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Purchase for the layout (loco/rolling stock/kit/other) you regretted the most?


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There are probably two broad reasons for regretting buying models or kits:

 

1) The model turns out to be rubbish, as in it doesnt work properly, falls to pieces in five minutes, or the kit contains significant parts that are poorly formed, don't fit together properly, are made from a completely inappropriate material etc; and,

 

2) The model or kit was bought on a bit of a whim, and a little while later the truth that it was never really going to get used very much, and that the money might have been put to a better use, creeps up on the purchaser.

 

I've been fortunate, in that I've only hit the first problem with r-t-r models a few of times, and on all but one occassion got a refund or replacement. With kits, I have been irritated by it a few times: K's Terrier in the 1970s; some 16mm/ft wagon kits from a maker who shall remain nameless; others.

 

The second problem is one that I've created for myself time and again, and judging by the number of VNMIB models one sees for sale secondhand, I'm not alone in that. My worst rash purchases are when I decide to start in new scales/gauges, because I am smitten by one particular model. I shall probably never learn!

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
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K's 14XX & Autocoach (70s series), bought together.

Complete pile of poo, all the castings were badly distorted, the autocoach had the solebar at right angles to the side, had to be cut off and re-fitted correctly, the loco had different length frames each side.

I bought them 40+ years ago and have returned to them several times and given up several times. The coach is probably finishable but the loco is just scrap, although I did eventually complete it, it ran terribly, like an arthritic kangaroo.

 

In comparison my M&L 633/850 dual kits were vastly superior as were a couple of Wills body kits.

 

I'm a mug because more recently I bought another one of these auto-trailers, It was the Nu-cast version, however the castings are better than the K's original.

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J15 - a loco that was local to the area I live now, but bought when my UK modelling interest was actually based around the Kent snows of January 1987.  All of which has since been replaced by 1980's Italy still without a single track being laid!

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I've two of those K's A31s, and they are beyond the capacity of a Bachmann 4575 on level track.  Why anyone thought that whitemetal was a suitable material for a coach is beyond me, especially as K's also did a plastic bodied E116 flat ended B set at the same time.  It is a bit of a mad thing to build from the look of it as well (both mine were bought in a built condition), as there is no structural piece that runs the length of the vehicle, and the sides are in sections. 

 

OTOH it is a panelled auto trailer and A31s were allox Newport Division in the early BR period, which flags them up as possible Tondu allocations for Cwmdimbath.  AFAICT, the Newport trailers worked in the Monmouth area on the services to Pontypool Road, Chepstow, and Ross-on-Wye, but as there are very few other panelled trailers about in 4mm, and none RTR. I am happy enough to use them as placeholders for Tondu's A10 and Diagram N trailers until some alternative becomes available.

 

They seem to have been produced at a time when it was considered unneccessary for RTR coaches to have floors, never mind interiors, and mine have been worked up with card floors and seating.  They do have compartment dividers with printed panelling and doors, though.  Much of the detail is crudely included in the whitemetal castings, so detailing them up is a fair bit of work and the cast whitemetal sides are horribly thick.

 

Moreover, the bogies are wrong.  K's supplied the kits with American pattern 9', but the A31s were of two slightly differing types as a result of the Steam Raiilmotors they were rebuilt from.  These were built in two separate batches, one in-house at Swindon and the other contracted out to Gloucester RCW.  The Swindon SRMs had the usual wide inward opening centre vestibule passenger door, but the Gloucesters had double doors, each door with it's own droplight window, and the original doors were retained when the SRMs were rebuilt to diagram A31 as  trailers.

 

There were three types of bogies fitted to the A31s as auto trailers, the Americans, 8'6" fishbellies, and Collett 7'.  None of the the Gloucester double door trailers had Americans, so the kit is wrong.  My two are modelled as 1950s Newport Division W 207 W and W 211, with fishbellies and Collett 7' respectively, and the toplights are correctly plated over for W 207 W in plain crimson BR livery (with Milliput).  An interesting feature is that the bogie pivots are different distances in from their respective ends, a hangover from SRM days, and this is particularly noticeable with the Collett 7' on W 211 (transition chocolate and cream early 1948 livery).

 

They are not my favourite coaches on the layout but were not expensive and I have no regrets about buying them.  I'd be a very happy bunny if someone made an RTR or kit A10 or N, though, and the A31s would be retired.  I'd be eurphoric if somebody ever made an RTR or kit for one of Tondu's A20 TVR twin sets, but none of these highly desireable events are ever likely and so far the world of 3D prints hasn't come up with the goods either.

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I don't think I've got any real horror stories just mild disappointment.

 

 

I was unimpressed with the RTR 3D printed vans that I bought that were hyped as being the future. Ribbed, livery was poorly printed onto that ribbing and were a bit like a badly assembled kit. So until the method improves I'll give 3D printing a miss. YMMV.

 

 

I did have a couple of cast resin kits that were terrible. Awful material to work with IMO. So I avoid those. I don't think they were cheap either.

 

I had a few N gauge and 009 body kits that were a bit rubbish and when you factored in the cost of the RTR chassis were expensive mistakes at the time. Especially when Grafar released many of the N gauge models in RTR soon after.

 

I did learn one lesson, don't glue whitemetal together with superglue even though the instructions say you can as my Langley Class 24 fell to bits! I was eleven at the time, did manage to alter the Lifelike chassis to the correct length though and it worked.... :sungum:  Might revisit that at one point as otherwise it was fine.

 

The other thing is buying parts to build something and then the RTR manufacturers announce one. I have about a dozen damaged Triang Blue Pullman cars and parts to detail them such as replacement bogies, ends, sides, etc, As well as a full set of Keen Pullman detailing kits for the Hornby Pullmans to make all the cars Hornby didn't do for the Queen Of The South. Resin, but much better than the other kits I had.

