Building A Prop Replica - Thomas And Friends

  I’m currently in California so no more work on Fergus for now I’m afraid. I am however, researching what I can do to him to made it look good. I’m checking with some Twitter users who know more about the behind the scenes of Thomas and Friends better than I. ThomasTankMerch, TomsProps, and I’ve even gone to the Thomas and Friends Fandom wiki. Not sure how I want to go about painting it. I’m think that I’ll hand paint everything but the main body. I.e., the wheels, funnel, flywheel, etc. The concept art that was drawn for Fergus before the original model was made says that his blue is called “Reflex Blue C”, but after looking around the internet, the closest thing I can get is “Patriotic Blue”. It’s like $6 for a can so it’s not very expensive. I’m also looking to the 3D printing service Shapeways for possible assistance. They print things very accurately with almost no sanding necessary. I’m thinking about getting the flywheel printed by them, along with the coupling hooks and ...

I’ve been thinking about making this replica for a while now, but until recently, I had no idea how I would be able to construct this model. It was a an completely custom mode by the original crew, so unless I knew someone who could design one to be 3D printed, then I was kind of out of luck. But about a week ago, a person on Twitter by the name of Jamostrainos released files for a gauge one Fergus replica. I immediately downloaded the files and got to work printing. I haven’t printed all of the pieces yet, some may be too big for now, but I have wheels, buffers, and other small pieces printed. Still not sure who I can commission to design the faces though.    (This takes place on March 4th)

Everyone’s heard of the show Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends, an animated show about talking trains and their adventures, but what some people might not know, is that for the first few seasons of it, they were actually just filming really big model trains. They eventually switched to CGI animation, but before that, there was a whole mess of work that went on behind the curtain. They had to custom build every single model in the show. These things were massive compared to most model trains. One of the smallest engines was about 11 inches long and 5 inches tall. Sometimes these models each cost several thousand dollars to make. I could get into the specifics of it, but this isn’t what I’m writing a blog for. I am going to be making, a full-sized replica of Fergus the Traction Engine.  This model will be 3D printed in parts, sanded, painted, assembled, and after a lot of work, possibly some wiring too, I will have a prop replica of my favorite character, from my favorite show! (I...