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GWR King - The best path to Monarchy?


Pixie

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Evening all,

 

I'm currently looking at the options to build a 2mm GWR King and wondered if anyone could supply any recommendations or share their previous experiences? As far as I can ascertain, my primary options are the a Farish model or the Foxhunter kit (both of which look a little dated to me) with some castings available from N Brass Locos (which from previous experience I guess are pretty good?). Are either of these options a good route to a decent model or am I best to start from scratch? Are there any other options, such as shot down Malcolm Mitchell kits?

 

I guess my primary concern is the loco body - the loco chassis I can etch and the tender robbed from a Dapol Hall (I presume?).

 

Cheers!

 

Pix

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As a boy I loved to see the Kings thundering through the middle line at Reading non stop. The Bristolian was often King hauled. So it was with some pleasure that I got to drive King Edward up and down at Tysley. I have an 0 gauge one. From converstions with others the King seems to have less problems with clearance for the bogie to swing than the Castle. I know the Mitchell 7mm etches are with JLTRT not sure who you would approach to get one shot down to 2mm if you do possibly best to get it down to 1:148 for N as it would match the Dapol Tender and any N Brass fittings. If the Farish body is reasonably to scale some new fittings and a scale chassis could be the best route.

Don

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Dapol do tender drive whereas the Farish offering is loco drive so one of them will need gutting if you want to combine the 2 (probably the tender is easier).

 

As with many old Farish steamers, the main drivers are undersized in order to fit under the splashers. The Foxhunter kit is designed to fit a Farish Castle chassis so is unlikely to be a big improvement in that area. Perhaps detailing up a Farish King as JBS has done is the way to go.

 

Personally I am rather hoping that the Dapol tender drive will lead to one of the larger GWR express locos in the not-too-distant future but that is just wishlisting on my part.

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Dapol do tender drive whereas the Farish offering is loco drive so one of them will need gutting if you want to combine the 2

 

Dapol locos are loco drive, not tender drive - they simply have the motor in the tender driving a gear box in the loco which is pretty much standard practice for tender locos in 2FS

 

Jerry

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Dapol locos are loco drive, not tender drive - they simply have the motor in the tender driving a gear box in the loco which is pretty much standard practice for tender locos in 2FS

What I meant was that if the OP wishes to combine a Farish loco and Dapol tender, both will have motors so one will need to go.

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Evening all,

 

I'm currently looking at the options to build a 2mm GWR King and wondered if anyone could supply any recommendations or share their previous experiences? As far as I can ascertain, my primary options are the a Farish model or the Foxhunter kit (both of which look a little dated to me) with some castings available from N Brass Locos (which from previous experience I guess are pretty good?). Are either of these options a good route to a decent model or am I best to start from scratch? Are there any other options, such as shot down Malcolm Mitchell kits?

 

I guess my primary concern is the loco body - the loco chassis I can etch and the tender robbed from a Dapol Hall (I presume?).

 

Cheers!

 

Pix

 

I would forget the shooting down of Malcolm Mitchell kits. I have some in 4mm scale and they will simply be too complex to build in 2mm. That is if you could even persuade whoever owns the artwork now (Pete Waterman?) to show any interest in helping. Martin Finney certainly was not when I approached him some years ago.

 

A King tender is not 100% the same as that of a Castle/Hall but certainly close enough.

 

Chris

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Dapol do tender drive whereas the Farish offering is loco drive so one of them will need gutting if you want to combine the 2 (probably the tender is easier).

 

Thanks Karhedron - I think I'll probably utilise a Dapol tender and motor (what's the quality of the latter like?) and then etch a chassis for the main loco with drive via a universal joint. I think it maybe best to etch the running place and cab and just use the boiler and smoke box from the Farish model. Something to play with!

 

Im trying to figure out your logic Pix, you have recently gone from Blue Pullmans, to Warships, now to GWR Kings. Its strange but fantastic, care to elaborate?

 

Hiya Julia - long time, no speak. How's things?

 

My main area of railway interest in the Western Region in the early 70's with a particular slant to South Wales, and 6000's return to the mainline in '71 was quite a big event which I'd like to replicate. Whilst I've got no immediate use for it, I enjoy the process of going from a good photo or piece of information which act as a trigger for the historian in me to dig a bit deeper, the nerd to try and find out the little details, the engineer to work our a means of replicating it and then the modeller to turn it into reality. Vauge plan is for it to one day result in a South Wales mainline layout but realistically the aim is a long way off. In the mean time I keep pottering around with things.

 

Would this be the same Pixie who made a derogatory remark about GWR kettles in Fatadder's thread the other day?

 

Moi? Nah, must be a doppleganger. ;)

 

Pix

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I would forget the shooting down of Malcolm Mitchell kits. I have some in 4mm scale and they will simply be too complex to build in 2mm. That is if you could even persuade whoever owns the artwork now (Pete Waterman?) to show any interest in helping. Martin Finney certainly was not when I approached him some years ago.

 

Thanks Chris - it's a shame to hear that there was no interest, but I can imagine they would be nigh on impossible to build.

