yvesvidal

It is always nice to see these old Billing kits come back to the front window. I am sure you will do this model, justice. Yves

You are most definitely adding a significant layer of complexity to this kit. However, the efforts will be worth it, when you can sail this beautiful yawl on the lake. Yves

A few progress on the tender piece. My kit came with a folded brass shell, whereas the latest kit from WISEMAN are offering a resin molded tender. The first thing I did was to cut a similar shape to the top of the tender, in order to provide a stiffer tender and a way to glue it on the chassis previously planked. In fact gluing brass sheet directly to the wood planks is not the best way to do it, and I strongly recommend making that extra part: The top of the tender is soldered to the brass enclosure, to the best of my abilities (not great in this case) using a mini torch. This is required due to the large parts being heated. I am an expert when it comes to soldering electronic parts, but this is more of a challenge for me. I am not going to show you the underside of the tender....I intend to keep my reputation of modeler, intact.... Installation of the tank on top of the tender chassis: After this difficult task, hand rails and small details are added to the main tank: And finally, a coat of primer is done to harmonize the whole assembly. Next is the underneath piece: That piece is made of foam board and will be used to glue some weight, in order to stabilize the tender. I always use coins in my train models, to increase their value.... Coins will not age like lead and are easier to procure. Here we have 32 cents of extra value and these coins are increasing (almost doubling) the weight of the tender. Let's not forget that the tender sits in between the engine and the heavy snowplow. It needs to remain on the track, when the engine is pushing. Overall view: That is all for today.... Yves

Fantastic work. It looks so real. Yves

Thank you for sharing the references and pictures of the paints you are using. This will help future builders. Yves

It is not much Kevin. Details are here: Yves

A very brief update: things are still progressing, albeit slower than expected, due to the Snowplow I am building in parallel. Seven additional gunport lids have been placed: Seven more to go towards the bow of the ship and that tedious and repetitive task will be over. I have a question for the experts: regarding the color of the three lamps attached to the stern, on a period ship. Were these lamps made of metal, wood or a mixture of both? What was the usual way of painting them on a large ship of the 18th Century and on the Bellona in particular? Yves

No spring on the trucks. Yves

The shroud is finally installed on the snowplow chassis. Height is carefully estimated to 1 mm above the top of the rails: Yves

Assembly of the snowplow tender continues. I cannot really make more progress on the snowplow section until I have worked out all the heights and connections issues, between the two units. First thing first: the trucks. Always start with the trucks, as they are your foundations: Then, mount the trucks under the wooden chassis and check the heights with the snowplow and the KADEE On3 gauge: Install an On3 coupler in the rear: Height verification with the Snowplow section: It is lining up quite well. This kit is well thought out.... Installation of some underside details. It will be spartan as I do not like to build the braking system. It is not visible anyway. This is where we are at the moment: Planking of the tender takes place: the kit is very tight fisted, and the amount of planks is just right....no room for a mistake: Some ink to stain the wood and we can move back to some snowplow chassis details. Yves

I agree with you. I also have the kit and if I ever get to it (one day), I would definitely paint it with the early colors. Yves

Are you going for the "grey plastic/shiny brass" version or will you paint it later on? Yves

Craig, I think you are perfectly right, as depicted in this beautiful painting of Graham Turner: Yves

What a great choice..... The winner of the first Monaco Grand Prix, sitting in front of the Casino. Yves

Beautiful and very well engineered work. Yves

I can't wait to see the rest of the collection. Yves

Stunning model, very wicked!!!! Yves

I like your attention to details. Yves

It is now time to work on the tender, before making any more progress on the snowplow itself. The tender must be built and the close coupling to the main chassis must be tuned perfectly. The various lines linking both units, must also be created as they are not included in the kit. The tender chassis is made of two layers of wood assemblies, as described by the plan: And this is where we are..... Yves

Assembling the wheel is a game of patience and precision: I do not think I will be painting the wheel as you see in Railroad Museums, as I believe this way of presenting the blades is to prevent them from corroding. I cannot think at any moments that such a device biting and chewing ice and snow, could keep any paint. I also like the metallic appearance of it as it offers a nice contrast. On the track: Yves

Now is the time to build the wheel and the shroud: The shroud is mostly done with polystyrene parts and the shroud itself, made of some kind of resin. When you sand it, it has a specific kind of smell, reminiscent of Bakelite: The whole enchilada is then painted with Red Boxcar Floquil paint, airbrushed: Yves

