Member postings for RICHARD WILLS 3

Hello Paul and Phill. Thanks for your comments . I have idly contacted Hobby Craft and the Heritage Railways . Apart from the Ongar and Epping Railway ,who have been great , they were generally uninterested . This is pretty common with most new and "out of the box " products . I could easily conclude that I am wasting my time , if it wasnt for the fact that everytime I have shown one of these models to a member of the public , they have been totally bowled over . I did show them at two model railway exhibitions for feedback, I probably could have sold some there and then if I'd had some in nice glossy boxes .(which they will have ) .

When and if the lockdown is over, I will simply take them to some more of the shows to get some out there and then market direct , which is what I had to do for my aircraft kits . I am amazed that the GWR at Didcot dismissed it as "taking up too much room in their shop " . But there it is .

Regarding Phils questions on methodology , this item probably shouldnt be on this forum because as real engineers , you are all going to want to turn it into a proper metal train . This is quite another tack and as a later spin off has crossed my mind . To that end I have made an equivalent model from resin which could be fitted with bushes and metal work for just the most vital areas in order to reduce cost . I know from my scale aircraft background that you can make wooden aircraft looked like they are made of aluminium , to the point where people come and tap on my Spitfires , so it follows you can make other stuff look and feel like painted steel and iron , If I just wanted to break into garden gauge railways , I would have simply made large scale coaches , which for us is pretty straightforward . Size is not a problem as we have made display model airliners with over twenty foot span wings as commission work . I am really aiming for the people who would like to make something really impressive but do not have a workshop full of tools , let alone lathes and milling machines . There are thousands out there who used to be creative but now , living in a flat, makes that impossible . Also , what do families buy Dad or Grandad when he retires ? Socks ? A lawnmower ? These kits are ideal .

Something along these lines is far more impressive and rewarding , and if you like the Hall Class , why not the Tornado next?

If you google" large Display loco" , you get Ochre (lovely but lots of skill required and not as big ) and U gears , clever but skeletal and unpleasant to look at .

Small well equipped British Companies can avoid competition with the Chinese , by communicating directly with the customer base and then rapidly doing smaller runs that are tailored to the UK market . The problem for this product is finding the forum . When you think about it , can you ever imagine the Chinese putting all this development into something so essentially British ? If it was an American Subject , well....

I do value all of your opinions because I come from the same background , but there are many more out there who didnt, but still want to follow with the rewarding sensation of problem solving and creation . I am trying to give them that reward without years of experience and a garage full of machinery

Keep the comments coming , I'm fascinated by peoples views , good and bad . ( Anyway , whats bad?)

While Im doing this build thread , what would be really helpful to me would be some feedback on who and where this kit might be popular . It is unusual , so doesnt really fit the obvious places , But I would be interested to hear your thoughts . I estimate the laser cut kit would be around £200 in production .

As with the previous tender wheels , we are making the laminates up on one of the axles , taking care to minimise the glue and get none on the surfaces that show . Notice that these wheels have an additional front hub disc compared to the tender wheels .

Ok , so lets move onto the Loco itself . Starting with front bogie .

Lower shot of the axle box detail . Quite effective and appears " busy" enough to look believable .

GW is pre etched on the Tender sides , although this could be deleted or changed .

Tender finished apart from a few small details like the water tank dome and coupling hook .

Front and back steps layed out in mirror fashion to remind me to get both side the same !

Top plate goes on for the fireman to sand on .

Creating the footplate that is the forward most part of the tender and showing the sides of the tender being glued in place .

Thanks for your kind words Howard . Wood is a lot easier to work with than metal ,so I take my hat off to the real engineers that I see on this forum . You wouldnt think it would work , visually . A heavy metal loco made of wood?

But it really does , because it show cases the beautiful lines of the original design without the distraction of paint and at the same time , being made of wonderfully tactile wood, it is acceptable to the female form as an ornament .

WIN WIN !

The only weird thing is where do you market such an unusual subject ? It sort of bridges many areas but could be dismissed by all of them . I would have thought that if you love Steam locos , youre going to like the size , shape and feel of this . If it catches on , why stop at GWR ? Why not representation of the big four ? That will pad out the living room nicely

Now we've put the tender the right way up (even though the picture isn't !)

Anyway , you get the idea , The two upright frames support the coal hopper on the inner surfaces and the tender sides on the outer . Again , the tabs make this section obvious . You will see in a bit , that the outside of the tender has been etched with "GW" to add a little more interest , I haven't tried staining any of the prototypes because I liked them in the raw state , but I would be interested to see what somebody with experience in that area could do.

Thanks Steve, The development time for this kit has been two years (off and on ) . At least it is nearly ready for others to enjoy .

Here are the nice little details for each axle box . The laser cuts the parts first , then re visits to do the etching . Keeping as much of the model in wood enhances the final appeal .

Any questions anyone ?

The wheels have been mounted on their axles and each axle sprung into place between the outer frames. The hook for the loco coupling has also been glued into its precut slot . End plates have also been glued on , these also have tabs to avoid confusion . There will be more detail added in the following pictures . This will be a kit that you can build straight from the box , or embellish it to take it to a more advanced level . The aim from my point of view is make the experience smooth and flowing , so that it can be enjoying rather than frustrating .

What we are looking at is the underside of the base plate The long frames support the axles and the cross frames keep everything aligned . You can see how the two outer valance strips just slot in here . The outer frames have holes for the end of the axles but the outer frames have enough "flex " in them , even when glued , to allow you to spring them apart and pull out each wheel pair and its axle.

So here is the tender base and axles frames . The valence is on the outer most . On the right end is the hook and coupling .

Thanks Harry , I will attempt to do the whole build in a few days on and off. Ive decided to make all of the kits with no backing on the parts . What I mean is , they will not have to be released from a large sheet of material so that the build goes more smoothly without having to tidy up each piece and spoil the flow.

The parts will be sub divided but ready to go in different labelled bags .

This is how the wheels assemble , I actually used one of the axles temporarily to align all the holes while I glued the layers together , Start with the flange at the back and work forward using tiny dots of glue that wont ooz out every where . For the best effect choose the most laser burnt sides to present to your audience .