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!

Nitrogen Studios Photographs My Rheneas & TV Model

Nitrogen Studios Canada Inc @ Facebook!
"Check out this scale model made out of textured card stock, made by the very talented Stephen Sheredy from Maryland. Thanks for sending it to us Stephen, and here is a picture of the paper model next to the real Rheneas. Fabulous!" - Greg Tiernan

A fantastic pair! Used with grateful permission from Greg Tiernan, owner of Nitrogen Studios

Here he is! Standing right next to the original Rheneas model himself!

Well, I made the past pages on this blog to announce that I, Stephen Sheredy, am the student Greg Tiernan mentioned on Nitrogen Studio's Facebook Page.

As I had always loved Thomas, it was a dream of mine to be a model maker and story writer at Shepperton Studios, where the original Thomas episodes were filmed on its model sets. In 2011, I sent my scale model of Rheneas to Greg Tiernan. Just a few weeks ago he responded with a very kind reply saying that he remembered the model, and had a photograph taken of the original model displayed at the studios, side by side with mine. What an exciting moment that was! I feel like the happiest a Thomas fan could be! Here's to you Mr. Greg Tiernan, and Thomas!

Here are a few photographs I took before I packaged him to be shipped. He now has his valves and tubes glued, with a whistle and wheels. As stated in my earlier post, I wanted to create him as the larger scale models were made from Season 5 onward, but to give him the feel of what he looked like in the Railway Series, with the railway's red paint scheme, and constructed realistically.

Here are some views of the sides, with glimmering lettering...

As well as the pipes, with the triangular boiler support.

Still, as I continue to make my models, such as Skarloey as seen above, I keep getting better and better. The models look so much better and realistic, and I am happy when I take time from school to keep up my hobby.

In closing, I hope you will post comments, re-blog and share these posts, as I update weekly and anticipate to answer questions you might have. Please feel free to visit as often as you can, and I hope these posts inspire you to make your own models.

If I can do it, you can too!

Modelling Rheneas: Part 3

Now I can begin adding more parts for Rheneas.

The brass dome is made the same way as I did with the funnel: wrapping a strip of paper around a marker and gluing it to create a cylinder.  I then glued the top to a paper square, then cut the excess. I also had to cut the bottom in the curved shape of the boiler so it can wrap correctly onto the surface when I glue it on.

Now for the cylinders. Made the same way also, with a rectangular attachment to glue to the paper underframe. Next will come the wheels and coupling rods.

Here are the wheel arches. I made one its unique shape as that on Dolgoch on one side. That was tough! Better luck next time, but since I know how to do it now, I know what to do to make the edges cleaner. 

What I love about making models is that you learn something new every day to improve model making. How to create a new shape, finding new things to model and discovering new tricks and methods based on what I find.

I thought Rheneas would look so much better with footplates, so I glued them to the side. I also glued paper edges for the footplate.

I also to decided to add edges that divide the top half of the cab to the tank and the bunkers. You can also see the buffer beams and coupler added with the buffers off, to reveal the buffer sockets.

Dolgoch as well as Rheneas in the Series had valves (All engines do somewhere!), these feeding to the boiler. I added these photos to show how I made them. Similar to the funnel, but scaled down, I wrapped paper card strips around a miniature screw, then super-glued them. I hole-punched the handle with handle strips, then glued that to the valve.

Then I add it to the boiler, with a small strip of card for the pipe that leads down through the footplate and onto the chassis.

Smile! Here is his face. Sculpted and carved with Sculpy clay, the face is then baked and painted. Eyebrows are inked with pen, and the eyes are hole-punched stickers, so I can move the puples in different positions.

  Here are the wheels and the coupling rods. As the Lego tracks were wider than a "Narrow" Gauge track would look to me (1 ft 11.5 in, compared to 2 feet or 2 ft 6in), I made the dummy wheels in a  narrower, separate scale, so Rheneas can look as he did to be in the Television Series, on 16mm, O Scale Narrow Gauge Peco track.

