great central Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Inspired by Tony's comment in his thread I thought it perhaps better to have a thread of it's own. Please post pictures, descriptions or stories of models, be they kit, scratch, bodged RTR, or whatever which perhaps don't measure up to todays standards but that you're still proud of. Maybe they were done at a certain time in your life, for personal reasons or just for a bit of fun sometimes. They're not here to be critiqued or berated, they're yours and although gentle humour is welcome, let's not get into the 'how dare somebody post a picture of that monstrosity' type of comment. It's intended to be a bit of fun and prove that people can enjoy and be proud of their achievements, even if they're still very 'personal'. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all Much of this kind of thing I see as part of learning and experience to improve, some move on faster and better than others. Anyway as I had the idea following comments about various poor quality kits, I'd best start with the subject of my most recent post on Tony's thread. So here in all it's glory I give you a McGowan WD or 'ozzie' blinking in todays sun Assembled about 35 years ago from a kit bought cheaply when I was out of work, the chassis is scratchbuilt using an old B&D drill for the axles and coupling rods, the valve gear from spares from a Nu-Cast B1 turned inside out. The B1 was my first kit build and another story altogether! The motor is 'borrowed' from a Triang Princess with Romford gears (I think). The tender is hollow with the axles bushed into holes in the axleboxes. I did put on a representation of the tool rack though Despite it's shortcomings, it still looks like an 'ozzie' to me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Very nice, it looks like it's walking on water! My humble offering is nowhere near as exotic, but sits amongst the dust on my workbench as a marker. It's the very first bit of railway modelling I did, back in 1975, and records the start of my downfall. As a child I had a Trix Twin trainset but that never got further than running on track on the carpet. Not sure of its origins now, I think I cut and shut an Airfix kit chassis and added a plasticard body. Lettering by Letraset! It's a bit crap (no let's be honest it's very crap) but it sits alongside me when I model as a reminder of where 40 years of railway modelling started. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 There's this. Built sometime in the early 1970s, and my first EM gauge loco. Airfix kit body backdated to early 1900s condition, on a Wrenn N2 chassis. So far so good, and could have been quite nice if I'd finished it, but it's on Stephen Poole aluminium wheels, and never ran properly, if at all. I'm planning another attempt at it, using my Airfix RTR chassis (if it still works), and may even use parts of the body. Or this. What happened to my Mainline Dean Goods almost as soon as they first came out, and still on my to-do list. Again being backdated to early 1900s condition, but this time with Ultrascale (I think) wheels, when they were affordable and readily available. Not sure what the future holds for it yet, with the forthcoming Oxford one, that will need some backdating work if I get it. I was looking at pictures of "Stella" 2-4-0s last night, or maybe I'll save £100 on an Oxford one and carry on with the original plan. One day! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Probably my cl.84 Loadbank, ADB968021. It's about 20 years old and bashed together using available bits, such as the Lima class 50 bodyside grills that obviously look too wide and the liquid glaze side Windows that need redoing. There is also chipped paint and a crack in the bodyside where the two halfs are joined. It was fine amongst a fleet of double ringfield-powered Hornby & Lima AC electrics on a club exhibition layout, but then along came the Bachmann 85 and the bar was firmly raised. I could have rebuilt models to a higher standard or at least accepted their foibles, but modelling interests had moved on and the British stuff rarely sees the light of day anymore. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Not my first ever modelling, of which I have no photos, but my first Soo Line locos, in N scale, done in 1991. The F-Unit & GP9 have the most 'howlers'; the GP38-2 was pretty accurate. What matters most to me was that I painted & decaled them all myself, as at the time there was precious little Soo Line stuff available. It was good practise; today of my 7 O Scale Soo locos, only 2 of them came factory-painted in that livery. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robatron86 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 My humble offerings: First up is a Hornby 61xx class, which I bought 2nd hand and it was missing ALL of its valve gear. I built the replacement valve gear out of the parts in the Dapol (Airfix) kit, then proceeded to paint them very badly. Next is my very first scratch built structure, a goods shed. The dimensions are scaled down (to N scale) from the old Hornby building. