Loco kit recomendations

Alastair asked:
I currently model in 009, and would consider myself a fairly experienced kit builder - having built a lot of the Backwoods range including thier NG16 and part way through a stalled K1. Etched brass is great, whitemetal less so ! Quartering outside cranks doesn't scare me, nor does miniature valve gear.

The reason for the e-mail is that I really fancy building a 4mm standard gauge kit, but without knowing the market I'm weary of choosing something horrific and making an expensive mistake.

Have you any suggestions ?

Any manufacturers to be avoided ? Or recommended ? I'd love to build a Cambrian coast model one day so maybe a loco that worked on that. Or I quite like shunting locos...

I realise that this is quite an open question but I'd be interested in some pointers. I model 009 partly because I enjoy kit building so much, but I need a break from these tiny engines !

Good question ! Normally this runs along the lines of "Can you suggest a beginners kit..." but for a change we have an experienced modeller wanting a crack at something different. This leaves me with a lot of scope because by the sound of it, Alistair could probably make a good job of pretty much anything on the market. Let's face it, once you reach a certain proficiency with brass, you can take a rubbish kit, throw the contents of the box away and still make end up with a good model. It just takes longer that way.

So, where to start ? Well I don't know a lot about the Cambrian other that it's in Wales, GWR country. This means locos with tapered boilers which are a pain to form, not impossible but something with parallel sides is a whole lot easier. A bigger problem is that a lot of the locos you'll need will be available ready to run (If you are howling at your computer that this is wrong, then let me know via the comments section) and I find this a disincentive to get the soldering iron out as I know the results will be greeted with the question "Is it Hornby ?"

Which would tend to point me in the direction of shunting locos. The RTR makers have tended to leave these alone as the variety precludes the sort of sales required to make the model commercial viable. There are several possible ranges to look at but if you simply want a model that you can enjoy building, I'd suggest the High Level Models range. For your money you get a well designed kit with plenty of detail and enough challenges to satisfy the experienced builder - not the "bit doesn't fit and needs to be modified" challenges but the sort where care and a little patience is rewarded. Prices are slightly higher than most other ranges but I think this comes down to more extensive R&D and excellent instructions.

If you really must have something mainline, I'll first fall back on my usual suggestion of Craftsman Kits. A lot are suitable IMHO for beginners but they are good, solids, well designed models. Perhaps a bit more basic than some but you should be confident of ending up with a nice model at the end of the process. Be warned that nothing has been updated with the 1980's so you still get suggestions for DS10 motors whereas something from Mashima and a nice gearbox is a much better bet.

Alternatively I've some experience of stuff from London Road Models which is usually pretty good. Since their market is definitely the finescale, and therefore pretty gobby if they aren't happy, modeller you can be reasonably sure everything goes together.

Finally I'll give an honourable mention to Mercian Models whose kits are regular features in this blog. There's plenty of good kits in the range and the after sales service is second to none. Ruin a part and is will be replaced for you. I've seen this happen at shows and know it is appreciated by the more kack-handed amongst us !

Ranges to avoid ? Well this is much more difficult as what some people find a nightmare, others love. It can also be the case that experience with a single duff kit in a range will unfairly colour the attitude towards the rest. My best suggestion would be to look for anything designed in the last ten years. Standards started to rise in the 1980s but the last decade has seen increased use of CAD and higher standards of draughtsmanship. As I said earlier, every kit can be built but the process isn't always as fun as it should be. However some people will delight in saving themselves a few quid by assembling a horrid old bag of bits dug out from under a second hand stall even though it's consumed 2 years of the their modelling time and the results still aren't pretty or owe much to the purchased parts. If you are building for fun, spend the money and get something that you'll enjoy.

Hope this helps - let us know how you get on.

Making space for the motor

After lots of deliberation and quite a lot of time digging through pictures in book on trains, I've fitted the Bulldog cab interior as it comes in the kit. The only picture I found of a cab showed boxes the same length as the ones in the kit but a lot shorter. However Just Like the Real Thing make a 3F kit with boxes that look very similar. Working on the basis that Pete Waterman has a bigger library than I do, and that I don't have any hard reason to disbelieve the original designer of this kit, I've assumed he was right or at least as right as makes no odds.

With the sides and floor fitted, I hit another problem - the motor and gearbox wouldn't go in. Although it fits fine without filling the cab, to actually insert the thing, the 'box does have to take up space that it subsequently relinquishes again.

So, on the basis that this is supposed to be a working model, I had to make space elsewhere. The obvious thing to do is trim away the back end of the boiler. Initially I used small files but quickly realised that I needed something bigger and moved on to the minidrill and slitting disk. The motor used is quite tubby the hole is wider than I'd like but once on the track you won't see it.

Track planning

Track planning
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

Some people can draw track plans for model railways and some people can't. I fall into the last group. Micro layouts demand planning though and luckily I have just the thing to help me - a Hornby track planning set.

This consists of quarter scale plastic pieces of track that can be clipped together jigsaw style to quickly produce a scale plan. Draw your baseboard out on a bit of paper and you can try things out and then read off the part numbers should you wish to build from the Hornby range.

I find this sort of thing much more fun and a whole lot easier than using a computer program to do the same thing. Perhaps for complex layouts where the ability to virtually operate the model is useful, computers have their place but I much prefer templates. Plugging the bits of track into each other or messing around with point plans just seems more organic and natural to me and makes the process more enjoyable.

One thing the exercise has shown is just how small the box is. Some sort of removable fiddle yard/cassette looks to be essential if this model is to work. In the meantime I'm going to move on from the plastic bits and try some photocopied point plans in case the geometry of the SMP hand built track isn't the same as RTR Hornby. At least I have an idea of the challenge now.

