Reviving a GWR 72xx 2-8-2T kit in 4mm

[Pierview]

My latest project has come about as the result of an unplanned acquisition during the summer. The model in question is a quite neatly built white metal GWR 72xx kit (which I suspect is a k's product) with some minor damage but fitted with Romford driving wheels. Although it was described as a non-runner, I thought that at the asking price of £41 it was well worth a punt. My confidence was justified when I dismantled the model and found that the chassis was powered by a large Portescap motor. Even better, when I cleaned the small amount of rust and crud from the axles and applied leads direct to the motor it ran very smoothly indeed. Given that even SH Portescaps are currently commanding quite high prices on E-Bay, I felt that I got something of a bargain.

 

 

 

I began the revival of the model with the chassis, and immediately decided that the white metal connecting rods had to go. However, when examining them I also discovered that they were a few MM too long, and that the slide bars and white metal piston rod were too short - presumably to compensate. I decided on replacement of the lot and purchased a Comet GWR 2-cylinder set. The new cylinders and connecting rods have now been fitted and show an improvement on the originals in my opinion. I remade the pick- up arrangements with finer wire and the beast now runs once more! The model came with white metal brake hangars and ideally, I should like to have replaced these with etched ones. Since this would have involved completely dismantling the chassis in order to drill through for the carrying wires, however, I took the easy way out by making a rough representation of the brake rods from wire and scrap brass. The overall effect is there and once painted matt black very little will be seen in any case. One of the rear driving wheels had lost its balance weight but I found a suitable replacement in my spares box. Both sets of pony truck wheels were undersized, and replacements have therefore been fitted.   

 

 

 

The next job is to move on to the body, and it seems a shame to disturb the quite neatly applied GWR green livery. However, since I model the BR era the green livery has to go, and the Dettol bath beckons soon! 

 

I hope to have news of further progress in the next few weeks.

 

Barry 

 

       

[Camperdown]

I can't tell what driving wheels you have there, but I think that having the full 30" stroke, i.e. 15" crank throw, adds to the character.  Anyway, good luck.  Just a repaint and straightening out the handrails would improve the body.

[hayfield]

What a great find !!! with 8 Romford drivers and a RG4 to boot. A steal, but more importantly you have a nice working model.

 

As for Detol, it may degrade the glue (if its glued together). If the paint job is good try removing the transfers first then overspray. May save you hours of work

 

I think the initial kits were from Western Precision Castings or something similar  I assume k's took the kit over as both kits gave the option of building it as a 2-8-0T  or 2-8-2T, then of course it ended up with NuCast

 

10 + years ago when these kits were as rare as hens teeth and fetched over £100 on eBay on the odd occasion one surfaced I was given a box of bits, either from a broken up kit with some left over parts, needless to say it was never built. Originally it came with a milled brass chassis, K's used their drilled brass bar chassis. I then bought a 2-8-0 where the glue gave up, mainly as it had a chassis with Romford wheels, Finally I bought a part built K's 2-8-2 with still packed up k's plastic spoked wheels and mk2 motor. This certainly is the best kit and even has instructions

 

Two or 3 years ago I came across a chap on eBay who was selling brass etches (no castings). Eventually I managed to buy a couple of etched sets, which if I ever get round to it will build byt use various castings from the k's kits 

[Pierview]

After giving the loco body a detailed examination, I decided to take Hayfield's advice and not use the Dettol bath on this occasion. In the past I have stripped down many white metal kits but, almost without exception, they had been poorly made and badly painted. The 72xx , however, does not come into either of those categories. The original builder made a neat job and the paint was a smooth, thin application which did not obscure detail. It would therefore have been rather pointless to go back to basics again, so I decided to repair the damage, replace any missing bits and add a small amount of extra detail. The photos show the current state of play. Apologies for the quality as they were quick snaps using my mobile phone camera.

 

 

 

 

I replaced the bunker handrails and added a couple of extra ones on the boiler near the filler caps. All the lamp brackets were replaced by ones made from office staples and I also replaced the missing vacuum pipes. Annoyingly, one of the Slaters buffer heads was missing and as I didn't have a spare, I replaced all four buffers with a Gibson set. Both front steps were missing, as was the rear LH under bunker one, but fortunately I found replacements for all 3 in my spares box. The rear step is a white metal casting almost identical to the surviving one on the RH side, whilst the front steps were cut down from a scratch-built pair I originally made for another project. No sandboxes were present on the model as acquired so I added these using a pair of castings cut from a Tri-ang 2-6-2T chassis in the early1960's and waiting for a use ever since. At last, their moment has come! I added rear window bars and a rough representation of the bunker door on the cab rear. I drilled out the chimney to a better depth and drilled the safety valve bonnet to take 4 wires to represent the valves themselves. As no backhead was present I obtained a casting from 247 developments and after painting this will be installed together with a cab floor.  The hallowed Great Western lettering has been removed together with the number plates prior to "nationalisation" of the model.

 

Barry 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by Pierview
update

[Mike 84C]

Sorry for being pedantic but you should replace the chimney with a taper cast iron type. Yours looks like a parallel sided type as fitted to large 2-6-2t's.

[Pierview]

5 hours ago, Mike 84C said:

Sorry for being pedantic but you should replace the chimney with a taper cast iron type. Yours looks like a parallel sided type as fitted to large 2-6-2t's.

You're quite correct Mike but unfortunately this is the chimney that was fitted when I acquired the model. Ideally, I would like to have replaced it with a decent turned brass one, but I had nothing suitable in my spares box and I am not sure where a suitable one could be obtained. With the demise of so many suppliers it is becoming a very difficult business to source boiler fittings these days!

