Meadow Lane, MSC Railway in P4

Looking good James. I hope you keep us up to date with progress. It's a great feeling when you start putting a kit together, particularly when it's something as interesting as this!!!

 

I think Charlie must have just had a batch of Black Beetles in - my Steelman Royale has just turned up, complete with EM beetle!! Interestingly, I'm short of a set of buffers as well - I'm sure a quick bell to Charlie will sort things.

 

Anyhow, I'll be watching this with interest

 

Alastair

I can't wait to see how you get on. You never know, you may well inspire me to tackle a brass kit myself! Did you build any wagons or anything as a test first? Or are you really just diving in with this superb looking kit?

 

I'm sure you'll pull it off regardless, based on your other work - I'm just curious!

I've emailed Charlie - he's been great so far so I'm expecting nothing but excellent customer service again! Interesting though Alastair - perhaps he sent out a batch and just forgot!

 

Jonas - this is it. No warm up - straight in! To be honest I figured the scratchbuilt building and heavy modification of RTR stock - plus my rather shaky experiences with etched chassis and whitemetal kits in my teens was probably all the experience I needed. The Judith Edge kits to seem very well designed and the brass is nice and thick. I expect that starting with something of this quality will improve my skills quicker with better (hence more encouraging) results then starting with a cheaper kit - and hence perhaps with a little less finesse.

 

if I can do it - anyone can (with practice!)

I'll be watching this with interest - I'm planning on building one of the 7mm scale 0-6-0 Sentinels at some point in the not too distant future.

 

I think that some sort of mystery has sprung up around building brass kits that puts a lot of people off. As long as you are reasonably competent with a file and a soldering iron and the kit that's being built has reasonable instructions, most people should be OK. I didn't find assembling my tamper that difficult and that was my first brass kit.

 

That's nice neat work so far B)

Very nice James!

 

I'd like one of those for my P4 challenge layout. Do you think that Judith Edge kits could supply the same set up with the P4 Black Beetle unit? Keep up the good work...

 

Cheers

Simon

Simon,

 

Not sure about Judith Edge themselves - do they offer Beetles with their kits? However, Charlie at DC kits can (as he's done with James) supply the kits complete with Beetles to your spec. Alternatively, Branchlines or Motorbogies.com could get you a P4 Beetle to go with the kit.

 

Regards

 

Alastair

Simon - yes to confirm the month wait wasn't a result of Judith Edge, or DC Kits. Mike Edge could do the kit itself off the shelf. The 4 week delay was getting a custom bogie from Australia. I went for the DC Kits option as I'd read stories about being stung for tax if you order the bogies direct from Australia yourself, plus it is advertised with the buffers as well - so less to source yourself. The Black Beetle is a good option as it's available in OO, EM or P4 - and at custom sizes with the correct diameter wheels. It's a little 'jerky' on the test track but it will be fine once I've added some weight to the model.

 

Adam your example looks superb. I hope to be able to get a good finish, it will be a good learning experience and with a reliable drive system in the bag (and not have to worry about building a solid, reliable chassis as well) I expect it will become a bit of a sentimental example in my collection. Thanks for the window tip - I had planned to cut them out of CD box cases to get a lovely flush fit, I'll look at how that part of the kit goes together and if necessary adjust my plans. What did you use for the glazing? I only thought CD case material as it was more rigid then the usual flimsy acetate sheet which doesn't really look like glass to me - somehow it's too thin?!

 

Thanks all for the kind words and encouragement. I'm frustrated by the slight gap in the side skirt and top frame join - when I add the cab sides I'll see what I can do with the joint

 

Who knows - that 6 axle might be closer than I think!

 

 

Judith posted the missing screws and nuts to you yesterday. We don't supply buffers with any of our kits except the 6wh Steelman.

I'll be interested to see just how much of the Black Beetle you will have to cut away while fitting it in this loco. I did one to see how it went and after that I removed all references to Black Beetles in the instructions.

Michael Edge

Hi Michael - as I bought this of Charlie does this mean he's been in touch with you about missing nuts and screws?

We will see - I'm not sure yet - once the buffer-beams are fitted I will have more idea - I thought I could get away with modifying the kit's mounting rather than the bogie itself - as there isn't much material to remove!

Adam your example looks superb. I hope to be able to get a good finish, it will be a good learning experience and with a reliable drive system in the bag (and not have to worry about building a solid, reliable chassis as well) I expect it will become a bit of a sentimental example in my collection.

 

Thanks - lots of masking tape to sort out the stripes, nothing very complicated. Still my favourite diesel model that.

 

Thanks for the window tip - I had planned to cut them out of CD box cases to get a lovely flush fit, I'll look at how that part of the kit goes together and if necessary adjust my plans. What did you use for the glazing? I only thought CD case material as it was more rigid then the usual flimsy acetate sheet which doesn't really look like glass to me - somehow it's too thin?!

 

10 thou' clear plastic sheet I think, goodness knows where from. I suspect the CD case material might be a bit thick for this one as the edges will probably show up, but worth a go.

 

Adam

Thanks Adam! I'll hunt about on the internet for some clear 10 thou sheet

 

This evening I've fitted the frames and steps - fiddly but my soldering is improving. I've also had a look at how to fit the Black Beetle and think I'm going to discard the Tenshodo mounting plate and fabricate something less intrusive. The Black Beetle will need the edges reducing slightly I think - or slotting at least - and I'm going to move the pick up wires to the underside to give a little more clearance

Hi James,

 

Very nice work there. Can I make one suggestion that will make the soldering much easier for you?

 

Forgive me if you have done this, but it isn't apparent from the photos. If you use a fibreglass pencil or brush to polish the etchings before assembling them, the soldering will be much easier.

 

It physically removes the oxides from the surface, which makes the flux cleaning more effective and the solder "take" to the metal much more cleanly.

 

The etches are obviously not as old as some twenty years ones covered in sellotape from the back of the kit cupboard, but even on good quality etches it will make a difference. Consider the method of making an etched kit, which is based on a resist film and it becomes an even clearer necessity.

 

HTH

Flymo

Buffers and nuts/screws arrived yesterday

 

Flymo - thankyou for the tip. I'll try and get one on Saturday.