 

Then Bachmann and Hornby announced new versions. Never mind.

 

 

Jason

Edited by Steamport Southport
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Not so much regrets, more mild disappointment. Again K's are the culprits in the form of various 4 and 6 wheel coach kits that were bought in a rush of youthful enthusiasm (they were sales "bargains" too). Heavy detailing, invent your own floors and interiors and castings that are so thick that a completed rake would pull the couplings off any loco attempting to pull them...  I built one, the rest are still in a box labelled "?".

 

I didn't learn, I bought a K's 14xx kit a few years ago, it's not K's fault that the boiler is oval, merely that some previous owner had probably left it under a stack of coach kits. I might try to circularise the boiler some day...

 

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35 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

 

 

I didn't learn, I bought a K's 14xx kit a few years ago, it's not K's fault that the boiler is oval, merely that some previous owner had probably left it under a stack of coach kits. I might try to circularise the boiler some day...

 

My 48XX/14XX came in a box, so you can't blame the way it had been stored for the shape of the castings.

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Pre ordering a new release that turns out to be a casual interpretation/approximation of the prototype rather than a serious scale model.

 

Lesson learned…always wait to see how accurate the new model is before troubling the wallet, even if it means waiting for the inevitable repeat runs of the best models.

 

BeRTIe

Edited by BR traction instructor
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Ratio LNWR coach kits. Good mouldings and went together well, I even converted the bogies to P4, but when it came to lining them out the problems began. I had several attempts over the years and went through several bottles of paint stripper. Eventually they disappeared in a clear out a couple of years ago. The problem is that the panel mouldings are not crisp like you find on an etched kit so it is all but impossible to get a clean line on them. I am starting to wish I kept them though as I could have painted them black as BR engineering coaches, maybe flat roofs for OH line construction. 

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10 hours ago, melmerby said:

K's 14XX & Autocoach (70s series), bought together.

Complete pile of poo, all the castings were badly distorted, the autocoach had the solebar at right angles to the side, had to be cut off and re-fitted correctly, the loco had different length frames each side.

I bought them 40+ years ago and have returned to them several times and given up several times. The coach is probably finishable but the loco is just scrap, although I did eventually complete it, it ran terribly, like an arthritic kangaroo.

 

In comparison my M&L 633/850 dual kits were vastly superior as were a couple of Wills body kits.

 

I'm a mug because more recently I bought another one of these auto-trailers, It was the Nu-cast version, however the castings are better than the K's original.

Hi,

Did you ever think about in the past putting a better chassis on it. That is if the body is not too bad a representation.

I just remembered another purchase that I was sorry I bought. The Ratio's Johnson 2-4-0. Worst kit I ever made. Ran badly and could not pull the air behind it. The plastic was fragile and small parts far too easilykept breaking of it.

Edited by cypherman
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1) Hornby class 156. I guess I could class it as an impulse purchase at a show, didn't think fitting lights was going to be an issue but didn't realise it was pretty much a Lima 156 with a DCC socket. Still with traction tyres!

 

2) Hornby class 153. Really growly drive at low speed, sent it back to Hornby who replaced the wheelsets but could otherwise find no fault. Compared to the beautifully smooth running of my Hornby 56, the two are night and day apart.

 

3) Railmatch spray primer. Shaked it for ages, still had the problems others reported with it making the model glossy and tacky. Disappointed with a brand which I've otherwise got high regard for.

 

Edited by MartynJPearson
Realised the ability to count to three had eluded me
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I got a DJM Class 71 (very heavily weathered version) when they were being flogged off cheap. I've not had any derailment problems on 2nd Radius curves, and slow speed* isn't a problem as it only runs in and out of a Minories terminus! 

 

 

* I'd say that mine does a scale 60 - 70 MPH so it'd probably be realistic enough on an extended run.

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Ooh, it would have to be one from childhood, when a clunker would be a real disappointment, especially as a birthday present. Probably in order:

 

Bronze - Airfix Lomac. Yes, I know about alternative wheels now, but guaranteed to ruin a running session derailing, uncoupling randomly , etc. while at the same time looking different and interesting.

 

Silver - Hornby auto-uncoupling Class 08 shunter. Uncoupler only worked at Warp 9, ran (like most other things on my rubbish controllers) badly at slow speed. (My biggest regret not buying, I suspect, was the H&M Walkabout controller, which I hankered after for ages and yet never bought.) [BLANK]ing inside frame chassis, too.

 

Gold - Not-BR-Blue [BLANK]ing Lima [BLANK] 4-wheel diesel [BLANK] [BLANK] shunter. My first ever Lima model, barely ran, one coupling, put me off them as a loco manufacturer for several years. Overscale, non-UK prototype. Not that it was accurate for the US either. I've bought other Plymouth-type things since - decades afterwards for projects, mostly - but this one was special. And the model would keep popping up, with varying degrees of success, on exhibition layouts for years afterwards as "an Industrial", just to remind me. The little [BLANK]. :rolleyes:

 

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4 hours ago, melmerby said:

My 48XX/14XX came in a box, so you can't blame the way it had been stored for the shape of the castings.

 

Mine was perfect though. First proper kit I built.

 

So I would expect poor quality control rather than poor models. With maybe the luck of the draw if you got a bad one.

 

ISTR they were very good at replacing parts that were damaged or misshapen. Maybe not much use 35 years after K's went though.... :prankster:

 

 

Jason

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4 hours ago, melmerby said:

My 48XX/14XX came in a box, so you can't blame the way it had been stored for the shape of the castings.

 

The K's box mine is in is considerably thinner than the card that the parts are shrinkwrapped onto inside it!

I suppose you could blame the shrinkwrapping process...

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