Polar Bear

That's it - Polar Bear is finished and working. 

The kit is a bit of curate's egg. Some bits work really well, others less so. The end result looks OK as long as you don't really know the prototype. I'll enjoy running the model once the 32mm gauge line in the garden is finished, but I know the definitive version is still waiting for me to scratchbuild. 

What I have is a nice and rugged model locomotive that will look pretty on the track. It rumbles along at a fair lick, but in that respect is a lot like the prototype. 

Even with the limitations of the kit, I'm glad I added some detail on the wheels and brake gear. That was worth it just to add some relief. The Revell Anthracite black contrasts with the cream and scarlet bodywork nicely, just like the real thing. 

And why did I chose to model Polar Bear? Well, Garden Rail readers will know there is a 3D printed kit for Sealion awaiting my attention one day. 

Figure fitting

Like all the Groudle Glen locomotives, Polar Bear isn't very big. The cab is definitely compact and bijou. Fitting a model driver in was going to be interesting.

I bought a couple of Modeltown figures because they looked slightly smaller than most. I know cartoony people aren't to everyone's taste, but for a garden, I like them. Realistic people just look wrong to me in unrealistic live scenery. As I say though, this is very much a matter of taste.

Anyway, a bit of testing before the roof went on showed that even these people were fractionally too tall for the cab. However, if I reduced the thickness of the bottom and shoes, I'd get away with it.

I bought male and female figures and after some deliberation, decided that Mrs Engine driver would be best. She's not as broad across the shoulders and so can sit in the corner of the cab, leaving access to the control switch. A quick coat of paint gave her overalls and a matching (sort of) headscarf.

Wheel inserts

The camera is cruel. The paintwork on Polar Bear doesn't look that bad in real life.

Anyway, the photo is to show the wheel centres. When I look at prototype photos, the 5 holes in the wheels really catch my eye and so the filled in centre steel wheels weren't going to cut it.

My first thought involved plastic sheet and compasses. You can't drill through the really thin material, at least not with the bits I have available, you have to cut by whirling around a pair of compasses fitted with a point in each arm. That and an Olfa compass cutter for the bigger circles.

This was taking ages and if I'm honest, not working very well. However, with the silhouette cutter handy, I wondered if I could design something.

It turns out I can. OK, I've cheated and cut 4 holes not 5, but then there's a lot of compromises in this model anyway so one more won't make a difference. Lining up the holes was important and I'm not sure how I'd have done this with 5 holes - but then I'm a beginner with the machine and software.

A quick blast in the cutter gave me a sheet heavily scored with the design. A few minutes with a sharp knife popped them out and they fitted perfectly into the wheels.

Design and cutting took less time than doing the job by hand so maybe I need to think about using technology more often in the future.

Luggage rack

A prominent feature of the real Polar Bear is the set of handrails on the top of the battery boxes. In the instructions, these are described as a "luggage rack", although this seems odd as the railway didn't actually go anywhere other than the cliff edge. You wouldn't take your suitcases along as you'd be back at the start an hour or so after you'd left.

Whatever it's for, I didn't like the split pins supplied and had a dig for something better. I found 6 nice Gauge 1 short handrail knob, but need 8. They would have been perfect, but I decided to settle for some O gauge medium handrail knobs. I had 8 and they look OK.

I'll admit that it helps I'd realised the limitations of the kit compared to the prototype in some areas but am happy to build what the model boat world calls a "standoff scale" model.

The knobs were reamed out for 0.9mm wire (I didn't like the wire provided with the kit either) and the sides fitted. Some careful snipping and soldering saw the fronts in place too.

A bit of a polish with fine emery and it's job done. I've had to paint some brass bits on the model and am undecided at the moment if I paint these. Still thinking about that one so feel free to express opinions in the comment section.

Polar Bear paint planning

How to paint the wooden Polar Bear?

I had some ideas, but handily, sides are provided for both locomotives on the line, so I could use the Seal Lion one as a test piece. Painting wood can be "interesting" so a practice run seemed wise.

