BR86 Locomotive by Greg Davis - FINISHED - Hobby Boss - 1:72 Scale - PLASTIC

[Greg Davis]

Not long ago I decided that I would like to build a few plastic models. Kits Plastic models that I've seen over the past several years have amazed me in comparison to those I played with some 50 - 60 years ago. The skills that plastic modelers bring to the table are incredible as well. Painting skills are often unbelievable to me! So I jumped in the deep end bought a few kits (not confessing to how many). Steam locomotives have been a longtime fascination of mine as well - so when I saw that there are some nice static plastic locomotive kits available, some made their way to my house. 

 

This past December, I assembled my first - a Hobby Boss 1:72 scale BR86. I also got to practice a bit with a spay brush and now it's now ready for a clear coat, a few decals, and a little weathering:

 

In this forum I will be showing my work on building a second model of this locomotive. As I go along, I hope that will be interest in the build.  Perhaps some of you will be able to provide me with comments on how I can improve my work with plastic. Yes, there is a reason that I've chosen to build two of these engines - it is so that they can 'push' the Hobby Boss 1:72 scale Dora Railgun someday. This is why the rails / rail bed hasn't been painted. To display the railgun and locomotives track will need to be laid longer than the kits account for.

 

Here's what comes in the kit:

5 spruces of parts for the engine, another with some roadbed and rails and a small one representing glass. The cab and coal bunker are included separately as well as a few decals. There is a 12 page instruction manual printed in black and white along with a two sided glossy sheet displaying two painting schemes. The scheme in the above picture shows the BR86 all in various shades of black and grey, the reverse side shows a scheme where the wheels and chassis is in red. I chose the scheme with red for the first model; this one I am thinking of doing in the grey scheme.

 

So again, I hope that some of you find this topic interesting and also are willing to provide some guidance to navigate this realm of modeling.

 

Thanks,

 

Greg  

 

[Greg Davis]

Here's the start of my work - the chassis sides with axles.

 

I'm using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement, I don't know if this is the best choice, but it does seem to be commonly used on build sites I've looked at. I don't know if I should be getting some assortment of glues; i.e., should I have different glues for certain situations?

 

I got an assortment of Flex-I-file. I like the range of grits, but I don't foresee them lasting long as there is already some separation of the sanding surface from the stick. I find this surprising, given the cost. For my wood boat work, I often get sanding sticks from the manicure isle. 

In the above picture, the only pieces glued were a cross-member (left of the axles) to the two sides. The axles are just press fit here. While everything seemed to be pretty square, I used the large and small rectangular top pieces to finish the alignment. After that other details were added.

I should have reviewed my notes from BR86 #1 and not glued in part B17 (circled in blue above). The instructions show the part being added here and also in a couple pages. The second time it is noted is probably a better time to add it. At least that's what I had concluded a couple of weeks ago. The reason is that there will be two beams that go through B17 near the top and in the last build the fit was so tight I needed to reduced their cross section to fit. I felt that it would have been easier to make these adjustments with B17 off the model - oh well, I live and don't always learn! 

 

Below is the instructions for what I have assembled so far. The pieces circled in red will be added later. The couplers drop down below the top of the rails when the engine is complete, so they can't be added until the very end. The poles and steps are better left until the boiler, coal compartment, and cab have been installed. The rails for the step in the front of the engine fits into notches on the boiler assembly; leaving their assembly until later makes alignment easier.  

Cylinder assemblies are up next. 

   

 

[Greg Davis]

Cylinder subassemblies were completed and installed today. I didn't attach parts A1 and A2 - pipes from the boiler to the cylinders at this time. The top of these pieces rest on the boiler assembly and are more easily aligned once the boiler assembly is fitted to the chassis. 

 

Here's the cylinders attached to the chassis. The brake system has also been added. I think the brake linkage (A6) is one of the most interesting pieces in the kit - to bad it is nearly invisible on the finished model. 

This is what the instructions suggest you should do in Step 4. The wheels will be painted separately and added in the final assembly process.

