C56 2-6-0 in 1nM

[kevsmiththai]

As predicted the Corona virus stopped all this Spring's model railway exhibitions in the U.K from happening. We were lucky that Macclesfield show happened last weekend but all the talk amongst the exhibitors was which shows would cancel next, As it turned out it was all of them with some big casualties (York, London,Qourn etc) as well as some of the smaller ones I was lated to attend with Republic Steel, my Z gauge Steelworks layout

 

So I found myself with some unexpected free weekends and no deadline to get the layouts ready. 'Time to get some unfinished projects completed' I thought and looking around the office was one obvious example. Started in 2007 after my first visit to Thailand a couiple of years earlier was a scratchbuilt model of a Japanese C56 2-6-0 which I had started in a great rush of enthusiasm after spending a lot of the holiday lineside photographing the fascinating rail system there.

 

The C56s were taken to Thailand by the Japanese and I will explain the why's and wherefore's later on in the thread, suffice to say that there were  quite a few and quite a few survive to this day.

 

Taking it down to the workshop it was evident that it was dusty and slightly tarnished from its years of neglect. The model is built to 1/30th scale to run on 0 gauge track and was intended to run on a projected Garden layout I had in mind. 

 

 

The chassis is made from GFS steel (Ground flat stock, otherwise known as gauge plate). The superstructure is made of Nickel Silver and Brass. The wheels are turned fron castings made from SG cast iron and if memory serves me correct they came from called Locosteam. Axles are silver steel and the wheels are insulated on one so=ide by the 'Split spoke' method.

 

 

The tender follows the same construction but with white metal used for the tender axleboxes and springs

 

 

It became apparent that I actually wasn't too far off finishing it so the dash to the line should not be too bad.

 

More soon

 

Kev

 

 

[kevsmiththai]

To build it I needed a decent drawing and there was one in a book called 'Steam loco in Japan' which had quite nice drawings of most of the major class of Japanese steam engines. But it soon became apparent that there were some major differences between the drawing and the actual locos I had photographed over there. It transpired that the SRT (State railway of Thailand had modified the cab roofs amongst other things and to suit their loading gauge  so I ended up modifying the drawing to match the modifications before I started cutting any metal

 

 

The cab roof is very differnet from the original Japanese cab,

 

 

I've done some work on the Firebox backhead over the last couple of days and it is staring to look a bit busier in the cab

 

 

Dwarfing the Z gauge stock I was supposed to be painting for the next show this is where I am at now. I going to concentrate on the brakegear tomorrow now that I have found it all!

 

The ladders to the sandbox are also underway.

 

Having had the article about 'Hakuho' my new Z gage layout  accepted by Continental Modeller magazine I reckon they are going to fancy this as well, so I'm photographing and videoing it as I go along

 

I'll keep you posted

 

Kev

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Impressive!

 

Did you cast the detail pieces yourself, or did you manage to find a place that manufactures those? I know IMON has a lot of those parts in H0, but anything bigger seems to be quite challenging.

 

[Nick_Burman]

The C56s are one of my favourite Japanese locomotives. And the SRT steam scheme is one of the most beautiful paint schemes ever developed. I'm a bit pissed off about Oigawa having repainted and modified their loco away from the Thai scheme.

 

Cheers NB

[kevsmiththai]

The only commercial bits used are the wheel castings which came from a firm called Locosteam. The tender axleboxes were modified from some English ones and the couplers are Kadee with the uncoupling pin cut off. Everything else is scratchbuilt.

 

Like many of my gauge 1 models the key is to take as many detail pictures as possible if you get an opportunity. Back when I took these I was mainly shooting Kodachrome so it got a bit expensive. Now in the digital age you can blast off many pictures as your Sd card and bartteries allow!

 

713 , one of the 'River Kwai' locos inside Thonburi engine shed

 

 

Sadly not all the survivors were in this condition

 

733 lying derelict at Makkasan in 2007

 

 

The easist one to get at, although missing nearly all its cab  fittings is 714  which is plinthed at Hua Lamphong station as a sort of shrine. You can walk off the end of the platform to get to it

 

 

More soon.

 

I'm doing a video as I go on which may end up being a couple of parts and I'll add the link when I put it on youtube

 

Being banged up at home due to the Corona virus lockdown I might end up proceeding quicker than I though with this one!

 

Kev

[kevsmiththai]

When I was in Bangkok in 2007 no 738 was derelict at Ekkamai museum but since this picture was taken it has been cosmetically restored and moved to Salaya

 

 

So the last time I looked the following survive in Thailand

 

Nam Tok 702 ex C56 .4

Bangkok Thonburi 713 ex C56.15

Bangkok Hua Lamphong 714 ex C56.16

Bangkok Thonburi 715 ex C56.17

Kanchanburi 719 ex C56.23

Nakhon Lampang 728 ex C56.36

Bangkok Makkasan 733 ex C56.47 (Actually 738)

Salaya 738 ex C56.41 (Actually 733)

Chang Mai 744 ex C56.53

 

and 725 and 735 have both been repatriated to Japan as C56.44 and C56.31

 

 I though I'd show you what planning went into it before I started the model. This was part of a drawing of a C56 in JNR form which I  notated to highlight the detail differences

 

 

This was the right hand side working drawing that resulted

 

 

More later

 

Kev

[dabsan]

Great model, I remember seeing 744 ex C56.53 outside Chang Mai railway station.