Here is the track I made to glue Rheneas into place, which provides weight for easier handling, and a display base. This is what I hope to use as scratch-built narrow gauge track for filming.

See this model with the original TV model!

Modelling Rheneas: Part 2

Next thing is the boiler. That may seem complex to model (especially with paper!), but it is very easy with practice.

So I draw the sides I need first, the front and back, then the supports and the actually boiler piece that wraps in a cylinder shape.

Now how do I attach it? Scotch tape!

I place a couple of thin strips along the circle, just like the dials of a clock, then I wrap the curved boiler shape to tape it. On each edge I bond with dabs of crazy glue for strength and tighter bonding.

Oh, mustn't forget! Before I glued the band on, I wrote Rheneas' name on with gold jell pen. I think the font is too simple and large, as I now know the letters are actually yellow! Oh well, still looks handsome anyway! You can also see how the curved card looks after taped.

Next I glue the boiler on the footplate.  I need to be accurate of course, so I measured and lightly marked the lines with pencil to make sure the boiler was right in the middle, then glued the end to the cab.

Now the smoke box! It is actually larger than the boiler, not the same radius, so I made it as a separate piece, just like in real life. The tape is for interchangeable faces, which are taped on the smoke box without taring the paper.

Next comes the coal bunkers. I carefully glued pre-cut pieces to the cab and boiler. Later I will glue black fish tank ballast for the coal.

Now buffer beams and the funnel. I simply cut a rectangle of paper, rolled it to give it a curl, wrapped it around a pen of the right thickness, then gently glued it. The buffers are separately created the same way from the buffer sockets, which are slightly larger in diameter so that the buffers can be sprung.

 

 As the glue of the funnel was drying, I also added the handrail on the boiler with a brass band.

I now have the basic shapes in place, ready for more elements of detail to be added next time.

Go to Modelling Rheneas, Part 3

Modelling Rheneas, Part 1

Today I wanted to post the process of making a steam engine from scratch. For Rheneas I had taken photographs of Rheneas when I had constructed him about two years ago, so here goes:

First I study the engine from the film, as many angles as I can find:

Rheneas from Season 5, with grimy paintwork and metal buffers
From Season 6, at the Depot and with a smile

Both from the television series, from the Railway Series,  and of course from the real locomotive, Dolgoch:

An original photograph of Dolgoch in 1951  (Wikipedia)

Then on my colored card-stock, I lightly trace the sides of the cab, boiler, funnel and dome, etc., so I can cut them and assemble them.

I have been modeling the Skarloey engines as they were in their larger scales, as I like how they looked and worked compared to their smaller scaled versions. But they are also painted in their original red color scheme with blue stripes, as in the Railway Series original books, with more details and parts drawn from the real thing.

This is the front side of the cab, equipped with the firebox and cab controls. I drew in the numbers and dials with black ink pen, the water in the gauges colored using jell pen.

Here's a view of the cab side freestanding. All of the gauges are appropriately colored card-stock paper, glued using both white glue and crazy glue.

Here, the cab sides are fully assembled together and glued on the footplate, on the Lego chassis with extra Lego's for stability and weight. Usually I cut and glue the sides of the underframe, and add the wheel sides with static coupling rods, but as I created Rheneas as a display piece, I made wheel dummies in their place. More on that later.

Stripes are fine strips of paper cut with scissors, then glued on. The gold lettering for the numberplate is gold jell pen. The wood that supports the footplate will be covered later, as they make the frame nice and flat, and durable!

 

Here is the firebox in the cab interior. These models are fragile by nature, but I'm progressively using balsa wood strips with glue to bond sides together, instead of tape.

I still do use tape for seemingly very difficult bending parts, such as the roof. The projecting part on the back of Rheneas is actually the tube cap for filling the tanks with water. As Rheneas is a well tank engine, instead of say a saddle tank, which is wrapped on the boiler, the well tank is underneath the footplate and in the underframe.

Go to Modelling Rheneas, Part 2