Tintin Project - the Vehicles

[NARSES2]

That's a little stunner 

[strobez]

Part of the problem in choosing the train kit is that you never get a really great full picture of the train



I think the Mogul looks pretty close to this one because it's got the front bumpers and the sloping area in front of the boiler.  The biggest difference from the comic to the kit seems to be the cow catcher on the front, but I'm pretty sure I can scratch that one up.

[PR19_Kit]

Bumpers??

Oh, you mean the buffers! 

You're right about the Dapol versions of the various kits tending to warp, I think it's the grey styrene that they use instead of Airfix and Kitmaster's original black, that was a lot stiffer.

I'm not sure you'll find a Euro/British outline Pacific loco kit these days. Kitmaster did an LMS Coronation and an SR Biggin Hill of which only the Biggin Hill was carried over to Airfix and is still available from Dapol. But it has Bullied's Boxpok wheels and no external valve gear, so wouldn't look too much like your Tintin loco, plus it has an air s
smoothed casing so the boiler isn't visible really.

It may be possible to cross kit a Biggin Hill and two Moguls to get something like your planned loco though.

And American Pacific kit might do the job too, even though they'd be in the smaller HO scale they were larger full size so may work out OK.

It may be possible to

[loupgarou]

Indeed, ALL european (even british) locos and rolling stock have buffers.  While US trains don't.
Are those the only drawings of the loco? No wheels on sight, how could someone have decided it was a Pacific?
I tend to think Hergé had drawn what he was more familiar with. The loco looks german to me. Red stripe on the running board, the style of the various handrails, angular sloping front plate, pumps etc.

[strobez]

Ok, since no one really asked, but I'm in desperate need of a railway education... 

There are technically 3 trains in Tintin in America...

The first one, shown only in the single panel, is the one he takes from Chicago to Redskin City (a subtle foreign language joke in french, but pretty blatant in English)



The second one... as we've already seen is the engine he commandeers to chase down the gangster Bobby Smiles...





...which ends in disaster...



...And the the one that later comes rumbling at Tintin after the crooks tie him to the tracks...



...from which he is miraculously saved.



As you can see, there are no clear pictures.  So Rajesh (a fellow Tintin fan and submariner mechanical engineer who served the Indian Navy for 21 years) decided to call it a Pacific 4-6-2 on his awesome blog The Transport Journal.  Of course Rajesh is more interested in the real life machines and I'm trying to depict the comic book versions, so the priorities are a bit different.  To a certain degree I think he's extrapolating as to what kind of train it would/should be, rather than what it... is.  Since Tintin in America is the third adventure, even in its updated colour form, it's not quite up to the standards of the other, later albums in terms of accuracy. 

However, loupgarou is right, Hergé tended to draw what he was more familiar with.  A very neat book called Hergé, Tintin et les Trains has decided it was a "Type 5" which is apparently a Belgian locomotive, but I can't really find much information on it.  Searching for "Train Type 5" gives me waaaaay too much information to sort through.

At the end of the day though, I'm just looking for a 1/72 kit that's reasonably priced, that's reasonably available, and that reasonably depicts the train in the Tintin album (I'll build the dynamite cart on my own~).  So far the 1/76 Airfix Mogul seems to come closest, but given my summer rainpuddle depth of knowledge here, perhaps someone has some better suggestions.

I have to say, between learning about trains here and learning about ships over in my other post... I'm getting schooled quite well.

[Rick Lowe]

You could always do what you did with the Calculus Affair Tank, and find a body you're happy with, then add or subtract the appropriate number of wheels to suit?
I'm sure you can find lots of aftermarket wheels?

Speaking of the small railcar, if you're not happy about how it sits, may I suggest you file a larger slot between the two halves of the wheels, so it fits over the track?
Or simply remove the outer part of the rim, leaving the inner as a lip/flange per the rail wheel on the Loch Lomond tanker.