[Greg Davis]

Did what I could from Step 5. Mostly beginning work on the running gear near the cylinders. The subassembly on the upper left of the instruction sheet was the main piece of work. The five pieces go together pretty well with a little fiddling to get the linkages into position. The beams circled in blue are the one's I mentioned earlier as being a bit troublesome. Like in my other BR86, I needed to reduce the cross-section so that the beams would fit through the openings in B17. The only other thing of note is that I didn't glue the linkages or the beams until the whole assembly was in the correct position. It is really important that the linkages can be moved as the subassembly is put into place.

Here's a better view of the bit of work:

The rest of the running gear - outlined in red will probably be added during the final assembly. However, I may change my mind and add in all but the wheel linkages B26 and B27 before painting. 

 

Next the instructions turn to the topsides.

[Greg Davis]

Yesterday and today I was able to make progress on the boiler / cab assembly:

The control handles are not all that great, but they cannot be seen very well upon completion so I'm not concerned. I don't know what the part near the smoke stack (not the bell!) is called, but you can see a tube that comes out the front and then bends down to the boiler. This tube was missing from the part in this kit and needed to be added from spare material - the tube was correctly formed and attached on the first BR86 kit I made. The only other thing I will note is that there are 6 value handles on the boiler assembly and they are very hard to attach as provided; however, if you drill a small hole in the middle they go on quite nicely.

One thing to look out for is that the 5 control rods that pass through the cab out to the boiler must make it through part B15 and the holes are a bit too small for them to pass. I recalled this from the first BR86 I made. There I didn't notice until the piece was secured in the cab, so I reduced the diameter of the rods to get them in place. This time, I used a small reamer to enlarge the holes in B15 before it went into the cab proper. This was a more satisfactory fix. By the way, the holes the rods pass through the cab back are not problematic.  Part C26, the gauges in the upper right, is not fun to insert!

This completes Steps 6 - 8. Just two more instruction pages of work before painting commences. 

[Javlin]

You kinda perked my interest also in these loco's

 

Oh and by the way No.1 build looks sweet!

Edited January 19 by Javlin

[realworkingsailor]

If you’re talking about the part mounted to the left of the smoke stack, it looks pretty much like a turbo generator (for the electric lights). The pipe running back to the cab would be a conduit for the electrical wires, as all the light switches are logically in the cab.

 

Andy

[Greg Davis]

3 minutes ago, realworkingsailor said:

If you’re talking about the part mounted to the left of the smoke stack, it looks pretty much like a turbo generator (for the electric lights). The pipe running back to the cab would be a conduit for the electrical wires, as all the light switches are logically in the cab.

 

Andy

Andy -

 

Thank you! I should probably brush up on locomotive anatomy!

 

Greg

16 minutes ago, Javlin said:

You kinda perked my interest also in these loco's

 

Oh and by the way No.1 build looks sweet!

Javlin -

 

I wish there were more static locomotive kits available. I got the pair of these BR86's because (1) they're available, (2) they looked like got introductory plastic kits, and (3) I had already bought the 1:72 scale Dora Railgun kit and wanted to put a couple of locomotives behind it. Actually, I go back and forth on how much I like tank engines in comparison to locomotive / tender combinations; but there is little available (that I could find) in 1:72 scale.

 

Because I tend to have a pension for buying too many kits, among other things, I have a 1:35 Trumpeter version of the BR86 (together with some Eduard PE) in my stash. That one I would like to be more detailed and refined than the 1:72 Hobby Boss version.

 

Thank you for the wonderful comment on BR86 (1), and I hope that sometime I see you putting a locomotive together!

 

Greg

[thibaultron]

There is a static (sort of) 1/75th model of a Japanese loco a Type C62 4-6-4. It is motorized, but not powered from the wheels. That's all I know about it. I have one, but it is buried, and I can't locate it, to give more info.

 

There are several locos in other scales. 2 US HO locos the Big Boy, and a Hudson. Also in HO is at least one German Loco. In larger scales there is the Vulcan with 3 cars cars in 1/45th. The Rocket in 1/26th. There is and OO Rocket, that I think makes it 1/76th. In 1/25th there is "The General", a model of one of the locomotives that were in the Great Train Chase"(?) during the Civil War, where a group of Union spies stole a train and tried to destroy the tracks on a Southern railroad. They were chased by another loco, and captured, without time to stop long enough to actually do much damage. The Civil War being what it was, they were executed.

