John Fowler & Co. Steeplechaser 1877 – a glorious failure.
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The Fowler Steeplechaser was a one-off experimental traction engine. The 12 foot (3.66m) wheels were intended to reduce the ground pressure and give better propulsion in soft soil. Surprise surprise it proved to be too clumsy to be useful. As soon as I saw a photo of it I started working out how to build it. To me that's as close as it gets to love at first sight…. Incidentally, the only thing I didn't scratch-build was the steering wheel and the dog.
One of the reason I don't build ship models is because they take waaaaaay too long….I started this six months ago. Admittedly there was a couple of months when virtually no modelling was done and it was nearly binned a couple of times for various reasons.
As only two photos exist of the beast, much of the mechanical gubbins is down to 'best guess' – which can be a problem if you don't know anything about traction engines, but as I like to say….If you're talking rubbish, say it with confidence and everyone will think you know what you're talking about.
The odds are it should really be painted all black. History can be a bit dull at times, but fortunately I'm here to make amends with a much nicer colour. No need to thank me, well you can if you want. 🙂
I didn't want to mock up a side by side view of the model and the original as I didn't want it to become a spot-the-difference game (which tells you immediately that I tried it and there's enough differences for it to be too embarrassing to post 😳 ). So, just like my Robey Steamer, think of it 'in the flavour of' rather than a 100% accurate depiction.
The dog represents my recently departed, much missed pup Ella.
This is the build log: scalemates.com/profi..109633&i=107#107
During the build I've mentioned my Robey Steamer: scalemates.com/profi..bums&album=53583
