Motorised Airfix J94 kit - another rescue!

[Pierview]

I have always liked the Airfix (nee Kitmaster) plastic kit but with 4 static display case examples as well as 2 motorised versions you would think that I had enough of the breed! However when this appeared on e-bay my interest was aroused.

 

 

The craftmanship seemed to be of a good standard and the "buy it now" price was sufficiently reasonable to tempt me to take a punt. When the loco arrived my instinct proved correct because the original builder had constructed a hefty brass keeper plate chassis with a tri-ang X500 motor mounted vertically in the firebox. Sand boxes and pipework, coupling rods and footplate steps appeared to be scratch built from brass. The wheels remain a mystery to me. Because they are moulded in plastic, have brass tyres and splice ended axles my initial thought was that they were Hamblings products. However the treads are to a much finer profile and they lack the distinctive Hamblings brass central boss. Whatever their origin I ended up re-using them.

 

 

 

 

The chassis seems to be very similar to one described in an article in the October 1973 Railway Modeller which I kept on my files for reference. Crikey, was it really nearly 50 years ago? As is often the case with these sort of acquisitions the loco was a non runner. A thorough cleaning of the tyres and some fiddling about got things moving again, but running at slow speeds was a bit iffy, and I concluded that a heart transplant was needed. This was achieved with a High Level road runner plus gearbox and their budget 1015 motor. By sawing out the chassis top spacer I was able to mount the new assembly in the space previously occupied by the tri-ang motor.  As mentioned previously, I decided to retain the wheels that came with the loco as they looked reasonably good. They don't quite have the distinctive austerity shape but I can live with that, and I could see no point in investing in a new set of drivers for a cheap project of this nature. I managed to drift out the axle from one of the central wheels in order to replace the final drive worm wheel, and after reassembly of the chassis it ran very much better, particularly at slow speeds. I retained the original pick up assemblies but re -wired the chassis.

 

i suspect that the original builder had intended to portray an austerity in industrial use, but I wanted a BR class J94. In consequence , some alterations were necessary to depict the modifications to the standard design made by the LNER and BR. Perhaps the most obvious of these concerns the cab back, which was fitted with rectangular windows to replace the original porthole type. This would have been a simple matter if one was building the loco from the plastic kit, but on an assembled model it became a little trickier. I got round it by using a sharp craft knife to gently break the original glue joints and remove the cab roof. This then enabled me to cut away the cab rear and replace it with plasticard of the appropriate thickness with holes cut out for the new windows. Some J94's had extended bunkers, and I modelled this feature on my other J94, but my chosen prototype for this model was not so treated. Other changes involved an extra set of footplate steps, which I fashioned from scrap brass etch to to match the existing ones, extra small diagonal handrails at the front of the saddle tank and the yokes for the fire irons on the LH footplate. RT models seem to be experts on austerity variations and have a nice range of detailing parts. I fitted their etched brass buffer beam overlays, etched window rims, and replacement chimney , dome and water filler. The original builder had neatly removed the original moulded handrails and replaced them with wire ones so I was saved a job there. Finally, I added replacement cast buffers and a Comet smokebox door handle.    

T

 

The final result being as follows.

 

 

All in all, an interesting project with full marks to the original builder whose work I was able to build on.

 

Barry

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Pierview
update

[33C]

Great find and rescue. Personally i would have put it into N.C.B. dirty yellow with blue cab!

[Pierview]

4 minutes ago, 33C said:

Great find and rescue. Personally i would have put it into N.C.B. dirty yellow with blue cab!

Ha ha! I prefer NCB maroon with a geisel ejector, as carried by one of my other austerities! 

Barry

 

 

[33C]

Yeah, i know what you mean!

[locomad2]

Seems to be a gut of really well made kit models at toy fairs recently, some at silly low prices, considering a new one might cost about £100, they are excellent value

 

Picked up this Airfix / Kitmaster J96 recently, bit of TLC and it runs beautifully.

 

 

Builder did an excellent job on the chassis, so simple, a X04 motor between 2 brass frames

 

 

Only downside is the body lacks any weight, however when winter comes I've a few unbuilt bodies so will add weight in the tanks, and just replace the body. Also I will try to copy the simple chassis,  the spaces are plastic block.

 

Few years back picked up a few chassis blocks for J96's  made out of one piece of aluminium block unfortunately not been able to ID the missing motors, this simple frame it will be easily to fit most well known motors

 

[Barclay]

Looks great - I think Airfix/Kitmaster really nailed the look of this loco. Mine has an etched chassis, Comet, I think.