 

Ocre also has several locomotive multimedia kits. I have one of the Adler a German locomotive built by Robert Stephenson, and shipped to Germany, for one of their railroads. It was shipped by ship, canal, and horses to reach the location. They also offer some trolleys and a cable car. Their model of the Rocket, has problems with the accuracy of the tender. The 1/26th Rocket is a better model.

 

There is also a model of Trevithick's locomotive, though the historical accuracy of there ever even one having been built makes it suspect. That being said, I built a model of it when I was in my early teens, and it came with a display case. I kept it for many years, until it was broken by a friend's child. I kept the display case, and have another kit, that I will build and install in the case, for memories sake.

[Greg Davis]

10 hours ago, thibaultron said:

There is a static (sort of) 1/75th model of a Japanese loco a Type C62 4-6-4. It is motorized, but not powered from the wheels. That's all I know about it. I have one, but it is buried, and I can't locate it, to give more info.

 

There are several locos in other scales. 2 US HO locos the Big Boy, and a Hudson. Also in HO is at least one German Loco. In larger scales there is the Vulcan with 3 cars cars in 1/45th. The Rocket in 1/26th. There is and OO Rocket, that I think makes it 1/76th. In 1/25th there is "The General", a model of one of the locomotives that were in the Great Train Chase"(?) during the Civil War, where a group of Union spies stole a train and tried to destroy the tracks on a Southern railroad. They were chased by another loco, and captured, without time to stop long enough to actually do much damage. The Civil War being what it was, they were executed.

 

Ocre also has several locomotive multimedia kits. I have one of the Adler a German locomotive built by Robert Stephenson, and shipped to Germany, for one of their railroads. It was shipped by ship, canal, and horses to reach the location. They also offer some trolleys and a cable car. Their model of the Rocket, has problems with the accuracy of the tender. The 1/26th Rocket is a better model.

 

There is also a model of Trevithick's locomotive, though the historical accuracy of there ever even one having been built makes it suspect. That being said, I built a model of it when I was in my early teens, and it came with a display case. I kept it for many years, until it was broken by a friend's child. I kept the display case, and have another kit, that I will build and install in the case, for memories sake.

Ron -

 

Thanks for passing this info along! I was not aware of the 1/75th C62 - do you have a link for the kit? I do know of the Micro Ace (Arii) 1/50th kits of several Japanese locomotives; C53, C57, D51, C62, C11, and C10. I have a D51 kit, Slag version, on order to see what they are like. If I like it, I may get another; the C53 is interesting in the sense it was a 3 cylinder engine. I've seen some of the Revell 1/87th kits; they look nice, but I like the slightly larger scales better (at least for my dexterity). 

 

I got a Occre S3/6 BR-18 at a good price when Model Expo stopped carrying Occre products. I had been looking at that kit for a long time, well before exploring plastic kits. Now that I've seen some of the plastic kits, I am so impressed with the extra detail they have compared to the BR-18 kit. Nevertheless I do look forward to building the model as the construction techniques lie somewhere between plastic and wooden ships!

 

Greg

[thibaultron]

Sorry, I don't remember where I got it, likely Ebay. I have a spreadsheet of my kits, and that one is on the list, It would have been purchased several years ago, as I remember buying most of the others.

[Greg Davis]

15 minutes ago, thibaultron said:

I have a spreadsheet of my kits,

Love it!

[Greg Davis]

Today the coal bunker subassembly was taken care of - Steps 9 and 10 in the instructions. No surprises here. But remembering from the first model, I took a little different tact when adding the door to the bunker subassembly. The instructions have you simply glue them to the bunker, but I found it better to dry fit the doors to the bunker and then dry fit the assembly to the cab. Once that is done, the alignment of the door can be done nicely and it can be glued to the coal bunker easily. Just don't want to glue the doors to the cab presently, as the bunker needs to be pulled off prior to painting.

One more page of subassemblies to go. The side water tanks and some steps need to be put together in Step 11. 

