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What have you done with your Keyser kit


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3 hours ago, Brassey said:

I think this will be my last K’s kit.

I keep saying that to myself - and then I go and buy another one ! Currently three in the drawer and I don't even like white metal... 

 

1). Coal tank, mostly built, and very nicely, with decent etched replacement chassis frames.

2). GWR 1361 - chassis to be junked and replaced by nice new etched one from CSP.

3). LMS Fowler dock tank - lovely untouched later kit - will still need a new chassis though.

 

I never seem to learn my lesson but doing something half-decent with something like this, bringing in alternative parts etc. is often more interesting to me than just building a good etched kit. Am I not right in the head?

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Not me. Bought about a dozen of them in the last year or so.

 

Many of which were types you can't get elsewhere or were so much cheaper than the RTR equivalent.

 

Including a GNR 4-4-2 for £20 mint in box? Yes please. I could buy a brand new Bachmann one, but it costs about £180.

 

Don't even model the LNER. :prankster:

 

 

Jason

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I've some of their whitemetal 4 and 6 wheel coach kits.  One day they may get assembled purely as static models, they're far to heavy to ask a loco to pull about! 

 

Especially a Ks loco.

 

I've got an unbuilt Ks 14xx kit, it would look good with some of the whitemetal coaches (several of which are GWR) but I definitely don't think it would shift them!

 

So I just occasionally look at them!

 

Edited by Hroth
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1 minute ago, Hroth said:

I've some of their whitemetal 4 and 6 wheel coach kits.  One day they may get assembled purely as static models, they're far to heavy to ask a loco to pull about! 

 

Especially a Ks loco.

 

I've got an unbuilt Ks 14xx kit, it would look good with some of the whitemetal coaches (several of which are GWR) but I definitely don't think it would shift them!

 

So I just occasionally look at them!

 

 

My K's 14XX was very powerful. Built by a teenager in 198*.

 

Could easily shift the K's whitemetal Autotrailer which the Airfix version wouldn't even look at. That was with the so-called "rubbish" motor and gears.

 

Fit decent wheels and bearings in the coaches and you'll be fine.

 

*About 1984, but can't remember

 

 

Jason

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46 minutes ago, Hroth said:

I've some of their whitemetal 4 and 6 wheel coach kits.  One day they may get assembled purely as static models, they're far to heavy to ask a loco to pull about! 

 

Especially a Ks loco.

 

I've got an unbuilt Ks 14xx kit, it would look good with some of the whitemetal coaches (several of which are GWR) but I definitely don't think it would shift them!

 

So I just occasionally look at them!

 

 

I used a set of brass W Irons and pinpoint axles, very free runners as a result

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16 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

My K's 14XX was very powerful. Built by a teenager in 198*.

 

 

Jason

Snap !

My first ever loco. kit. Probably about the same time as you. The best I can say about it is that I learnt a lot !!

 

IMG_20210902_085208.jpg.89bba07bc575f6c6c6ede5b45490434a.jpg

 

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Perhaps I will - more and more often of late I find myself digging into the box of teenage models, untouched for 35 years, and thinking "I could do something with that". Of course I have no need for a 14xx but that hasn't stopped me so far...

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12 hours ago, Barclay said:

Snap !

My first ever loco. kit. Probably about the same time as you. The best I can say about it is that I learnt a lot !!

 

IMG_20210902_085208.jpg.89bba07bc575f6c6c6ede5b45490434a.jpg

 

The beauty of the K's 14Xx, is that it has no topfeed. Unlike the other versions.
Cuttung a topfeed off an Airfix/Hornby version is NOT easy to make look tidy!
My Friend Coachbogie loves 'em for that reason.
He has a number and with the chassis properly set up, the beast will pull a good load.
Chris.

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8 hours ago, Pierview said:

. The body came as a bag of twisted and badly assembled bits which cost me the princely sum of £1.

 

I enjoyed the challenge of stripping off the original paintwork and reducing everything to component parts before carefully re-assembling. 

