Westward 54xx/64xx/74xx loco kit

[Pierview]

Hello everyone . This is my first posting on this forum although I have been following it for some time and have enjoyed seeing some great modelling. 

However to get to the point,  I acquired the Westward kit for the 54xx/64xx/74xx loco a few months ago from that well known on-line auction site. First impressions are that considering its age,  the kit is nowhere near as bad as some people have suggested and I am quite impressed with the castings.  Unfortunately the instructions are missing so I wonder if anyone has a set that they could copy for me? Most of the assembly seems self evident but the instructions will help with identifying small and alternative parts. Any assistance would be gratefully received!

[hayfield]

I have no idea if it would help, but I have a Stephen Poole 54/64/74xx whitemetal body kit with instructions. It is very basic with few parts but might assist a bit if no one offers the Westward version. Also the Russell book A Pictorial History GWR of Locos will assist with the bits. And or the instructions of a more modern kit might be of use

[Steamport Southport]

Yeah. Mine's a Stephen Poole version as well. The instructions in that are very basic. 

 

One page with half of that consisting of a basic drawing and a few paragraphs of instructions.

 

 

 

Jason

[ThePipersSon]

I've attempted to send scanned copies of the instructions for the Westward kit to you.

Any problems - contact me.

 

Tom

[Pierview]

Safely received  Tom and exactly what I wanted. Many thanks for your trouble and thanks also to the others who responded. I have no excuse for not getting on with it now!

 

Barry  

[russell price]

I was about to offer a scan of my instructions, glad you’re sorted. The Westward is very similar to build to theCotswold 2021 and 16 xx. The Westward kit makes a lovely loco well ahead of the Stephen Poole or Nucast Versions.  

[Captain Kernow]

interesting that two different manufacturers produced kits of these small panniers at the time (Westward and Stephen Poole). Presumably the latter became part of the NuCast range?

 

[Captain Kernow]

14 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

interesting that two different manufacturers produced kits of these small panniers at the time (Westward and Stephen Poole). Presumably the latter became part of the NuCast range?

 

'A History of Locomotive Kits, Part 1' by Robert Forsyth confirms the fact that the Stephen Poole kits became part of the NuCast range in the late 1970s.

 

[Steamport Southport]

Yes. They also did the GER J15, F5 and E4. ISTR they were a long time before Westward and were more Eastern biased. I have a very vague memory about some narrow gauge, possibly 009 diesels.

 

 

As well as the loco kits Westward were still doing detailing kits for things like the Mainline Manor and 43XX as well as diesels well into the 1980s. They did some LSWR models which were apparently very good, T9, Beattie Well Tank, 700 Class.

 

They also made bus kits which I think were still available until recently. Weren't they part of ABS at some point? The buses rather than the railway stuff.

 

 

 

Funnily enough the page for my one is still up on the Hattons website! Can't remember how much I paid, but it wasn't much. I certainly would have costed it so the final cost is not going to work out more than just buying a Bachmann 64XX and altering it.

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/369795/stephen_poole_kits_sp54_0_6_0_54xx_steam_locomotive_gwr_br_kit_body_only_/stockdetail.aspx

 

If you look at the photo you can see the instructions. Just a drawing with a few sentences at the bottom.

 

 

 

Jason

Edited May 10, 2021 by Steamport Southport

[Pierview]

With the aid of the instructions kindly copied for me by Tom I have now completed my Westward kit. As shown, I chose the 74xx option with my subject being 7421, as allocated to Weymouth in 1953/4. It is always something of a chancy business when you buy obsolete kits on the second hand market because of the risk of components being missing. In this case I was fortunate in that all the major bits were there, although annoyingly the buffers, whistle shield and handrail knobs were not. Fortunately I was able to source suitable replacements. A previous owner had made a start on the chassis and included with my purchase were a set of plastic centre fine scale wheels and and an ECM motor and mount. Although these were all perfectly serviceable I chose instead to fit Markits wheels, Branchlines gearbox and a Mashima motor. These days High Level are my gearboxes of choice but as Chris Gibbon is temporarily closed, I used a Branchlines product instead. I modified the frames by soldering in triangular fillets to get rid of the X04 type motor cutouts. The only other Westward kit I have ever built was a Royal Blue coach back in the 1970's but I was very pleased with the 54xx/64xx/74xx kit. I found the castings to be very fine and flash free and there was a thoughtful amount of fine detail. I found it unnecessary to add much else apart from a bell on the left hand side as 7421 was a  Weymouth tramway  engine. The only thing that I didn't like about the kit concerned the cast brake shoes. These are intended to be glued into holes drilled into the frames but I felt this method of fixing was insufficiently robust and this proved to be the case as a couple came adrift during construction After this happened a couple of times I ditched them and fitted a set of etched Mainly Trains ones instead. An interesting little build and whilst

 

I could have achieved a similar result by modifying a Bachmann 64xx it's not as satisfying is it?

 

Barry

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Pierview
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