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john flann Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I was, and still am, proud of this, put together in the middle 1960's when choices of locos was very restricted it was my version of a Dean goods. The chassis was from a Triang 3F, the chimney, dome, buffers etc from Hamblings, the cab and tender from an Airfix City of Truro. It looked rather portly I agree but ran exceedingly well. The first photograph is on my layout "Poppy Hollow and Barley Dean" featured in MRN and the second on "Little Hintock" from the same period and seen in MR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Dean01,jpg-2.jpg I was, and still am, proud of this, put together in the middle 1960's when choices of locos was very restricted it was my version of a Dean goods. The chassis was from a Triang 3F, the chimney, dome, buffers etc from Hamblings, the cab and tender from an Airfix City of Truro. It looked rather portly I agree but ran exceedingly well. The first photograph is on my layout "Poppy Hollow and Barley Dean" featured in MRN and the second on "Little Hintock" from the same period and seen in MR. Dean03.jpg.jpg Life was much simpler then, in the days when you could convert a Tri-ang 3F to just about any 6 coupled tender loco that ever existed, and a Jinty to any 6 coupled tank! With the RTR models available now, it makes it so much harder to do acceptable conversions, unless you can work to a very high standard. Poppy Hollow was one of my early inspirations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold LH&JC Posted February 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2016 These are probably the models I'd like to forget most, a pair of very boring boxes on wheels that lacked the basics that coaches need such as glazing. They didn't last long, the wheels & couplings were saved and are probably still in use and I've built much better coaches since these. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctor quinn Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I'm still proud of my Hornby 47s that I did in about 1990 both did many miles on Deepcar and Carstairs. I lowered the bodies on their frames which then meant I had to take some depth out of the fuel tanks otherwise they slid along the rails. I also increased the loco weight to just over a pound and fitted a second power bogie. Wire handrails, guitar string brake pipes, the paint is cellulose - a trader at the New Forest show had some in railway colours. When I dug 47328 out and compared to a Bachmann one it didn't look that bad though the windscreens and too much curve in the handrail gives it a downcast look. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I'm still proud of my Hornby 47s that I did in about 1990 both did many miles on Deepcar and Carstairs. I lowered the bodies on their frames which then meant I had to take some depth out of the fuel tanks otherwise they slid along the rails.... Did you also have to carve off the molded paint guidelines along the bodies? I think they were the biggest deterrent to upgrading the Hornby Duff. I just gave up & got a Lima one when they came out!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctor quinn Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Did you also have to carve off the molded paint guidelines along the bodies? I think they were the biggest deterrent to upgrading the Hornby Duff. I just gave up & got a Lima one when they came out!! Oh yeah I forgot about that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Here are my kit-built and modified rtr offerings: First up, the first loco kit I built. It is the DJH starter kit. Very easy to put together, but I wish I had taken a bit more time to consider the kit before plunging in and building. If doing it now I would remove the moulded nameplate, handrails and smokebox handles. And definitely replace the massive coupling bar! I think maybe a trip back into the works is required. Next up is a SE Finecast N7. I'm quite pleased with this, although the pickups need some attention. Last up is a hacked together D16 from a Hornby B12 body and tender, a Patriot tender drive and a 2P loco chassis. I wouldn't like to put it up against a new Hornby D16! Hope they are of some interest Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peach james Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 My mum & grandmum were very supportive of my modeling efforts.. Photos of Long Marton by Peach James, on Flickr DSC_0079 by Peach James, on Flickr DSC_0082 by Peach James, on Flickr DSC_0083 by Peach James, on Flickr I have the 03 as well- which is glued together, rather than soldered with a 25w iron and 60/40 solder !. It may still need more work- last that it had been out and seriously used, it had eaten away at the chassis where one of the axles went through, repaired with a brass bushing. I'll add- the 2 kits date to the mid 1990's, and I would have been 14-16 when I built them... James Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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