One question in my mind was whether a coat of sanding sealer would fill the etched lines and hide them under the cream coat. With this in mind, I only sealed the right-hand side of the piece here.

Both sides were painted with Humbrol cream enamel and if I'm honest there wasn't much difference between the sealed and unsealed results. A light same and more cream. The good news was, all the lines were still visible.

My stocks of maroon enamel are out and I'm pretty sure the government wouldn't consider a trip to buy more essential, even if the shop was open. Mail order might work, but I was impatient for progress, so tried some cheap acrylic.

Two coats were required, but the results look good. Each to apply accurately and a nice not-quite-matt finish. Time to move on to the model.

Hand clamps

Stupid curved locomotive body. Those panels need to be held very firmly in place, even after many hours bathing in water to make them a little flexible.

Holding the things is a nightmare. In the end, I put the PVA glue (after trying Super 'phatic and even superglue) on and just sat holding the panel in place for half an hour while watching the TV. Eventually,
the glue did its thing and the panel stayed put. I still put a fillet in the back of the joint afterwards though.

One panel incorporated the windscreen and curve, but that didn't make it much easier. Another long bath (overnight) followed by bending around a pen while drying followed by lots of clamps sort of did the job. I'll admit I seriously considered swapping wood for plastic.

Are there any special clamps out there I'm not aware of?

Wiring looms

Time to add some wires to Polar Bear. The basic circuit is pretty simple - batteries wired to the motor via a DPDT switch which will handle direction and on/off duties.

There is an added complication that a pair of giant LEDs will be fitted in the ends. These will light up in the direction of travel. Looking at the diagram which is partly neatly drawn but has hand draw extras for this lighting, I can see a few people being confused.

It IS correct, but you need to realise that the long and short legs of the LED aren't the same. They show up on the drawing if you know what you are looking for. There's an extra wire to the switch too.

Once set up, all worked well. Until I put the switch support box back in. Then the loco ran properly in one direction and very slowly in the other. Take the box out and all was well. After a bit of head-scratching, I realised that the box was pushing the LED legs together so when the model worked in one direction, there was a weird short circuit. Pulling the legs around so they no longer touched and all was well.

Clever wobbly axle joy

Before I put the motor in the chassis, but after I'd extracted the switch box, it was time to fit the wheels. These are supplied but on the wrong axles. The builder has to remove the over-long versions and replace them with supplied shorter ones, this is a 32mm gauge model.

Supporting the wheels in a vice and tapping the axle with a hammer and then a hammer and the new axle, released the wheels easily enough. Assembly is very similar, although you need to make sure to thread the first wheel and axle through the chassis before putting on its companion.

Juggling the gear on as well is a little fiddly, but I've done worse in smaller scales.

The unpowered axle is unexpectedly compensated. The bearings in the frames are lozenge-shaped and there is an extra one in a central support. All this provides the axle with some vertical movement to ensure the model stays on the rails on less than perfect trackwork. This is possibly overkill for such a short wheelbase model, but I'm not complaining.

After this, the motor is fitted in its cradle, which slides (it's a very tight fit) into position in the chassis. The final step was to feed it 3v and have the model whizzing up and down on the modelling board. Very satisfying.

Switch box

Time for a bit of head-scratching. There is a box fitted in the loco to hold the DPDT switch, but it's not really that clear exactly how it's supposed to work. To be honest, the interior of this model is a bit of a mystery, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

I decided that the unit was intended to be removable. The legs at the front are (I think) to keep it in position, stopping it sliding forward while it can't go back because of the driver seat will hold it. The seat isn't attached to the wall of the switch box so this makes sense.

 

Trouble was, it didn't seem to slip in and out very easily. I chamfered the front of the legs a bit and eventually mounted the window a little higher up so the curved panel didn't catch. It's not perfect, but I don't anticipate taking the thing in and out very often. 

Not after I've fitted the motor anyway, something I really should have done first!

More fake metal and some detail

The end of the chassis is a pretty complicated bit of construction with several layers of wood to be laminated together to represent the hefty casting on the real loco.

