1-16 Bandai Steam Roller

[JamesPerrin]

Very well done on the lining, all those decals look really sharp and true.

[jelly071]

Crack Build Lookforward to seeing more

[Dazzled]

Really like what you're doing with this kit. I love steam engines and for many years used to go to shows with my father. I have a friend who owns a steam roller and would likely know about the water tank on the Garrett. From my own knowledge I would say that the water tank is unlikely to be accurate as it was common for steam powered road rollers to tow a water cart behind them rather than carry water on board.

[Boldman]

Hi Dazzled, thanks - I agree its not really very accurate but this is obviously a conversion of their traction engine kit and so they left it on. I've done the same as I can't be bothered fixing it to be honest

There has been some significant progress the last few days... in fact the wheels are on!!!



and from the other side:



The cab has been detailed:



and from another angle:



I'm still missing coal from the coal bunker. It comes with a moulded piece with coal in but it looks very unconvincing so I need to visit the railway modelling shop and get some scale coal - although it will be too small scale for this as this is 1:16 so I may need to scratch up some raefr pieces of "coal".

Sadly the weak joint in the crankshaft has broken and there is no way I can see of fixing it as that area is now pretty inaccessible. When I build the Traction Engine I just bought of eBay (I must be a fool!) I'll make sure I replace this joint with a brass tube and fix it more firmly so that the whole mechanism can work robustly. The break does mean the flywheel has a bit of a wobble to it, but since it will now not be moving, I can live with that. I've used a variety of metallic colours, from the glossy gold of the pre-painted parts, to painted gold, two types of silver Tamiya Chrome silver and titanium silver, metallic grey, gunmetal, copper and bronze. I've alos varied the red and black, using matt colours as well as gloss to give a different texture to well used, dirty and polished parts. I did the hairspray technique on the rear break wheel as well as on the footsteps leading up into the cab which were weathered to show the underlying metal and a dirt wash added.

The pipes leading from the water tank to the boiler were originally moulded onto the plastic parts but this looked awful, so that was sanded off and replaced with wire painted gold.

Still a bit more touching up to do and a bit more assembly - the chains for the steering, the whistle and bell and then the roof goes on. At that point I'll do some more weathering of the wheels, soot on the canopy dirt in the appropriate places. Won't be long now!

[JamesPerrin]

The effort is certainly paying off. As you have weathered some parts will you be adding a bit of muck to the wheel/rollers as they look rather immaculate at the moment?

[Boldman]

Yes the rollers really need to change colour as in almost every photo I've seen they look more like concrete in colour that steel which is what I was going for with their current colour! Just received the Bandai Traction Engine kit that I bought off eBay last week - that will go in the stash for a laer build, but already thinking about how to light up all the coloured lights that are in the roof on that one I'm thinking fibre optic cable buried in the roof surface to provide the light, then covered with the tarpaulin again to hide them, then use the funnel to deliver the optic cable from the boiler where all the electronics will sit, although that will mean a quite sharp 90 degree bend in the fibre which I'm not sure it will handle very well..

[general rocket]

Is this one of the best builds of the year?
To stick my oar rather belatedly into the issue of the water tank. On the Garret road locomotives (traction engines to thee and me), the tank was optional and would depend on the use for which the engine was intended, often long distance (comparatively) from its operational base. Where as the road roller would be used for very short distance, maybe only a couple of hundred yards rolling new road surface, so that a large reservoir would not necessary.
But it does look good.

[beany]

Just stunning work there mate, I sooooo wants me one of those now!!!

Kitty Litter, sprayed Matt Black (or Revell's lovely Anthracite No.9) of course, may be a cheap solution for 1/16 scale coal.

Cheers
Al.

[Boldman]

Okay I'm going to call this finished now although it still has a couple of things I want to do with it, eg add a better representation of the coal (will probably take you up on that suggestion beany!) and perhaps dirty it up a bit more.

[JamesPerrin]

What a great model. Something to be really proud of.

[Zane]

That is really beautiful. What a lovely job.

My congratulations on a superb piece of work.

Zane

[mattbacon]

That really is superb. Well done, indeed... Perhaps for the next one, you might get a couple of 1/16 figures to stand alongside!

bestest,
M.

[Boldman]

Thats a nice idea - I've got the Showman's Engine now (been trying to work out how I can add lighting to the coloured lamps) so having some figures for that would make a nice scene!

Glad you liked it

[Dazzled]

It looks absolutely stunning.

If your building another one how about a vintage show diorama with a couple of old duffers in overalls holding cups of tea. That's pretty realistic from my experience of these magnificent beasts.

[Patty]

Bravo! What a wonderful looking Roller!