New part work

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Went into the local Smith's this morning to pick up the Railway Bylines magazine and noticed a new part work from Hatchette. It's for an 'O' gauge model of Mallard. Part 1, the cab, is selling for 50p, Part 2, the valances, smoke box front section with some screws and detail castings will be out next week for £3.99, and Part 3 consists of the boiler moulding, wire and some more detail castings which will be at the normal selling price of £7.99. The kit is made by DJH. There isn't any mention of how many parts there are, but it will probably be about 120. It is issued weekly. 

I'm old, that's why I'm allowed to change my mind, when I can find it.

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These seem interesting and, I suppose, a viable alternative for the modeller who hasn't got the dosh at the ready.  I think you would be better served to have a subscription to ensure you get every issue.

http://www.djhmodelloco.co.uk/prodpage.asp?productid=3436

If my math holds and the assumption of 120 issues is true, your kit would end up costing 958.00 or so.  DJH retail price is 645.00.

You still have the problem of building it to a reasonable standard - no easy task I think.

John

 

 

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It's not my friend. I'm still trying to get my head around three A3 Pacifics got the same way. I'm hoping the research into this one goes better than the Flying Scotsman they did a few years ago  when you get half way through the chassis and then they tell you that the main frames are too long and need modifying.

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I recently read Geoff Holt's 2 volume set on building 7mm locos from scratch and from kits.  Quite an eye opener.

http://britishrailwaybooks.co.uk/books/ISBN/1908763019.php

http://britishrailwaybooks.co.uk/books/ISBN/1908763051.php

A bit pricey but a worthwhile investment for someone doing models in this scale.  Alas, Geoff passed away just as volume 2 was released. :sad:  I'd say get them while you can.

For 7mm, you can't do too much research I'm thinking.  The example you cite with the frames is a pretty strong argument for buying a kit at one go.

John

 

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John, I wouldn't rush to buy the two books. Wild Swan, the publishers, usually publish their books forever! They aren't the most imaginative publisher on the planet.  I don't think they even have a website or email address.

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I probably have most of the Wild Swan series Terry.  The content is excellent IMO, even if they're not all that web savvy.  As far as books being published forever, I think I would disagree.  A quick look at the list of books on BRB's site will show that many are out of print.  Most CAN be found second hand (it's how I got my LMS Wagons Vol 1 - quite rare now) and Gary at BRB can be helpful there.  He assisted me to get most of the missing back issues of MRJ, even though there are still one or two I don't have.

I think it's a bit of a shame that Wild Swan haven't reprinted some of their books, the younger generation will suffer from lack of that valuable, and as time go on, irreplaceable knowledge.  Finding details on the internet is a lost cause from what I've seen.  I can't see the value of electronic reference books, but I'm of a certain age.

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They are excellent books John, I agree.  Small point though, LMS Wagons was published by OPC, not Wild Swan.

Out of interest, which MRJ issues are you missing?

Terry
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I'd agree with you John.

Maybe Wild Swan aren't the most efficient of publishers by today's standards but the couple or so of their books I've got, are excellent.  Plenty of information and very readable (lookable at pictures …………..:roll:)

I'd also agree about the loss of written resource for modellers.  The internet is a wonderful place but it's not the only place and it doesn't know everything.  The "craftsman" type of modelling skills posessed by the authors of books is something I've never found on the net outside of visuals.  IMHO, if you sit and study a book,  you can learn a huge amount from it. Sitting and studying the internet is rather more difficult ……………………and having it open at the page that showed you how to do this or that whilst you try to copy it to your own model, is not really practical with a 24 inch montior strapped to your forehead ………………..;-)

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[user=711]col.stephens[/user] wrote:
They are excellent books John, I agree.  Small point though, LMS Wagons was published by OPC, not Wild Swan.

Out of interest, which MRJ issues are you missing?

Terry


Curses! Busted on that.  I only realized after I pressed send.

As for MRJ, I'm missing a few of the early ones. 0 and 4 spring to mind but I'd have to take stock to be sure.  Mind you, the world has moved on a fair bit since the early 90s, so I'm probably not missing anything especially earthshaking.


Books are extremely valuable Peter, but at some point the modeller has to give it a try.  Just yesterday, on the radio, there was discussion on how readers don't retain as much from an e-book as a printed one.  I like my Kindle for novels but I can't see it being much use as a textbook.


