TU4 Finished

As usual it took far longer to get the TU4 model on the worktable and some work done. I last worked on the loco in August closing up the upper body and frame and getting a good fit with the lower frame part holding the bogies.

The tiny TU4-1135 is finished and photographed on a white background. 

One thing keeping me away from the task before me was probably the myriad of tiny etched metal parts to be fitted including steps, hand rails and door handles. During the Christmas holidays I bit the bullet and began drilling holes for the handrails, thinking that they were the largest parts and would provide me with some confidence if I succeedded with them. With some careful work I got the handrails removed from the etched fret and mounting them on the loco with AC glued went resonably trouble free. Footsteps under the cab doors were next and I finished off with the characteristic 'red banner' insignias on the bonnet tops. I decided to omit the door handles as they are probably a bit beyound my current abilities in H0 scale. 

The handrails were fitted in many different ways on TU4's during the years depending on model, owners' preferences and the wear and tear the locomotives were invariably victims of. Consequently there is no 'right' way of fitting e.g. the front handrails. Where I had drilled to mount the handrails I had to do some filling as my smallest drill was a bit oversize. This proces didn't work out to my full satisfaction and I'm getting a good supply of tiny drills for my next 1/87 scale project.  

Handrails are being installed - fiddly work that was seriously challenging my 1/19 scale accustomed eyes and fingers. No major disasters, but please don't look too closely on the finished model! 

K-Models has not included buffers in the kit, probably thinking that you'll fit some of your own choise. As my TU4 is going to be a static model I looked for some really good buffers of the standard Soviet type to fit. I found them in the RTM kit of the TU7. I plan to build the TU7 as an operating model and it will consequently have standard H0e couplings fitted, making its kit supplied buffers redundant. The buffers are 3D printed to a very high level of detail. Once I had removed the printing supports I was astonished to find that the chains actually worked! It's a testemony to the level that 3D printing has progressed to when you can have tiny coupling chains in 1/87 scale work directly out of the printer. The buffers were AC glued into holes drilled in the cut-outs in the loco's front.

Assembly of TU4 locos at Kambarka Engineering Works. The centre engine could be TU4-1851 judging by the chalked on number above the buffer. To the right possibly a TU5 (a slightly heavier and faster version of the TU4) during construction. Archive image.

When I had finished working on the body of the loco I added a scratch built centre mounted gearbox between the bogies. Two rectangular pieces of 2 mm thick plasticard and two circular shapes punched out of thinner plastic were glued together, sanded to shape and stuck on with AC-glue. It's nothing more than a coarse approximation built after prototype photos. I also added a few pipes for compressed air and hydraulic oil from thin wire. Not much of this will probably be viewable once the finished model is placed on an overgrown track on a future diorama.

Construction is finished and the model now awaits priming and painting.

After construction and sanding the worst glue marks, the window openings were masked and the loco primed with my usual 'Chaos Black' primer and painted green with red trim and orange handrails. I used Vallejo Air 71.134 'Imperial Japanese Army Medium Green' for the body's main green colour and 70.946 'Dark Red' for front skirts and frame trim. For the orange handrails I went with 70.910 'Orange Red' from Vallejo. From prototype images it seems that the roof is usually painted in the same colour as the body and so I left the roof in green and will rely on the weathering to make it stand out.

Halfway through air brushing the green I took this snapshot of the TU4 on my painting turntable from IKEA.

A few days later and details have been picked out in contrasting colours to convey a little of the characteristic colourfulness many TU4's locos displayed.

Before adding the kit supplied decals for TU4-1135 I gave the the decal locations a layer of gloss varnish to help the decals to lay down well on the surface. In 1/87 scale the decals are quite small and particularly the decal above the front coupling took some careful work to position more or less correctly. As usual I used Mr. Hobby decal solutions for best possible application of the small decals.

When the decals were in place I weathered the locomotive lightly. I'm building the TU4 as a non-operational loco that have been recently withdrawn from traffic. Hence no missing parts due to cannibalisation or heavy rust. I used my usual combination of oil washes, Vallejo weathering paints and dust spraying with the air brush. I restrained myself as much as possible as I figured I could easily overdo the weathering in this small scale. Once I was resonably satisfied with the weathering I added the kit glazing to the windows. As I had built a rudimentary instrument panel in the cab, the front glazing had to be slightly converted to fit. Fortunately I had done this in advance when access to the cab was easy. The side glazing had to be separated into two single pieces on both sides due to my way of fitting the cab handrails (the etchings were cut over length and protrudes into the cab), disturbing fitting of the original glazing. I glued the clear parts in place with 'Mikro Kristal Klear' that dries completly clear.  

Left side view of the TU4. Considering it has a length of roughly 9 cm I'm rather pleased with the result. This isn't exactly 1/19 large scale modelling!  

Right hand view of TU4 1135. The scratch built gearbox is just visible behind the air resevoirs.

With the TU4 finished I have reached the final milestone of an assembly process that I started in July 2024. I have been doing a lot of other modelling projects while working on the TU4. I have finished e.g. 3 skips and the Fowler loco in 1/19, completed basic landscaping on the layout as well as finishing a H0e MD54-2. Now I will turn my attention to a loco in 1/19 scale. No less daunting, but more in tune with what I usually model.

Most recently finished loco 'dumped' in the ballast with the next project on track! A rebuild of my Accucraft Baguley-Drewry is next on the list.

The 1/19 Baguley-Drewry locomotive is wider than the 1/87 TU4 is long. My eyes will be less tested on the Baguley project!

