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1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

there is something about the Aberdare that makes me really want one, possibly how old fashioned it looks.  It is on the to build list for "one day"...

 

They are definitely ungainly looking things - a sort of Frankenstein's monster of modern bits above the running plate, and Victorian below. I would not 

imagine they are high on any manufacturer's plans for an RTR model.

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1 hour ago, Barry Ten said:

 

They are definitely ungainly looking things - a sort of Frankenstein's monster of modern bits above the running plate, and Victorian below. I would not 

imagine they are high on any manufacturer's plans for an RTR model.

 

Like many of the very early 20th century Great Western engines. I can't see anyone wanting to do one of those bizarre-looking outside-framed 4-4-0s of the City class...

 

... oh. 

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3 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

I know this thread is about making things, rather than acquiring them, but I thought I'd put up a couple of pictures of this Aberdare which was bought as a finished kit.

 

I think the basis of this model is a Keyser kit - perhaps others can confirm? The castings are quite chunky and there's no brake gear or underframe detail. It is, however, very well made and painted. I got two other locos from the same estate, both built to the same standard.

 

aberdare1.jpg.3d795a04b6ad0c193b00350d6df5e0ec.jpg

 

 

It didn't run very well, tending to stall a lot and having a high current draw. 

 

The loco only had two pickups, and quite crudely made. I removed them and added "Wright" style pickups to all three drivers on the insulated side. It ran better, but was still prone to stalling or hesitation at certain points.

 

I decided to add extra pickups to the pony truck. This solved the pickup problem, but now the pony wheels just skated along without turning. Luckily, there's a lot of space under those front frames so I found it straightforward to add a cheap and cheerful springing arrangement to keep the pony pressed down. I cut off a thin strip of brass, folded it into a sort of double-Z, soldered it to the underframe, then adjusted until the right degree of springing was achieved.

 

 

After that, it was just a question of running-in properly, which I don't think had ever been done before. I suspect the motor brushes hadn't had a chance to bed in and over time the loco got better and better at quiet, slow running, to the point where it will now plod around quite nicely. I opened it up once to look at the motor but I can't remember if it was an open frame or closed type. Fundamentally, it's well-made, with no tight-spots, so it really only needed a bit of tweaking to get the pickups working well.

 

What next? Lamps and weathering, certainly, but I think it would benefit from some brake gear, especially under that very bare-looking tender. I'll be having a think about how best to add some, without hacking the kit about too much.

 

aberdare2.jpg.5071401115ebb62e3e3470b9ec4e13e1.jpg

 

Although I don't know anything about the builder (the box has "D Payne" on it, but that might just be the former owner) I'm very pleased to have it running on my layout, and putting in the miles.

 

Al

HI Al, that looks like a K’s Aberdare, and nicely made too. I built a NuCast re-issue over 20 years ago, I bought the kit at a good price when W&H were closing down. As with my Bulldog if I was building it now, I’d replace the smokebox door and chimney. Mine has a D11 motor in it and runs slowly and smoothly, if a little noisily. They are wonderful looking engines. Attached is the only photo I have of mine, must take some more.

Jon

DSC_0191.JPG

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10 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

 

In principle they should, however, they hang down from an axle in the trailing direction, so would bounce over any obstruction or roughness, and so I would imagine that pushing the van in the opposite direction might cause them to catch on any such obstruction - but I haven't tried it!

I generally use them on fixed rakes - and so I think, does TW.

 

Tony

They do work fine in both directions, Tony, but LB's trackwork is very flat. 

 

And, I do use them in fixed rakes. There's at least one goods train brake van equipped with a pad for every main running line - Up slow/Up fast/Down fast/Down slow - plus one each on the respective pick-ups.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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5 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

I know this thread is about making things, rather than acquiring them, but I thought I'd put up a couple of pictures of this Aberdare which was bought as a finished kit.

 

I think the basis of this model is a Keyser kit - perhaps others can confirm? The castings are quite chunky and there's no brake gear or underframe detail. It is, however, very well made and painted. I got two other locos from the same estate, both built to the same standard.

 

aberdare1.jpg.3d795a04b6ad0c193b00350d6df5e0ec.jpg

 

 

It didn't run very well, tending to stall a lot and having a high current draw. 

 

The loco only had two pickups, and quite crudely made. I removed them and added "Wright" style pickups to all three drivers on the insulated side. It ran better, but was still prone to stalling or hesitation at certain points.

