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Brassey - Locos Illustrated No 60 (GWR 0-4-2Ts) is extremely good for 517s, and can be found second-hand for £3 or so.
 
To be honest, it's been a long time since I studied the 517s, and I'm beginning to doubt my memory/assertion that all the wide tanks were 15'6" wb. There may have been some 15' wb fitted with wide tanks.

Regardless, the Mallard kit is really only suitable for the survivors of the class in their last guise (and all with 15'6" wb), with the widened tanks (7'11") and the widened (8'1") footplate and the wide 'Collett' bunkers - the kit's footplate, as supplied 36.2mm wide over the full length, is wrong, since even in the last form the footplate was widened over only the tank and bunker sections, and came in to the narrow (7'5", I think) width at the front. This 'wide' footplate modification was I think applied only to the last rebuilds (a dozen or less, IIRC?), and all these had Collett bunkers of one kind or another, i.e. post '22.

 

For the majority of the class, i.e. the 'classical' 517, with the completely parallel footplate, I think this dimension should be 7'5" (29.7mm), with approx 7'2" wide tanks and bunkers.

 

I am not familiar with the M&L kit.

 

The only truth about the 517s is that there were 517 variations.

 

 

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Thanks Miss P

 

As I already have the Mallard kit I might as well build it as a 15' 6" wheelbase variant after I've been saving it all these years.

 

I do have Locomotives Illustrated 60 so will look that up regarding the classic 517.  I am presuming that the Malcolm Mitchell kit in 4mm will cater for this variant; so will have to catch David Geen at an exhibition next time.

 

Cheers

 

Edit: or resort to scratch building

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Thanks Miss P

 

As I already have the Mallard kit I might as well build it as a 15' 6" wheelbase variant after I've been saving it all these years.

 

I do have Locomotives Illustrated 60 so will look that up regarding the classic 517.  I am presuming that the Malcolm Mitchell kit in 4mm will cater for this variant; so will have to catch David Geen at an exhibition next time.

 

Cheers

 

Edit: or resort to scratch building

 

Brassey,

 

The Malcolm Mitchell kit does not cover the widened tank version, which as Miss Prism notes, dates from the 1920s. I am building 832 in the classic open cab and round top boiler arrangement. She survived in this form until 1925 when she was rebuilt with a belpaire boiler, wide tanks and a Collet bunker (mutilated IMHO!) 

 

The Mitchell kit covers both wheel bases, inside and outside bearings on trailing wheel set, standard and Collet bunkers with open and closed cabs as well as round or Belpaire boilers.

 

Incidentally, RCTS notes quite a few wide tank locos rebuilt between 1925 and 1928. About 44 in total.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

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