Summer Modelling TU4

Dedicated followers of this blog will probably recognise the checkered table cloth. A sure sign that I'm vacationing in the cottage and holiday modelling. And that's just what I am! For a change I have brought a 1/87 scale kit to assemble to the best of my abilities. The small size is perfect for bringing away from the house, but the tiny parts are quite challenging. Nevertheless I press on and hope to have the kit more or less finished once my vacation is over.

Assembly of the K-Model's TU4 in resin with etched metal details. I forgot my travel size cutting mat, but in the cottage we're never short of a scrap of wood to use as a substitute. 

The TU4-kit comes without instructions for assembly. Not the biggest of problems as the number of parts is pretty small. It is probably the placing of the tiny etched metal parts where the missing instructions will annoy me the most. The kit supplies parts for a static loco only and I'm keeping the model that way. No experiments with tiny H0e mechanisms this time!

TU4 bogies with wheels and gauge adjusting shims fitted. A small casting fault on one flange probably won't be noticed once the model is fitted on a small diorama. 

I began by sanding away flash on the parts from the frame and bogies. I then AC-glued the front skirts to the frame part and test fitted a pair of wheels on the stub axles on a bogie casting. The gauge didn't quite match 9 mm so I drilled and cut four shims to add on the axle subs. As I was away from my stash of all sorts of plasticcard pieces I couldn't find a piece thin enough to add on both sides of the bogie. The obtain a decent fit in the track, the shims were placed crosswise on each bogie. Once the bogie sides were superglued on bogie assembly incl. wheels I drilled chassis and bogies for M2 bolts for safe and flexible mounting. This will allow for realistically posing the loco on both curved and straight H0e track.

Two models from K-Model next to each other. The TU4 is still mostly unglued and only assembled to test how the major parts fit. The TU4 is 88 mm over the frame ends, while the PD-1 is 75 mm over the buffers. My 1/19 Baguley-Drewry is wider than the TU4 is long. Must get a photo of them together!

After removing flash from the upper body I closed the openings from cab to the two bonnets and installed very a rudimentary instrument panel. It's built from plasticcard and I'm not claiming any accuracy as it's all built from pictures showing only part of the construction. Not much will be seen through the windows anyway. The cab interior was primed and then brush painted a medium grey.

As I had the black primer out, I primed the bogies as well and brush painted them dark grey with wheels being given a layer of rust colour.

It's beginning to look like a TU4. It looks like I will have to build a gear box protruding down between the air tanks.

I have been working out the remaining assembly and painting process and next is some major work on the body. The upper body will be glued to the frames. A range of small parts must be attached, mostly photo etched parts of a frightening small size. Very interesting work coming up!

TU4 Diesel Locomotive in 1/87 Scale

My little adventure exploring Soviet narrow gauge in 1/87 scale continues to haunt me. I have aquired Peco H0e track and points for a small diorama, mining equipment in H0f and now a resin kit of the classic Soviet narrow gauge diesel locomotive TU4 has arrived from Ukraine.

TU4-2620 at the Peregruzochnaya 'Station' on the Pishchalskoye peat line in Kirov Oblast, 2018. Photo: Igor Kaisin.

As the PD-1 draisines the TU4 is a kit from K-Model in Kyiv via eBay. 'Haven't Ukrainians more urgent things to do than making resin kits of narrow gauge locomotives these days?' many may ask. Yes, there is a war going on, but Ukraine is a huge country and the economy is still working despite difficulties like temporary power shortages and more than a million men and women in the military. Pubs were open in Britain during the 'Blitz' so obviously miniature models can be produced in Ukraine during wartime, too. 

The TU4 kit is unmotorised and cast in good quality resin. There are small amounts of flash to be cleaned away, but nothing a semi-experienced modeller can't handle. I have found no warping or air bubbles in the castings. Most of the parts are quite small as can be expected in 1/87 scale. I'm quite sure it is possible to motorise the model using a N-scale diesel mechanism. My plans for the kit have yet to be formulated, but most likely the kit will end up a static model on a siding on a small mining diorama.

The kit's cardboard box. Although sold by K-Model it says SK Trains on the box lid.

The box contains three zip-lock bags with parts.

The major parts laid out on the cutting mat. The loco is shorter than a logging bogie in 1/19 scale!

Loco body and frame. Nice clean castings with very thin flash to be removed.

The first TU4 was built in 1962 (first prototype built 1958) at the Kambarka Engineering Works (КМЗ, Камбарский машиностроительный завод) in the Soviet Union. 3210 TU4 locomotives were produced until 1974, most of them in the Soviet standard narrow gauge 750 mm. The locomotives were (and are still) used on many narrow-gauge railways serving industries like logging, peat extraction and minerals. Regular narrow gauge lines in Ukraine had TU4 locos in service into the beginning of the 21. century.

TY4-1417 in a configuration looking very much like the K-Model resin kit. Image from USSR, 1970's.

With a production that size a number of changes occured to the design and 4 major subtypes of TU4 locos has been identified. It's mostly subtle external differences, like window shape, placement of headlights etc. and due to rebuilds and swapping parts at repairs there are often many individual differencies. The K-Model kit seems to be of a mid-production TU4 differring clearly from the first 200 produced and the last 1000, some of which had a TU5 cab.

TU4 production was distributed all over the Soviet Union and lately examples have been exported to vintage railways in e.g. Finland and Sweden. Here is Östra Södermanlands Järnväg's no 21 imported from the Haivoron line in Ukraine and rebuilt/regauged to 600 mm. Here shunting at Mariefred Station in 2023.

The kit parts go back in the box as I currently haven't time for yet another project. But I like to know the kit is safely in my stash for the future. One never knows with small kit companies, particularly those located in countries attacked by Russia.