Charon
Active Member
Building the new and re-building the old.
This all started with the conversion of a Hornby Dublo Cardiff Castle to ‘finescale’. It may have been converted from 3 rail as well but I can’t remember now.
I cut my loco building teeth on the usual Kays and Wills whitemetal kits. The first was a 94xx on a Triang chassis fitted with Hamblings brass wheels (finescale but crude by today’s standards) then the 14xx, 57xx, Saint, 52xx and a 4-4-0 County kits.
4003 'Lode Star' (with missing nameplate)
3822 'County of Brecon'
I learnt to solder and tried my hand with an early Jamieson ‘handcut’ kit in pressed nickel-silver which turned out as a pretty dire looking thing! Well, you have to learn somewhere. ‘Scratch aids’ as many have called them but a lot better than trying to cut my own in a hamfisted manner.
What really started it was the acquisition of a brass scratchbuilt GWR Manor and a Stanier 2-6-4T in brass (it has been suggested that this may or may not have been from a Hamblings brass kit similar in form to the Eames ones)
The Manor with a very basic 'old school' chassis bought in the late 60s from S.W Stevens-Stratten the editor of Model Railway Constructor. It was the very first 'finescale' brass scratchbuilt loco that I ever owned. It's quite nicely made for the time but needs a new cab, handrails and a decent chassis.
Stanier 3-cyl scratchbuilt on a solid brass chassis with H Dublo motion. A new Comet chassis will do nicely. This was one of the engines displaced from the LT&SR after electrification. One (2500) is preserved at the NRM.
The first not in whitemetal, was a Jamieson GWR 61xx which was only the basic body. I’ll probably build a Comet chassis for it in the not too distant future.
Jamieson 61xx. (note horrid safety valve cover. Quality then wasn't what we have today)
What kickstarted ‘the programme’ was the purchase of a P4 King which had a horrible and inaccurate Graham Farish cast lump of a body. This is being replaced with a Jamieson nickel body which needs a new s/valve cover and detailing. The chassis is superbly built in what’s thought to be using early ‘Protofour’ principles with working piston valves at the front of the cylinders. All in all a superbly engineered chassis. I would like to have known the builder. I intend to replace the cast cylinder assembly with an etched Comet version.
Next was a part-built 10xx County body which was quite nicely put together but will need a new safety valve cover and a lot of detailing and tweaking to get it looking right. At least it does have the right shaped cab and firebox unlike the Dapol body.
A new chassis will be built in P4.
The ‘piece-de-resistance’ was the recent acquisition of a part-built Malcolm Mitchell 43xx kit in P4 with Portescap and Ultrascales. A real delight is this one!
This is the beginning of a long programme that will take some time. The brass/nickel locos will all be finished in P4 and the whitemetal ones will remain in ‘00’ some of which will be for the planned 00-SF ‘Cambrian’ layout. Other projects like 'Balcombe' will have to take precedence so progress will be slow!
This all started with the conversion of a Hornby Dublo Cardiff Castle to ‘finescale’. It may have been converted from 3 rail as well but I can’t remember now.
I cut my loco building teeth on the usual Kays and Wills whitemetal kits. The first was a 94xx on a Triang chassis fitted with Hamblings brass wheels (finescale but crude by today’s standards) then the 14xx, 57xx, Saint, 52xx and a 4-4-0 County kits.
4003 'Lode Star' (with missing nameplate)
3822 'County of Brecon'
I learnt to solder and tried my hand with an early Jamieson ‘handcut’ kit in pressed nickel-silver which turned out as a pretty dire looking thing! Well, you have to learn somewhere. ‘Scratch aids’ as many have called them but a lot better than trying to cut my own in a hamfisted manner.
What really started it was the acquisition of a brass scratchbuilt GWR Manor and a Stanier 2-6-4T in brass (it has been suggested that this may or may not have been from a Hamblings brass kit similar in form to the Eames ones)
The Manor with a very basic 'old school' chassis bought in the late 60s from S.W Stevens-Stratten the editor of Model Railway Constructor. It was the very first 'finescale' brass scratchbuilt loco that I ever owned. It's quite nicely made for the time but needs a new cab, handrails and a decent chassis.
Stanier 3-cyl scratchbuilt on a solid brass chassis with H Dublo motion. A new Comet chassis will do nicely. This was one of the engines displaced from the LT&SR after electrification. One (2500) is preserved at the NRM.
The first not in whitemetal, was a Jamieson GWR 61xx which was only the basic body. I’ll probably build a Comet chassis for it in the not too distant future.
Jamieson 61xx. (note horrid safety valve cover. Quality then wasn't what we have today)
What kickstarted ‘the programme’ was the purchase of a P4 King which had a horrible and inaccurate Graham Farish cast lump of a body. This is being replaced with a Jamieson nickel body which needs a new s/valve cover and detailing. The chassis is superbly built in what’s thought to be using early ‘Protofour’ principles with working piston valves at the front of the cylinders. All in all a superbly engineered chassis. I would like to have known the builder. I intend to replace the cast cylinder assembly with an etched Comet version.
Next was a part-built 10xx County body which was quite nicely put together but will need a new safety valve cover and a lot of detailing and tweaking to get it looking right. At least it does have the right shaped cab and firebox unlike the Dapol body.
A new chassis will be built in P4.
The ‘piece-de-resistance’ was the recent acquisition of a part-built Malcolm Mitchell 43xx kit in P4 with Portescap and Ultrascales. A real delight is this one!
This is the beginning of a long programme that will take some time. The brass/nickel locos will all be finished in P4 and the whitemetal ones will remain in ‘00’ some of which will be for the planned 00-SF ‘Cambrian’ layout. Other projects like 'Balcombe' will have to take precedence so progress will be slow!