Ruston ZLH

The Ruston Proctor ZLH locomotive is another interesting little narrow gauge locomotive I fancied. They were built in 1918, before the merger with Hornsby. I'm quite a fan of Rustons, so when I saw this on Shapeways, I had to have it!

Painted and awaiting varnish and windows

This is a 3D Printed model as body only. It is designed to fit on the Kato N Gauge 11-103 chassis, a popular choice for 009 gauge a a good little chassis. The chassis simply clips in!

The model with front and rear beams added.

The Kato 11-103 chassis with couplings removed.

Printed in what Shapeways call Strong white flexible material, it will be the first 3D Printed model I've attempted to complete (I do have a CIE B113 Class body lurking around!). The model has a somewhat grainy feel to it, but I am assured a couple of coats of primer will produce a good finish.

There is a hole in the cab area for some reason. Maybe it couldn't be printed? So, I am busy adding the interior detail making sure it clears the chassis, so a little compromise will be needed here. Some Narrow Planet Buffing Blocks are on order and will be fitted in due course.

Hopefully this will be a fairly quick and easy model to build, as it says on the website!

After a lot of priming and rubbing down, I eventually got to an acceptable finish to paint. Additional detailing such as riveted strapping, footsteps and axleboxes have been added.