 

I decided to add extra pickups to the pony truck. This solved the pickup problem, but now the pony wheels just skated along without turning. Luckily, there's a lot of space under those front frames so I found it straightforward to add a cheap and cheerful springing arrangement to keep the pony pressed down. I cut off a thin strip of brass, folded it into a sort of double-Z, soldered it to the underframe, then adjusted until the right degree of springing was achieved.

 

 

After that, it was just a question of running-in properly, which I don't think had ever been done before. I suspect the motor brushes hadn't had a chance to bed in and over time the loco got better and better at quiet, slow running, to the point where it will now plod around quite nicely. I opened it up once to look at the motor but I can't remember if it was an open frame or closed type. Fundamentally, it's well-made, with no tight-spots, so it really only needed a bit of tweaking to get the pickups working well.

 

What next? Lamps and weathering, certainly, but I think it would benefit from some brake gear, especially under that very bare-looking tender. I'll be having a think about how best to add some, without hacking the kit about too much.

 

aberdare2.jpg.5071401115ebb62e3e3470b9ec4e13e1.jpg

 

Although I don't know anything about the builder (the box has "D Payne" on it, but that might just be the former owner) I'm very pleased to have it running on my layout, and putting in the miles.

 

Al

Regarding brakes, Al,

 

Comet/Wizard/MSE now sells the etched brake block frets previously available from Mainly Trains. They come in a wide variety, and I'm sure some will fit.

 

Nice-looking Aberdare, though I'm not sure about that green colour.........................

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

 

Tony. 

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22 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Regarding brakes, Al,

 

Comet/Wizard/MSE now sells the etched brake block frets previously available from Mainly Trains. They come in a wide variety...….

 

Alan Gibson also do some plastic ones which are sometimes useful in awkward situations

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13 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

It could be a K's but the K's kit came with a larger tender, unless it has been substituted. The alternative, it is a Bristol Models. The clue will be in the frames as the Bristol kit was milled to take an XO4 motor. Here is mine. Sandhole on here gave me a ROD tender and this one has run with it ever since. The original large tender now runs behind a Bulldog. As always, with the K's it is very heavy and has no issue pulling 35 wagons up the incline without a banker.

IMG_8840.JPG.f66622914cc098d01d9e2efc440ad755.JPG

 

My late father who was much better builder than I and much more adventurous, used the K's Aberdare to make the original Crocodile, using a central heating pipe to make the boiler. The smokebox was made using another section of the same tube but split at the base and eased out to a wider diameter using bits of round wood and then slid over the boiler top.

IMG_8838.JPG.5ebf41ae17876d48d9d6dbb8cb717488.JPG

 

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

There’s also a Brassmasters ex-Finney Aberdare.  I have one somewhere in the “when I’m confident I have the skills” pile.  They’re a wonderful prototype.

 

David

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The crest on the tender of the Aberdare is really pre WW1 and the loco is basically in 1930s condition (except for the tall vacuum pipe) - not sure how bothered you are but it should be gone.

 

Lovely locos, I have a Finney one to build in the next couple of lifetimes.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

Edited by Craigw
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I've been keeping an eye out on eBay for a couple of different K's kits.......they are never likely to be mass produced ....... so kits it is.

 

One thing I've noticed over the last few months is the price creeping up.......

 

I wonder if it's because of the cost of rtr keeps going up, or due to the demographics of railway modelling, with people having more time on their hands?

 

Over the last few months I've been building Parkside ( and others) wagon kits again and forgotten how much fun it is........ in some cases less than half the price of their rtr equivalents and the even come with a nice set of transfers now...!

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I find auction outcomes on eBay for out of production kits quite variable.  Sometimes you can pick up a real bargain; sometimes you see the price escalate way above where you’re prepared to pay.  I have a list of what I want, a view on what I’m prepared to pay and searches set up to alert me when items come available.  Where the seller has already sourced wheels and a motor/gearbox, you often get an overall better deal.  Where I’ve missed out, I’ve often seen a second version of the same kit appear not long after.  Also, if items are poorly described, then the competition is less fierce.

 

On those occasions where I have a bit more spare time, conventional auctions seem to offer better prices.  I suspect some ebay traders buy at those and reauction on eBay.  It seems to be the same sellers coming up time and again.

 

David

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When I clean my locos driving wheels, I just lay a piece off tissue on the track, pour a bit of meths or lighter fluid on the tissue.

Place the loco on the track and run it but by holding the loco with as many wheels on the tissue. Then turn the loco round plus move the tissue and do it again. In about 10 seconds and with ease you now have clean wheels and a very dirty tissue.

