Dave Shick reviews Wings and Wheels' book about the Dampflok BR 86 locomotive.



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Thanks!

Dear Bill.
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to add to the comments on this otherwise absolutely fabulous book about the BR 86. I am a professional photographer and the pictures in this book are top-rate, technically speaking. I have been involved in researching a number of projects, ranging from the small (machine guns), via the medium (a Messerschmidt 108), to the big, a full size steam locomotive. The aim was always to show the relationship between the object of interest in the picture and its surroundings. This was achieved in most cases through the use of a lens with as wide as possible a field of view, and also by avoiding extreme perspective, in other words, by keeping the views as flat as practically possible. This becomes of course a serious problem in a confined space such as a cockpit of an aircraft, or as in this case, the cabin of a steam engine. In the book under review I got the distinct impression, especially in the shots of the cabin, that the angle of view could have been wider. The (alas unavoidable) use of flashlight leads to all sorts of complications, picture-wise, with black shadows, which can make it difficult to determine exactly what belongs to what.
Kit makers have to make some sacrifices as far as the accuracy of their products is concerned, for whatever reason. This, however is not a complaint. Without the need to constantly correcting and completely scratch building, I doubt whether I would be doing any modelling at all.
Where the absence of numbered dimensions was the hardest felt was when I was trying to figure out the precise shape of the compressor and the feed pump. I am making these comments because in the end I (and possibly everybody) had to build practically everything from scratch. When you think about it, the purpose of the book must have been to enable us modellers to improve on the parts supplied in the kit, but by not giving us actual dimensions, they failed in that sense.
I realize that supplying measurements of an entire steam locomotive would be a little too much, even to think about. There are, however, a number of things inj the construction of the locomotive, which are actually a standard size (flanges come in only a very limited range of sizes, of not only just two, and pipes are also limited to two or three diameters). Knowing the actual size of such details, makes it possible to make drawings of whatever has to be built. As it is, I am forever scaling things up and down from adjoining parts of which the dimension is known (such as the wheels, or can be reasonably guessed at, by comparing them with for instance, the boiler diameter, if this shows clearly enough in the photograph). Including just a hand ful of measurements of key elements would only have been a little impost on the total scope of the book, but they would have really made all the difference. They would have made an already fabulous book, the book that any serious modeller would want to have in his possession, and would have made possible a standard of modelling up until now only dreamt of.
As it happens, I have just today finished my build of the BR 86, after a solid nine months slog, hearing about the then new issue last May (2010).
Should you be interested, I will send a photograph of the finished, product, together with a shot of the BR 52, which was built without the help of anything that could be called sophisticated, photographically speaking, because your book No 1 came out too late.
I am sort of staying away from any great involvement with my computer, not wanting to waste any time that can be spent building something, but with the help of an assortment of grandchildren, an spurred on by Modelgeek itself, I am sure I can send you an interesting series of pictures, made possible by this book.

Yours sincerely,

Pieter Stroethoff

Did you happen to find Libor's build of the BR86. This dude is manic about detail. I've bought several of his "spares" and am working up the courage to start my BR86.

http://www.mymodelplace.eu/135-Trumpeter-BR-86-Dampflokomotive.html

Pieter, we would very much love to have you upload photos here of your build. While trains were an essential component of Wehrmacht logistics, relatively few modelers spend time building them.

Thanks to Dave for reviewing this book, which while not ideal for modelers, brings further understanding of the topic.