[thibaultron]

I almost forgot, AHM offered two 1/48th scale kits, one of the locomotive driven by Casey Johns on that fateful night, I think it was a 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler, and one of the Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0 three cylinder switcher. They offered unpowered display kits, and power chassis kits to convert them into operating models, for 2 rail O Gauge track. I have two of the 0-8-0 kits, and a partial built kit that has the power chassis.

[Greg Davis]

9 hours ago, thibaultron said:

I almost forgot, AHM offered two 1/48th scale kits, one of the locomotive driven by Casey Johns on that fateful night, I think it was a 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler, and one of the Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0 three cylinder switcher. They offered unpowered display kits, and power chassis kits to convert them into operating models, for 2 rail O Gauge track. I have two of the 0-8-0 kits, and a partial built kit that has the power chassis.

Thanks again - I like that 0-8-0 switcher!

[Egilman]

16 hours ago, thibaultron said:

I almost forgot, AHM offered two 1/48th scale kits, one of the locomotive driven by Casey Johns on that fateful night, I think it was a 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler, and one of the Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0 three cylinder switcher. They offered unpowered display kits, and power chassis kits to convert them into operating models, for 2 rail O Gauge track. I have two of the 0-8-0 kits, and a partial built kit that has the power chassis.

Here's the Indiana Harbor Belt "O" scale (1/48 scale) 0-8-0 for sale...

And,

Casey Jones AHM O Scale Cannon Ball Express Locomotive Kit 4-6-0 for sale... (27 watchers on it, they don't last long)

 

Both are reasonably priced....

 

EG

 

[wefalck]

There was the Kitmaster kit of the GNR Stirling Single No. 1 (as preserved in the UK National Railway Museum): https://www.scalemates.com/de/kits/kitmaster-9-stirling-8ft-single--182022. I have one, but these historic kits are rather pricey.

 

The British company Dapol offers various OO plastic kits for British locomotives: https://www.dapol.co.uk/collections/self-assembly-unpainted-oo-kits?srsltid=AfmBOorSykTN6uY7jggiYn6myTihg-CISKiDhw6eQkDOUDl1_UEPoRG-&page=2

Edited January 23 by wefalck

[Old Collingwood]

I have never built a model loco  in fact I never knew there was any,   the only  loco construction kit I ever attempted  was one of those card  kits  years ago.

 

OC.

[Greg Davis]

8 hours ago, wefalck said:

There was the Kitmaster kit of the GWR Stirling Single No. 1 (as preserved in the UK National Railway Museum): https://www.scalemates.com/de/kits/kitmaster-9-stirling-8ft-single--182022. I have one, but these historic kits are rather pricey.

 

The British company Dapol offers various OO plastic kits for British locomotives: https://www.dapol.co.uk/collections/self-assembly-unpainted-oo-kits?srsltid=AfmBOorSykTN6uY7jggiYn6myTihg-CISKiDhw6eQkDOUDl1_UEPoRG-&page=2

That Stirling Single is pretty interesting - reminds me of a paddle boat steamer!

 

I had seen the Dapol kits, but I would like a bit more detail than their kits seem to offer.

 

Thanks for pointing these out to me!

 

Greg

[Greg Davis]

All the subassemblies are now done.

There are a number of parts that I will be detaching from the spru's and cleaning up - wheels, running gear, etc. and then it will be time to paint.

[wefalck]

14 hours ago, Greg Davis said:

That Stirling Single is pretty interesting - reminds me of a paddle boat steamer!

 

I had seen the Dapol kits, but I would like a bit more detail than their kits seem to offer.

 

Thanks for pointing these out to me!

 

Greg

The Stirling Single No. 1 was (as number indicates) the first of a series that evolved during the 1870s. There are many monographs on British locomotives, also on this one:

 

Leech, K.H., Boddy, M.G. (1965): The Stirling Singles.- 160 p., London (David & Charles Ltd.).

 

This and the Dapol-kits are from the 1960s or 70s or so and definitely do not have the amount of detail one would expect to find on a 2020s kit. On the other hand, British steam-locomotives seem to have had much less outside details compared to their continental sisters. Only from the 1960s on, they became similar in appearance.

 

Unfortunately there are not so many early to mid-Victorian era R2R locomotive models or kits around. There may be a few in etched brass, intended to be motorised for running.