 

Pix

 

PS - Looking forward to the Pullman chassis' for use with the subject for this topic!

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I think it maybe best to etch the running place and cab and just use the boiler and smoke box from the Farish model. Something to play with!

 

At which point you might consider completing the job and doing (or getting done) the smokebox/ boiler /firebox as a 3D print. That will probably trigger Dapol to bring out a RTR King :-)

 

Chris

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Hiya Julia - long time, no speak. How's things?

Pix

 

Fine here thanks Pix, no real modelling going on though!

 

I am behind this Pix, it sounds like a great little project and let me know if you decide to follow this up or need any help etc. Fingers crossed you do..

 

At which point you might consider completing the job and doing (or getting done) the smokebox/ boiler /firebox as a 3D print. That will probably trigger Dapol to bring out a RTR King :-)

Chris

 

That sounds similar to my long term City of Truro project. I have been working on the boiler recently for it with the aim to get it 3D printed...

 

post-2065-0-25093300-1355771776_thumb.jpg

 

post-2065-0-71717700-1355771776_thumb.jpg

 

post-2065-0-08410800-1355771777_thumb.jpg

 

Not the easiest thing to draw by far, it took me 3 attempts and is still not finished. It could quite easily be adapted to suit a king engine though.

 

Missy :)

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Front bogie apart, aren't the Farish Castle and King chassis the same? I think the Castle came out before Farish started customising wheel spacings (not sure, but I have a feeling that the 4F was the first to move away from the one chassis with bits hung on approach) and the wheelbase (31.5mm evenly spaced) is neither one nor the other (Castle 30.4mm, King 33.5mm, the Castle being more assymetric).

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Missy

 

- Too many bands on the boiler, and not enough bands on the firebox.

- Firebox front plate radius (plan view and side elevation view) needs to be a lot smaller. (End elevation 'shoulder' radius looks ok.)

- The top of the rear of the boiler should meet the firebox a little bit higher up.

- Make safety valve taller.

- Chimney bottom section side elevation radius needs to be smaller.

- In 2mm, I can't see much point in making the diameter of the middle section of the chimney different to the copper cap radius.

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If you have any dimensioned drawings of a GW Number 4 boiler Miss Prism, then I'm sure Julia would be happy to see them - I know she has struggled to get the published drawings she has found to correlate with the photos of the loco as running on the DNS line in the 1950s.

 

Andy (who is really looking forward to seeing both Pixie's 'King' and Julia's 'City of Truro' ;))

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(who is really looking forward to seeing both Pixie's 'King' ;))

 

Ha - you might be in for a long wait Andy, I keep promising that ill finish all the junk on my workbench off before start anything else new. That said, I'm gearing up for a mega-push over Christmas like last year to give me a blank canvas for 2013!

 

Pix

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Fine here thanks Pix, no real modelling going on though!

 

I am behind this Pix, it sounds like a great little project and let me know if you decide to follow this up or need any help etc. Fingers crossed you do..

 

Thanks for the offer of help J - I think my 2013 resolution will be to get my head around 3D printing so I'll certainly be taking you up on that one!

 

Pix

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If you have any dimensioned drawings of a GW Number 4 boiler Miss Prism, then I'm sure Julia would be happy to see them - I know she has struggled to get the published drawings she has found to correlate with the photos of the loco as running on the DNS line in the 1950s.

 

Ah, I see what you mean. Sorry about the cockup. I hadn't realised that CoT has got a different boiler now.

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Ah, I see what you mean. Sorry about the cockup. I hadn't realised that CoT has got a different boiler now.

 

I'm not sure it has; it's just that at least one of the drawings (drawn by C.J. Freezer and published in the early 70s in Railway Modeller) seem to show an earlier type of boiler to that carried by the loco at present (which seems to be similar to the 1950s one). I hadn't realised GW locos could be such a minefield!

 

Andy

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If you have any dimensioned drawings of a GW Number 4 boiler Miss Prism, then I'm sure Julia would be happy to see them - I know she has struggled to get the published drawings she has found to correlate with the photos of the loco as running on the DNS line in the 1950s.

Andy,

 

Are there problems with the two drawings of CoT in Russell vol 2 (figs 37 and 38), or the no 4 boiler drawing on the following page? I realise the first drawing probably shows the form between 1911-15 and the second represents the state after 1915, possibly mid 20s, and much as at 'withdrawal' in 1931.

 

You want a minefield? try the Bulldogs :scratchhead:

 

Nick

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Andy,

 

Are there problems with the two drawings of CoT in Russell vol 2 (figs 37 and 38), or the no 4 boiler drawing on the following page? I realise the first drawing probably shows the form between 1911-15 and the second represents the state after 1915, possibly mid 20s, and much as at 'withdrawal' in 1931.

 

Nick

 

Thanks Nick,

 

I'm sure Julia can advise if she's got copies of these drawings (I suspect not) - I will pop into the NRM Search Engine later this week anyway and dig out their copy (one benefit of living in York!)

 

Funnily enough I have the issue of GWR Journal 81 with an article on the Bulldogs - a minefield indeed. Think I will stick to NER locos myself!

 

Andy

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