Steve Cook
Flying Squad
I ordered a chassis from Essel Engineering in Dec 2021 to give me a basis for my K40 project - I'm pleased to say it arrived yesterday and its a lovely piece of work. For reference its their 010C chassis with a 90mm wheelbase and 7/8ths scale wheel treads.
Whilst I've been waiting I've been grabbing screenshots of the photos I can find on the web - my preferred prototype was this one running at Sinclair Horticultural Ltd
With the chassis in hand I've been able to measure up and compare to the drawing that James Hilton sent me.
The length is almost perfect at 190mm (scale should be 192mm), width over buffer beams is a little narrow (2mm per side), the wheelbase is a bit longer and centred in the chassis whereas the K40 has it biased towards the front. Footplate height above the rail is bob on at 40mm - overallI I can't grumble with how close it is. I did contemplate stripping it down and drilling new holes to bring the rear axle forward, but I can't hit the prototype position with the motor mount / spacers in their current position - so its staying as it is and I'm living with the compromises.
The first job was creating a footplate from 1.5mm styrene sheet, using a shooting board to trim to size.
A set of cosmetic sideframes were fashioned from 2mm styrene following the drawing, just moving the cut outs to suit my axle locations.
The sideframes have strips of 2mm styrene added to bring the frames clear of the chassis assembly screws, it also gives me some room to create the axlebox / springing arrangement on the real thing. The whole unit is removable - I plan to have L shaped brackets running from the underside of the footplate to sit up behind the buffer beams where the buffer mount holes are, that should give a nice fixing but keep the ability to strip down.
At this point my lack of attention reared its head - the loco I have been referencing is actually much narrower than the drawings I have - by my guesstimate its a good 250mm narrower across the buffer beam and has the cab and bonnet sides flush with the footplate. Drawing the body up to the same specs on my chassis looked wrong, the proportions are all over the place - so I've come up with a compromise which is more in line with the drawings but with a full cab.
It actually looks very similar to James' which I was trying to avoid, ah well, its now K40 inspired I think
I spent a bit of time trying out different sizes and proportions on paper before hitting on something that felt about right. A mock up was built from cardboard to confirm - I think I'm in the right ballpark although the windows are the parts I am less convinced about, a bit more web trawling required.
I do still have plenty of space for electronics which is good, I'm going to try and keep them in the middle of the bonnet and away from the grills as much as possible - we'll see how that all works out!
Whilst I've been waiting I've been grabbing screenshots of the photos I can find on the web - my preferred prototype was this one running at Sinclair Horticultural Ltd
With the chassis in hand I've been able to measure up and compare to the drawing that James Hilton sent me.
The length is almost perfect at 190mm (scale should be 192mm), width over buffer beams is a little narrow (2mm per side), the wheelbase is a bit longer and centred in the chassis whereas the K40 has it biased towards the front. Footplate height above the rail is bob on at 40mm - overallI I can't grumble with how close it is. I did contemplate stripping it down and drilling new holes to bring the rear axle forward, but I can't hit the prototype position with the motor mount / spacers in their current position - so its staying as it is and I'm living with the compromises.
The first job was creating a footplate from 1.5mm styrene sheet, using a shooting board to trim to size.
A set of cosmetic sideframes were fashioned from 2mm styrene following the drawing, just moving the cut outs to suit my axle locations.
The sideframes have strips of 2mm styrene added to bring the frames clear of the chassis assembly screws, it also gives me some room to create the axlebox / springing arrangement on the real thing. The whole unit is removable - I plan to have L shaped brackets running from the underside of the footplate to sit up behind the buffer beams where the buffer mount holes are, that should give a nice fixing but keep the ability to strip down.
At this point my lack of attention reared its head - the loco I have been referencing is actually much narrower than the drawings I have - by my guesstimate its a good 250mm narrower across the buffer beam and has the cab and bonnet sides flush with the footplate. Drawing the body up to the same specs on my chassis looked wrong, the proportions are all over the place - so I've come up with a compromise which is more in line with the drawings but with a full cab.
It actually looks very similar to James' which I was trying to avoid, ah well, its now K40 inspired I think
I spent a bit of time trying out different sizes and proportions on paper before hitting on something that felt about right. A mock up was built from cardboard to confirm - I think I'm in the right ballpark although the windows are the parts I am less convinced about, a bit more web trawling required.I do still have plenty of space for electronics which is good, I'm going to try and keep them in the middle of the bonnet and away from the grills as much as possible - we'll see how that all works out!