Click here to buy on shapeways
A while ago I was browsing about the internet procrastinating when I stumbled across a photo of a small newly built German loco named Leo70. Though 600mm gauge, it was small enough to have been built to 18" gauge, and the chassis looked a good bet for the ever faithful fleischmann 7000. After collecting a few photos I decided to try and find out who had built it, and drew a bit of a blank. I did find a firm called FEBALOK who build small locos in a variety of sizes which look very similar to Leo70, particularly the Feba 70 model. The names seemed too close to be a conincedence, so I emailled FEBALOK, and they very kindly sent me drawings for the Feba 40, 70 and 140 to add to the Feba 30 drawings I'd found posted on a forum. There are a couple of detail differences (most obviously the bunker) between the Feba70 drawings and Leo70, but the dimensions matched the photos perfectly, and scaled to 1/45 the wheelbase is only 0.3mm different to the fleischmann chassis, whilst the wheel size and cylinders matched perfectly.
Being a more modern construction, there aren't so many rivets to worry about on this loco, just a few on the sides of the smokebox, and a line around the waistline of the cab where the two panels join. The whistle, Bell and cab fittings are modelled, but the steam pipes will need to be added in wire using the many photos of Leo70 on the net as a guide. I'm planning on trying some old guitar strings, as I often use them for lagged pipes.
Compared to the Sipat, this is a simpler model to finish. The only chassis modeifications needed are to remove the buffers and the front bufferbeam where it projects from the chassis at the sides.
For advice on getting a smoother surface finish on your loco body, please look at the Sipat page, there is quite a bit of detail there.
As always, let me know how you get on if you buy one of these!
Here are a couple of links to good detail photos of the prototype: 1 2
Click this link to see a very nicely finished example of the Brack Models Leo70 by Moin Moin, this one from as far afield as Japan!
Being a more modern construction, there aren't so many rivets to worry about on this loco, just a few on the sides of the smokebox, and a line around the waistline of the cab where the two panels join. The whistle, Bell and cab fittings are modelled, but the steam pipes will need to be added in wire using the many photos of Leo70 on the net as a guide. I'm planning on trying some old guitar strings, as I often use them for lagged pipes.
Compared to the Sipat, this is a simpler model to finish. The only chassis modeifications needed are to remove the buffers and the front bufferbeam where it projects from the chassis at the sides.
For advice on getting a smoother surface finish on your loco body, please look at the Sipat page, there is quite a bit of detail there.
As always, let me know how you get on if you buy one of these!
Here are a couple of links to good detail photos of the prototype: 1 2
Click this link to see a very nicely finished example of the Brack Models Leo70 by Moin Moin, this one from as far afield as Japan!