What have you done with your Keyser kit

[hayfield]

I recently bought a couple of these saddle tanks, one simply came as an extra with a Stephen Poole 54xx kit, only had 5 wheels on an old cast chassis. It was in the photos (not really clear) but not in the description. but the pair cost just over £30 which was a £1 less than the second with 6 wheels and an X04 motor. Both will be re-chassised (is this a word?) Like London busses you wait ages for one to come and they come in pairs

[Brassey]

I got mine new in the 70's/80's at which point I soldered the saddle tank together but did nothing else to it.  Boiler fittings are AGW.  It has a Martin Finney 1854 chassis, the original Ultrascale wheels I got for it when the EM gauge Society supplied them, High Level Road Runner plus with drive stretcher and one of the High Level coreless 1219 motors and a Zimo decoder.    Runs OK.

[Coach bogie]

I have just finished another K's Bulldog from various incomplete and part builds. I have altered the running plate to make the curved frame version. It has Romford wheels as the K's ones were rusty and too far gone to use. Original K's motor driving a spare set of Romford 30:1 gears a friend gave me a couple of weeks ago. Based on a Henry Casserley picture of 3335 taken at Westbury. A few tweeks to sort then into the paintshop.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Coach bogie

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, Coach bogie said:

 

This is why I get cross when people dismiss K's kits as rubbish!

 

There is nowt wrong with that whatsoever - very nice indeed.

 

John Isherwood.

[melmerby]

Interesting use of telephone wire for the top feed!

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

This is why I get cross when people dismiss K's kits as rubbish!

 

There is nowt wrong with that whatsoever - very nice indeed.

 

John Isherwood.

You might not if you had the two I had

I have bought in total 6 whitemetal Kits.

2 x Wills body kits - went together a treat, all parts accurate and fitted nicely.

2 x M&L body/chassis kits - also went together well, a little fettling needed but not too much.

2 x K's kits - badly distorted castings, incorrectly cast items, chassis side different lengths etc. Massive amount of work to get things to fit, in essence total crap.

 

 

[cctransuk]

50 minutes ago, melmerby said:

You might not if you had the two I had

I have bought in total 6 whitemetal Kits.

2 x Wills body kits - went together a treat, all parts accurate and fitted nicely.

2 x M&L body/chassis kits - also went together well, a little fettling needed but not too much.

2 x K's kits - badly distorted castings, incorrectly cast items, chassis side different lengths etc. Massive amount of work to get things to fit, in essence total crap.

 

 

 

Must have been Friday jobs - I have built quite a number of K's kits; all of which required only modest fettling.

 

John Isherwood.

[hayfield]

I am a great fan of Keyser kits, but they can be a bit variable, especially towards the end of the company. Or if the casting session did not go that well. At their best they can be a real pleasure, however some kits were not designed that well and sometimes badly cast causing build issues

 

They are of an era when if it could be cast in whitemetal, it would be. Now we are more discerning and perhaps expect higher standards. Certainly they were designed to be a budget (complete) kit.  

[BernardTPM]

4 hours ago, hayfield said:

They are of an era when if it could be cast in whitemetal, it would be. Now we are more discerning and perhaps expect higher standards. Certainly they were designed to be a budget (complete) kit.  

I'm not sure that's always true. Now we are in an era of 3D printing often being used just as inappropriately as whitemetal was. Often convenience is the driver in these things, of course.

There are so many techniques that are more affordable and accessible these days compared to circa 1960.

Edited August 22, 2020 by BernardTPM

[Sandhole]

11 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

I have just finished another K's Bulldog from various incomplete and part builds. I have altered the running plate to make the curved frame version. It has Romford wheels as the K's ones were rusty and too far gone to use. Original K's motor driving a spare set of Romford 30:1 gears a friend gave me a couple of weeks ago. Based on a Henry Casserley picture of 3335 taken at Westbury. A few tweeks to sort then into the paintshop.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

Bloody lovely Mike.
Could you put a front coupling on it, then I can use it as station pilot when I next visit and play trains.

[farren]

Here’s my latest white kit pretty sure someone as done similar model before but I need some advice, I’m building a K’s Garratt no chassis. So building with Comet Fowler 2-6-4t.

 

i have the wheels on order 21 mm. But I’ve measured from the wheel centre  to the bottom of the chassis and it doesn’t leave much room from the springs and hangers to the top of the rail one maybe two mm. So the question is will that be enough Or will the hangers need removing and re-attaching. 

[richard i]

9 hours ago, farren said:

Here’s my latest white kit pretty sure someone as done similar model before but I need some advice, I’m building a K’s Garratt no chassis. So building with Comet Fowler 2-6-4t.

 

i have the wheels on order 21 mm. But I’ve measured from the wheel centre  to the bottom of the chassis and it doesn’t leave much room from the springs and hangers to the top of the rail one maybe two mm. So the question is will that be enough Or will the hangers need removing and re-attaching. 

Just take them off, they can hardly be seen behind the wheels as it is.

[Michael Edge]

The Garratts didn't have the J hanger spring arrangement seen on the 2-6-4T, just the spring ends mounted under the frames.