 

Barry 

[Pierview]

Anyway, for better or worse the 72xx has been completed and is now wearing BR livery as well as being re-numbered as 7208. This was one of the handful of engines of this class that I saw in service, and I still have the poor snapshot I took of it at Weymouth in 1960. It was a bit grubby on that occasion but a later photograph that I have seen of it at Swansea East Dock in 1962 shows it in much cleaner condition with the later BR crest. This is what I have tried to convey with my version. It's been quite an interesting exercise in breathing new life into an old model and has given me a Portescap motored loco at a very cheap price.  My only extra costs have been for Comet cylinders and motion parts, a set of Gibson buffers, a cab back head and a set of trailing bogie wheels. 

 

 

 

 

I thought that would be it in terms of rescuing old kits for a while, but I have just acquired an assembled Craftsman Lord Nelson at a very reasonable price. A substantial rebuild will probably be required and I will be looking to pick up tips from DLT's current thread on the same subject. 

 

Barry

 

 

 

 

[johnofwessex]

What was it doing at Weymouth?

[hayfield]

19 hours ago, Pierview said:

Anyway, for better or worse the 72xx has been completed and is now wearing BR livery as well as being re-numbered as 7208. This was one of the handful of engines of this class that I saw in service, and I still have the poor snapshot I took of it at Weymouth in 1960. It was a bit grubby on that occasion but a later photograph that I have seen of it at Swansea East Dock in 1962 shows it in much cleaner condition with the later BR crest. This is what I have tried to convey with my version. It's been quite an interesting exercise in breathing new life into an old model and has given me a Portescap motored loco at a very cheap price.  My only extra costs have been for Comet cylinders and motion parts, a set of Gibson buffers, a cab back head and a set of trailing bogie wheels. 

 

 

 

 

I thought that would be it in terms of rescuing old kits for a while, but I have just acquired an assembled Craftsman Lord Nelson at a very reasonable price. A substantial rebuild will probably be required and I will be looking to pick up tips from DLT's current thread on the same subject. 

 

Barry

 

 

 

 

There are clearly two trains of thought in this thread. Firstly those who wish their models to be accurate to the prototype. And those who enjoy in building vintage kits 

 

But both of these areas lend themselves to compromises. For continued decent running many modellers change wheels motor and gears, sometimes even a change to a more modern chassis is what is needed

 

On the other hand if we are concerned about the appearance then the first thing that needs changing is the gauge, which is far more noticeable to most than a chimney design

 

For me I think you have done a superb job in improving the loco without going overboard. Had you built this when the kit was new it would have been hailed as a fine scale model. As it is I think you have made a superb sympathetic restoration of a vintage kit 

 

 

 

 

[Pierview]

4 hours ago, johnofwessex said:

What was it doing at Weymouth?

 

Not sure. I assume that it had been sent down as a substitute for a 28xx class which usually worked the WR goods trains. It was unusual to see a 72xx and I came across it one day in the summer of 1960.  If I remember correctly, it had just come off shed and was attached to a tank wagon. My snapshot is attached.

 

3 hours ago, hayfield said:

There are clearly two trains of thought in this thread. Firstly those who wish their models to be accurate to the prototype. And those who enjoy in building vintage kits 

 

But both of these areas lend themselves to compromises. For continued decent running many modellers change wheels motor and gears, sometimes even a change to a more modern chassis is what is needed

 

On the other hand if we are concerned about the appearance then the first thing that needs changing is the gauge, which is far more noticeable to most than a chimney design

 

For me I think you have done a superb job in improving the loco without going overboard. Had you built this when the kit was new it would have been hailed as a fine scale model. As it is I think you have made a superb sympathetic restoration of a vintage kit 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your kind words, John. I think we share an interest in rehabilitating basket case models!

 

Barry

[hayfield]

Barry 

 

We do it seems. Going back 50 years things were very different. Keydets models were a budget brand and both information was much harder to obtain than today but also the quality of some items were also Moyà’s good as today 

 

I do accept if your aim is to build a fine scale model, then perhaps a more modern alternative would be better 

 

The other thing when rebuilding/ building these kits some may want to keep the models as original as possible. Others like me prefer to update the models, most of mine have new wheels, motors and gears. Even 40 years ago I was fitting Perserverance chassis on some locos

 

I do have as I said earlier, have an extreme rebuild  using a set of etchings for the 2-8-2T, after doing the same when I bought a Wills P class with a Branchlines etched chassis and body improvement kits

 

But is this going to far?  Perhaps it is

 

 

 

 

[MarkC]

This is a nice piece of restoration - and aren't these beasts impressive?

 

There is something rather satisfying about restoring an eBay wreck - perhaps the gentle art of resurrection is worth a thread of its own?

 

As an aside, there are 3 of these behemoths in preservation, although none have yet to steam. As I recall, this is the only ex-Barry class which hasn't yet had an example back in service, but one may rectify that ere long...

[Northmoor]

Really nice to see this as I recently acquired a K's 42xx/72xx via RMWeb from a widow disposing of a collection of unbuilt kits.

 

Mine will be a 42xx in BR livery; it could very easily end up on the Round Tuit pile for years but I do get very excited checking the box.  Wheels are rusty - presumably original K's? - but will clean up and be OK at least for a test build.  I've never built a metal loco kit before and this doesn't actually look that difficult, but I will need to build up my soldering skills quickly.  At least with solder if the joint is bad you can easily undo it and have another go.