# Thomas gets "the treatment" total de-anthropomorphication



## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Got Thomas, poor Thomas, he didnt even make it out of the shop without having his face bartered away.









Here he is with new Chief Mechanic Homer





Using the same Face-ectomy technics learned on Percy, a short stand at the workbench ended thus:





This time using a brass Trackside Details smokebox door. took forever to sand the styrene round to fit right, now onto the cab


PS after complaints about Cheif Mechanic Jigsaw were investigated he was subsequently discovered to have a rather disturbing past and as such was let go and is now working as an Chief Executive at NBC.










Besides Homer works for donuts


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Painted 










Added air compressor to the front of the tank 



















Next comes adding the footplate 










Should add, to replace the face on Thomas, unlike Percy, its necessary to remove the eye moving mechanism as it sticks about a 1/8inch beyond the boiler face, its only 4 screws.


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## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

Nice job Vic! I do have to admit i like the looks and color of Percy though. I'm pretty sure my 4 y/o would stroke out if he saw what u did to them. 

thanks for sharing. 
Terry


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

It's fun to watch the "deanthropomorphication" of Thomas and Percy! I, too, liked how Percy came out. Thomas is going to be a bit more complicated though it would seem... What I mean is that Thomas really _is_ rather cartoonish! Making him into a credible switcher will be a real interesting project!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

I think a "de-bluing" would be a big step. Just too obvious who it is!


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

will there be weathering?


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

For right now it will stay blue, but I am thinking about repainting it, black or brown like the Bluebell Rwy "Stepney" ...thing is it repaintint it would really need pinstripping and I hate doing pinstripping decals as I'm terrible at them.


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## DKRickman (Mar 25, 2008)

Don't know how hard it would be, but.. 
I think lowering the footplate and everything above would help the overall look, and lose a lot of the cartoonishness. The splashers sit too far above the wheels.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

That might be very hard to do given the motor block fits under the running plate and the body shell sits on top, better solution might be to remove the splash gaurds, they really are not needed and it would look alot more like the prototype:


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Oooh, a LB&SCRy scheme, one of the best put on any steamer IMO. If you look closely, the scheme is more of a mustard and brown:


http://www.lbscr.demon.co.uk/photos/Waddon-54.html


Natural for "Thomas" anyhow, isn't he influenced by one of their engines? Unfortunately, I don't think their freight/shunt engines were as quite as nicely painted.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeah, unfortunately not as pretty:

http://www.lbscr.demon.co.uk/livery...#Locos1911
1905-1911 

*Express Passenger* classes were umber edged with a darker shade of umber and lined with a black band having a gilt line either side. Tender sides had "L B & S C R" in gilt block letters shaded in black. Buffer beams were red with similar style lettering for the number. Numberplates were carried.


From 1906 a few locomotive were allowed to carry names.


*Secondary passenger* and *suburban tank* locomotives were similar but used yellow instead of gilt lining. Number plates were gradually discarded and replaced with transfer numbers.


*Goods* classes were a deep glossy black with two lines of vermillion lining. All lettering was yellow shaded in red and white. Vermillion was used for buffer beams and infill for the numberplates. Number plates were gradually discarded and replaced with transfer numbers.
1911 to the Grouping 

Liveries remained largely as before except the lettering was now "L B S C". After 1921 black was discontinued for goods classes. The model of Remembrance in the National Railway Museum at York shows the express passenger livery.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Pics dont show how much has been changed, cut of the front splashers, added a sheet styrene cover over the remaining gap where it was cut, added a pair of airtanks (ex-MDC Big Hustler mufflers) onto the footplate:








Does a fair bit to further change the appearance away from the kiddy show, working on the backhead now, very tight space, its been more a bit a pain that the red striped catapiller was.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Progress:



New backhead in place










Crew added, tight quarters










side opening cut out, side grabbars added


















Added additional panels under the footplate to fill it out and make it less toylike
I do beleive its finished


















Thomas has attracted a couple railfans










All thats left is new nameplates, and maybe a new coat of paint, but till it warms up a bit and is easier to paint here, I'll keep the color as is.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I really like what you've done, but to me it really screams for re-paint to get away from that awful blue. Just my opinion.


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

I agree, CSX blue much better.............


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## Mark L Horstead (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm curious about what you are aiming for with this bash. 

North American smokebox door with British latch mechanism, North American appliances added to a British outline locomotive...


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## dawgnabbit (Jan 2, 2008)

Vic,

You've been out "picking up some chicks" again, I see.









Interesting bash. 


Dawg


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Mark L Horstead on 06 Feb 2010 01:36 AM 
I'm curious about what you are aiming for with this bash. 

North American smokebox door with British latch mechanism, North American appliances added to a British outline locomotive... 

You use the materials at hand, and a little license. I had both brass parts on hand

I did alot of research and from the photos I saw indeed quite a few late steamers had smokebox dogs along with the latch, I suspect they were retrofits after rebuilds to help keep the smokebox doors tight as the british version of a latch was only effective on small boilers, the bigger they got the more north american practices they used. The air cylinder is straight off the photo of the prototype engine I used, late engines were also required to use air brakes and so while the dogs are a bit of license the pump placement came right from the horses mouth so to say. 

What I'm "aiming" for is a* reasonable* looking British profile engine that will look good pulling a string of english cars that would look more at home in Southampton than Sodor. I will most likey I will have to repaint the engine to anything other than Thomas Blue but thats another project in its own right and its too cold to do that right now.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Actually, a constructive comment, but the smokebox door never looked 100% in my eyes, but for me it was more the smallish size than details. 

Regardless, keep up the good work, he looks better and better. 

I wonder if Bachmann either do Duck (GWR 57 class tank) or Douglas, a Caledonian 812 class 0-6-0 tender loco....


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I the smokebox ends up bugging me I can always pop the plate off and replace with a newer one, which I might do if I find a way to make it look more like the b&w photo above, but for now I can live with it. 

Discussion about next Thomas release items on the Bmann forum most likely will be either James or Toby.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Vic-


One idea, I think Plastruct do some round/flat caps, but no luck on the online cataglog finding such? I have seen such somewhere. Regardless see my comment as a suggestion for continued improvement and not critical, as this is how it is intended.


Anyho, Toby makes sense, that could also see a lot of non Thomas sales. GER tram loco. Would look the part in a typical G railway.
James never made sense to me, a check of The Google on The Internets shows that he is a real hodge-podge of things, but is a bastardized L&YR Class 28 0-6-0 as some were converted to 2-6-0s. Also, reportedly some influcence of the G&SWR "Austrian" class.

May we live in interesting times.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I'd have to check aroud for Plastruct stuff. 

James is most likely next, If James is next, if I get one I will convert it to an 0-6-0, lots of still running examples to reference. We'll see come National Toy Fair what the Bachmann announces.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice touch Vic but I think Thomas maybe a bit up set now that he can not see where he is going. Better do a repaint and loose the Tomas image and he may feel better. later RJD


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By vsmith on 06 Feb 2010 11:32 AM 
I'd have to check aroud for Plastruct stuff. Here ya' go, may save some time.

Plastruct:
[*] ABS Flat Cap[/b]
[*] ABS Flanged Cap[/b]
[*] Clear Acrylic Dished Domes[/b]
[*] Elliptical Domes[/b]

[/list]


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