Number 77. A NG16 ish garratt

[Neilos83]

So, my 6 year old son has been getting quite enthusiastic about narrow gauge locomotives. He loves larger American locos, and was fascinated when we visited the vale of rheidol railway last summer at their NG13 garratt.
He asked me after the exeter garden railway show for a 'garratt for christmas'. I spent the journey home thinking of how I could do this, and i decided to just try and draw somthing up that I could print on my ender 3.
As with all my other models, the brief would be something that would withstand playing with by a 6 year old, relatively close to original dimensions, and that I could fit on my print bed.
I found a drawing of a NG16 online, and spent a few evenings sketching up in fusion 360.

Unlike previous models, where I have fully finished drawing up first and then stated printing, I printed this out after each part was drawn. The main reason for this was that we were waiting for a date to move house, and i wanted to maximise the time I had to print before my printer was boxed up for the move.
I drew and printed the bogies first, then wheels and motion. I spent a few lunch times in work assembling this all on my desk. My colleagues in the steel works were quite fascinated.
I then moved on to the boiler cradle, pivots, and finally the tank, bunker, cab, boiler and smoke box. The bunker was, I believe the longest print I've ever done. Almost a full weekend.
We moved house 2 weeks before Christmas, and my daughter and I assembled the garratt in the kitchen on the 23rd. It's no where near finished, but complete enough to satisfy the imagination of a 6 year old.

It's named saltrock.

I've still got pony trucks and probably every bit of detail to add, but it's a start.
It's not even rubbed down or painted.

I would also add that I know the original no77 is a NG13, not and NG16, but try telling that to a 6 year old.

[ge_rik]

That is remarkable. Very impressive. Full of detail. I hope he is/was suitably impressed and grateful.

Rik

[Ianm]

What a fantastic job! As Rik says - I hope your son is as impressed as we are. I look forward to the video of it in action in the warmer months after, I assume, you get chance to lay your railways post-move.

Enjoy your new home.

Happy New Year

[philipy]

As Rik & Ian have said, that is a superb job. Can't wait to see "Garratt: the Movie"!!

[Trevor Thompson]

That will be awesome trundling around at the next meeting of the SWW group!

Trevor

[Neilos83]

Thanks everyone. Toby was over the moon with his garratt. Made all the hard work worthwhile.

Trevor, I'm hoping to bring it along to a meet up in the new year.

Neil.

[BertieB]

Wow. That’s terrific. I’m particularly impressed with the motion.
Looking forward to seeing it finished — let alone moving.

[Neilos83]

Over the winter, I have been Doing some fettling and a little bit of detailing to No77.
Gave the prints a bit of a rub down, they could be a lot better, but to be honest I didn't have time to spend long on it.
Gave it a coat of spray paint, midnight blue from Halfords.
White lining was drawn up and cut out on my cricut machine.
Next job is to make some steel wheels, and make some sort of spring arrangement for the front and rear pony trucks to stop them jumping off the tracks.
I reassembled the loco the evening before a meet up of the south West Wales 16mm group at 'the Railway in the valley of the Mill' in Pembrokeshire.
Toby managed to push the loco half way along the line before we started to experience some issues with the motion locking up - job to look at this week.

[philipy]

Next job is to make some steel wheels, and make some sort of spring arrangement for the front and rear pony trucks to stop them jumping off the tracks.

She looks lovely, everything looks just right to my eyes.

Re the pony trucks, this may be of some use: We had a bit of a discussion about cheating with the trailing axle of my F & B 0-4-2. Several people suggested that the rigid chassis might be a problem on the curves, much as the prototype had on the Ffestiniog's! At Graeme's suggestion I investigated and finally went with a Bissell truck rather than having a rigid wheelbase. From the limited test running so far it works well, the discussion, photo's and how to calculate the swivel point, plus short video are at:
viewtopic.php?t=15029

[ge_rik]

It is a thing of beauty. It's inevitable you'll have to do a bit of tweaking on a machine of such complexity. Hope you get it sorted without too much difficulty and effort.

Rik