Tom's Creations

[Tom C]

Hello all, I've been building models and telling silly stories for a while now and, for better or worse, I thought I would share some of them with you. 😬

Unless otherwise stated, everything is modeled to 1/160 scale.

 

I'll kick off with a responce to an ever nagging question @cteno4 was asking me only this morning; Do Fairies really exist ? I'm told this is a question that the rest of you are bursting to ask too, but are too shy or embarrassed to speak up ! Well, here's the answer to that unasked question.  I will post the response in photos so as not to commit myself to a side of the fence.

Tragically she failed to hear Mr. Jenkins cry of warning as she alighted upon the rails of No.4 up !


Seconds later, #3002 with 'Cookie boy' firing her white hot, barreled through with the morning mail at close to ninety miles per hour. And that, appeared to be tragically that.


At the next station, with my head hung low, I walked to the front of the engine to see what had become of our little winged friend.


Low and behold, I was greeted by a laughing little fairy sticking her tongue out !!

 

Fairies, the little blighters, they're all the same 🤪

[cteno4]

Yeah well that fairy aint got the guts to do that again! ;-0

 

wonderful fractured fairy tale!

 

jeff

[Tom C]

I created her using the traditional fairy recipe:

1 egg
4 tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon of baking soda
A pinch of sage
And a generous sprinkle of fairy dust
For best results, be sure to use only the finest organic ingredients

Mix and set aside for seven and three quarter minutes. And presto, one fairy.

And what happened to the naughty little fairy from the story ? Well, she now resides in my woodyard where she performs the most admiral task of encouraging all the little creachers to vacate their homes in the logs before they are taken into the mill for cutting into lumber

 

You'll note the fairy in the photo on the end of my finger is not the same as the one in the story. This was due to using duck eggs ! As I was retrimming one of her wings (just after the photo) she pinged off across the room never to be seen again  We all know from the film 'Chicken run' that chickens can't fly. So that's why I seriously recommend using their eggs.

A total of three fairies were created to illustrate this story. No. 1 flew off. No. 2 disintegrated (too much flour ?) No. 3 was a success. At 4 hours each to build/carve, I quistion my sanity ?  

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

She probably pinged off to the same corner of the room where all the small parts disappear to...

[Tom C]

The locomotive is Canadian Pacific #3002. A jubilee class 4-4-4. These were the fastest steam locos to run in Canada with one being clocked at 112.5mph using a dynamometer car. I do believe this to be the fastest 'proven' speed ever recorded for a steam loco on the American continent. There have been many wild claims like a PRR T1 hitting 140mph. But................a bit like City of Truro doing 100mph in 1904 👎

 

I built this loco using a much modified Con cor 4-6-4 Hudson chassis and lots of plastic sheet and other parts from the scrap box. 

 

Here's a few photos of the build

 

 

 

 

 

 

And seen here with the 5.15 up mail.

 

And a short video; MVI 6514 - YouTube

 

This was the first mainline loco I built. I got rathert hooked on building Canadian Pacific steamers. Shout if you want to see more.

[cteno4]

4 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

She probably pinged off to the same corner of the room where all the small parts disappear to...

Fairy ping! New name for that dreaded sound!

those little parts do ping around like fairies darting around, then manage to disappear.

jeff

[cteno4]

Beautifully done tom, especially for a spare parts scrounge! Love the diorama. You are a master at snow.

 

jeff

[Tony Galiani]

I am consistently impressed with your work - and quite jealous of your excellent vision!  Plus the patience required to craft some of these things.

Ciao,

Tony Galiani

[Martijn Meerts]

18 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Fairy ping! New name for that dreaded sound!

those little parts do ping around like fairies darting around, then manage to disappear.

jeff

 

Pretty sure I can build an entire loco with all the parts that have gone missing over the years 😄

 

[cteno4]

Your sprinkling too much damn fairy dust around your workshop Martijn! I know you want the fairies to come in to build your locos at night, but it’s making too many parts turn into little ping fairies.

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

They're not showing up, I guess the loco kits are too complicated for them 😀

[Tom C]

Well, with my fairy kept out of mischief in the woodyard, peace resided and another loco was built.

