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News from Cooper Craft/Blacksmith/Slater's/Kirk LNER/Mailcoach Kits.


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I have decided to put all the ranges under one topic so we can find more easy what is going on.

 

First update on the Blacksmith 4mm range. The problem with the range is that new moulds are needed to run the castings and I am trying to sort out the layout for the castings as some of them have got too many castings which are not often needed and not enough for ones I need a lot off.

 

Some of the drawings have gone AWOL so I am redoing these new including the K14-16 with the later forms like the K25 where the guards lookout have been taken off. These will have the floor separate from the body and the drawings are 75% complete for these. The SECR hooped top station fence has been redone with the hoops at the correct spacing and the ramps fencing done to match. New is the SECR goods yard gates for Chilworth which are the shorter form of the ones which have been moved to Ropley station and the gate badges as well. These have gone to the etches to see if they are all right. There are some other lineside kits for the SECR in the pipeline as well with a wagon kit which was built by SR to SECR drawings which lasted until the 80's in departmental use and 3 have been preserved.

 

Also coming NEW will be goods yard gates with the spear tops for GWR and another general lineside which will be announced when done. I am planning some coaches for another pre grouping railway which I will be getting the drawings for in the near future all will be revealed when they are more advanced. The steam railmotor upgrade is progressing and I am still working out to do this the best way to mount it etc.  

 

The moulding machine for the Cooper Craft/Kirk LNER/Mailcoach is now working again so it is down to the moulds working ie not in a bad mood which they can have at times.

 

Here are links to old posts  http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/7731-slaters-4mm-wagon-kits/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58671-blacksmith-4mm-kits/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/44841-new-from-cooper-craft/

I have found with the last few forum up grades that I have not been getting emails saying that somebody has sent me PM's so unless I have been using this user name I have not found them. I hope it is working now.

 

Please can you all reply to this post only, not using the old ones I have supplied the links for.

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What's the current situation with the BR Mk.1 coach kits and related spares, please?

 

Need to do the floor which is fairly easy to do and the *^:#"! roof which is a pig to do, the last batch I found it was not filling in one corner.

And have the Gresley roofs arrived?

Which roof is it you want of the 6 Gresley roofs I do. The Tourist Stock 61'6" roofs are now back in stock (easy to do) with some of the 50' non corridor roofs in stock as well and hoping to run some more in the next few days (can play up), with a few 61'6 bow ended in stock as well (semi pain to run). I will be trying the 52'6" again in the next few days (not sure how they run yet) and the Coronation roofs are not easy to do as they are on the same mould as the MK1 roofs. Plenty of the beaver tail coach roofs in stock. 

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Need to do the floor which is fairly easy to do and the *^:#"! roof which is a pig to do, the last batch I found it was not filling in one corner.

 

Yes, I noticed the sag in quality between the "SK" that was my first Mk.1 kit, and the "CK", which had a very awkward fit at the ends.

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Which roof is it you want of the 6 Gresley roofs I do. The Tourist Stock 61'6" roofs are now back in stock (easy to do) with some of the 50' non corridor roofs in stock as well and hoping to run some more in the next few days (can play up), with a few 61'6 bow ended in stock as well (semi pain to run). I will be trying the 52'6" again in the next few days (not sure how they run yet) and the Coronation roofs are not easy to do as they are on the same mould as the MK1 roofs. Plenty of the beaver tail coach roofs in stock. 

 

Sorry.  I ordered a ex-Kirk 52'6" BSK many months ago, and was told those roofs were still awaited. 

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Hi,

 

can you remind us of your web site address, please?

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

The web site is http://www.cooper-craft.co.uk/ but most of the Blacksmith range is not showing as not in stock.

 

Took this photo yesterday of a GWR spear top gate and with the measurements I took at the same time the drawing for it is 90% complete.

post-6328-0-58653800-1357379152_thumb.jpg 

 

The bar across the bottom will not be on the gate.

