be covered immediately, it is something I will plan on making.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these! Next time I will begin posting photographs of my models for progress.