Many years ago, cardboard was a favourite model railway building material, very little else being available, and magazines used to print wagon and coach sides to be cut out, stuck to cardboard and coated in shellac for preservation and for structural strength. A recent edition of "Computer Shopper" carried a cover disc with a free copy of TurboCAD Professional V4 and, after consulting with the experts on the 16mm Yahoo eGroup at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/16mmngm/ , to whom this page is dedicated, I decided to go ahead and design and build a cardboard coach body.
This was then printed directly on to A4 card on a Canon S400 colour inkjet printer. Cutting out was done with a SHARP snap-off craft knife. (Remember - if in doubt, snap off another blade - you'll regret it if you don't) The parts were sprayed with clear satin polyurethane varnish before assembly using PVA wood glue and then sprayed again.
The prototype ran on the Sabah State Railway (ex North Borneo Railway) in the early 1960's. My only source was ninety seconds of video shot on a rainy day, so a certain amount of imagination was required. The Pigsty Hill Light Railway totem is, of course, my personal invention.
Because of the unusual construction of the prototype, with its central lobby, stripwood stiffening was used along the top and bottom of the sides. This would probably be unnecessary for a more conventional design. The frames were made of ramin, a hardwood which, I was delighted to discover, is a product of North Borneo! The bogies are made by IP Engineering (http://website.lineone.net/~i.p.engineering/) and were bought from PPS of Frome. These can easily be swapped for 32mm gauge to enable the beast to run on narrower gauges than mine. I use Brandbright loop couplings (not shown here) attached to the frame, not the buffers. I am delighted to say that the coach happily negotiates 4'6" reverse curves.
I always use a lift-off roof, because I like to light and populate my coaches. Some of you will recognise the techniques of a one-time aircraft modeller. The roof is again stiffened with thin hardwood strips and is a close fit into the body (thank you Mr TurboCAD).
I had some problems with the glazing. I used thin clear plastic, but had great difficulty in getting it to stick without crazing the plastic. I therefore built cardboard brackets (tumblehomes) which I stuck around the windows on the inside. The window glazing (two pieces per side) slots into these. This will, of course, enable me to substitute microscope slide glass when the Round Tuit arrives.
Initial Sketches
For some reason, modellers almost never include their initial scrawls in their articles on "How I built a Tasmanian Garratt from three cotton-reels". This is a pity, because it leads those who "can't do it because they haven't tried" to believe that inspiration springs fully-armed from the brow of the expert, as a nicely-detailed technical drawing suitable for publication in the appropriate magazine. I shall now expose my artistic incompetence to the world and urge others to do likewise.
The initial scrawls drawn from a 90-second fragment of video (half-size). Note that the middle sketch is the vehicle actually built. Dimensions are estimated by assuming the doorway to be 6' 3".
Initial thoughts about fitting the roof
Detail sketches for the "aircraft wing" roof design
The frames - about as unsophisticated as it gets!
TurboCAD designs
The CAD output for one side
The beast takes shape
The bits and pieces (except the floor and roof)
The Playmobil men assess the work in progress
So it lifts off the bogies there?
Components of the rafters (if that's what you call them)
The rafters assembled
The roof partly assembled
The roof fully assembled
Fully assembled except for couplings and steps
Finished (side-on view)
Finished (and she runs beautifully)
