Wind Powered Water Pump

Image from
http://www.wikimedia.org

Cliddesden station had a wind powered water pump. The clearest picture of the pump I can find on the internet is shown to the right. Further investigation revealed it was a John Wallis Titt "Simplex". Surprisingly  a lot of information about the wind pump can be found around the internet, such as it's got a 20ft wind wheel, 48 canvas sails, each being 5ft long etc. On further investigation we found that a similar wind pump has in fact been recently restored to working order, in a small village called Crux Easton, this is in fact only 30 minutes drive from Cliddesden. Hopefully we'll make a visit soon, to gather some more knowledge. More information about this wind pump can be found here: http://www.hampshiremills.org/Mills%20Crux%20Easton.htm and a picture of it from google maps, shown below:

Unfortunatly we could not find an exact model replica in N gauge. As the structure would have been a little fiddly to build from scratch. We opted to buy a kit which is as closer match we could find available on the internet - in fact the only thing similar in the kit is the tower, but it acted as a good basis and it conveys the atmosphere, and structure of the prototype, until I pluck up the courage to make it from scratch or find a ready built Simplex. In order to make it resemble Titts wind pump we done a few little modifications.

The kit we used was a  Scale Link WIND POW`D WATER-PUMP KIT (Reference #SNF008), available here: http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Scale_1_152_160__N____Echelle_1_160__N_.html
Here is a little review
Scale Link were incredibly responsive to emails, they seemed willing to help and supply photos when requested. The ordering online was simple, and arrived within a few days of purchase. On to building. The instructions were witty and relatively comprehensive, the comment "be careful with the glue or you and your model will become one", made me chuckle as it almost came true! The fret was cut out from the frame using sharp nail scissors and any accessible rough edges were rubbed down with fine wet and dry paper (without wetting). That was the relatively easy bit, next came glueing. Using super glue and a cocktail stick, and a few pairs of hands, we applied a thin bead on each joint, starting with the frame sides. The platform was bent into shape using tweezers, and glued in place. The platform is supplied with a barrier, but as you can see, the prototype did not, so we omitted them from our model. The kit was supplied with a flat fin tail, as you can clearly see the real life picture of the wind pump above, it had a smaller canvas sail wheel. Using a bit of left over brass fret we fashioned our own smaller wind wheel. The main wheel in the model is a lot smaller than the real life prototype, but for the moment it'll do. We even managed to make it spin freely. The fret seemed to be a smaller scaled version of a larger model. This was apparent when trying to fit the supplied rod, no matter how hard we tried it would not fit in the supplied "designated" holes, a bit of thin wire sorted that problem. A lick of paint later and the wind pump was finished.

scale comparision against 5p coin, unpainted

Finished paint wind pump, next to water tower

All in all it was a nice sunday afternoon project, although requires a bit of patience and skill the model does look impressive and was worth it in the end.

back of wind pump, colour and black and white

A similar picture to the original (at the top) showing the back of the wind pump, in colour on the left and mimicking the original black and white slightly fuzzy picture on the right.

- Ed