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Metro kit


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In the hope that people have some experience of them, even someone may have it of both, would the recommendation be for the Finecast or the Roxey Metro kit?

I'd generally prefer the etched one, but Finecast have a good reputation so I thought I'd ask.

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I have five SE Finecast Metro's in various stages of build.

Nice straightforward kits with the etched chassis.

Only downside is the enlarged bunker style but with some ingenuity you can graft on earlier types of bunker.

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SEF are high quality kits, I have one built by someone else. The etched chassis are a delight to build and the whitemetal castings normally are top class. Dave Ellis (the owner) is so helpful and offers a top class service. I am building a Roxey 0 gauge loco again a very helpful owner and a top class product with superb etchings and castings

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I have a Roxey one to build at some point. it is a medium Metro with open cab and small bunker. A friend built one and it seemed to go together alright and looks good albeit he used the Collet bunker from my 517 kit! The Roxey kit is designed by Rod Neep but it does seem ok. Not sure how the SEF one compares honestly, have never seen it. I went the Roxey path because I wanted the earlier bunker.

 

Regards,

 

Craig w

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My personal preference is the updated SEF/Wills kit. it has to be one of the best designed/fitting kits ever. The new chassis is simple but strong and comes with brake gear etc. When the Wills kit was brought up to date, so were the castings and they are much improved over the 1960's issue. No issues in construction at all. One of my favourite engines, usually found as pilot or on Auto train working.

Jidenco/Falcon Brass also used to make a kit of this. They used to claim you could build all versions from the kit, but only the smaller version was catered for

post-9992-0-49018700-1452036663_thumb.jpg

 

It has been mentioned above that the revamp was by Rod Neep. Rod also used to have a flat etch/'scratch builder aid' available for both the small and large tank version. This is the large version from the Neep etches. I abandoned the supplied chassis and used the revised SEF nickel version as it is a better design in my opinion. I also used SEF?Wills castings to complete. The image of this engine in the Russell books has my Grandfather on the footplate so I just had to have one. The crew are positioned as the picture, not really for driving. I went down this route as Roxey did advertise the large version as coming soon, but it eventually was dropped from the advertisements.

post-9992-0-91814400-1452036661_thumb.jpg

 

On the right is another 'metro', GWR No. 1 that is on permanent loan to my line from fellow RM contributor Sandhole. He models Manchester ex L&Y area late 1950's so it has been outstationed from Agecroft???? We came to the conclusion it was from a Jamieson hand Cut kit. As you can see it is somewhat larger than the first two.I must glue the cab steps back on.

post-9992-0-07413000-1452036665_thumb.jpg

 

Mike Wiltshire

Edited by Coach bogie
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Mike,

 

I did not mean that the revamp of the Wills kit was by Rod Neep, rather that the Roxey kit has its origins in his design as his name is all over the etches!

 

The SE Finecast model does look very nice and if I wanted one with the large bunker I would probably go that route.

 

Craig W

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On the right is another 'metro', GWR No. 1 that is on permanent loan to my line from fellow RM contributor Sandhole. He models Manchester ex L&Y area late 1950's so it has been outstationed from Agecroft???? We came to the conclusion it was from a Jamieson hand Cut kit. As you can see it is somewhat larger than the first two.I must glue the cab steps back on.

attachicon.gifMetros.jpg

 

Mike Wiltshire

I also have an outside frame Metro No 1 , Mike.

Up until your pic I have never seen another.

They appear to be rare kits !

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I've built a 3mm scale version of the Roxey kit, as seen below; this included an etch done by a 3mm Society member to produce a closed-cab extended-bunker version.

 

post-26119-0-55849400-1453249401.jpg

 

It can make a decent model. I'd say the kit is typical of its era, with less slot-and-tab construction than you might expect to find now. It's essential to work from a good diagram of the prototype, to get things like tank length and position right. Proceed methodically, checking everything as you go, make corrections as necessary, and it should work out OK. I was building it to run on scale width track (14.2mm gauge in 3mm) and did hit one problem; the coupling rods fouled the valence under the footplate. Seemed to me on looking at the diagram that the prototype would have had the same problem. Looking closely at available photographs I convinced myself that the GWR joggled the valence out over the rods, so that's what I did; you can see it in the photograph.

 

Nigel

 

 

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I also have an outside frame Metro No 1 , Mike.

Up until your pic I have never seen another.

They appear to be rare kits !

Very Interesting to me as I bought a No1 from Ray Heard a few years ago and during the rebuild I came to the conclusion there was more likely a brass kit base rather than totally scratch built thing, so if it is a jaimison kit and now possibly a bit of light is shining on where it was born

Sorry for interrupting the metro theme

Edited by Graham456
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I originally purchased the Loco from Scale Rail Model Centre (when it was in Eastbourne. I then stupidly got persuaded to part with it along with several other kits by a "friend" who then cheated me out of all of them and refused to pay me.....long story.

Said former friend then died and slowly but surely his widow via a third person has been selling all "my stuff" on Ebay.

I grabbed the chance to buy three kits (that's all I could afford and they now sit at my Mum's place in the UK waiting to be brought over to Canada on the next visit.

Only pic I have is the Ebay pic and you can see that it has its sandboxes placed on top of the side tanks. Whoever built it obviously wasn't au-fait with where they went.

