Narrow gaugeing an Aristo 0-4-0

[musket the dog]

Hi all,

Today I received an Aristocraft 0-4-0 and being based on a standard gauge prototype it is a bit out of scale for the rest of my stock. The most problematic area is the cab which is far too small.

I think what I am going to do is cut out the cab floor to the bunker's height and build a new cab and add some tanks and a bunker.

My first question is has anybody ever taken one of these apart? because I just can't seem to get inside it and I can't see any obvious way that it comes apart

many thanks,
Ricky

 

[Bram]

Try going onto the Aristo www and pull off a diagram

 

[musket the dog]

This is what the loco looks like now:

Not the best of liveries in my opinion

This is what I aim to do:

To me, with the larger cab it all looks about proportional to something narrow gauge.
The cab and tanks shouldn't be too hard (another job for school's laser cutter), just cutting out the floor is making me a bit nervous, any tips?
Also might keep the original chocolate and cream colours, I quite like this

 

[C&S]

I like the new silhouette you have planned - the pannier tanks give it a nice chunky look. Are you sticking to the American theme of the original loco or going European? If the latter you're not far from this -

Is the original body plastic? As it was a standard gauge prototype (and 1:29 scale presumably) the cab should be narrower than the new one you are planning. Might it be simpler to remove the old cab above the window-sill level and stick new sides on over the old? It should then be easy to add a new front and back panels. What material are you planning to use?

 

[Shawn]

I would go to the arsito site and either ask someone how to take it opart or see if they have a diagram. I have the live steamer version and at some point I want to also add a larger cab and possibly side tanks. ect......

 

[Spule 4]

I think Kitbash-Master Mik took a Bachmannn ten wheeler cab and put it on one of these by memory...

 

[Waldgrun]

When you have download the drawing from the Aristo craft site, I would recommend that you study it well and when taking apart use your digital camera to record what you have done, this is a great help when reassembling!
Link http://www.aristocraft.com/ then select Exploded Parts Diagrams 11th button on left.

 

[Mik]

The Delton/Aristo c-16 cab fits over the stock floor with just a few small gaps to fill.
IIRC there are some tiny screws holding the cab on(?), but the cab floor is molded into the shell. You want to remove that, you'll have to cut it off.

Cab off (and part of the running board already cut off for my dummy/tram) -

With the c-16 cab -

With a B'mann coach body -

 

[musket the dog]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will start checking over the Aristo drawings, shouldn't be too hard :S

Hi C&S, I am trying to give it a European look that looks exactly like what I am trying to achieve, I especially like the low slung cab. Do you know anything more about the loco? Is it a corpet? I seem to remember seeing something like it before...

I'm either thinking MDF or Acrylic as I can cut these both at school, I've been working on a 3D model to transfer into a technical drawing to send to the machine, I'll post it up when I get the picture through to my laptop.

 

[C&S]

Hi C&S, I am trying to give it a European look that looks exactly like what I am trying to achieve, I especially like the low slung cab. Do you know anything more about the loco? Is it a corpet? I seem to remember seeing something like it before...

Absolutely right - it's a Corpet, dating from 1927, which used to belong to a company called Entreprises Paul Frot, but has been preserved at the CFBS in Picardy since 1971. Not sure why they needed such a low loco in industrial use, possibly for entry inside buildings with reduced clearances like some gas works locos in the UK- it's certainly dwarfed by the normal metre gauge rolling stock. These days it's a different green and has gained some air cylinders on the cab roof - I guess needed for passenger working

 

[MR SPOCK]

There are four screws under the cab sides and it comes off by sliding it backwards, all in one peice,,, the boiler front end is held on with a horrid long self tapper that is a total swine to remove without snapping or destroying the head,

your plan looks well will be hansom'

 

[musket the dog]

Been a while since this project has progressed but since exams are out of the way I've had a bit of time to spend.

Made the first cuts, removed the foot boards from the size of the boiler to make way for the tanks, also cut out the necessary space out of the cab floor to accommodate the new, lower one. Made a paper mockup of it all but the cab was a bit over size so only the tanks for now.

 

[MR SPOCK]

Want to sell the old cab by any chance?

Hi all,

Today I received an Aristocraft 0-4-0 and being based on a standard gauge prototype it is a bit out of scale for the rest of my stock. The most problematic area is the cab which is far too small.

I think what I am going to do is cut out the cab floor to the bunker's height and build a new cab and add some tanks and a bunker.

My first question is has anybody ever taken one of these apart? because I just can't seem to get inside it and I can't see any obvious way that it comes apart

many thanks,
Ricky

​

 

[garrymartin]

Would creating a half cab, or open cab be an option?

 

[musket the dog]

Hi Garry,

I think I am now adjusting the plan to be a half cab, possibly with a spectecal plate and an bunker on the rear. Seems to be a bit easier, I don't have to figure out the cab scaling then, as long as the sides are a reasonable height.

 

[musket the dog]

Been busy, got the tanks cut on the school's laser cutter. However due to a mistake I made with some sort of scaling on the PC they now extend to the middle of the firebox, but I think that this will add to the boxyness of the loco. Just in case anyone was wondering how the process of all this laser cutting works I took some pictures this time. This will be very similar to how IP Engineering to it as well I imagine.

This is the machine, with the material loaded in it, only a small one, the industrial machines are tens of times larger than this.

Next I draw the shapes I want to cut into a programme called Techsoft 2D that is capable of communitcating with the laser cutter. I also change the size of my drawing area and move the shapes to best fill the space.

I then simply 'print' this to the cutter and open up the cutter's control program. This shows me the shapes that were on the drawing area. From here I adjust the settings for the type of material and its thickness.

Then I press play, let the machine do its work and around 5 minutes later I have a perfectly cut piece of acrylic that will become the side tanks.

 

[musket the dog]

Got one tank assembled, painted and onto the loco. Due to an error on my part the tank is slanted, but I hope to hide this with some pipe work and other details.

Fixed on nice and strong, got the second to paint then I will press on with getting the cab sorted, I believe I will be going for an open cab now, seems easier to make and scale.

By no means perfect, but from a distance looks fine hope to apply some weathering too, to hide it a bit more.

 

[yb281]

That's looking really good Ricky.

 

[musket the dog]

Cheers Mel

Got a bit more done to Samson recently. Now have all the parts cut apart from the bunker and rear buffer beam but this can be added later so that I can paint the back of the bunker. Cab has the back on now but I will have to fit the front plates once it is in place, also painted all the details and make up a regulator and brake, just leaves a cut-off.

I also engraved some name plates for her out of 2mm MDF, can't quite justify proper brass ones just yet. Too large right now, but I'll just scale them down, might also make some for the rest of my stock.

 

[musket the dog]

Quite a large loco, the head of the drive come just higher than a the roof of an LGB four wheeler, I still think it looks quite narrow gauge?

Also nobody has a bell in a spares bin they would be willing to sell me?

Many thanks,
Ricky