 

This time I tackled one of the Canadian Pacific's mighty mallets. These locos were disighned as pushers to assist trains negotiating the 'big hill' This is in the Rocky's, it has a ruling grade of 2.2% and travels through two spiral tunnels. All very impressive and it called for some big horses. Enter the mallet.

 

 

I used the trucks off an Arnold 0-8-8-0 mallet and started chopping. I removed a driver from each truck and reverced the running gear on the leading one. Oh so much easier to write than do.

 

Then making and fitting all the parts. I modeled it in it's later configuration which is why it doesn't look excactly like my postcard.

 

Nearing completion. And with the tender sides cut out. 

 

And finally, after six months of sweat and tears;

 

 

I was rather chuffed 🙂 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Tom C

[Tom C]

Well, now that 'The Mallet' has completed her test trials I thought a naming ceremony fitting. I purchased nothing but the finest of champaines (no cheap sparkling wine junk for such a mammoth event !)


Yep, you read it right, it is:


So, I took a step back and made an almighty swing with the bottle (it's bad luck if the bottle doesn't break first time !) at her pilot and........


Oh poo !!!

A word of warning to the rest of you who have naming ceremonies in mind, remember to use an 'N' scale bottle 🤪

[gavino200]

I love it!

[cteno4]

Fairies have all the n scale bottles of champagne and are hiding out having a party. And man drunk fairies are mean little suckers!

 

jeff

[Tom C]

Here is a little story of how a Christmas present to my daughter Lucy (Three at the time) spiraled out of control.

She had discovered Thomas the tank engine and had a wooden Thomas train set. So I thought I would be clever and make her a little wooden engine named after her for her Christmas present. Little Lucy:

This was not quite the success that I had hoped for, as not long after, she discovered my N scale layout where trains moved without having to be pushed. Except, for the odd Bachmann that is !! So, I ordered a N scale Tomix Thomas and Percy. All good except, "why isn't there a Little Lucy ?" Back to the work bench and I made a super strong, simple loco that could withstand the numerous predictable nose dives to the floor.

 
I have since, rebuilt it four times in the last four years ! It is now looking somewhat battered but is still much loved.

This was all very good. Except for: "Daddy, why aren't there any stories about Little Lucy ?" So, I gave names to all my locos and started writing stories about them and Little Lucy to bring them to life. All the stories happen on my layout and the illustrations are painted from my N scale scenes.

 

I spent hours setting up scenes to paint and using the caricturestics of my models to help write the stories. Thank you Bachmann and all the other er, colourful engines that I own 

I ended up writing five and my girlfriend wrote one to explain the story behind the stories !

 

The little books in the photos were printed on a website that did wedding albums and the like. They wiped out all the layout for the books after they were printed. There are fifty sets in circulation of which I have only two left. I wish I had printed hundreds but I couldn't afford to. I gave some of the sets to a school for children with learning difficulties where they are used to help the kids learn English. The books are in English and French on every page. That was one of the better things I've done

 

As I don't live with my daughter it was a special way to spend time with her and of course, my trains 

[cteno4]

Tom, 

 

this is truly amazing! What a wonderful thing for your daughter and all the kids that have gotten to read them! I’m sure they are being passed on now as these books usually are to the next wave. your daughter is a lucky girl.
 

You might shop them to a publisher, you have what the really want a series of books ready to go as it’s a nicely timed release of a series that is a good and steady seller. But I guess if there is too much Thomas in there that franchise would go after you. If you ever do another run I’d be into chipping into the publishing costs for another small run as these would be wonderful to have to give out to friends kids.

 

I did a series of kids science books and cdroms with my design partner and a writer turned small publisher. It was really an awesome experience and so fun to do. Basic story book like yours and a cdrom with basic science on the subject matter and ebook presentation Thats narrated. Really did well in K-6 market in education as great for advanced readers or remedial readers it turned out and science content was good for whole range. Educational publishing market is really nasty and the big boys buy off many district buyers into only “accepted” publishers being able to be bought. Badge of honor was a lot of the sales were direct to teachers (out of their own pockets or discretionary funds and PTAs. Sadly our independent publisher got slowly strangled out of the big education markets and was at retirement. I’m down to a handful of books left myself…

 

cheers

 

jeff

[gavino200]

You rock, Tom!!

