Dickon Posted April 16, 2019 Share Posted April 16, 2019 (edited) The early railways were built entirely by men and horses. A Victorian Navvy fuelled by beef and weak beer was capable of shifting an incredible 18 tons of earth in a day. Much as I want to pay tribute to their prodigious achievement, I have decided however to depict a scene later in the 19th century, so that I can include an early steam shovel rather than just modelling dozens of men at the bottom of a muddy ditch. The early machines were large, cumbersome and expensive and used more widely in the USA than in Britain. However, the 360 degree digger was invented in Britain in the 1870s and were certainly used on the railways towards the end of the century, so I have decided to model one of these with a horse drawn wagon removing the spoil and lots of men with picks and shovels. The steam shovel will be scratch built using the bucket and dipper arm (and not much else) from a Matchbox Major Ruston excavator, plus a vertical boiler, winches, pulley blocks chain etc from the scrap box. I would like it to have a smoking chimney but am put off by the cost of commercial model railway smoke units. Has anybody tried using the heating element and battery from an e-cigarette? I have already turned the leading bogie from a Triang Princess into a typical spoil wagon and spaced out the sleepers of a short length of track to represent the temporary track on which it would have run. A suitable Shire horse is in the post. I'll have to paint it a nice grubby shade of grey. Edited July 5, 2019 by Dickon spelling 10 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoffinOz Posted April 16, 2019 Share Posted April 16, 2019 Good idea, best of luck. It looks as though you will enjoy scratch building the shovel. will it be complete or just the arm reaching in from the side dropping soil into the spoil wagon? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted April 17, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2019 An incense cone would give a nice, if fragrant, wisp of smoke. Another great idea ( as is usual with your entries). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, GeoffinOz said: will it be complete or just the arm reaching in from the side dropping soil into the spoil wagon? My intention is to build the entire machine with much of the interior workings visible. I decided on a 360 rather than an earlier 'partial swing' machine as it should be easier to pose than its larger and more primitive predecessor. Edited April 17, 2019 by Dickon more space between the text and the pictures 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 (edited) On 17/04/2019 at 04:56, Stubby47 said: An incense cone would give a nice, if fragrant, wisp of smoke. Apparently you can buy unscented incense sticks for people who like to add their own pong. I'll give them a try. I wonder where I can get an essence of coal smoke and hot oil... Edited April 19, 2019 by Dickon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivor_harley Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 This sounds like an interesting theme. Will be looking forward to seeing your scratch built excavator. I like the work you have done on the wagon. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoffinOz Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 22 hours ago, Dickon said: Apparently you can buy unscented incense sticks for people to add their own pong. I'll give them a try. I wonder where I can get an essence of coal smoke and hot oil... Does the smoke generator smoke smell? I have seen engines going round with smoke coming out of their chimneys but have not smelled it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted April 18, 2019 Author Share Posted April 18, 2019 59 minutes ago, GeoffinOz said: Does the smoke generator smoke smell? I have seen engines going round with smoke coming out of their chimneys but have not smelled it. I've no idea whether the oil used in the Seuthe smoke generator smells or not. There are a number of scented oils such as 'Living Steam' available from America on eBay but they are quite pricey as also are the Seuthe generators. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerburnie Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 You seem to have some good images of steam digger, this site might be of interest to you, the construction of the Great Central Railway. http://www.transportarchive.org.uk/getobjectTL.php?rnum=L2500&l=l&c=&d=&y=1897&rpy=906&n=40 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted April 18, 2019 Author Share Posted April 18, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, tigerburnie said: You seem to have some good images of steam digger, this site might be of interest to you, the construction of the Great Central Railway. http://www.transportarchive.org.uk/getobjectTL.php?rnum=L2500&l=l&c=&d=&y=1897&rpy=906&n=40 I believe that my second photo was taken somewhere in the Buckingham area, also on the great central. Edited April 18, 2019 by Dickon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted April 20, 2019 Author Share Posted April 20, 2019 On 17/04/2019 at 09:27, Dickon said: Apparently you can buy unscented incense sticks for people who like to add their own pong. I'll give them a try. I wonder where I can get an essence of coal smoke and hot oil... Sadly this idea is isn't going to work. The unscented joss sticks give a perfect wisp of smoke until I drop them into a 1/4 brass tube at which they are starved of air and stop smoking. I should have expected that...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted April 20, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 20, 2019 Could you drill vent holes in the bottom end of the tube? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted April 20, 2019 Author Share Posted April 20, 2019 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Stubby47 said: Could you drill vent holes in the bottom end of the tube? Certainly worth a try. They might be able to draw air through an open firebox door Edited April 20, 2019 by Dickon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 (edited) We now have motive power to shift the muck away. Harnessing the horse took a lot of patience, the links on those chain traces are tiny. The whole ensemble will need some severe weathering once the glue is dry. Edited April 22, 2019 by Dickon 8 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Kevin Johnson Posted April 22, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 22, 2019 Nice modelling, it’s great to see how wagons were moved in the past. