Backdating Bachmann's Thomas the Tank Engine

Does he already have a 3D frame underneath for the axle holes to go through (not to mention bearings to hold the gears), or will it be added afterwards? I couldn't see any indication of it.

I'm planning on making the chassis out of brass so that it can add a little weight and be stronger than the material this will be printed in. There are also gearboxes made by High Level Kits, and I'm hoping to find one that can fit the model.

And it's done!


It was kind of weird realizing I didn't have anything left to do on it. I did a test upload to ShapeWays to see what the price would be. In the "Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic," the price would be in the $100 mark.... I don't think so. I think I'll choose "White Premium Versatile Plastic," which puts the price at just under $50. I'm expecting to have to do some cleaning of the parts anyway, so having a little more work isn't bad. Most people choose the "Natural" option for the plastic, which is why it's usually grainy, so hopefully it won't be as bad in "Premium." Although I have seen people make great models with the "Natural" option regardless.

It does feel good to have actually finished a project (at least this part), too!

Back into the physical realm of things, I did measurements of the faces for the Bachmann model I got back in January. They were always a bit small, which puzzled me. It turns out that their around 0.75mm smaller than the Bachmann boiler, which is 18.5mm in diameter. Since the boiler on that 3D model is 17.76mm in diameter, I won't need to get new faces, which is a relief (the original model was 44.4; scaling that down gives 17.76)!

After painting the basement during the summer, I had some (a lot!) electrical tape left over. I cut a small piece off, then used that to make some eyebrows. It was kind of difficult, so it'll be interesting to see how more complex eyebrows will turn out... Anyway, here's a picture! I think they look pretty good!



This picture really shows how wrong the Bachmann model is!

After some measurements for fun, I realized that there are wheels that exist in the diameter needed for Thomas' drive wheels in HO Scale, and that they're actually quite common, which means finding tires (the outer parts of the wheel with the flange; what I need for that wheel making program) is actually really easy! I hope that made sense. For example, Bachmann Annie and Clarabel have wheels of that diameter. The hard part would be designing (and getting printed) the inner parts of the wheels to fit the tires and actually removing the current wheel centers to replace them. All I know is that it can be done.

So what that means is that I rescaled the Thomas model I made to be HO scale, which meant a few changes had to be made. For example, the block in the cab that was mimicking the TV model (and would have housed the motor) was now too small to fit a motor in, and I wouldn't have been able to change that, so I took that out, and replaced it with some detail from the Close-Up model's cab (wires may be added after printing to represent all of the pipes).

Since that made it so I didn't have room to fit a motor, I split the model's smokebox saddle and lower part of the boiler from the top to fit where the motor will go instead, just like the concept I drew up a while back. I also found a better way to attach the pieces to each other for printing, and it actually cut the model's price down by more than half (some of that was probably the scaling) in the Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic, which is really awesome! I hope these pictures show what I mean (the inconsistent coloring is a glitch on my phone).





And something I did check before scaling down was if I could find wheels that would work for other engines and rolling stock if I make more. The wheels that come standard with the Bachmann Thomas model are actually perfect for Henry and Gordon in HO, and the wagon wheels would work for any coaches I want to make. Additionally, American freight car wheels typically come in either scale 33" or 36" sizes, the latter being perfect for british wagons! This means that, if I do HO Scale, I can have wheels ready for Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, and James, compared to only having wheels good for Henry, Gordon, and Percy in OO scale! And I'd have more room for scenery in HO Scale, because it's smaller!

Thanks for reading!
-TM2001

[Super]

O do enjoy reading your progress T-Man

Another title change and this project is back in full swing!

Considering there's not much of the original Bachmann Thomas left (just the smokebox, chassis and coupling rods), I don't think "Backdating Bachmann's Thomas The Tank Engine" quite fits anymore.

Here's the current state of main body!




Here, what I did was splice the Bachmann Smokebox to the Hornby Clockwork body. It was kind of interesting, because the Hornby Clockwork model had pretty much every major dimension right (as far as I can estimate) except for the smokebox, which was stretched. The Bachmann model was too bulky to be truly accurate to how small Thomas was in the early TV Series, but the smokebox was right, so a couple of cuts were made. I also used the dome from my old Bachmann James, which was removable for some reason. How convenient!

I thought it was interesting to see the previous stages of this project, and how the Bachmann model got smaller and smaller.








Also, just for fun, here he is on his wheels! The running plate was just a test; the final one will be different. He will also be lower down on his chassis (I never cut any holes for the wheels out).


That's it for now, thanks for reading!
-TM2001

I'm back with a bit more progress! The glue didn't actually stick the pieces of Thomas together last time, so I had to do that again. I also put some milliput inside the boiler where the join for the smokebox was, so it shouldn't come apart now. I also glued the underside of the boiler to him, which came from the smokebox from the Clockwork model (there's not much of it left!).




I also decided that I'll just use the Bachmann mechanism (other modellers leave older mechanisms in models they improve with success), because I know that it runs pretty well. However, I did get a new motor, since I had my old one for 7 years, and it was in a box for at least 5 years before that, and it has definitely been used a lot! I'll be modifying the gearbox to fit the smaller body, and I'll try to figure something out to disguise it in the cab (I'm planning on putting some detail in that).


That's all for now! I just need to put some milliput in a few gaps to fill them and design a 3d-printed running plate (I think I'll copy the Bachmann N Scale design), then I can wait for the detail parts to arrive from the U.K.. After that, the alterations will be complete and I can start on painting!

[Super]

Great progress T-Man

I have now gotten this project about as far as I can for the moment. I put some milliput on the joins between Thomas' smokebox and body, and I also designed a running plate for Thomas as well! Now I just need to wait to receive it from Shapeways (I also got some faces). The running plate has a lot of influence from the design Thomas had in the CGI Series, as I felt that looked less cartoony than the Railway Series reverse-curve running plate, and the buffers wouldn't be put quite as low as the Classic Series. Since I'll be putting a fair amount of realistic detail that none of the Thomas models in the show have had, I figured trying to get the buffers to line up properly (on the rear; the front ones should still be a little low) would be fine. Now I just need to figure out how to put it all together!





-TM2001