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A Dunalastair 1 part 1


Dave John

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A very long time ago I bought a second hand Dunalastair 1 DJH kit . Well, it was 18 quid a go complete with a set of Jackson/Romford wheels and an XO4 motor? Plus some other bits. There was even a spare tender in there which ended up behind 583.

So why had someone sold it? Well to put it politely the castings were horrible. Looked like they just hadn’t got the whitemetal hot enough and it set while flowing. The footplate was junk, the edges and lip were all over the shop. The boiler was laughable. The tender parts looked like the halves of the mould were a mil apart. You could cast a battleship with the flash.

But its a DJH kit , why not flog it for silly cash on flea bay? Well, nope, no way would I inflict that on a fellow modeller. Just not on. So over the years I have accumulated a few parts and thrown them in the box.

Now you are all going to point out that very good kits are available for other Dunalastairs, two to four. There are, but sometimes you just have to stretch your modelling legs and actually file some metal. So stuff it, I’m building a Dunalastair 1. On the plus side I have a lot of info; drawings, pics, descriptions.
Let’s see how it goes.

At least I’ll have a box to keep it in.

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Ok, a chassis, some the Romford/Jackson wheels on for now. Gibsons are being painted. I started with a set of Gibson profile milled frames and went on from there.

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The compensated front bogie uses copperclad as the spacer, the pattern cut in the bottom would let me fit pickups later.

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High level gearbox, straightforward build, runs nicely.

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Well, it’s a start.

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  • RMweb Premium

Looking forward to this. The first Dunalastairs were Just Right. The bigger versions II - IV pushed the classic Scottish 4-4-0 concept just a little too far. 

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  • RMweb Premium

Hi Richard, it is a Mitsumi motor. These were cheap at £4 each  and were labelled Mitsumi P/n QK1 9363. I see similar motors that look the same at a cheaper price, but I don't know if they are. The shaft is 1.5 mm, the 2mm shaft sleeve is I think Gibson. 

 

I had to change mounting plate a bit. The can would sit at an angle if the etched screw holes were used, ok in a tank but its tight in the firebox on a D1. The shaft extends out to the rear about 12 mm, I might be able to get a small flywheel on there. 

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  • RMweb Gold

I like watching poor kits being transformed and given a better life (especially when others are doing it!), so like Stephen I'm looking forward to this.

 

Have you considered seeling the box on ebay? Might fetch you the 18 pounds :-)

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