Line them up perfectly and they will look the part. Get things slightly wrong and there are gaps. Nothing that some Deluxe Perfect Plastic filler can't cure. That, and a really good sanding plus some sealer.

For good measure, I've added Meng bolt heads. I suspect there should be some nuts and threads on the inside but I've decided no-one will notice if they aren't there.

All this has been brush painted with a couple of coats of Humbrol matt black and now really looks the part. Sometimes you need to brush, spraying doesn't fill as well.

A whiff of sanding sealer makes the world seem alright

This kit is made of wood. The prototype is made of metal.

I'm not going to kid myself that I can make the wood as smooth as metal. That's a huge amount of work and arguably more effort than scratchbuilding in a more suitable material. I'd like to get rid of most of the grain though, and that means a coat of sanding sealer.

For those not familiar with this magic product, it's basically a big can of cellulose dope with talcum powder mixed in. Paint it on the wood, it soaks in, raises the grain a little, fills gaps and can be sanded smooth within a few minutes. Apply enough coats and do enough sanding, the results are smooth as glass.

It also smells lovely.

Anyway, I treated the outside of the frames, but not the inside. Once smoothed, I sprayed both with matt black paint. For once I remembered not to overdo it with the hairdryer as this can activate the cellulose which bubbles up in the paint. Much swearing then ensues and I'm never patient enough to leave it alone and come back later.

 

It's not obvious in the photo, but the untreated sides aren't nearly as smooth as the sanding sealed one. They will do the job and after a light sand aren't terrible at all. I will be sealing all the other bit of wood though.

My new favourite PVA

With some kits from Petite Properties on the bench, I asked them which glue they recommended. A bottle of 502 adhesive was waved at me - apparently, it's the only PVA in the workshop. 

I knew I'd seen the stuff somewhere and a quick web search took me to Tool Station where it's a fiver for a litre. Fair enough, when I was passing I picked some up. 

The dolls house makers are right. To date, I've been a Resin W man, or a big tub from Homebase depending on the job in hand. This stuff flows a bit better than Resin W but not as a freely as the cheap stuff. It grabs quickly and dries as fast as any. 

Decanted into a Metcalfe Models Ultra Fine Tip applicator, it's very easy to use too. Even from the big bottle, it's controllable and the nozzle of this doesn't seem to gum up as fast as the resin W version. 

The frames of Polar Bear were laminated up and seem to have stuck. I'm sure someone will say all PVA's are the same, or that they have used this stuff for 100 years, but I'm impressed, which is why I put it on here.

Project fatigue

It probably sounds daft, but sometimes I get tired of modeling. 

At the moment, I'm hopefully entering a quieter period at work, but just recently there has been an awful lot of building. Interesting work, but now I find myself drained of interest in making things. Slumping in front of the TV appeals in the evening. Going to sleep even more. 

I know that it's not actual tiredness - I'm hardly working down a coal mine - but mental exhaustion. The cure for that is to stimulate my brain with something interesting. Besides, I need a project to blog about. Much as I enjoy conjuring posts up out of nowhere, writing about something I'm making is a lot easier and almost certainly more entertaining. 

That's the point about this blog. It does what I started it for - giving me a focus and some drive to get things done. We all know how long a project with no deadline takes - forever. Slap some "milestones", as project managers like to call them, into your life and things get done. 

Anyway, I'm not exactly short of projects. All I need is one that excites me as much as it did when I bought the bits. Trouble is, that thrill dissipates over time which is why I can look at all the potential candidates for my workbench and just decide checking Instagram is more rewarding. 

In the hope of finding something, I had a root through the cupboard in my office. My memory must be failing as there were a number of discoveries in there I'd completely forgotten about. 

Tucked away was this IP Engineering laser-cut kit for Groudle Glen electric locomotive Polar Bear.

This shouldn't be too taxing, but ought to provide a bit of entertainment. I'm not in the right frame of mind for a serious project right now. Whatever I do need to go together with the minimum of fettling. 

As an added bonus, I need another 32mm gauge locomotive for the Garden Railway in a Day I'm building next month at the National Garden Railway Show. Why not one of my favourite locos?