Building Proscale Kits

[BetweenTheTunnels]

Hi all,

I have acquired a couple of Proscale 3mm Scale kits, an LNER V2 and LNER A3.  Now starting the build of them is a couple of months away, as I'm working through some 3mm coaches first, but has anyone built any of these kits in 3mm or 4mm - I believe the 3mm scale ones were 'sized down' from the 4mm variety.  One of the advert videos is the esteemed @Tony Wright showing a 4mm ProScale A4 having been built.

 

I appreciate they are older kits, but just wondered if anyone who has built them has any tips/tricks, points to note or watch for, things to avoid etc...

 

Im planning on putting a High Level Kits gearbox/motor in them, assuming it will fit, which I think it should do.

 

Any help/comments would be appreciated.

Richie

Edited March 4, 2023 by BetweenTheTunnels

[Bucoops]

Presumably the V2 has the same issue as the 4mm one in the firebox area (search for proscale v2 tony wright)?

[Ravenser]

2 hours ago, Bucoops said:

Presumably the V2 has the same issue as the 4mm one in the firebox area (search for proscale v2 tony wright)?

 

Isn't ProScale the kit maker who withdrew his entire range in a huff after a critical build-review from Tony Wright in BRM many years ago?

[BetweenTheTunnels]

12 hours ago, Ravenser said:

Isn't ProScale the kit maker who withdrew his entire range in a huff after a critical build-review from Tony Wright in BRM many years ago?

 

Hi,

Not a clue, but its one of the few options in 3mm!  Im not averse to using the kit as a 'scratch aid', just thought if anyone had put these together before and could offer any 'i built xyz but watch when you abc as it needs to be done cba way etc...' advice it would be useful.

 

Richie

[BetweenTheTunnels]

15 hours ago, Bucoops said:

Presumably the V2 has the same issue as the 4mm one in the firebox area (search for proscale v2 tony wright)?

 

Thanks i've tried to find that, unfortunately a google and rmweb search only throws up this thread, so I need to dig a bit deeper to find it.

Richie

[D9020 Nimbus]

If you're a member of the 3mm society, you should have access to the complete archive of Mixed Traffic. John Sutton has in the past written articles describing the construction of a number of Pro-Scale kits. He seems to have a more favourable view of them than Tony, though he seems to have often needed to make a lot of alterations to get them to work, and they took a long time to do, whereas Tony was writing from the point of view of someone who built locos on commission.

[Bucoops]

15 hours ago, BetweenTheTunnels said:

 

Thanks i've tried to find that, unfortunately a google and rmweb search only throws up this thread, so I need to dig a bit deeper to find it.

Richie

 

 

🙂

[Barclay]

Hi I built the Robinson 04 2-8-0 in 4mm some years ago. There was nothing that made it unbuildable but I would advise you to get a decent drawing of your subject and check dimensions - don't trust the kit to get it all right. Do check the dimensional compatibility between coupling rods and axle holes too as I had to drift some of the holes slightly to get a perfect match. 

[BetweenTheTunnels]

19 hours ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

If you're a member of the 3mm society, you should have access to the complete archive of Mixed Traffic. John Sutton has in the past written articles describing the construction of a number of Pro-Scale kits. He seems to have a more favourable view of them than Tony, though he seems to have often needed to make a lot of alterations to get them to work, and they took a long time to do, whereas Tony was writing from the point of view of someone who built locos on commission.

 

Thanks for that. I havent got in to the habbit of looking at the archive yet. I've now downloaded it, although the index PDF doesnt specifically mention ProScale, so i'll have a few evenings browsing through the last 20 odd years worth of copies to see what i can fine.  Thanks for that!

 

8 hours ago, Bucoops said:

 

 

🙂

 

Ah! Thank you :) My plan was to trawl further but spent a less enjoyable evening in A&E last night!  Thankfully not.  However, I've had a read of that thread and its quite interesting.  Im going to get hold of a back issue copy of BRM June 1995 and have a read of Tony's review, if nothing else it may provide some points to look at, but I draw some happiness thoughts from one comment that the kits that were scaled down to 3mm were quiet well thought of!  Cheers Bucoops!

 

47 minutes ago, Barclay said:

Hi I built the Robinson 04 2-8-0 in 4mm some years ago. There was nothing that made it unbuildable but I would advise you to get a decent drawing of your subject and check dimensions - don't trust the kit to get it all right. Do check the dimensional compatibility between coupling rods and axle holes too as I had to drift some of the holes slightly to get a perfect match. 

Hello Stuart,

Thanks for the headsup, thats ideal. Basically check everything before building it :) I'll see how I get on then!

 

Cheers

Richie

Edited March 6, 2023 by BetweenTheTunnels

[D9020 Nimbus]

If you find a V2 mentioned in the index, it'll likely be the Pro-Scale one — remember it will also be in the 1990s.