[farren]

Thank you Michael Edge that works now. I Cut off the complete spring plus j hangers Off and reapplied the springs minus the hangers.
 

I’ve fixed them a little high as I went for fixing them on the out side of the frame so the partial cutout Axle holes  for sprung axles could be soldered At the bottom to the top of the spring etching. Giving the axle much needed strength. 

[hayfield]

Not what I have done but someone else, I bought an unfinished and stated not working K's J72, with the shortage of Markit/Romford wheels I though it was a cheap way of obtaining some. Including postage I paid £20.91. At worst I thought I may get a few £'s  for the body and chassis, and if I am very lucky a few more £'s for the motor

 

 

The loco arrived and the body is in what I thought a very good shape, though the footplate had been replaced with a home made plasticard one, missing a few items but a nice paint finish for its age and soldered together

 

 

The glue has come unstuck which I will rectify, but a super plastic footplate which I thought I would share with others

 

 

The top layer is 20 thou, the bottom 60 thou as are the buffers. The frame extensions are 20 thou.  Quite often we see broken footplates, some are repairable. others Like a Wills Metro I bought resist being soldered together.

 

 

Another nice touch is the plasticard pickup plate. which I must say worked far better than the meshing between the motor (worm wheel) and gear wheel

 

I was half tempted to but a Mainly Trains chassis from Wizard. as I said missing a few bits which are easy to either fabricate or buy and certainly deserves better than a poor early K's chassis, I guess someone could ream out the axle holes and fit some top hat axle bearings, and a decent motor and motor mount/gearbox will result in a super little loco.

 

Anyway I have too many projects on the go, I will stick the footplate back on to the body and list it along with the chassis and coupling rods cheaply, and do the same with the motor separately. Will make a nice little project for someone

 

Still I thought either the footplate or pickup might give someone an idea fot their old kit

[5050]

This is the only K's kit I've got.  Built early 70's as an OO model and converted to P4 late 70's.  Already posted on the 48xx thread elsewhere but I thought it might fit in here too

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/151825-mystery-gwr-48xx-kit-built-oo-gauge-model/page/2/&tab=comments#comment-4160750

 

Running as 84J's 5810 which, in common with many of my WR locos, is one I saw regularly as a lad.

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by 5050

[Barclay]

I've already described this elsewhere but I think it ought to be in this thread for the sake of completeness!

The 'Taff Vale' Hudswell Clarke. K's body, chassis kit from Ambis, Gibson wheels; Mashima 1015, and High Level gearbox. What a struggle to get all that into this little loco.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Barclay

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Barclay said:

I've already described this elsewhere but I think it ought to be in this thread for the sake of completeness!

The 'Taff Vale' Hudswell Clarke. K's body, chassis kit from Ambis, Gibson wheels; Mashima 1015, and High Level gearbox. What a struggle to get all that into this little loco.

 

 

 

 

Still waiting for my Ambis chassis plus I need to fabricate a cab front/rear/roof

[Ruston]

On 22/10/2020 at 12:01, 5050 said:

This is the only K's kit I've got.  Built early 70's as an OO model and converted to P4 late 70's.  Already posted on the 48xx thread elsewhere but I thought it might fit in here too

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/151825-mystery-gwr-48xx-kit-built-oo-gauge-model/page/2/&tab=comments#comment-4160750

 

Running as 84J's 5810 which, in common with many of my WR locos, is one I saw regularly as a lad.

 

 

 

They must have had some really keen cleaners at 84J to have made the effort to take off the paint and polish up the sides of the wheels to a bright steel finish. I hear they have a similarly keen cleaner, who does the same thing to the locos at Braynert's Sidings.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Ruston

[5050]

38 minutes ago, Ruston said:

They must have had some really keen cleaners at 84J to have made the effort to take off the paint and polish up the sides of the wheels to a bright steel finish. I hear they have a similarly keen cleaner, who does the same thing to the locos at Braynert's Sidings.

Well now bach, a bit of wet and dry, 30mins overtime and Pobe is your Uncle isn't it.

 

Something I need to do on this and several other locos too!

 

Thanks for pointing it out to the world at large - or at least to the denizens of RMWeb..........................

[farren]

Here’s a update on the Garrett differently moving in the right direction  even if it as take months to get to this point done by Christmas hopefully. 

[The Johnster]

[Steamport Southport]

I've got one of those somewhere. You'll need the Garratt in the previous post to move it.  

 

Mine was fine if used with my K's 14XX, but the Airfix one struggled with it.

[The Johnster]

Not exactly lightweight are they.  I’ve got two of ‘em, the other in BR crimson with plated toplights (Milliput); a Bachmann 4575 can manage one + a plastic Hornby A30, not a Baccy A38, and that’s on the level.  Mine have Stafford Road/Shapeways bogies which run very freely, as the Americans supplied with the kit are incorrect for a trailer with double doors to the passenger vestibule, rebuilt from SRMs originally supplied by Gloucester RCW. Single door versions are built at Swindon.  
 

A31s can have fishbellies or Collett 7’ if they are Gloucesters, and Americans as well if they are Swindon built. 

[drduncan]

Richard Hewins converted his one back to a rail motor.  It looks gorgeous in lake running on his Rowington for Shrewley layout.

DrDuncan