This project is to try and do as much as possible to finish off an L.S.W.R. class F9 4:2:4T Drummond's Bug. The story so far : Model was scratchbuilt to EM gauge standards and while the chassis was virtually complete, the main body and attached saloon were missing a few details, interior of the saloon had zero detail and no glazing, why I'd painted the model before some of these details were added is beyond me. The saloon section was cut down from a previously etched southern elec fret and is not quite correct to prototype. These frets were etched in an home made etching tank which was nothing more than a wooden box lined with glass fibre, a horizontal paddle ( also of wood ) and a motor mounted on the outside. Artwork was drawn overscale on a drawing board with ink pens in the old fashioned way. The resulting frets were a little uneven with regards to depth of cut, some edges were undercut and in the case of the bug, an area had not etched at all and needed machining which caused a small hole in one of the lower panels. Chassis was later stripped down, rebuilt to P4, and included Mike Sharmans Flexichas system and split frames on the bogies to improve electrical pickup.
This project starts with a dismantling of the chassis into its main components and a study of a 7mm drawing by Ray Chorley in a copy of Model Railway Constructor dated August 1968 which also includes a couple of BR photographs. During the models reconstruction, details are given on how Sharmans Flixichas system was applied to this model and is explained with a simple schematic and a look at the relevant features on the chassis components. I must make a point of thanking members of rmweb for enlightening me with regards to the boiler injection system and its relevant components with a special thankyou to gz3xzf ( Bryan Hardwick ) for annotating a drawing with the information required, therefore, a good chunk of this blog is devoted to the machining and building of, these very small components. Once the chassis had been rebuilt, only the rear bogie was wired as an electrical pickup to the motor because wheel splashers on the front bogie looked to be a potential short circuit with the cylinders when negotiating curves. The rear bogie proved to be unreliable and was modified to include additional wires sprung lightly on the axles. A very basic interior for the coach section was modelled, the coach was stripped of its paint and the missing roof lights and water tank filler added. The boiler also needed modifying due to a small error with the steam valve positions and this was also stripped of its paint.
Painting and Lining.
Painting and lining are skills I've yet to master, I find them difficult, fustrating and the fact that my hands are unsteady dosn't help. After many years of modelling L.S.W.R and Southern, a decision was made that Snitzl Town would be free from such regional limitations and would not belong to any given region at all. Snitzl Town would be a private concern able to purchase rolling stock from any of the regions and repaint them in Snitzl Town liveries. Therefore, in the world of Snitzlshire, we will assume that at great expense, Sir Archibald Snitzl purchased the bug from his best friend, Dugald Drummond and had her repainted in the workshops of Snitzl Town, Dugald Drummond will now have to find other means of transport for his 60 mile journey to work.
Snitzl's bug will now be used to run Archibald Snitzl to and from work, as did the original bug for Dugald Drummond.
<< Back to Main Blog.