I had not got around to fixing the error and it just sat in a display case. Once it arrives I shall finally sort it !

post-16907-0-06451400-1453776731.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry bit late on this but I just spotted this in the GWR section.

 

I have the Wills kit with their etched chassis and like others I am very pleased with it. It captures the look very well which I think is more important than any minor dimensional inaccuracies. You do need to be careful though in which prototype you model as like the 517's they changed a lot over their lifetime. The smokebox door, the part that to me makes or breaks a model, did vary according, I suppose, to which boiler was fitted.

 

I have done a couple of etched kits and there's no doubt that sheet metal can (should?) look more convincing than any cast or moulded material looks. However I find that an etched kit takes an inordinate time to build and can be more expensive. I think you'd be hard pressed though to differentiate between the etched Metro and the SEF kit which I rate as one of the best while metal kits made. Even in the early 1970's when I started more serious modelling Wills kits (as they were then) always had a cachet that their main competitor never had.

 

Mine is fitted with a Portescap RG1219 motor (purchased when those motors were a vaguely reasonable price) with the MJT (?) gearbox modification and it runs superbly. Of course the chassis should be compensated as the layout does not lend itself to fixed axles. One thing I do if I can is to mount the collectors on the top of the chassis. With the SEF chassis this is quite simple, a piece of angled brass soldered to each of the frames between the wheels and a length of copper clad sleeper superglued to the brass makes a convenient base for either phosper bronze strip or wire to bear against the rims. The great advantage here is that the collectors are completely hidden.

 

Writing this makes me want to go out and get another one!

 

John

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I have a Wills kit inn process of restoration, bought in error (EM gauge no motor) and being rebuilt and I intend to mount the coupled chassis as a power bogie able to pivot vertically within the chassis while the leading wheels keep the body level   Motor will come from a Computer disc drive with romford gears and axles and Hornby crankpins.

 

I failed to realise all the medium Metros went so early and that the big ones were so different (and ugly) as I model BR

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I have a Wills kit inn process of restoration, bought in error (EM gauge no motor) and being rebuilt and I intend to mount the coupled chassis as a power bogie able to pivot vertically within the chassis while the leading wheels keep the body level   Motor will come from a Computer disc drive with romford gears and axles and Hornby crankpins.

 

I failed to realise all the medium Metros went so early and that the big ones were so different (and ugly) as I model BR

Early? All things are relative! The last but two went in 1939, but the two finally went in 1945 I believe. OK for a 1930s GWR modeller like me.

 

With my 3mm one I kept the leading driving axle rigid but had the trailing one pivoted in the centre, filing the axle holes into slots to allow vertical movement. It's fairly easy to balance the loco (at least an etched one) so that the weight sits over the drivers. I constructed a sort of internal pony truck for the leading axle with a weight on it to keep it on the track. It works, but if I was to do it again I'd use twin beam compensation on the drivers and a central pivot for the leading axle; that way all 6 wheels are firmly on the track and all carrying some weight. I think your approach would work but you might have to stick some extra weight in the smoke box to balance it.

Edited by NCB
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Jidenco/Falcon Brass also used to make a kit of this.

 

Kit? Not a very good description.

Avoid at all cost, unless the new owners update the kit - especially the etches. As so often, the brass etching was "imaginative", from hand drawn masters and etched on the thinnest brass conceivable.

 

Go with the SEF it will go together just fine. (and probably the Roxey one, not built one)

 

They used to claim you could build all versions from the kit, but only the smaller version was catered for

They were not known as scratch aids for nothing. Sure any version was possible just add more brass.

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  • 2 years later...

Has anyone made one of these in P4?  I'm trying to source some wheels but I can't find anywhere that does 5ft, 16 spoke driving wheels in P4

 

Alan Gibson do the right ones.

 

4862E 5' 2" 16 spoke are the correct size according to Mike Sharman's wheel book. The same as most other GWR driving wheels of the same size. Some Metro's might have the crankpins "in line" if so you can use the MR ones 4862.

 

http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/Catalogue.pdf

 

 

 

Jason

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Alan Gibson do the right ones.

 

4862E 5' 2" 16 spoke are the correct size according to Mike Sharman's wheel book. The same as most other GWR driving wheels of the same size. Some Metro's might have the crankpins "in line" if so you can use the MR ones 4862.

 

http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/Catalogue.pdf

 

 

 

Jason

Thank you, I'll make sure to order those ones.

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  • 9 months later...

Sorry to revive this thread after so long but I have a problem. My current SEF Metro kit arrived very promptly yesterday morning.

The first thing I did was open it and start reading the instructions (very un- bloke-ish I know :laugh_mini: ) several of the instructions refer to diagrams, either of alterations to the body parts or of the chassis assembly. No diagrams came with the kit. Rather surprisingly a phone call to Dave Ellis revealed that they had received no illustrations from Wills when they took over the range.

So, RMWebiverse, are there any sets of diagrams from the Wills days out there that someone would be able to copy for me?

TIA

Tim T

Edited by timbowilts
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6 minutes ago, timbowilts said:

Thanks to the good offices of Coachbogie I now have a copy of the original Wills body instructions.

Tim T

 

 

Dave at SEF and his future customers may appreciate them as well (providing coachbogie approves)

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  • 3 weeks later...

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