A 5 Day Birthday Project

[-steves-]

Well I had my step fathers 90th birthday coming up and decided that with my new chassis "on the production line" (so to speak) I would build him one of those and add some sort of body to it.

Please, if you know who my step father is, do not point him at this page as it would ruin the surprise, I do know he is not currently a member of this site and therefore would have no reason to look, thank you.

I whipped some plans up one evening and decided on how it would look. So, I made some wheels, cranks, con rods, chassis sides, modified some gears, made a motor mount for the diesel I had in mind. I then set to building a plasticard body and adding some detail to it, time was short so it's not massive detail, just enough to make it look better than a bare diesel. I made the exhaust and air filter, added a bought claxon and brass etched numbers and produced this little loco below. Once sprayed I added some minor weathering to make it look a little grubby but not neglected. I hope you (and my step father) like it.

As per the title, the entire loco was made from scratch and completed within 5 days, including a box with a perspex front for display and carrying it around in

I should add that the last three photos were taken with a flash and are therefore much brownier / yellower in the picture than in real life, also my step father gets to see this on Thursday

[Peter Butler]

He's a lucky man and you are a great loco builder! How could he not be delighted with such a gift?
I hope he has a wonderful Birthday and an opportunity to 'play' with his gift.

[-steves-]

He's a lucky man and you are a great loco builder! How could he not be delighted with such a gift?
I hope he has a wonderful Birthday and an opportunity to 'play' with his gift.

Thanks for the comments Peter, very appreciated. He should get chance to play with it as the weather forecast is good for Thursday and it is all RC'd up, tested and ready for work.

[tom_tom_go]

So why do Roundhouse charge so much for their Bulldog again?

[Dwayne]

[philipy]

Whata fantastic piece of work. Well done.

[ge_rik]

Great piece of work, all the more remarkable because of the speed of production.

Any chance of a look inside?

Rik

[ge_rik]

So why do Roundhouse charge so much for their Bulldog again?

5 days x 8 hours x £15 = £600 + £50 (parts) = £650

Maybe?

Rik

[-steves-]

Great piece of work, all the more remarkable because of the speed of production.

Any chance of a look inside?

Rik

Hi Rik

I am afraid no cab work has been done on this one, it is simply black with a switch and a charging jack in there. I am tempted to give it a half cream cab, but I am not sure how easy that black will be to paint over with acrylics?

As for the cost, it's easy to see how the costs build purely on labour charges alone. True it would not take a company like Roundhouse long to knock up a Bulldog, however their investment costs in CNC lathes, other machinery and brass etched bodies would quickly add to the base cost of each loco produced. I can see where they get their prices from, if I were a business I could not compete with their prices if I wanted to make a living out of it. Fortunately my time is just a hobby and "pin" money

[ge_rik]

Any chance of a look inside?

I am afraid no cab work has been done on this one, it is simply black with a switch and a charging jack in there. I am tempted to give it a half cream cab, but I am not sure how easy that black will be to paint over with acrylics?

I was thinking more of 'under the bonnet'. Just wondered how the batteries, RC etc fitted in.

Rik

[tom_tom_go]

I don't want to thread drift but I don't see how the costs are justified when larger scale electric locos are produced RTR where the manufacturers invest in far more expensive machinery and sell less models.

[-steves-]

Any chance of a look inside?

I am afraid no cab work has been done on this one, it is simply black with a switch and a charging jack in there. I am tempted to give it a half cream cab, but I am not sure how easy that black will be to paint over with acrylics?

I was thinking more of 'under the bonnet'. Just wondered how the batteries, RC etc fitted in.

Rik

Ah I see. Well fortunately your "inside" picture request prompted me to paint the inside of the cab, dirty it up and add a couple of dials. I have also taken some pictures under the bonnet, but it's just 3 x AA size 3.7v Lithium batteries, one bi colour LED, one RC Trains RX66, a charging port and a switch, so not much under there, despite the pigs ear of a mess I managed to get the wiring into, but at the time I figured no one would see that, how wrong was I?









Just before the weathering was added inside the cab.

[-steves-]

Thanks for the kind comments from people, it is quite humbling. Hopefully my step father will like it as much as you do Only 4 days left till he gets to see it

[philipy]

We wanna see a picture of his face when he sees it!

[-steves-]

We wanna see a picture of his face when he sees it!

I will certainly try to

[ge_rik]

We wanna see a picture of his face when he sees it!

Me too!
Thanks for the interior pix. Always intrigued to see how others fit all the bits into their locos.

The cab looks great btw

Rik

[-steves-]

We wanna see a picture of his face when he sees it!

Me too!
Thanks for the interior pix. Always intrigued to see how others fit all the bits into their locos.

The cab looks great btw

Rik

Mine is always messy I am afraid, safe, but wiring tidiness was never my strong point It used to be but it's so much hassle undoing it all when you have to take it apart, lol

Quite pleased with the cab for a quick but of cream and a couple of paper dials. I use those dials on everything as I have tons of them, lol

[-steves-]

Took some pictures today while the weather was nice, looks pretty good I think for what it is

The other loco was another build I did but using my step fathers chassis build. He used Esssel cranks and conrods with his own sides etc. At the time it was a build of 2 loco's one for myself and one for my step father. If I can find a picture of the one I did for him I will add it to this post, it's burgundy so it's easy to spot. Found it, now added, the roof was on crooked when the picture was taken but it normally fits very well, just didn't notice at the time and it's the only picture I can find at the moment.

[philipy]

All very nice Steve, although I'm not too sure about the shiny steel centre buffer on the maroon one.

[-steves-]

All very nice Steve, although I'm not too sure about the shiny steel centre buffer on the maroon one.

Thank Phillip

The silver buffers were ones my step father made out of ali and wanted them on his loco, to be fair he normally does a much better job of them than those. If it were mine they would be choppers and black, but each to their own

Here it is from the side but prior to being finished, so no handles or grab rails etc