 

I obtained a couple of missing pieces from Auto Com together with their replacement etched chassis.

 

A set of reclaimed K's wheels and a DS10 motor came from my stock and gave me an extremely cheap loco. 

 

If I remember correctly I found that the body was slightly short and so I spliced  in a piece of scrap white metal to bring it to the correct length.

 

 

  

 

Pierview

 

Firstly what a splendid job you have done, especially as it had been built and damaged, I sometimes find it a lot more enjoyable than a brand new kit

 

I think many of us get that extra kick when we rescue a badly built/damaged kit and turn it into a decent model

 

I think the like of SEF/DJH/Squires have found spares are quite lucrative. Even the Nu Cast basic etched chassis is far superior to the older K's brass bar chassis (especially the earlier keyhole type) 

 

Modern motors, wheels and gears do make all the difference

 

I thought it was the footplate that was a couple of mm short ?

 

Thanks for sharing

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John

 

Thank you for your kind comments. Like yourself I enjoy the process of rebuilding damaged kits and agree that the process is sometimes more enjoyable than building a new kit! The sourcing of new and replacement pieces is also part of the fun I think. Last year I acquired a Wills T9 in a parlous state as shown in the first photo. A few weeks' work and a replacement chassis and cab roof from SEF produced the improvement shown in the second  picture. As I was able to reclaim the driving wheels and had a motor in stock the exercise wasn't too expensive. Although this kit is Wills, rather than K's it does illustrate the point you have made previously that many of these old kits are well worth saving if suitably updated with a modern chassis.

 

Regarding the 14xx , you are quite right in that it is the running plate that is too short. I think that I discovered it in attempting to fit the replacement chassis.   

 

124933480_(82)2020-04T9asacquired.jpg.8f2eb33982d436799d94b8ec3858dccc.jpg

 

1094425415_(88)2020-05T9complete.jpg.7062fede7e40a3ec507148ce56791da3.jpg

Barry

 

 

Edited by Pierview
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1 hour ago, Pierview said:

John

 

Thank you for your kind comments. Like yourself I enjoy the process of rebuilding damaged kits and agree that the process is sometimes more enjoyable than building a new kit! The sourcing of new and replacement pieces is also part of the fun I think. Last year I acquired a Wills T9 in a parlous state as shown in the first photo. A few weeks' work and a replacement chassis and cab roof from SEF produced the improvement shown in the second  picture. As I was able to reclaim the driving wheels and had a motor in stock the exercise wasn't too expensive. Although this kit is Wills, rather than K's it does illustrate the point you have made previously that many of these old kits are well worth saving if suitably updated with a modern chassis.

 

Regarding the 14xx , you are quite right in that it is the running plate that is too short. I think that I discovered it in attempting to fit the replacement chassis.   

 

Barry

 

 

 

 

Barry

 

I think many of us have T9's it seemed a popular loco, as you say Dave Ellis is a true gent and Squires seem to be following in his footsteps. I have a couple of old Wills t9@s which will get what I call the SEF update. Etched chassis, decent can motor and gearbox also and new details the older kits never had. Again a lovely job with the T9

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2 hours ago, Pierview said:

Last year I acquired a Wills T9 in a parlous state as shown in the first photo.

 

Really good job. I bought a part assembled Wills T9 7-8 years ago and I too built it as 30338 - wide body and 8 wheeled tender combination was a little rare. This loco often pictured on North Cornwall Line.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

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I’ve had for years an early 48xx kit dating from about 1958. It has never run tidy since we bought it in 1976. Dad had a go at it in 1979 but it still ran like a bag of spanner’s!!! Lockdown provided a chance to look properly at it , the Hamblings wheels were falling off it. Father hated the HP2M so imagine my surprise to find one lurking  within!! Dad had managed to get it to run and decided that was as good as can be! In fairness he had only built 1 kit built loco before tackling the 4800.

so chassis out and full strip down..