 

 

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3 hours ago, richard i said:

When you say tissue do you mean kitchen towel, loo paper, tissue paper or Kleenex tissues. I feel all bar kitchen towel leaving fluff in the motion. 

Richard

Richard,

 

I don't think paper tissue, of any kind, would be suitable, though others might have different ideas.

 

Occasionally, in the past (as you know), we've cleaned Stoke's track with a linen rag, impregnated with IPA (not beer!), but the DOGA track rubber seemed to be the most effective.  

 

Speaking about being 'effective', I wonder what the most effective deterrent is against thieves? Mo and I have not long returned from an excellent weekend at the GCR/Quorn event, where I was doing my usual demo and loco-doctoring. The three days were ruined for some by theft. On the Friday night, some parasites stole a lot of stuff from Cheltenham Models and Digitrains. Unfortunately, it would seem to be new RTR in the main - easy to dispose of. Today, some items were stolen from stands during the show hours. One's heart goes out.

 

On a positive note, Mo and I made £65.00 for CRUK from my ministrations and by donations. May I please thank all those who donated most-generously to the cause? May I also thank those with whom I spoke? The two notable 'successes' were, for one, my stopping the jamming up of the rods on a Heljan 'Teddy Bear' (why is so much slop needed in the chassis? I just nicked a piece out of several Peco fibre washers and pushed these over the axles between the frames and the backs of the wheels - a perfect fix!). The other success was my making sure that the front crank pins did not foul the backs of the slidebars on an ABS V4. The owner had bought it many years ago from Norman Wissenden, as being 'professionally-built'. The slidebars were only attached at the cylinder ends, with their outer ends just floating about, nowhere near being fixed to the motion support brackets, which were in place. A dab with the iron, and that was that! Yet again it illustrated to me how so many 'professionally-built' locos are really poorly put together mechanically, and just belong as a static item in a showcase.  

 

Also yet again, I was asked would I make Thompson Pacifics in OO? The questioners are invariably late middle-aged gentlemen who cannot make such things for themselves. They're disappointed when I say 'no'. I can make them (for myself), but I won't now for anyone else. The great Mr Jackson's passing has convinced me that I need to crack on with making things - for me! 

 

And, with regard to my making things, I actually got a fair bit done to my new A1 over the weekend!

 

1697252632_mystand02.jpg.2ab872a849a7564f903a502c1c48ceb4.jpg

 

Normally, I mainly just talk as a demonstrator, showing any constructional methods on scrap etch/white metal. However, in answer to the likes of 'How do you make a bogie?', I made it. Or, 'How do you solder white metal to brass?', I erected the cab and tender. Or, 'How do you fix handrails in place?, I did. 

 

596266586_mystand01.jpg.95247eefdb1f212efabbfc6145eaa387.jpg

 

Ian Wilson did a super job in designing my new banner for shows. To the right, Richard Wilson demonstrated weathering at Quorn. 

 

Despite the monsoon conditions at times, the show went very well (other than the thieving). May I please than all those who organised the exhibition so well? 

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Even though I haven't posted for a while (except to register my sadness of Roy's passing) I do try to keep in touch with this thread. I didn't make it to Quorn this year as it was my youngest daughter's birthday on Saturday and Father's day today so I was being treated to a meal at 'The Railway' at Lowdham which has just been voted the best food pub in the country and the food was indeed excellent. But when I got back, I came across this picture and thought of you, Tony. I'm sure you'll spot what I mean. 

69827_010_rdcd.jpg.1f06346f43c40c9e2c627854648acaf9.jpg

 

A5 69827 has just arrived at Derby Friargate from Grantham on a local passenger. 

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Theft at shows has been a continual issue, especially from trade stands. Years ago it was not uncommon for the organisers of the York MRS to broadcast an announcement, usually on Saturday morning, that some theft had occurred and exhibitors and traders should be vigilant. However, in general theft has probably been of such a low level that either the trader hasn't noticed what has gone, or never raised the matter. It is possible that such thefts in the past have been by people for their own collections,  but the amount that Tony refers to does seem on a more "commercial" scale.

 

Did the extensive news media coverage of the vandalism at the recent Market Deeping club's show at Stamford create the perception that models are very expensive and hence, in the mind of some individuals,  worth stealing? The quoted value for the scratchbuilt 7mm loco that was destroyed may have given the impression that all model locos have similar values.

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