[kevsmith]

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 slated 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 couple 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 from 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 side 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.

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 different from the original Japanese cab,

more soon

Kev

 

[kevsmith]

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

The ladders to the sandbox are also underway

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 easiest 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

 

[kevsmith]

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

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.

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

So I stripped 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!)

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

Body in primer

 

[kevsmith]

The build video ended up being in four parts

Part 1

C56 2-6-0 part 1

and part 2

C56 part 2

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

I needed 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

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 are ready for fitting and the the seat cushions are in place. The 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

Kev

 

[kevsmith]

With the cab roof fitted work on the timber planks continued

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

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 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

Glazing added, snifter valves mesh fitted, Vac pipes on (They are flexible and you can couple a train up with them) and representative firewood load added to tender.

Kev

 

[kevsmith]

You'll get a better idea about the lettering, logs and cab roof from the videos

The colour scheme is strange to western eyes I know.

part 3 of video

part 3

and part 4

part 4

 

[kevsmith]

So Thirteen years from start to finish but at least I got there in the end! To be honest fiinishing it off was quite enjoyable and it was nice to fire the lathe up for the first time in a while.

Still working from home and lockdowned so time to get another one finished. this one was only started in 2000!

Seen behind the C56 is NS 8811. One of the Austerity tanks purchased by the Netherland Railways after WW2 it also isn't far off being complete so look out for a seperate thread very shortly

Included in that thread will be a quick look at the two LMS 20T Coke hoppers. These were a set of photoetchings I got off Peter Prydderch in 1994 so no rush there either!

Kev

 

[Anthony Richards]

Absolutely brilliant stuff here Kev. I am extremely impressed, and in awe! It makes my meanderings through half-a-century old white metal kits look like nursery stuff.

Tony

 

[Greyvoices]

Really great.

Thanks for sharing your build with us Kev.

Best regards ............. Greyvoices (alias John)