Another British Z Steam loco the 'Dubdee'

kevsmith Jul 15, 2020

  1. kevsmith

    kevsmith TrainBoard Member

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    So I went into quite a bit of history when I told the tale of the Bulleid Pacifics and how they can be modelled in Z. Over the years those of us modelling U.K Z gauge have bought examples of nearly every Z scale Marklin locomotive with a view to using the chassis as a donor for something British. I always keep a close eye on Marklin Spur Z on ebay.de (the german ebay) for bargain locos.


    Ivan Industries and lately Charly McGuiness on shapeways have been designing 3D printed locos in Z so there has been some experimenting and trials with new designs.


    The most recent one to turn up is a WD (War department) 2-10-0 designed by Ivan these were introduced during the second world war to be used by the army overseas. Along with its 2-8-0 sister these locos were basically a stripped down LMS 8F 2-8-0 with a view to cutting down the manpower and materials required to manufacture one. They were going to be needed in great quantities and were not designed to have a long lifespan. The spartan appearance led them be nicknamed Austerities but the most common way they are referred to now is as 'Dubdees'


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    Two locobuilders, North British locomotive works and Vulcan foundry, between them from 1943 to 1945 produced 935 2-8-0s and 150 2-10-0s.

    The first of the 2-10- class
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    As a young lad I never saw the 2-10-0s running in main line service although I can remember the 2-8-0s wheezing and clanking along with no brass left in the side rod bearings or axleboxes. I would have rather had a 2-8-0 but the availability of the Marklin German BR50 as a donor made it a no-brainer as the first choice.

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    Better still, for my Z friends on the continent many of these were purchased and used by railways overseas after the war. The 2-10-0s could be found in the Netherlands, Greece and Syria in the 1950s. Just after the war they could also be found in France, Germany, Egypt and in service with the USATC



    A dutch one with extended chimney
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  2. kevsmith

    kevsmith TrainBoard Member

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    The body and tender are only available in FUD at present. Shapeways have suspended production in Brass due to Covid 19 but they hope to resume soon so I've got the plastic one to check the fit on the loco chassis to see if it needs any tweaking. Like the Bulleid Pacifics, there is a problem. The wheel castings are quite distinctive and of course the BR 50 has spoked wheels so I'm seriously thinking about having some very thin overlays etched to put on the face of the wheels for both class of locos.



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    Like the rebuilt Merchant Navy it is a very nice print

    By the way. I indulged myself the other night and ran all the German steam locos on Republic Steel as a sort of 'Plandamf' evnt before I start converting them



    So more reports to come soon. The body and tender were in the Ultrasonic cleaning bath last night and have had a thin coat of grey plastic primer tonight as a reveal coat to show where any layer lines are that need sanding out

    More soon

    Kev
     
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  3. kevsmith

    kevsmith TrainBoard Member

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    I'm sure there is a modelmaker in Goppingen who wakes with a start and says 'I just has a horrible dream,there was a man with one of our BR 50 chassis and he was taking a grinder to it!'

    standat loco mech

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    With leading truck removed and posed in front of the primed body components. The tender chassis is from another conversion as the BR 50 I used as a donor has a Wannen tender which runs on 4 wheel trucks

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    Butchery! Motor has been thinned on each side by lightly holding it against a disc sander to reduce the metal lugs sticking out of the sides. Front end cut off and cylinder bracket shortened, Motion bracket removed and the whole thing washed down with isopropanol to get rid of any swarf and oil prior to painting the wheelcentres black
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    tender chassis top modified and assembled together as a trial fit

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    The loco body was quite clean and only really needed layer lines cleaning up on the lower side of the boiler. The sandbox fillers are bang on

    Kev
     
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  4. kevsmith

    kevsmith TrainBoard Member

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    So last night a few of us were out photographing the Network Rail IM test train which was top and tailed with class 37s and doing a rare reversing move in Askam Station in daylight hours. I was telling the lads I was doing this conversion and writing it up and one of them said 'what about the gauge 1 2-8-0 you built?' I'd quite forgtten about it although the cheque I got when I sold it brings back fond memories!

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    As I said I only saw the 2-8-0s in action. here is a picture of 90249 heading east through Thornhill junction in West Yorkshire with a steel train from Scunthorpe. There is a huge amount of interesting details in ths picture including the powere station in the background (long gone) the original station buildings, masses of telegraph wires and point rodding and the three track workers with not an orange Hi-Vis jacket to be seen

    [​IMG]


    Tonight I'm going to pop the tender wheels out and put another coat of primer on

    more soon

    Kev
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2020
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  5. Curn

    Curn TrainBoard Member

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    British steam is one one the reasons I still play with N scale. I like what you have managed to build in Z so far. Looking forward to you figuring out how to make a GWR 5700 in Z.

    UK:Kernow
    US:Curnow

    -Curn
     
  6. kevsmith

    kevsmith TrainBoard Member

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    Hi Curn
    Funny you should mention that.

    This weekend I'm having a final push to get some projects finished that onlt needed a bit of work (decals, glazing etc) to get them over the line
    over the next few days you should see the FM H-10-44 which I'm having fun putting the wasp stripes on the cab back, under the veranda roof and behind the handrails. Not,Sod of a job!

    WD 2-10-0 has had its final coat of matt varnish. Pics to follow

    3D printed Brass Central New Jersey boxcab finished apart from glazing. Pics to follow

    test coach 'Iris' matt varnished just need to glaze all the windows.

    So looking good but these are all relatively simple conversions

    The GWR panniers are on a different level of challenge all together!!!!!

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    I think they are GWR 1366 class and designed to fit the Marklin BR89 chassis but I'm going to have my work cut out I think!

    Kev
     
  7. kevsmith

    kevsmith TrainBoard Member

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    Apart from the the modifications to the chassis this was a really simple loco to do

    numbers came off a Fox transfers sheet as did the BR emblems

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    I painted the wheel centres with Tamiya Rubber black which doesn't look Black black if you know what I mean

    On a typical British railways mixed freight of the late 1950s

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    For a class of locos only designed to last a few years surprisingly there are no less than nine preserved four in Britain, five in Greece and one in the Netherlands

    Kev
     

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