The chassis isn’t the Ks original, that said one of the original sides survives in the bits box .Also the bits box contains the original coupling rods with Romford wheels . The chassis had slots and appropriately spaced cross members to take an XO4. So as I’ve plenty I built it up with an XO4 and sprung rear axle. What a super hauler now, just needs more lead in the smoke box now.

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Good to hear you now have it running well. The quality of the chassis build obviously affects the running quality. I also never got on the the newer HP2M motor or the wheels with the plastic spokes and D shaped axle holes, though the wheels were down to my own inexperience in using them

 

I do have a K's 48xx widened to EM gauge using the K's chassis, either by using new spacers or adding 1mm thick plasticard to the chassis

 

The thing to remember is the chassis design has basically stayed the same since the early 60's.  The original wheels are a bit coarse, the worm and gears are very inefficient, meshing the gears is very basic and relies on the skills of the builder, the early motors were good for the time. But now we judge them on todays standards

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The biggest problem I found on the earlier kits was keeping the gears meshed as there was no positive location for the front end of the motor, and that silly single thread in the one base!! I prefer to have the front of the motor fixed and adjust the mesh on the rear mounting.  The early wheels were better than the D centred efforts although I have used them ok, they are a fit once only job. 

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I was having a tidy up (well that is what my wife thought i was doing) and came across several K's. I decided to have a break from coaches and bring these two up to date. The Siphon C is the usual cut down F with a scratch built underframe. The low siphon is an original all cast version, again with internal compensation to keep in on the track. 

 

Mike Wiltshire

134490985_lowsiphons.JPG.8d3d5f28a538a4e866cb42e3ae1140cf.JPG

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4 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

I was having a tidy up (well that is what my wife thought i was doing) and came across several K's. I decided to have a break from coaches and bring these two up to date. The Siphon C is the usual cut down F with a scratch built underframe. The low siphon is an original all cast version, again with internal compensation to keep in on the track. 

 

Mike Wiltshire

134490985_lowsiphons.JPG.8d3d5f28a538a4e866cb42e3ae1140cf.JPG

Tidy Mike, LOVE it!
Chris.

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8 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

I was having a tidy up (well that is what my wife thought i was doing) and came across several K's. I decided to have a break from coaches and bring these two up to date. The Siphon C is the usual cut down F with a scratch built underframe. The low siphon is an original all cast version, again with internal compensation to keep in on the track. 

 

Mike Wiltshire

134490985_lowsiphons.JPG.8d3d5f28a538a4e866cb42e3ae1140cf.JPG

Well you HAVE tidied up. You had many parts, now only one!

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12 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

I was having a tidy up (well that is what my wife thought i was doing) and came across several K's. I decided to have a break from coaches and bring these two up to date. The Siphon C is the usual cut down F with a scratch built underframe. The low siphon is an original all cast version, again with internal compensation to keep in on the track. 

 

Mike Wiltshire

134490985_lowsiphons.JPG.8d3d5f28a538a4e866cb42e3ae1140cf.JPG

 

Mike

 

two lovely models, strange that the Siphon C is 4 wheeled and the low Syphon is 6 wheeled. I will have to look out for a cheap K's bogie Syphon

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6 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

Here are the other K's siphons the the tidy up revealed including a rare Tony Hammond underframe etch design specifically for the shortened K's F. 

 

Mike Wiltshire

390596784_junkboxsiphon.jpg.2e2afcff8799f1343c41ab251db01b1b.jpg

Is that tiny Siphon the hack up job I did for my Dad's line, Mike?

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Sorting through boxes of stuff cleared out from mum's attic a few years ago I find not one but at least 3 Ks Black Fives. 2 have etched chassis, Romford wheels and Portescap motors, another has the old Ks brass chassis and MW005 motor.

I have a Q1 with a couple of bits missing, built once then stripped down, bits of a 2-6-2T loco, and a Beyere-Peacock also part-built with some bits missing. 

 

I have one of their p'way wagons with the oblong slots in the side which I put onto an Airfix meat van chassis, at least it runs now!

 

Anyone interesting in taking on these projects pm me. I'd rather them go to a good home.

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