Modelrailroader.ca

I wanted to add a front grill to the speeder, but was having trouble finding a decent mesh material. I finally figured out that I could make a really convincing ’screen’ with polyclay. I rolled some Sculpy out until it was paper thin, and then carefully rolled the knurled handle of my Exacto knife across the surface. The handle left a uniform diamond pattern in the clay which looked just like screen! I baked the clay, cut it to shape, glued it to the speeder and framed it out with some styrene strips. Now the engine won’t overheat!

I decided to paint the speeder with automotive primer as I liked the neutral colour, and I didn’t have any other colours available. Once dry, I sculpted some cushions for the speeder, pressing Pete into the clay to ensure he would sit level. I baked the cushions, gave them a quick coat of paint, and attached them with CA.

I weathered the speeder with some charcoal and real dirt, and fixed everything with some Testors Dullcote.

I’m happy with the results, but have no illusions about what I’ve created. This is not a finescale model; there are no control devices, rivets, and the detailing is crude. I am still looking for something to represent the headlamp, and I need to figure out what I’m going to do with the rapido couplers. That being said, I’m starting to think of this project as a characture more then a model, so I think the design is a good fit for that standard.

My next challenge is to make some rolling stock!

I decided that the most practical design for Pete’s speeder would be a side-saddle design. The motor placement was too cumbersome for Pete to straddle, and I was trying to minimize the unit’s overall height as much as possible. I took one last look at the drawings, discarded them, and started scratchbuiling.

I built a shell around the motor and drive using plain styrene. I was careful to ensure that shell didn’t interfere with the worm gear, while snugly fitting around the tops of the drive wheels. Using my thumbnail as a ruler, and some photos from Gn15.info (currently under construction) I ‘imagineered’ (and revised) the speeder’s dimensions until it looked like a plausible diesel unit.

Happy with the basic form, I went hunting for some detail parts. Scrounging about it my toolboxes produced some vinyl zip-ties, a 3M wire connector and some cable clips. Perfect! These bits of junk became the bumpers, exhaust pipes and the light manifold.

More to come!

Having established a rough trackplan for Pete’s Pumpkins, I next needed to decide what scale I would be modelling in. I knew that I was going to use N scale track and motive power for the railroad, so I decided to draft up some freelanced engine designs in various scales to better assess how plausible it would be to transform my old Bachmann Plymouth MDT Switcher into a narrow gage gnat.

The three scales I chose to explore were O Scale, #1 Scale and G Scale. I was able to come up with some fairly pleasing designs, but was most intrigued with the plans designed in #1 scale (1:32). The current trackplan features tracks Pete’s pit ‘ the tunnel beneath the ‘mainline’ track ‘ which will have limited clearances, so the G scale plans are a bit too big. Likewise, I’m considering modelling the figures for the railroad myself, so the O Scale plans ‘ while decent ‘ might prove to be too challenging when it comes time to model some O scale people.

Here are the possibilities I came up with. Enjoy.