Wrightlines Rustons:
In autumn 2015 I finally got some free time to progress one of the many 014 loco’s planned for Tony’s Forest. I have a number in the pipeline but these Wrightlines Rustons were the easiest to get started. They are inspired by ones that I saw on the forum and use Bullant drive units.
Wrightlines 44/48hp Ruston test fitted on a BullAnt motor bogie
The hardest bit was working out what to cut out and how to mount the Bullant.
Wrightlines 44/48hp Ruston test fitted on a BullAnt motor bogie
The 44/48 HP Ruston has a 2 axle BullAnt Power Bogie, Wheel Size 10.5mm Code 110 NS Disc, Track Gauge TT at 14.2mm, Mashima Motor, Gearbox Reduction Ratio 60:1 with Flywheel, a 20mm Bat Wing Mounting Fixed Bolster Attachment, 24.5mm wheelbase with a ‘special’ 8.4mm overhang of the gearbox. The 33/40 HP Ruston chassis is to the same specification but with a standard (no overhang) gearbox and no fly wheel.
I am really pleased with both chassis, particularly when compared to some of the small kit-built chassis that I am struggling with (due to ageing eye-sight and competence).
Wrightlines 33/36hp Ruston with cab.
I must admit that I am pretty pleased with this Wrightlines 33/40 HP Ruston. It has a shorter and lower bonnet that the 44/48 HP unit so needed a standard Bullant but without the flywheel. I didn’t think there was enough room to get the flywheel in as well. Consequently it doesn’t run quite as well as the other Bullants but I think a bit of running in will make all the difference.
Wrightlines 44/48hp Ruston bonnet on left and smaller 33/36hp bonnet with cab on the right.
This shows the difference between the longer 44/48 HP bonnet (on the left) and the shorter 33/40 HP bonnet (on the right).
Wrightlines Rustons test fitted on BullAnt motor bogies
And how the Bullant units fit.
Wrightlines 44/48hp Ruston bonnet on left and smaller 33/36hp bonnet with cab on the right.
Like many of my early loco builds, these two Rustons have taken far longer than they should have done to get finished. I finally got round to painting them in July 2019, about 5 years after construction started. They are both very nice runners and being white metal have plenty of weight so they suit my rough track. However, both have quite long overhangs which means that the couplings have to have some side movement.
David Malton Ruston:
I picked up one of David Malton’s Rustons from Chris Ward at the 2015 M5-M50 show. I thought I could cut off the driver’s head and replace it. Then I thought I could shape the driver’s body a bit:
3d printed Ruston body from Chris Ward complete with the driver and seat. I had started to shave some of the more angular bits off the driver before I decided to remove him completely.
but I wasn’t really satisfied. So:
3d printed Ruston body with the driver and seat removed. I accidentally broke the brake lever too.
I have a spare seat from a Nonneminstre kit and a new whitemetal driver to add some weight. There are some delicate bits on the body like the brake lever and quadrant which I ham-fistedly broke before I had even though about removing the driver. I have replaced the lever with a bit of wire which I tried to thin down by filing flats on opposite sides whilst keeping the round section at the top to simulate the handle. I did something similar with the gear lever but forgot that it should have a ‘joggle’ in it. I have left mine plain as it is now firmly fixed and lines up with the drivers hand.
I must admit that I am pleased so far and I should have a loco that will be a bit different from David’s.
This is designed to go on a KB Scale chassis but I decided to use one of Tim Crockford’s 3d printed chassis instead.
There are separate buffer beams and engine/exhaust, but I replaced the engine part with a block of whitemetal as the body is quite light and I felt it would benefit from some more weight. I decided to fit my engine weight to the underside of the bonnet so that I can easily extract the chassis for maintenance and oiling.
I have filled the spaces under the gearbox housing with lead and added a couple of strips at each end which I hope won’t be too noticeable when painted. The whole loco seems to be well balanced when the driver is fitted although, as with most of my small 3d printed locos, it still feels a bit light.
Time will tell how it will fare on my rather iffy track.
David’s model is very smartly finished with painstakingly applied lining. Mine is much more modest, primarily due to my lack of ability!
Tebee Ruston Proctor:
At a small show in May 2018 I was admiring an O9 Ruston Proctor built by Bill Flude from a 3d printed body by TeeBee (Tom Bell). A quick measure with a ruler suggested that I could just squeeze in an O14 chassis. However, it proved to be just a bit too tight so I ended up adding new frames to suit another Bullant chassis. Again I seem to have been able to finish this ahead of some of the longer term motive power projects.
Roy C Link/KB Scale Ruston:
Another long term project has been a Roy C Link (now KB Scale) Ruston LBT. Although this came with a chassis I had been struggling to get it to work as I wanted. I think I fiddled with it too much as I just seemed to make matters worse. Then I saw the results that Tim Crockford was getting with his own design of 3d printed chassis block. A quick discussion with Tim resulted in a chassis block to suit the LBT kit and away I went.
I finished this loco in time for the first show and runs permanently coupled to a skip with a 5mm long link from metal strip. These run on the quarry feed track which has some savage curves and the link is required to provide enough side movement so that neither skip not loco fall off the track. I did try two skips but even with a fixed link between them they just couldn’t cope with the sharp radius curves. I have tried to be restrained with the weathering as the loco would only have been a few years old for the time period that I am modelling (the late 1950’s/early 1960’s).
