Pint sized Porter in 009...

Percy the Porter is ready for weathering, glimpsed yesterday in my blog update, this diminutive model is built around a Bachmann N gauge ‘Percy’ chassis...

It’s a tiny little thing, a bit of fun really as I originally bought the chassis to develop a kit of the Ffestiniog early England’s, still planned. This model however is another for the DYMCo collection of 009 models I’ve slowly been acquiring. Originally destined for the Dawson Creek layout, I sold that last year as after I moved house there wasn’t really space for it. A future 009 micro layout is another possibility, unfortunately the long overhangs and the foot boards of these North American prototypes mean it will need to be larger than Kisten Torfwerk, but the unused aluminium flight case might be a start, something set on the banks of the river in the northern Yukon after the gold rush, perhaps coal extraction? 

The model comes in 4 pieces, the chimney plugs into a boiler and saddle tank. The front pilot glues to the frame of Percy and the cab fits on the existing chassis, butting up to the tank and the rear pilot is integral. I added some Cal-scale parts, handrails using Eileen’s short knobs and sand pipes in 0.5mm ish diameter wire, I didn’t feel any other details were necessary as the model is more of a caricature anyway.

The slots in the pilots will accept a Greenwich when I source another batch. The front number plate was from a custom etch I had made when I modelled numbers 3 and 5. I painted the model with a gun metal 53. Smokebox and stack, gloss black 21 saddle tank, raw wood 72 pilots and a treated wood 62 cab with brown painted window frames 133. The decals were custom made, to the design of those used on the rest of the fleet. Sealed with dull-cote and fitted with glazing,  it will be weathered lightly to join the rest of the fleet.

I’ve made the parts available for others to purchase through Shapeways. You will need to source the handrails, wire and Cal-scale parts yourself, I’m not offering it as a complete kit. Full details are ::here::

In the meantime, here she is with a short rake of WD models side tipping wagons, looking exactly how I pictured her in my mind when I first discovered the narrow gauge lines of the Yukon, it was a photo of one of the DYMCo ex Coal Creek locos that I remember inspiring all the other models, sketches and layout. It’s been finished alongside Dolgoch which will feature on the blog tomorrow, until then more soon...

One last point, it is for sale as people have asked for it, however it was only ever intended to satisfy my own desires, hence the model is 009 scaled to be 1:76 which suits the Percy chassis nicely. Although I worked from scale drawings, it isn’t a detailed model of one particular prototype and there are shortcuts such as the over simplified shape of the sand dome and the incorrect water filler. It is a model of a diminutive Porter, so you could perhaps justify using it on a H0n30 layout, assuming you’re already using Minitrains Porter, Forney, F&C etc, as the proportions are broadly very similar.