6029 King Stephen Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 With the ever increasing price of new RTR I have started to trawl eBay looking for loco kits and have been surprised by how cheap some of them can be. Providing they have wheels which DJH kits always used to include, then I only have to source the motor and gearbox assembly. Then I'll start building the kits, including Wills and K's whilst watching the Right Track DVDs by Tony Wright at the same time. Even the Walshaerts (spelling?) valve gear should be buildable! For K's and Wills kits I plan to replace the basic brass chassis or whitemetal chassis for a Comet chassis and use Romford wheels. I also have two Airfix moguls, one with a Kemilway chassis and the other with a Comet chassis. Just need to to get the wheels and motor/gearbox. On other DJH kit boxes it suggests a motor and gearbox to use but not on the 4MT box. The instructions refer to a DJH 101 motor but the DJH website has no mention of this motor. I also have the DJH Britannia kit and they suggest the AM9. Also, can somebody recommend a gear ratio to use? Thanks, Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 How do you want the loco to perform? Personally I like a full scale speed capability, and on most locos that's easily enough obtained by around 30:1 and the biggest Mashima that's a fit, I would guess at the 1426 or 1430 flat cans as a good bet for an easy fit in a loco this size, and slow speed running will be good. If it is intended to always move at slow speed, then you might want a significantly higher gear ratio. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davknigh Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 For gearboxes you can't do much better than: http://highlevelkits.co.uk/ (usual disclaimer) Cheers, David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyC Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 On their website DJH recommend the AM9 motor/gearbox for the Fairbairn LMS/BR 2-6-4T kit K52. The Fairbairn is virtually the same engine as the BR 4MT tank so I would think it would take the same unit. Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6029 King Stephen Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 Thanks for the advice. For simplicity's sake I think I will go for the AM9 with a 30:1 gearbox. The layout that I currently building (very slowly - Friary Green) is of the terminus to fiddle yard type so that although it will have a visible running length of about 50' the train won't be operated at the speeds that could be achieved on a continuous run layout. Slower running through points at the approach to the station will be the main order of the day. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Colin Posted November 28, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 28, 2015 Hi Steve I built a few DJH and South Eastern Finecast kits over the years (I still have some of the SR locos and a Standard 3MT tank and most run OK, if not quite as well as the latest RTR) - if you think I might be able to be of any assistance, let me know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earlswood Nob Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Good morning all those who are not on the way to the Warley Exhib. There are bargains to be found is you are prepared to rebuild a badly assembled/painted kit loco, but building from the start is usually more expensive than buying RTR locos. A few months ago I bought such a kit with a Comet chassis and Romford wheels for less than the price of the Comet chassis. The paint had been applied with a shovel and the numbering was wrong for the livery. Overnight in the paint stripper and it fell to pieces and I discovered that the tender was a replacement from Dave Alexander. I was a happy chappie, I wasn't keen on the motor (DS10?), so replaced it with a Mashima 1624 and High Level gearbox. The valve gear had been incorrectly assembled, so I had to obtain some Gibson rivets to rebuild it. I now have a reasonable loco/tender for less than the kit would have cost. However, if the kit is brand new then things are more expensive. A SEF loco kit costs close to £100, a Markits wheel set over £60, a Mashima motor with High Level gearbox £35. So the total cost is around £200. After the bad news comes the good news. My handbuilt chassis run better than the few RTR locos that I own. I can also use differing gear ratios to suit the work that the loco was designed for. I have a Little Engines LNER T1, fitted with a Mashima 1628 driving through a 108:1 gearbox, and it runs silently and smoothly at very slow speeds (less than scale walking pace). Different people get pleasure from different aspects of railway modelling. I, personally, enjoy building models. Some enjoy collecting RTR models. Some merely enjoy running models. As long as one gets pleasure from the hobby (which is what it's for), then continue to do so. As ever, I have no connection with any supplier mentioned, other than being a satisfied customer. Earlswood nob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexAshton Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 High Level Kits Roadrunner + and Mashima 1424 or 1426 would always be my first choice. DJH's gearboxes are