David L O Smith - Home |
John Fowler Diesel Mechanical
0-4-0
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A 7mm scale (O Gauge) model of a diesel mechanical 0-4-0 built by John Fowler of Leeds in 1933 (No. 19451) for shunting at the Swindon factory. The locomotive was powered by a 70HP MAN sux-cylinder engine with a multiple plate clutch, four-speed gear box and jackshaft drive to give a top speed of 15mph. The prototype was sold on in 1940 and later again to the Ministry of Supply before being scrapped but similar, more powerful locomotives are Osram, at the The Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, and, H.W. Robinson at The Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. The LMS owned a similar Fowler locomotive with a 88HP Ruston engine (See LMS No.2).
When I received my Ixion Fowler GWR No.1, I planned only to paint the rods, fly cranks and buffer stocks in a red to match the buffer beams but then I noticed that the flanges of the buffer stocks were missing, although the packings were represented. I mounted the 0.015” plastic card blanks for the flanges on an arbour and turned, milled and drilled them to shape in exactly the same way as I did for the Hudswell Clarke but these were rather simpler. The blanks were retained with a 10BA nut and a bespoke washer that was machined along with the blanks. In the photograph (right), one flange remains on the arbour (left), two lie in front of the washer and the 10BA nut, and one is shown in place on a buffer stock (right). |
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Before (left) and after (right) |
In an idle moment, I looked at the control desk (left) and thought ‘Those gauges could do with brass bezels.’ It was but a few minutes work to turn them up but it made a huge improvement to their looks (right), it’s just a shame that they will hardly be seen when the cab is replaced. The ‘obvious’ material to make them out of would be a bit of suitably sized brass tube but, apart from the challenge of finding a bit of suitable thin-walled tube (3.8mm OD x 3.5mm ID), I am not sure about slicing off such small rings.
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I started with a bit of brass rod (5/32” or 4mm would be ideal but larger would be quite suitable) in the lathe and I drilled it 3.5mm diameter (first with centre drill then followed by a pilot drill ~ 2mm) to a depth of only 0.5mm at the full diameter. I turned down a length of a few mm of the outside to 3.8mm diameter and I then parted off the ring that was only 0.4mm deep (long); in this way, the 0.5mm wide parting off tool was working mostly in solid material and the ring came away cleanly. |
Well, I suppose you can just about see them. |
As my model was a present, I did not want to alter it too much so, apart from the modifications described above, I made only a few tweaks; in no particular order:
Made the splits in the fly cranks deeper with a slitting saw
Turned down the hexagonal heads on the crank pins
Replaced the rectangular section three-links with round section
Reprofiled the drawhooks, made an upper slot and drilled a new hole at the rear to provide some pre-load to the springs
Made cross shafts to fit between the lower ends of the brake hangers
Added brackets to the upper ends of the brake hangers
Added projecting pins to the upper and lower ends of the brake hangers, and to the brake shoes
Relieved the edge of the keeper plate to reduce its prominence below the frames
Replaced the bendy plastic rod on the linkage to the hand brake standard with screwed brass wire
Added an exhaust pipe within the chimney
Replaced the Fowler horn with a GWR whistle (as per photos in GWR service)
Added a grease point to the RHS frames
Made longer oil pots on the tops of the bosses to the rods
Replaced the red plastic handle on the brake standard with one of polished steel ·
I painted:
Dirty black (very dark grey): frames, sandpipes, brake gear, buffer heads
Black: wheels (treads and flanges masked off), draw gear
Red: buffer stocks, bases and packings; rods, fly cranks
and lined:
Tan (Humbrol No. 9): frames
Black/orange (Humbrol No. 18): edges of buffer beams, outer ends of buffer stocks
I varnished all parts with Floquil Flat Finish.