The tanks and carrier frame are made from 20 and 30 thou plasticard. The ends of the boiler barrels and the smoke boxes are made from aluminium bar turned on a 'pencil sharper' lathe. The domes are made from a M8 steel bolt, turned on the lathe. The only 'off the shelf' items i have used are the Langley white metal castings for the smoke box door, chimneys, toolboxes and cabs.
This is a photo of how it currently looks. I still need to attach the cab to the body, and i need to make those slopes each side of the cab. I am quite proud of this model, it isn't perfect, but I think it's a good result for my first time scratch building a locomotive. I am still unsure what to so with the livery, I think the real Earl of Merioneth looked stunning in the black livery it carried during it's running in period and first few weeks in service back in August 2007.
Whilst on the 'Double Fairlie' subject, I’d like to ask other modellers about the condition that Langley Models send out they're kits. Is the one/ones you've bought of good quality?
The kit that I bough, I wouldn't have said it was worth £63. The casting quality was, to be honest, quite poor. The amount of 'flash' on the kits was unbelievable, especially on the casting for the tanks/boiler, the new chassis block and the carrier frame.
I am now tempted in the future, to save up for a bit longer to buy a Backwoods Miniatures kit, which are of unbelievable quality, rather than buying the (in my opinion) overpriced and low quality kits from Langley.
Anybody guessed what a 'Fair-ratt' is yet?
Very impressive work, Huw! 20 years ago Himself built our first model of the Earl based on a Langley kit, although unlike you we kept a lot of more of the original superstructure in place and fixed plasticard tanks on top.
ReplyDeleteThe turned dustbin lid domes look great, as do your own smokeboxes. Our Earls (plural) are in original condition so use smokeboxes from Linda/Blanche kits.
I think perhaps the Langley moulds are showing their age - the castings have deteriorated over the years in my experience.
Are you going to hack a sunroof in the cab?
Thanks Rob that will be done soon. After 'playing' on it today (I got a call 5pm last night asking if I was able to fire it for a trip to Blaenau!) I took some measurements and pictures of the sunroof and the various things between the dome and cab. I also noticed that my coal bunkers look too short and the domes too far away from the cab! Some modifications required!
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