Friday, December 28, 2007

Build the Flying Scotsman


Hachette Flying Scotsman
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Like many people I've picked up the first issue of the new partwork enabling you to build a 7mm scale Flying Scotsman. For 50p, how can I resist ?

www.buildtheflyingscotsman.co.uk/index.html

and I've been doing my sums. Total cost of the partwork is £619.26 (124 issues at 4.99 and the 50p Part 1) which gets you a nice looking static model. If you want a motor, you have to pay a bit extra.

To buy the DJH kit complete with wheels but no motor from Tower Models is £584.30

Which means you are paying £34.96 for the instructions, DVD and other stuff.

My Dad is building the Bismark kit from the same source and the instructions for this are superb with proper photos for every step. This makes the partwork almost worth the money. If you are a beginner it makes it definitely worth the money. The kit is marked on Tower's web site as suitable for a beginner and since most of the bits are DJH quality pewter castings I suppose you can just glue them together. A quick look at the instructions for part one (The cab) shows this to be how they assume you will be building.

Watch the DVD that comes with the package and the whole thing looks even more interesting. It appears, although there is no mention of this, that the boiler and tender sides are pre-painted. Matching the green for cab sides & splashers would be “challenging” I suspect but not impossible if they’ve used a recognised brand. Transfers are promised for the lining and hopefully these would be bespoke.

The only criticism I have is that the DVD shows the cab being placed back to front when the builder puts it in place on the footplate, but that’s only the sort of “plonk the bits together” style fitting that every builder does, not a proper test fitting. Some attention to detail would have been good though.

On the plus side, by issue 5 you have a footplate, cab and mainframes so you’ve got a lot of loco very quickly.

So will I subscribe ? No. I don’t need or particularly want Flying Scotsman. If I’m going to spend that sort of cash on kits I have others I want to build. Of course if anyone wants to send the bits to me to build… Any takers ? :-)

Update: Well I bought part 2...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi I have just got the first issue of the mag and it does seem to look promising I have never done any kits before so this should give me a valuble insite into kit biulding

But what I would like to thank you for is doing the "leg work" about the costs involved it seems to me that with a subscription it is a fair deal when you get the files tool kit etc

So once again thank you :)

Phil Parker said...

No problem, I'm glad to be of help. I would warn that this appears to be a high-end kit and there are plenty out there that aren't as good.

If you do go for it, I'm sure there are a lot of people who would be interested in reading about it on the web.

Telide said...

Thank you for your reply Phil I will try to post my progress as oftern as I can here http://telide.blogspot.com/ So I will look forward to reading your comments and/or tips as I go along

Walt said...

Hi Phil, I am building the Flying Scotsman and I am up to part 42, In it I have to get hold of a 12BA tap
I have tried all my hobby shops local and in the major city's and I cannot get hold of one would you have any suggestions, Obliged Walt.

Phil Parker said...

Walt - without knowing where you are based, it's difficult. My best suggestion is Squires tools - http://www.squirestools.com/ who do everything a model maker could want in the way of tools.

As well as a tap,.you'll need something to hold it with. A big pin vice will probably be OK and it's more useful than a tap wrench for most of us.

Eric F said...

I have nearly completed the model, but I was dismayed when the instructions told me to removed the driving wheels in order to fit the electric pickups - after all, all of the linkage gear was already in place. As a consequence I could only get contacts fitted to the centre and rear driving wheels (4 instead of 6) & I fear that that will have consequenses when the time comes to run it

Mrs Christy said...

Hi, My Dad has also been model building for most of his life and after filling his house with ships, is trying his hand at trains. He is really struggling to get a decent size and quality of the Flying Scotsman. Can this only be bought via magazine ?
Thank You

Phil Parker said...

The best quality way to build a Scotsman in 7mm scale, would be a DJH kit: http://www.djhmodelloco.co.uk/djh-model-loco-kits/

Somewhat cheaper, and ready built, is the Hattons commission from Heljan: http://www.hattons.co.uk/NewsDetail.aspx?id=102 although you need to pre-order and then wait for delivery.

Hope this helps.