 

I didn't start 'No. 1' for lack of time and also it would require a lot of 'kit bashing' to bring the details to it that are possible in 1/76 scale. I would also replace all the parts that would be bright metal with real metal ('only real metal looks like real metal'). Perhaps I would build it from scratch, using the kit as overall guidance, rather than 'destroying' what is essentially an untouched historic kit.

 

Talking about 'real metal', I am curious how you will treat the works of the BR86. 

Edited January 23 by wefalck

[Jack12477]

Several decades ago I built the HO scale Class "C" 2-truck 3-cylinder SHAY locomotive by Roundhouse. It's fully operational.  I added Kadee brand knuckle couplers instead of the kit supplied. Photos below (of a slightly dusty model):

 

[Greg Davis]

6 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

HO scale Class "C" 2-truck 3-cylinder SHAY locomotive by Roundhouse

Logging locomotives are awesome - Shay's, Heisler's, Climax's ... !

[Greg Davis]

It got up above freezing today and my basement painting area was warm enough to prime the BR86. I used Vallejo German Panzer Grey as the primer.

 

[amateur]

Nice work! 

Andy thought the part is a dynamo, I'm sure the part is the dynamo. The part in front of the smoke stack is the preheater, couple of steam domes on top, and a sand dome, feeding the sand-lines to help the breaking.

 

Fun of these German locs is the fact that they used standard-parts (einheits lokomotiven). hen you check the card-builders, you will run into guys that use a model of a given series, adding (or substracting) a couple of wheels in order to build a model of a loc of an other series. 

(quite o lot of card-loco's around, at all building levels)

 

Jan

 

 

 

[Greg Davis]

I received the 1:50 scale Micro Ace / Arii D-51 Slag Type locomotive kit today. As there is little information about this kit online (even Scalemates has just a box top picture) I wanted to post a few pictures of the kits contents:

For the most part, the kit survived the journey from Japan - only a small piece broken off the chassis (4th pic top), and I've reattached it so that it will not get lost. Just a few observations from my initial look at the kit:

• The molds don't seem to be quite as refined as the Hobby Boss BR86 
• The tires (chrome) are separate from the wheels
• There are metal parts - including screws that hold most of the drive linkages together
• There are no decals - locomotive number is molded for cab, front, and back
• There doesn't appear to be painting information (at least in English) short of the box cover art
• The completed locomotive with tender will be 15.5" in length

It should be interesting when completed and sitting with models of the C53 and C62 (yes, I didn't wait to see this before ordering another two kits)!

 

 

 

 

[yvesvidal]

I have that kit in my stash. I bought it since I model in O scale (1/48th) and was hoping to find a chassis of 0-8-0 that I could use to turn that model into a rolling and working engine. Too many projects and not enough time....

 

Please start a new thread for this one. It is worth it. 

 

YVes

[Greg Davis]

52 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

I have that kit in my stash. I bought it since I model in O scale (1/48th) and was hoping to find a chassis of 0-8-0 that I could use to turn that model into a rolling and working engine. Too many projects and not enough time....

 

Please start a new thread for this one. It is worth it. 

 

YVes

Will do when I can!

[wefalck]

23 hours ago, amateur said:

... Fun of these German locs is the fact that they used standard-parts (einheits lokomotiven). ...

I am not a railway expert, but I think all (state) railway companies standardised certain parts and subassemblies to make production cheaper and more efficient.

 

'Einheits-Lokomotiven' (standardised locomotives) was a programme of the German Reichsbahn to standardise the types of lokomotives and their parts following the nationalisation of the railways in 1920. Before, each German State (e.g. Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, etc.) had their own system of lokomotives, which were inherited by the Reichsbahn. This legacy made it difficult to run and maintain locomotives across the whole country.

 

I believe British Rail did something similar following its set up after WW2.

 

The bizzarre thing is that following the privatisation craze in the wake of Reagonomics and Thatcherism, that caught on across many countries across Europe, we now have again different private railway companies with different rolling stock on the national networks.

 

[amateur]

Dutch railways did not standardize. (They still don’t) They bought/buy large series of different designs.

 

Jan