Today I purchased the North Staffordshire Railway New M class 0-4-4 tank loco kit from Dragon Models, now Mr Sollis is going to like this one for sure . Taff Vale and Dragon Models are a new product range for me to work with and so it will be interesting to note how the kit goes together. Pictures on arrival... hopefully latter this week.
Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh Yorkie. At least yours won't end up as just another shelf queen like mine have.
Oh I don't know... my builds seem to drag on for years, just look at the Hymek build which I started over three years ago.
I think that's understandable though given what was required. That kind of stuff needs to be put down and walked away from now and again due to the painstaking build up / filling / sanding / filling .......... it could quite easily become disillusioning but you kept going and have as good s result as anyone could have hoped to achieve given the potential of the doner vehicle. ..... fair play. Toto
If and more likely when Highlander Models takes off in vengeance, occupying most of Toto's day, I suspect the majority of these steam kits will be winging their way down to the Rhubarb Triangle to be out sourced as commissions undertaken by our very own Master of the Trade.
When you see the amount of kits (unbuilt and part-built) on Ebay, it seems that Toto wouldn't be the only one with a stash of kits awaiting building. Presently, I have only 2 on the 'to-be-built' shelf, but I always have an eye on Ebay, so who knows? Keith.
The thing that often makes me smile Keith is some of the ebay bids actually exceed the current price of a new updated equivalent, a recent example being an O Gauge Transport Age Merchant Navy kit that went somewhere in the high three hundreds... lets hope that purchaser is able to overcome the cab "droop" that was rectified by Seven Models when they redrew the kit.
Again I refer back to my PAA... I first started it on Fruits idea back when it was the Crewe Heritage open weekend... 2003? Scratch built the first... realised it was too much work then started again as the first project prior to starting Elton Crossing box... don’t think either were a good idea for a beginner... So far I think I’ve built around 9 wagons... not finished painting or liveries on many... that’s less than one a year!
A little research shows that the last ex NSR steam loco in LMS capital stock was a New M built in 1920, NSR number 15 / LMS 1436 and withdrawn during April 1939 and cut up at Crewe not long after. I'm leaning towards doing this one as 1436 in LMS black since A its easier to paint and B I really don't know where to get 7mm NSR transfers from. Another reason for choosing the LMS livery is a total lack of NSR rolling stock in 7mm and I really don't have the time to start scratching that.
This last couple of evenings have been spent making the oil feed lubrication linkage, basically the feed pump on this small Wakefield lubricator fitted to the New M class loco was driven by a return crank positioned on the leading driving wheel which in turn connected to a rocking arm via a short rod. Now this had to be scratch built because these items are not included in the kit, again Taff Vale allows the builder to add in a much detail as you want, a good option as this does not compromise on the cost of the kit. The lost wax lubricator box and pump arm is by Laurie Griffin and will need drilling out to take the copper feed pipes. I haven't fitted the lubricator as yet but I have made its bracket which sits on the curved back part of the splasher... I also added the distinct hand grab rail. Now here is a picture (original copywrite now expired under the 70 year rule, no doubt this image exists as copies in various peoples collections) of the real loco in early LMS days as 1436. I think location for this image is at Congleton because the detached houses on the bank behind appear similar to those existent today on Park Lane but I am happy to stand corrected.
About a week ago now Andy and the tanks earlier this week... you didn't miss anything because I didn't post a build update. I did put something on Gary's FB site tho.
Shush the Elton Project page is a closely guarded secret and like Proccy's now defunct Virtual Messroom operates incognito