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A while ago when you got hold of the Slaters carriages, there was talk of some new GWR kits, is this still likely? Thanks.

Well with all this shouting on this forum "We want RTR Toplight coaches" it has put me off spending too much money out, and then one of the big boys decide to bring the RTR out and for me not to get my money back.

 

After I started this topic I have come up with the idea of using the Slater's ends, floors, ends etc. with a new plastic roof without the water tank top on and the tank top will be done in brass so can be put any where along the roof and doing etched brass sides and corridor screen to keep the costs down and still easy to build.

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Are the LNER Coaches ever having new moulds??    The kits are now are very old and showing their age.

 

      It would be nice to have Tourist and Coronation Coaches which do not use the awful clear sides. The design simply do not work. The clear plastic is at best foggy with various imperfections due to poor moulds and being too thick  As a result you get poor quality windows which cannot be improved and they are a devil to paint too. I have built the Tourist set and speak from experience. I would never consider buying the Coronation set until the kits are improved.

     On the other LNER stock if decent Glazing could be moulded and supplied with the kits?.  Something like flush windows could then be achieved and make them nmuch more saleable to people now use to expecting Hornby type quality in the kits. They would make them much nearer the quality of the MJT range as well.

 

     Judging from the comments re Roofs you are suffering the similar problems, as people who try and build them into decent models.

 

I fully realise this all costs money but the kits would be much more saleable for the future

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Well with all this shouting on this forum "We want RTR Toplight coaches" it has put me off spending too much money out, and then one of the big boys decide to bring the RTR out and for me not to get my money back.......

 

Maybe there is something that would still be attractive to build as a kit, that is unlikely to come out as RTR?

 

As one of the people clamouring for RTR Toplights, I completely understand. Although of course, everyone is telling me, It's not practical for a manufacturer! Maybe you need an inside chat with Simon Kohler! 

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GWR gates - in brass or plastic?

 

Have missed this - what steam railmotor upgrade?

 

And your earlier reply about 'demands' for RTR and RTR duplicates - must be frustrating, to say the least

The gates will be in brass as they will be too fine in plastic to get them fill.

 

The upgrade for the steam railmotor is the replacement of power bogie with a up to date one which will be more easy to build (also more easy for the P4 people as well as it will be possible to compensate it easy) and look correct (etched brass cylinders as well). The gear box is proving the current problem as a new one will have to be designed for it without people having to cut out a lot of brass to fit it in.. 

 

The new Blacksmith wagon kit is the SR (SECR) machinery wagon D1681 are 80% complete (there will be spares for the small parts so if you drop one of them you will still be all right) with the GWR Loriot L G13  to replace the old D&S one which has at least 4 mistakes for starters it is 2mm too short.

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Is there any chance that the GER 4.4.0 D16 loco kit will be re introduced?

Yes with the Cooper Craft B12 and F3 which in the latter case will have to be all new as the drawings have gone AWOL but it might be as well as there was a fault in them which was in the drawings that were used for this kit. (I have yet to see the NRM ones to see if the fault is on this one as well). The resin boiler on the B12 will be replaced with an etched brass one for both types of firebox. The drawings for the rest of the B12 I have got.

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I think the original B12/3 boiler came out undersized, so it will be interesting to see how the new one eventually compares with the Crownline and PDK kits.

 

At the time of its release, the Coopercraft B12 was the only one which expressly allowed for P4 builders. AGW does a lovely set of heavily-flared driving wheels to match.

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Coopercraft B12 ....what have I missed here.....?

 

You're not the only one. It was a very short run of kits at the time (late 1990s, I think). I seem to recall Tony Wright managed to get hold of one to build for a BRM article, and one or two have made it onto eBay, but they were always rare. The major flaw was the undersized boiler moulding. Possibly the expense of correcting it - or lack of time to do so - didn't justify another batch.

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what have I missed here.....?

 

This.