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted April 26, 2019 Author Share Posted April 26, 2019 (edited) The Matchbox excavator dipper arm and shovel turned out to be way too small so I have cannibalised a very playworn Corgi Priestman shovel instead. I've filed the word Priestman off the sides of the jib and removed the 'toy' operating mechanism which I'm replacing with chain rigged as in period photos. Add a ladder up one side of the jib and it's beginning to look suitably ancient. The mock up shows a pair of sewing machine bobbins as winch drums and the beginnings of a brass boiler and chimney. My first thoughts are that the chassis needs to be a touch bigger as I still need to add cylinders, a water tank and space for a bag or two of coal while still leaving space for an operator to wield a coal shovel without falling into the machinery. Smaller winch drums would also save space; I've just ordered some N gauge cable drums which will hopefully fit the bill. Edited April 28, 2019 by Dickon 10 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted May 25, 2019 Author Share Posted May 25, 2019 (edited) I've at last managed to put together a reasonably convincing winch mechanism for this beast. Based on images of steam donkeys on the web, I've used a pair of severely cut down frames from an Airfix pug with the drive taken to a pair of pug wheels from which I've removed the flanges. I had thought about using the pug's cylinders and coupling rods but they would have added unnecessary length to a machine which is already pushing 6" in length. The scrap box yielded a pair of hydraulic cylinders from a diecast tipper truck that I turned into a fairground wagon some years ago. The winch drums are N gauge cable drums which I will eventually wrap with chain. The band brakes outboard of them are plastic screw cups. Tomorrows job will be to add control levers and hand wheels at the front of a footplate between the winch and the boiler. I've cut the crawler tracks and all the bogie wheels off the Corgi excavator chassis and mounted it on 'cast iron' look alike wheels made from deflanged wagon wheels with wider tyres made from brass tubing. It will be supported on timber planks to prevent it from sinking too far into the mud in the bottom of the cutting. Getting the mechanism to balance on the chassis could be fun added to which I need to pipe a draught of air from a tiny compressor hidden in the side of the cutting so that the chimney will smoke. Edited May 25, 2019 by Dickon spelling and grammar 4 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted June 13, 2019 Author Share Posted June 13, 2019 I've made a little bit of progress today having attached the jib and the winch mechanism to the 360 'turret' and then mounted it on the chassis. The boiler has moved back a little to give the fireman more space and the water tank is now mounted alongside the boiler to reduce the machine's length. Still to come are a 2 part purchase from the top of the jib to the upper winch drum and a simple bunker for a few bags of coal. It would have been far easier to build a tin shed with a chimney, but where is the fun in that? I am still wondering, however, if it should have a simple canopy above the footplate and the winch. I also don't know whether these machines were operated by a single man or a crew of 2. Any ideas anybody? 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted June 22, 2019 Author Share Posted June 22, 2019 (edited) We are not in the Blue Rock Mountains of N Carolina; I have roughed out the work area in my railway cutting from blue styrofoam insulation board prior to covering it with a J cloth soaked in a mixture of PVA and Pollyfilla. The horse and wagon on their short length of temporarily laid track are pretty well where I want them to be against the partially dug face of the cutting, but the steam shovel might well move a bit once I have finalised the landscape. I will tension up the chains on the shovel once it has found its final position. I have had to put a stack of weights inside the boiler to stop the model from tipping forwards, so sadly I won't be able to make the chimney smoke. Still to come are a fence to deliniate the edge of the cutting and a dozen or more navvies with picks and shovels. And only 8 days to go! Edited June 22, 2019 by Dickon 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted June 22, 2019 Share Posted June 22, 2019 I like where your cakebox challenge is going. The steam crane looks fabulous. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted June 22, 2019 Author Share Posted June 22, 2019 (edited) On 22/06/2019 at 14:51, MrDuck said: The steam crane looks fabulous. So glad you like it. Having never seen one in the flesh, I did find it a bit of a challenge. Luckily, there were enough sufficiently detailed photos on the web to allow me to put together a reasonably convincing freelance from a broken diecast toy and bits and pieces from my scrap box. I don't think, however, that the use of two wheels and part of the frame from an Airfix pug will allow me to call it a 'pugbash'. Edited June 30, 2019 by Dickon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 I couldn't find any brown scatter that looked anything like real soil, so I scooped up a couple of trowel loads of topsoil from the garden and sterilised it in a hot oven. I sieved it when it was cool and the sprinkled it over slightly diluted PVA glue. The muddy puddle is accidental and due to a wetter mix of glue; I really like it and hope that it won't dry out. My guess is that it won't as the soil particles must have partially dissolved in the wet PVA. I think I also need to narrow the wooden board under the left hand wheels of the steam shovel. 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 This is turning out to be a great cakebox layout. It’s great that you have used sieved top soil which looks just right. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Kevin Johnson Posted June 27, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 27, 2019 Great use of ordinary garden topsoil, your layout is coming together nicely. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickon Posted June 27, 2019 Author Share Posted June 27, 2019 (edited) Imagine everyone having to stand still for about 30 seconds while you take a couple of pictures on a Victorian wet plate camera. Edited June 27, 2019 by Dickon 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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