John

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….I am still snipping little bits off the etch provided with the first 'Flying Scotsman'. For ~50p,it was a bargain source of thin, malleable brass sheet and the CD joined many others hanging on string in my garden to deter the birds!

No, I wasn't tempted to do the whole thing…

Doug

'You may share the labours of the great, but you will not share the spoil…'  Aesop's Fables

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" - Benjamin Franklin


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Going back to the part work. I decided to put the cab together to see how it goes and found the following tips could be useful to anyone contemplating having a go at it.



1) If you intend soldering the bits together (makes for a much stronger model in my opinion) then when the etched bits have been taken off the sprue (or before if you prefer) soak the whole lot in cellulose thinners and remove the lacquer that has been sprayed over them. I think I would do this even if I was gluing it as I don't trust a glue to paint joint.



2) On the cab-side/front etch run a sharp blade down the vertical fold lines a few times to deepen it a little as the metal is still quite stiff and it is easy to distort either the cab-side or the front. I used bending bars to make the bend and supported the cab sides when I bent them. The centre fold line is fine in my opinion, just the cab-side to front fold lines gave problems. (I know, I had to get another copy of Issue 1 to get a replacement). Thank goodness it is only 50p.



3) I also found that if you remove the point on the floor section then folding the cab-sides around the floor is a lot easier.



4) You may well need to drill another hole near the top of the cab-side, just underneath the curved in part for the top handrail knob. I'll let you know exactly where later.



5) Fitting the washout plugs as shown (vaguely) is a PITA. You may find you have to remove some metal from the back of them and tidy up the etched hole a little to assist (or remove a little metal from the floor). It is hidden when it all goes together so it won't show.



I'll take a couple of pics later and post them to show how the job went.

















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I've never done a DJH kit before, let alone in 7mm, but I have done quite a fair number of brass kits and never come across lacquer coated brass.  Perhaps something done for the magazine edition to prevent tarnishing - which I have seen quite a bit of.  Is there any mention of the coating in the instructions?  I can just imagine a less experienced modeller trying to solder the parts and getting quite discouraged when the joint won't take.

I've used a "scrawker*" before to deepen fold lines.  I don't have bending bars but have used a flat file to clamp a coach side to the workmate in order to bend without cockling the thin half etched brass.

With brass kits there are frequently additional things that need doing (and making) to make the model more convincing.

John

* Olfa carpet cutter

 

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Yes, there is a note in the destructions saying that if anyone wants to solder, (which they don't suggest), that you have to get rid of the lacquer first but don't tell you how to do that without damaging the parts by scraping that's why I used cellulose thinners.

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I`m shocked and appalled! :shock:  How can any kit seller not recommend the best method for joining brass?  I suppose the recommendation is for cyano or epoxy?  I detest epoxy, messy and takes ages to cure properly.  Even after curing, I frequently find that things have shifted and the whole thing needs re-doing.  Cyano is OK for sticking small parts on (I just used some to glue some lamp brackets in my Pull Push coach - which I should have soldered before painting :roll:).

John

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Yes, they do mention superglue. Fine I suppose if you don't want the thing to run. I remember when I started (and still have to finish) the A3 Scotsman they bought out some time ago that they even suggested gluing the motion half etches together as well. Not this guy. If it moves it's soldered.

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Solder is the way to go!  :doublethumb  I'm actually finding working with metal easier in a lot of ways than plastic, having just made a dog's breakfast of my plastic bodied Stove R.

There seem to be a lot of folk with a phobia about soldering.

John

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In my early days I was a service engineer for Siemens. We had to know how to solder. When I left there I took a course in sheet metal working and learnt other skills there.

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I think the main reason they suggest gluing the thing together is that they are aiming the kit at Joe Average, who wants to have something on his mantle-shelf. I think any savvy modeller would solder it up as the norm.

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spurno is in the usergroup ‘Super-moderators’
Apparently there are 130 parts.That's over a thousand pounds.

Regards

Alan


Born beside the mighty GWR.
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Yes, I know. But us poor pensioners can't afford to buy the kit outright from DJH. At least I'm only getting one of these, not three like I did with the Scotsman (and still need to get round to finishing at least one of them).

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