 

B12.jpg

 

It was a shocking kit to build, mainly because of the resin boiler.  I drilled through it and packed the hole with lead bit it isn't as heavy as it needs to be.  The firebox was awful - about 2mm higher at one side than the other.

 

It did come with some of the best instructions I've ever seen in a kit and, to be fair, after I'd rebuilt the chassis twice, it can be seen hauling the weedkilling train on Thurston.  But if I was building another at the moment I'd be going to PDK.

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You're not the only one. It was a very short run of kits at the time (late 1990s, I think). I seem to recall Tony Wright managed to get hold of one to build for a BRM article, and one or two have made it onto eBay, but they were always rare. The major flaw was the undersized boiler moulding. Possibly the expense of correcting it - or lack of time to do so - didn't justify another batch.

Your are about right for the year as it was in 1996/7 they came out and the J20 should have been done as well. The main reason they stopped in the track was the other one who was involved with this part of the business moved away and when they started coming out Tony Brown the then owner spent a month in hospital so all this just stopped.

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This.

 

B12.jpg

 

It was a shocking kit to build, mainly because of the resin boiler.  I drilled through it and packed the hole with lead bit it isn't as heavy as it needs to be.  The firebox was awful - about 2mm higher at one side than the other.

 

It did come with some of the best instructions I've ever seen in a kit and, to be fair, after I'd rebuilt the chassis twice, it can be seen hauling the weedkilling train on Thurston.  But if I was building another at the moment I'd be going to PDK.

 

The tender was also resin and the odd boiler I have got is not much cop either as the splashes and the cut outs in the resin firebox don't line up and the gear box hits the front of the firebox as well. What method did you use for the front bogie mounting as in the one I had from Tony Brown a couple of months ago is mounted direct with slots for side movement which were put in after the etchings and in the Tony Wright book a swing arm is used. At the end of the day most likely a new chassis will be done.

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You're right, the tender was resin, I'd forgotten that.  I don't recall having problems with splashers lining up, just the firebox being way too short on both sides.  The current configuration has a High Level gearbox and the motor sticks into the cab so the backhead isn't present.  There isn't room for a very large motor, that's part of the overall problem with it.   Like Ivan I don't recall any problems with the chassis at all.  The front bogie is just on a pivot, not an arm and that's how it was designed as far as I recall from the instructions.

 

Have you any F3 bits about?  I was going to scratchbuild one this year.

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The chassis was probably the best bit of the whole thing. If you're revamping it, do keep the P4 spacers.

 

Yes sir.  :triniti:

 

Any chassis kits I do will be done in a way that they are easy to be built in EM/S4 as well as 00 gauge. (they wont be worth doing if not suitable for the fine scale boys and girls) 

 

 

You're right, the tender was resin, I'd forgotten that.  I don't recall having problems with splashers lining up, just the firebox being way too short on both sides.  The current configuration has a High Level gearbox and the motor sticks into the cab so the backhead isn't present.  There isn't room for a very large motor, that's part of the overall problem with it.   Like Ivan I don't recall any problems with the chassis at all.  The front bogie is just on a pivot, not an arm and that's how it was designed as far as I recall from the instructions.

 

Have you any F3 bits about?  I was going to scratchbuild one this year.

 

I have the drawings of the B12 from the RM 11/72 also the Isinglass drawings of it and will be looking to get the GER Society ones as well to make sure the boiler is correct.

 

In the case of the F3 there is nothing for it from the old kit and I have the Isinglass drawings of it but these don't show the splasher for the front wheel on it. The GER Society doesn't have the drawing for this one but have the E4 drawings and I will be checking if the splasher  is on that one. I have seen two F3 engines built without this splasher (4mm & 7mm) on but photos of both of the E4/F3 with it on. The drawings for this engine is about 50% complete and I hope I know a source of castings for it. 

 

Has any body built the Alan Gibson E4 to know if the splasher is on this engine.

 
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