[kevsmiththai]

Latest pic

Stripped down for more cleaning. The tender construction is complete. My plan to put a Sagami motor in the firebox isn't going to work as the gearbox is too wide to fit between the axleboxes so if I do motorise it  the chances are it will be a tender driive easily retro fitted.

 

 

 

Kev

[kevsmiththai]

Still working from home so inbetween webex calls and e-mails pressed on....

 

One tender sideframe unbolts to drop the wheelsets out so the first two coats of primer went on last night before I locked the workshop up

 

 

Bolted back together and left for the paint cure while I continu with the loco

 

 

So I strpped the loco chassis down after a bit of struggle. Very complicated to clean up and it was filthy in all the nooks and crannies (note to self, if you are going to put a model like this away for a few years give it a good blast with WD40 first!)

 

 

First part of the video at

 

 

More soon

 

Kev

[kevsmiththai]

So I'm well into the painting stage now

 

 

Main body lagging behind as I've still got to put the mounting screws and captive nuts to hold the cab roof down

 

To western eyes the paint scheme is a bit wierd with white painted rods and only the boiler and cylinders painted green and also a white painted cab roof

 

I need to think about the green. When fresh it was a very dark brunswick green but soon seemed to fade to a washed out, almost malachite green due to the sunlight. Some of the plinthed ones look to be painted a different sort of Emerald green. Something to ponder anyway

 

This picture looks as if something has gone wrong with the colours but 713 had just had some red paint splased around and in the shadow of Thonburi shed it just stands out

 

 

 

Went back into work today as I've been classified as a CAT 1 worker ( our trains are doing quite an important job) but am only doing a few hours a day so I'll keep the pedal to the metal on this one.

 

More soon

 

Kev

Edited March 30, 2020 by kevsmiththai
spelling

[kevsmiththai]

More progess

 

Chassis re-assembled, suspension springs back in, return cranks set. still needs middle brake hangers putting back in

 

 

The firebox backhead. Not 100% accurate but close enough for me. rather brutal close up pic!

 

 

chassis and tender

 

 

Body in primer after a lot of cleaning up

 

 

Kev

[kevsmiththai]

Part two of the video

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Close up shots are always really confronting 😄

 

It's looking really good, really like the white around the wheels.. Old school white wall tires 😉

 

[kevsmiththai]

10 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

Close up shots are always really confronting 😄

 

It's looking really good, really like the white around the wheels.. Old school white wall tires 😉

 

 

Thanks Martijn.

 

You might be interested in my next project completion after the C56 is complete.

 

An NS 8800 0-6-0ST. A standard WD Austerity saddle tank supplied to the Netherlands from the U.K after WW2. It is the fourth one in gauge 1 I have built but when I sold my two gauge 1 exhibition layouts it also never got completed and has sat in a box with a couple of 24 ton coke hoppers also half started.

 

 

I need to find some more pictures of these locos in the Netherlands to see what mods were done to run on the continent.

 

Boith the C56 and the WD will hopefully feature in Continental Modeller magazine sometime in the future

 

regards

 

Kev

[Martijn Meerts]

Will be interesting to see the progress on it. I don't know much about Dutch steam locomotives actually, they were taken out of service before I was born. However, I live close to the German border, and there used to be a lot of train traffic to and from Germany passing through my local station. A lot of shunting going on there as well, as locomotives needed to be switched from German to Dutch and vice versa. I have seen quite a few German steam locomotives passing by.

 

I was a bit more into the more modern trains when growing up though, the interest in steam locomotives, or rather preference for steam locomotive models, came quite a bit later 🙂

 

How do you go about quartering the wheels? I'm working on my little H0j steam locomotive, and while the wheels come pre-attached on the axles, the spokes are a plastic detail bit that needs to be glued into the wheels. The drive rods getting pushed into the plastic spokes inserts, so the spoke inserts need to be quartered, not looking forward to that 🙂

 

[kevsmiththai]

Hi Martin

 

I take it you can't see through the wheels to align the spokes? Best way other wise is to hold the chassis firmly on a flat surface, put one sides spokes at Bottom dead centre i'e pointing down at 90 degrees. You can use a small set square to check. Cut a piece of plastic sheet the height of the axle centres from the flat surface long enough so you can lean it against the wheel face while you set  the crank levels. remember they don't have to be exactly 90 degress just the same angle on each axle.

 

Are the axles geared together?

 

Kev

[kevsmiththai]

So still locked down and working from home the loco is really gathering pace now.

