Class A3 4-6-2 in O Gauge from Hatton's

[Free At Last]

1 minute ago, HExpressD said:

I'd love one of these, I think they look great! Due to space I can only model in 4mm ATM but judging by some people's experiences keeping one as a static model might be a good move. Not sure I like that price for a static model though, I'll keep my eye out for a dead one on a popular online auction website.   

Have a look on eBay too.

[Hilux5972]

I’ve never understood why people

on here don’t just say eBay when that’s what they mean. 

[Keith Turbutt]

You might like to read my posting on Class A4 4-6-2 in O Gauge from Hatton's

which shows how I fitted a Kaydee coupling to my A4 tender

 

 

 

 

 

[Adrian Stevenson]

Now that Ellis Clark Trains have developed a working drophead buckeye coupling these might be worth giving a try on the A3 and associated Gresley Teaks. 

[john f]

Thanks for posting on fitting Kadees.  I was thinking about doing this as I have them fitted to my Gresley coaches. 

I took my A3 out to run today and the small screw that holds the draw bar fell out and now cannot engage the screw threads in the tender.  Just plastic.  I will have to work on a solution to this.  Anybody else have this problem?

[Captain Cuttle]

Looking at their website earlier with their sale this week, how many pre owned defective A3s and A4s there are. Has anyone identified and managed to cure the running isssues with these locos?

[MoonM]

Could not resist picking up one of these give the recent price reductions. Have not yet test run mine but appears to have arrived in one piece and in great condition. I ordered a no name/number version. Can someone recommend the best suppliers of name plates, numbers and builders plates? Thank you

[Hilux5972]

5 hours ago, MoonM said:

Could not resist picking up one of these give the recent price reductions. Have not yet test run mine but appears to have arrived in one piece and in great condition. I ordered a no name/number version. Can someone recommend the best suppliers of name plates, numbers and builders plates? Thank you

Fox have always been my go-to for etched products. https://www.fox-transfers.co.uk/etched-plates?class=1714&scale=115

[Simond]

On 20/08/2022 at 13:32, Captain Cuttle said:

Looking at their website earlier with their sale this week, how many pre owned defective A3s and A4s there are. Has anyone identified and managed to cure the running isssues with these locos?

if I wanted one, which I don’t, I think I’d be looking at Premier Components for a chassis, motion & motor.  
 

I’ve not looked at the wheels, but ideally you’d want to re-use them as they’re nicely painted.

[sandra]

I hope the build goes well and I’ll be interested to see your progress. I have one of these running on Retford. I did not build it but I bought it built from Tony Wright. He did not build it either but was selling it upon behalf of a widow.
 

The A3 was fitted with friction-fit driving wheels which did not last long on Retford. They slipped on the axles and so I tried to replace them with Markits wheels of the correct 6’ 8” diameter.  Unfortunately these would not fit as the kit seemed to be designed around the use of P4 wheels with a finer flange. So I had to replace the existing wheels (which were also undersize)  with 6’ 6” wheels which did fit.

 

I realise that as you are building the kit from scratch, this might not be a problem and it may be covered in the instructions which I haven’t seen. But I thought I’d mention it as it has caused a lot of difficulty with my A3 which has taken me a long time to get to run reliably.

[Captain Cuttle]

On 29/10/2022 at 07:52, Simond said:

if I wanted one, which I don’t, I think I’d be looking at Premier Components for a chassis, motion & motor.  
 

I’ve not looked at the wheels, but ideally you’d want to re-use them as they’re nicely painted.

Not what people who buy RTR want i am sure.

[Simond]

No, I know, but having seen them in the flesh, the bodies are reasonably modelled and decently painted, but the chassis leave much to be desired.  One pal bought several, and returned every one due to some failing or another.
 

If one wanted an A3 or A4, and it was expected to pull decent trains at decent speeds, it’s going to need a functional chassis and drivetrain, and, whilst it clearly can be done in plastic, it probably means brass, and for the average modeller, if it can be screwed together (Premier chassis are made that way) so much the better.  And you can be 100% confident of having a reliable loco at the end of it.

 

So that would be my approach to answer your question.  I’m sure other ways might be possible, and would probably be cheaper.

[Simond]

As a hypothetical question, how much would people who don't want to build it themselves be prepared to pay to purchase a fully tested, motorised, 2R FS chassis including wheels and valve gear, for an A3 or A4?

 

I'm imagining something that a Hattons body could simply be dropped onto in much the way an old TriAng body used to fit.

[Hal Nail]

On 10/11/2022 at 15:16, Simond said:

As a hypothetical question, how much would people who don't want to build it themselves be prepared to pay to purchase a fully tested, motorised, 2R FS chassis

I suspect the answer would be less than it would end up costing. (albeit that would apply to absolutely anything on here!)

 

I can see your point but I doubt there would be enough punters to make it economic unless an existing chassis was easily adapted and sold separately. In many cases if you wanted a brass, compensated chassis, you would opt for a refined brass body as well.

[Simond]

Well, I think the answer is “not enough” either interest or money!

[84B Oxley]

It's taken quite a long time to get to this point from a Hattons bargain non-runner 60077. The loco body is relatively untouched, though I did have to glue back the dome which fell off when I looked at it and reattach the blinkers. (They will be replaced with etched ones when I can get hold of some.) 

The chassis has had major butchery done to it, most of it by the late Dave Brooks of JPL who drilled it out to take his firm's wheel bearings. The cast iron driving wheels are from JPL and the rest of the loco wheels are from Slater's. The plastic front bogie was replaced with a spare from the scrap box and a scratchbuilt trailing truck replaced the flimsy Hattons one. JPL also milled some of the chassis block out so that I could fit an MSC 30:1 three stage gearbox with Canon motor and flywheel. 

Valve gear is also from JPL and included a lost-wax motion bracket. The original slidebars and crossheads have been retained but the flimsy plastic valve guides have had cast whitemetal substitutes epoxied in their place. 

Cosmetic detailing has been kept to a minimum: the cylinder drains were replaced with some cast ones I had in stock, along with pipes made from phosphor bronze wire. New cab and tender doors have been made and hinged in place and a decent sized fallplate fitted. Front steps, missing from the model, were scratched up from scrap brass etch. 

Very little had to be done to the tender: the keeper plate has been permanently bolted to the chassis but the original wheels have been kept.  

Much of the original weight which filled some of the boiler has been kept so the finished model will pull any amount of stock that is put behind it with ease. 

Finally, a light weathering with Railmatch weather black and a new front numberplate and shedplate from Narrow Planet completes the job, photographed here on Preston O Gauge Group's 'Marsh Lane' MPD. I am pleased with the finished result, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Such a shame that Hattons got it so wrong in the first place, not in terms of appearance but in such awful build quality and reliability.

 

Jeff

 

[Simond]

Jeff,

 

I’m sure that’s a proper job.  Very much what I had in mind.

 

Dave Brooks was a decent bloke and his untimely death is another valuable supplier lost.

 

cheers

Simon