A few progress on the snowplow chassis. The boiler bulkhead is installed as well as the ashpan: I have also included the brake air line. We can now move to the painting of the chassis and trucks: A piece of wood is glued to the rear to support the bumper and coupling bar. Below, I am also adding the two water lines that will be connected to the snowplow tender. You can see, to the right, the coupling bar pocket. Back to the front, the axle of the wheel is installed. Careful positioning is done to make sure the shroud is just above the rails (that is why it is so important to have a piece of On3 track): The kit provides usually only one support, but my kit has a bunch of spare parts and as such, I am using them: Yves

Yes, the Model Railroading world has a lot of complexity based on history and countries. This also applies to real Scale 1 railroading and I remember the country of Spain changing the gauge of their rails, so that trains could go from France to Spain, without having to disembark all passengers and freight at the border. Spain is still working on retro-fitting their tracks to the standard European gauge. Enough said about these idiosyncrasies. I have to build a test track for On3. I cannot buy these tracks, commercially. Since I am on a hurry, I am getting a piece of flexible PECO On30 tracks (16.5 mm wide - Code 100) and I will expand the distance between the rails, by simply cutting the ties in their middle: Using a KADEE coupler-and-track gauge for On3, I am spiking these two halves making sure the distance of 19 mm is respected all along. Below is the result: not pretty but it is working and it allows me to test my snowplow and work all the kinks related to height, clearance and couplers. Obviously, for the final display (if I finish that kit...), I will try to lay a true On3 track, using code 87 rails and wooden ties, spiked accordingly. Yves

Let's briefly talk about gauges for model railroads and what is On3 versus the more generalized and available On30. The most common gauge is HO (1/87) and the distance between the rails is 16.5 mm. We also have Z scale (1/220) with a gap of 6 mm between rails. Marklin is the leader. Next is N scale (1/160) with a distance of 9 mm. Arnold Rapido invented it. Then is HO (1/87) Next is S scale (1/64), seldomly used and unfortunately rather expensive and hard to find. Next is O scale (1/48) with a gap of 32 mm. This is called by certain people the King of Scale. Purists use Proto-48 which has a larger distance and much finer rails. Next is Gauge 1 (1/32) with a distance between the rails, of 45 mm. Finally, G scale (1/22.5), which is a narrow gauge, uses the same 45 mm track as Gauge 1. In between these scales are narrow gauges: - Zn3 (never heard about that one). - Nn3 (using Z scale tracks = 6 mm) - HOn3 (using N scale tracks = 9mm) - On3 and On30 (we will be back to these ones...). There is also On2.... - G scale (using the Gauge 1 tracks of 45 mm). This one is a narrow gauge, too. The true O scale narrow gauge is called On3 (1/48). It uses a distance between tracks of 19.2 mm. There are no commercial tracks available for that gauge and you must lay your own track and build your own turnouts. On30 is a derivative invented by Bachmann and using 1/48th scale models, running on an HO based tracks (16.5 mm). The idea of re-using existing HO tracks (granted, you have to space the ties...) allowed many train makers to develop O scale engines and rolling stocks, without having to worry about the availability of tracks. Narrow Gauge Purists use On3 (19.2 mm). This kit is designed for On3 and therefore a piece of track must be built, to test the snowplow and to display it. Yves

Well, following the instructions, the first task is to put together the chassis of the snowplow: This is done using hot glue. I find that the CA does not do very well with metal parts and does not provide the flexing required on such model. The chassis is planned and filed as much as possible. The most important parts in a car, are the trucks. It is essential to build them first, to make sure that your chassis sits perfectly flat and that it rolls nicely and smoothly on the tracks. The truck parts are all made of white metal, with the exception of the wheels and axles, made of plastic (Delrin). So, we do not have to worry about shorts or electric pick-ups. Above is the front truck and below is the rear truck. The front truck has ice-breakers hanging from the front bar. None of the trucks have any kind of working suspension. It is a lot simpler this way. Notice how the wheels are gathered inside the trucks, wheels sized for narrow gauge tracks. When PORTLAND LOCOMOTIVES COMPANY delivered the trucks to RGS, they sent two set of axles: one for narrow gauge and one for Regular Gauge. Only the Narrow gauge axles were used on the RGS tracks. Below, you can see the difference between narrow gauge and regular gauge. On the metric gauge, wheels are a lot smaller as compared to the standard 33 inches Bettendorf trucks, found on most freight cars of that time. The kit provides cheesy wood screws to attach the trucks. I like mine strongly anchored into the chassis and thus, I resorted to drilling and tapping a 2.5 mm steel screw in the chassis bolsters: This is infinitely stronger and I recommend that solution if you wish to build that kit and make sure that this plow can roll on your layout. Et voila! The chassis sits on its trucks and we can now move to the other sections of the build, having a good reference of height and stance. Yves