 

 

After getting myself tied up in knots on the colour of the green I settled in the end on Tamiya Flat Green. This has to be brushpainted because of all the pipework in front of the boiler but I like the coverage power of tamiya acrylic even when you are painting over gloss black.

 

The backhead is in, The pressure gauges have been fitted as have the seat cushions. Thne pressure gauges are home made but I always do a big batch of them when I make them so that they are to hand for future projects

 

With the cab roof fitted work on the timber planks continued

 

 

these were gloss varnished this afternoon which brings the wood grain alive

 

The cylinders in green and the pilot in red bring the chassis alive now

 

 

After these pictures were taken I bolted the body and chassis back together again which will feature in part 3 of the video.

 

Sat in my office tonight I'm working on the stencils to do the tender lettering and cabside numbers. Obviously there is no chance of finding 1/30th SRT decals so I'm going 'old School' more to follow

 

Kev

[Martijn Meerts]

2 hours ago, kevsmiththai said:

Hi Martin

 

I take it you can't see through the wheels to align the spokes? Best way other wise is to hold the chassis firmly on a flat surface, put one sides spokes at Bottom dead centre i'e pointing down at 90 degrees. You can use a small set square to check. Cut a piece of plastic sheet the height of the axle centres from the flat surface long enough so you can lean it against the wheel face while you set  the crank levels. remember they don't have to be exactly 90 degress just the same angle on each axle.

 

Are the axles geared together?

 

Kev

 

I can partially see through the wheels, but not enough to really align them. The wheels themselves have 4 spokes, which the plastic insert covers up for the most part. I've done a little bit of experimenting with it, and it looks like there might be a certain way of installing the inserts aligned with the wheel's 4 spokes, so that the insert covers all 4 spokes. For the other side, you can then rotate the insert 90 degrees, and make sure it also covers all 4 spokes. There's actually a fair chance the instructions mention this, or have other info on how to quarter them, but well, they're Japanese 😄

 

All the axles are geared. The first and third directly by the motor, the second by some additional gearing off the third axle.

[kevsmiththai]

Getting closer!

 

the next part of the video is a lot more explanatory on how it went back together but here is tonights update pic

 

re-assembled with the cylinders and bolier painted, cab roof white and a start made on touching up the little chips in the paintwork

 

So the stencils were made by using one of the broadside pictures I took of a tender. This was edited down in Photoshop to just the letters and a bit of surrounding black and then shrunk down to the right size. I then printed it on a self adhesive label, stuck it to some plasticard and then carefully cut out the letters. I find I can cut something like this a lot more accurately than trying to paint it. This stencil was then positioned on the side of the model and the outline drawn with a Pilot fine point white permanent marker. I removed the stencil and let the outline dry and then filled it in completely with white before adding the yellow foreground colour. I did practice on a seperate piece of black sheet before I went anywhere near the model just in case

 

 

Still lots to do though. glass in the cab front and rear windows, the cover for the box on the front footplate. add the vacumn hoses and water feed pipes between the loco and tender. There is a snifter vale on the side of thecylinder that needs the filter and housing added. As you can see I settled on the preserved 713 although not all the details are absolutely correct for this particular loco

 

I won't really relax until I can get the first coat of varnish on it but as I'm still in lockdown that should not be a problem

 

More soon

 

Kev

[Martijn Meerts]

I like the colours, especially the green and black go together really well, as do the white wheels and drive rods. The white roof looks a little weird to me, but that's probably because I don't think I've ever seen a steam locomotive before where the roof has a different colour 🙂

 

[kevsmiththai]

I think the white roof and the timber planks were probably to keep the heat from the sun out of the cabs. When I was wandering around Bang Sue yard it was 40 degrees and sticky humid.

 

I also think they tended to run with the cab front doors wide open a lot.

 

kev

[roadstar_na6]

This looks really amazing so far, especially now with the color applied. You put a lot of work into it and I‘d love to see it run somewhere soon.

 

Do you have any cars for it to tow, too?

[kevsmiththai]

I did start to make some SRT 4 wheel wagons. two C.F Container flats, a S.W Salt wagon and a C.G van. When I got them out of the loft the other night my carefully crafted home made waterslide decals had all curled up and fallen off!

 

 

Kev

[cteno4]

Kev,

 

two words, AWESOME SAUCE! Wow that came out stunning. Beautiful work. Thanks for the stencil idea, while at n scale it won’t work many places but it’s something that could be laser cut for bigger stuff.

 

kudos!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

11 hours ago, kevsmiththai said:

I think the white roof and the timber planks were probably to keep the heat from the sun out of the cabs. When I was wandering around Bang Sue yard it was 40 degrees and sticky humid.

 

I also think they tended to run with the cab front doors wide open a lot.

 

kev

 

Makes sense. It's really just a matter of getting used to. It doesn't look bad at all, just somewhat strange. Still love those whitewall tires though 😄