also very good but a bit expensive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted November 30, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2015 Thanks for the advice. For simplicity's sake I think I will go for the AM9 with a 30:1 gearbox. The layout that I currently building (very slowly - Friary Green) is of the terminus to fiddle yard type so that although it will have a visible running length of about 50' the train won't be operated at the speeds that could be achieved on a continuous run layout. Slower running through points at the approach to the station will be the main order of the day. Steve DJH recommended, but a bit expensive as stated. Mr Wright uses/d them in his Pacifics most of the time. I used a couple and they are robust. However this is a smaller loco so you may want to use the High Levels as mentioned so you can gear for shunting. Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
6029 King Stephen Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Thanks again for all your advice. I have looked at the High Level website and think I will use their chassis for the loco and tender of the Wills Collett 2251 loco that I have plus their recommendation for motor and gearbox. My current stash is as follows: Airfix Mogul with Kemilway chassis for tender mounted motor. Requires wheels, motor/gearbox. Airfix Mogul with Comet chassis for loco. Requires wheels, motor/gearbox. Wills A1 Flying Scotsman with Finecast chassis. Requires wheels, motor/gearbox, instructions. DJH 4MT Tank with chassis, wheels. Requires AM9 motor and gearbox. DJH 7P Britannia with chassis, wheels. Requires AM9 motor and gearbox. DJH Fairburn Tank with chassis and wheels. Requires AM9 motor and gearbox. Wills Collett 2251 and tender (as above). Requires chassis, wheels, motor and gearbox. Wills Collett 2251 and tender with Perseverence chassis, wheel and motor. Requires gearbox. K's GWR 28xx and tender. Requires chassis, wheels, motor and gearbox. K's Terrier. Requires chassis, wheels, motor and gearbox. Wills GWR Star. Requires chassis, wheels, motor and gearbox. I am aware that the price of wheelsets are in the region of £60-£70 depending on loco and Comet chassis between £20 - £35 (High Level chassis for 2251 and tender is £62) and that a motor and gearbox is in the region of £20-£40 and that when added up, these are probably much more than a RTR equivalent. However, by buying parts to complete one loco and some bits to complete the next, somehow my brain believes that it is spending less than if I forked out £135 - £175 for a RTR loco. My first loco to build is most likely going to be the Wills 2251 Collett loco with the Perseverence chassis as essentially it is an 0-6-0 loco with a tender. I just need to buy a gearbox to go with the Mashima style motor that came with the kit. For my additional item, I will probably fork our for the AM9 and gearbox for one of the DJH locos. The next loco would be either the other Wills 2251 or the K's Terrier so my next purchase would be the Comet Chassis (£20), the wheels. axles and crankpins (@£30) and motor/gearbox (£20). The last locos to build will probably be the DJH ones as the valve gear is not so simple. In the future, I would like to buy and build some of the PDK range; Original MN class (21C4 in Malachite and 35003 BR experimental blue), GWR 47xx, WC/BB (21C103, 21C111, 21C112, 21C113, 21C121, 34169) and GWR 72xx which are generally in the £115-£120 range for the basic kit plus the wheels (£70) and motor/gearbox (£50). I imagine each loco is going to take me a few months to build as I also have to find time to build track and coaches for my layout as well as constructing building kits. I am also a DCC user so I will have to adapt my techniques so that decoders can fit in the tight confines of some whitemetal kits although I might follow the lead of RTR brands by installing decoders in the tenders of locos and having the loco permanently connected to the tender to facilitate this. I will try to keep you updated on progress but I will most likely have to start a new thread in the loco kit building part of the forum. Regards, Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earlswood Nob Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Good morning all As I mentioned I use High Level Gearboxes and Mashima motors for everything. One small point, is that the High Level Gearboxes are of varying widths. There is a planner that one can download. For a DJH chassis that I built recently, I had to widen the gap between the frames to fit the gearbox. I did this by putting washers on each end of the screw-up spacers. High Level do produce Slimliner gearboxes to fit such chassis, but I had already purchased the gearbox. Earlswood nob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted December 23, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 23, 2015 Decoders can be fitted into most of the locos you mention. I have recently fitted Zimo sound chips to DJH A1,A2, A3, Duchesses in 4mm. Just choose smaller dcc chips and check that there are no short circuits in the loco and off you go..if you need a hand please PM me. Baz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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