Heywood tank in 006.5...

As part of my experiments in 006.5 and because Tim originally suggested I build a loco for his 'Eaton Hall' might have been in a Heywood style, I've made a start on a Heywood engine in my own manner...

You may remember a few weeks ago I shared a photo of my NS2f chassis fitted with a centre connecting rod and I intended to follow Tim's lead and use the Busch chassis to produce a 3 axle Heywood style engine... however the NS2f centre 'drive shaft' is on a different centre line, a touch higher than the axles and it bothered me... so I wondered about new coupling and connecting rods...

This led to ideas of doing a Heywood 0-4-0, and I wondered how close I could get to Katie. Looking at the Busch chassis the motor is held in with a plastic channel which is too large to fit inside the boiler/smokebox so I thought I'd have to hide this with full tanks to the smokebox... however I looked and thought it might be possible to cut this down. So very carefully I took as much of it aways as I dared - and then tested the chassis! Success it worked! With this butchery complete I set to work with a scale drawing and Sketchup...

And this is the result. The 3D printed parts consist of a one piece chassis, two side tanks, a smokebox an a boiler top. These parts printed quite nicely and have only required a little cleaning up from Shapeways in Frosted Ultra Detail. The chassis has been modified by removing the pivot for the centre jackshaft and by adding a L-shape piece of styrene to support the front of the chassis. The rear is held at the right height by the side tanks resting on the motor block. The smokebox fits with some judicious adjustment of the capacitor - and is 'tacked' in place with superglue. It can be removed if necessary but as with the Hunslet, I intend to work on this model in it's assembled form.

So this must be grossly over scale to account for the 18" gauge rather than 15"? Nope! The model is to scale in length, width, smokebox diameter, tank dimensions - the chimney and dome are from N-brass and are lovely castings - they are pretty much bang on as well, and I also sourced a hand brake wheel handle from them as well - good tip off from Tim!

So next up will be to add the etched parts I've designed. These include a spectacle plate and coupling and connecting rods, including some slide bars. I'm yet to see how much I can get away with but this is a learning exercise. I don't think I'll offer these parts as a kit in 006.5, but the chassis frame and etched parts will form the basis of a future steam engine kit in the next 12 months or so... so it's proving to be a fun and worthwhile experience.

Next up fitting some details including the smokebox door handle, cab rear handrail and some other fine details. More soon...