HTH

[loupgarou]

Thanks for all the pages you have scanned.
I have to say, Hergé has not even drawn very well or consistently the locos. In some drawings the (european style) couplers are missing altogether.
I am not very competent about belgian locos, more so about french and german ones.
Some observations:
- is/are european continental outline locos
- various details look to me as german styled
- a detail on the buffers is typically french
- US/western style cowcatcher added

You can use whatever wheel arrangement you wish, as it's not possible to see it from the drawings.
If you wish to do something realistic/possible, for an american fast steam loco,  I'd suggest using a front bogie, not a single axle like in the Mogul, and a not driven axle under the firebox. So the wheels could be 4-6-2 or 4-4-2. US railrods used 2 driven axles longer than in Europe for light fast passenger trains.
ADDENDUM: form the left lowermost drawing in page 40, it's possible to see that the driven axles are only 2.
No connecting rods in either direction from the 2 shown! Apart from the fact that the one visible ends in mid-air.
I'd use a bigger tender then the Mogul, a 4 axles (2 bogies) one is necessary.

[Old Wombat]

Could be this:



Wikipedia doesn't list a "Type 5" Belgian train; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SNCB/NMBS_classes

[zenrat]

IMO the fact that there isn't a clear picture of the whole locomotive is an advantage as no-one will be able to say you got it wrong.

[loupgarou]

@ Old Wombat: could be. It has many similarities. It looks like a german-built loco, possibly gone to Belgium as war damages after WW1. Lot of german locos went all over Europe.
BTW, from the photo it's possible to see the belgian class number: 60.
The  (german) P8/Br 38 is very similar, in Belgium had the class number 64. (from a quick check on wiki)

BUT, BUT, IMO, as I wrote, the Tintin loco has only 2 driving axles, not 3.

[Old Wombat]

The more I look at the Tintin images the more I think we're looking at an amalgam of trains Hergé had seen over his lifetime.

For example:

Prussian P 8 (wheel arrangement 2-6-0) - Belgium had 168 of these;


NMBS/SNCB Type 29 (wheel arrangement 2-8-0) - built post-WW2 in Canada & the USA for  National Railway Company of Belgium;

[strobez]

Ok... so those of you who actually know something about trains may want to look away now... fair warning. 

So my bag of random Airfix trains showed up today. After some forensic detective work, I've discovered I ALMOST have a complete BR Mogul... minus one of the main undercarriage plates. It might not be perfect, but I think I can scratch up something to serve as a replacement. The kit was part of a "blind" eBay purchase that I was hopeful would land me a couple of very affordable couple of train kits. It ALMOST worked, since the Mogul was the one I was really after, and I got 99% of the kit (albeit with the coal car partially, and rather poorly, already assembled).

The gamble paid off I think, because despite not quite getting all the Mogul, for less than half the price of a boxed kit, I now also have a complete kit for a Airfix Harrow... along with 50% or more of second spare parts one, as well as one bag of maybe 1/3 of some train kit bits.

I took a chance on buying "whatever's in this bag" because, I plan to cobble together the train a bit and hedged my bets that there would be enough parts to make it work. It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't a challenge, right? 

[NARSES2]

That kit takes me back 

[loupgarou]

Quite annoying that a main side frame was missing, but I see you were very quick in preparing a replacement. 

[PR19_Kit]

Ok... so those of you who actually know something about trains may want to look away now... fair warning. 

So my bag of random Airfix trains (= 'locomotives', 'trains' consist of a number of railway vehicles coupled together, the device that pulls the train is a 'locomotive' or just 'loco') showed up today. After some forensic detective  work, I've discovered I ALMOST have a complete BR Mogul... minus one of the main undercarriage plates (= frame).It might not be perfect, but I think I can scratch up something to serve as a replacement. The kit was part of a "blind" eBay purchase that I was hopeful would land me a couple of very affordable couple of train (=loco) kits. It ALMOST worked, since the Mogul was the one I was really after, and I got 99% of the kit (albeit with the coal car (='tender') partially, and rather poorly, already assembled).

The gamble paid off I think, because despite not quite getting all the Mogul, for less than half the price of a boxed kit, I now also have a complete kit for a Airfix Harrow... along with 50% or more of second spare parts one, as well as one bag of maybe 1/3 of some train kit bits.

I took a chance on buying "whatever's in this bag" because, I plan to cobble together the train a bit and hedged my bets that there would be enough parts to make it work. It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't a challenge, right? 

Tut, tut, a SERIOUS failure of nomenclature there, more than one in fact. See my corrections above. 

But VERY good work on the new frame for the Mogul, most impressive.