[Martijn Meerts]

14 hours ago, gavino200 said:

You rock, Tom!!

 

I can only agree with this 😄

 

[Tom C]

Now, you chaps, those are some mighty fine words of praise. A big thank you to you all. 👍

17 hours ago, gavino200 said:

You rock, Tom!!

If you mean head banging to AC/DC ? Then I guess, yes I do 🤣🤣🤣

 

21 hours ago, cteno4 said:

You might shop them to a publisher

I talked to a representative from Mcmillen (the big childrens book publishere) who said that if I re did the illastrations without the faces, they would be interested. As I only did the books to entertain my daughter, I'm not too excited by the tghought of covering old ground. So I guess I'll let it be.

 

22 hours ago, cteno4 said:

I’d be into chipping into the publishing costs

That's very kind of you. Since I've been modeling (at the art class) funds are not so tight. The problem with re printing is the time needed on the computer to set everything up again 😵 If I get around to it one day, I'll let you know 👍

 

Right, back to my shamisen buskers. They're taking an age to paint with their highly floral kimonos. That's another hint for you @gavino200 

[cteno4]

2 hours ago, Tom C said:

if you mean head banging to AC/DC ? Then I guess, yes I do 🤣🤣🤣

Excellent and maybe some Queen thrown in to rock you. The name of my future train repair business is going to be Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

 

2 hours ago, Tom C said:

I talked to a representative from Mcmillen (the big childrens book publishere) who said that if I re did the illastrations without the faces, they would be interested. As I only did the books to entertain my daughter, I'm not too excited by the tghought of covering old ground. So I guess I'll let it be.

Yeah I figured that would be the case. Working with a publisher can usually also drain away the enthusiasm for money. They want you to be more of a cog than an artist, more of what will sell vs what will the kid love.
 

Still a totally awesome project you did and even sweeter all self done! Awesome sauce!

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Tom, 

 

I just had a vision of you sitting there for an art pose for an hour with you in deep thought on you next little scene! Now I know your secret, you get paid to sit there thinking about cool little scenes to do! Smart chap! I would try to do that, but I expect I might only get a small fee to just not come around.

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

The Thinker is probably the most common pose then 🙂

 

[Tom C]

Another loco build was this Canadian Pacific pacific !

 

It started life as a Rivarossi USRA 4-6-2 Other than the chassis all I ended up keeping was the boiler which is why I call it a build as opposed to a kit bash.

 

 

 

 

And painted up in service pulling train 241 east on an icy morning

 

 

Double heading a drag with the mallet. The sharp crack of their exhausts shattering the still air.

 

The hog of the road engine would offten pull rank and have the pusher cut in second place as the smoke, steam and heat in the tunnels was pritty rough.

 

 

[Tom C]

Abducted !!!

 

I had an uneasy feeling this morning as I climbed up into the cab of #3002 for the '275 early mail. Nothing felt right, the controles felt stiff and the fire gave off no heat. I felt a cold chill run down my spine. 

All week the omens hadn't been good. Three Magpies flying backwards, an old man with a double bend in his walking stick and four consecutive ABBA songs on the radio !

My fears were soon to be born out as a green light settled on the tracks ahead !!!  Joe gotted the breaks on pretty sharp and pulled us up short of the silver/green saucer that now straddled the rails fifty yards in front.

I climbed down to investigate and had just drawn even with the nose of old '3002' when I found myself surrounded by little green aliens.

As they grabbed hold of me, all I could think of was 'what have I done to upset the admin' ? What had I posted that was so bad ?

I was carried up the ladder into the heart of the alien craft. As I was dragged through the ship I was able to understand snippets of 'Alien'. I picked out; 'Akita bad' 'twenty years' 'punish' 'Mars'  as they bundled me into a cell.

I passed out as the ship accelarated skywards 😵

What will become of me ? were am I going and what are those little green men made of ? Well, if you're all good boys and girls I 'might', 'just might', tell you a little more at a later date. But only if you behave yourselves. Got that ? 🤪

Edited June 13, 2021 by Tom C