International Model Boat Show 2009

Galaxie
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

Friday will be quiet we thought. It's the best day to go and have a look around.

WRONG

Friday was busy. Very busy indeed. The field that acts as a car park was surprisingly full by 11am, on hour after the show opened. Admittedly there wasn't a queue at the door but that's 'cos they were all inside already.

The show is the usual mix of boats on display, trade stands and a reasonable sized pond for models to exercise. Trade numbers were down this year (No Model Power, Scoonie or Reade Models, Anglia Model Centre plus at least one other I can't put a name to) which is possibly down to an increase in costs. There aren't any gaps of course, those spaces are filled with even more models. And BP Mouldings, a new trader to me, appeared to fill one space with a fantastic range of resin castings.

It might seem treacherous but I think the best club stand this year belongs to the Luton MBC who have actually built a stand in the shape of a boat complete with bridge. This must have taken a heck of a lot of work but looks great. Most of the displays are impressive but this club is obviously trying to give the lifeboats a run for thier money in the "best stand" competition !

There are too many superb models to describe but a couple that caught my eye were the Rother lifeboat made from a currently available Russian kit for an Oakley. Apparently the hull is very close and simply (!) scratch building a superstructure gives the more modern boat. I've one of these hulls in my stash and it's inspired me to have a go.

Best model of the show though has to go to the pictured French fishing boat which has appropriately, come from France, Bateux Modelisme Brestois to be precise. A large scale scratchbuilt mode is impressive enough but this has been put together by a real artist. While the construction is good, it's the excellent weathering and detail that brings the model to life. Various tools are casually tucked behind handrails, just as they would be in real life. Rust contaminates every seam and is running down the paintwork. I absolutely loved it.

You can find my photos on Flickr - I'll be adding to the gallery over the weekend.

The official web site for the show.

Update: Apparently the Friday crowds vanished by mid afternoon and the show was closed a bit early. On Saturday, the attendance didn't seem as great but arrived steadily through the day rather than in a rush at opening time. At 3:50 an announcement was made that the show would close at 4pm again despite there being plenty (IMHO) of punters wandering around - I've certainly seen model railway shows with less bodies in the hall that have stayed open - which suprised us all as we thought it was 4:30. Mind you, the web site does say 4pm so I assume we just hadn't been paying attention.

Another update: Picking up the boats on Sunday I got in a couple of hours early and took the time to chat to a few people. Crowds were still good and those in the trade seemed to have had a very good event. I know at least one stand had re-stocked and others wish they could have done.

Inside the cab ?

Big boxes
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

According to the diagram, this is how the inside of the Bulldog's cab should look.

Really ?

I want to see photos of the real thing before I solder these enormous boxes in there. That just doesn't look right to me. I know prototypes can throw up some "interesting" things but my feeling is that these leave the driver with no where to go. Even if he did stand there, how does the fireman do his job unless they have some sort of circus act where driver leaps in the air while shovel is swung.

I think I need to go back to the bookshelf today...

Ready to Run Y3

ex-LNER Y3
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

Model Rail magazine has commissioned Dapol to produce a ready to run Y3 shunter. It will doubtless be available in the next year or so and sell by the bucket load.

I say, "Oy, Model Rail - Leave the nice easy to build shunters alone ! Go and do a fiddly loco instead !"

I say this because I have a Y3 in my locmotive stud for Melbridge Dock. It's built using a Crownline kit and runs on a Tenshodo SPUD. Being based on a motor bogie is a probably the reason Dapol plumped for it as they can use parts from existing diesel power units rather than going to the expense of tooling up the parts for a proper steam engine.

Sadly, that's what has made it appealing to generations of modellers too. Nu-Cast produced a kit in whitemetal, Crownline did the same thing in etched brass. Higfeild (I think) made a vauum formed 7mm scale version which to be honest wasn't that good. As for scratchbuilding, there isn't much that is simpler. But no more.

The new model means mine will stay in the box in the future. Y3's will appear on every layout. They will be on the front of passenger trains (wrong), goods trains (wrong), shunting branchline stations (wrong) and generally infesting the scene a bit like the ex-L&Y Pug, another excellent RTR model, does. People haven't paid good money to come into a show to see me running out of the box models, they should demand more than this, or at least I want to provide more.

Nowadays we are blessed with some excellent quality ready to run models which let newcomers into the hobby far more easily than the fold days when you had to make every single item. Prices aren't bad either. Despite comments in one magazine that a £135 9F locmotive is poor value for money, the costs aren't that high either in my opinion. Building kits certainly costs as much in money and you still have to invest the time !

I suppose this still leaves Toby. But I bet they do one of those one day too.

10203

Are you wondering what to get your nearest and dearest to buy you for Christmas ? Is there a space on your bookshelf that is A4 sized and 128 pages plus covers wide ?

Well, this blog brings you the answer - The 2009 Hornby Magazine Yearbook (not annual 'cos that's for comics obviously).

You'll be especially please to learn that on page 74 you can read an excellent article on building the early Southern Diesel, number 10203, from a Silver Fox kit. It's a project I did earlier this year and since delivery to the editor, has been earning its keep on his layout "Bay Street" where it looks very nice.

Aside from my words, as if these weren't enough of a reason to add this fine tome to your library, there are articles on building a layout in two weeks, several layouts, building features and a review of the year. Highlight for me though was the excellent picture of "Overlord" spread over two pages - it looks magnificent and yet you can hardly see any trains for all the boats ! If I have a complaint it is that the layout I'd like to have built in this book is an ex-GWR line along the Devon seaside. At least it is ex-GWR I suppose, and a very nice model and just the sort of thing any club could build and stock very quickly yet to great effect.

So, stop reading and go and buy a copy at discount price from Amazon now !!