Dapol Kitmaster kitbashing: worth it or not?

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

Recently I've found myself dabbling into kitbashing, specifically with the old Rosebud kits (albeit the Dapol rereleases), been messing about with the GWR Prairie kits, my first bash being in December 2022, a Dapol Prairie body on the Airfix GMR chassis (I shall have to get photographs of it next time I have it out), a model I'm proud of for my first bash, but definitely leaving a bit to be desired, more recently I've been messing with another Prairie kit, a friend wanted me to bash one onto a Hornby 4P chassis, meaning they didn't want the valve gear, allowing me to have it for my own use, to which I quickly began messing with it, a Triang Jinty chassis and some spare Princess wheels, the current result being this:

 

I have added a pickup and tested the motor since taking this photo, and I'm happy to report that it actually works rather nicely!

 

I need to get a hold of another kit for the body, to which I'll use the valve gear on the TTR Pytchley I mentioned in my previous thread on converting TTR locos (yes, I finally found a good valve gear set!).

 

Once this is complete I'm debating doing the City of Truro kit on the Triang L1 chassis, currently the only thing I'm worried about is the outside frames, getting them to fit is easy enough, but I'm unsure of how to actually fix the cranks to the wheels, more so a problem of how to make sure they fit square with the axle than how to actually fit them, any assistance with that would be great.

 

Back to the title of the post, is kitbashing these kits worth it? I managed to buy a Prairie kit second hand (which should arrive later this week with any luck) for £12, and I had all the chassis components to hand already, paint is also something I'm not worrying about as I have some to hand already, so in this case yes! Of course this may vary depending on how you wish to tackle the chassis, this is just something I wanted to fiddle with as it's something I already had most of the components for. In the case of the City kit, I spent £15 on an L1 to take the chassis from (loco only, damaged body) and the kit itself costs around the same, so £30 for a City should hopefully be a good deal, all depends if I can throw together a decent chassis (I might go for the Shrewsbury kit instead though as the outside frames are something which is kind of intimidating me).

 

I shall return on updates on the kitbashes soon for those who wish to see them progress.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Hacksworth_Sidings

[33C]

1 hour ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

Recently I've found myself dabbling into kitbashing, specifically with the old Rosebud kits (albeit the Dapol rereleases), been messing about with the GWR Prairie kits, my first bash being in December 2022, a Dapol Prairie body on the Airfix GMR chassis (I shall have to get photographs of it next time I have it out), a model I'm proud of for my first bash, but definitely leaving a bit to be desired, more recently I've been messing with another Prairie kit, a friend wanted me to bash one onto a Hornby 4P chassis, meaning they didn't want the valve gear, allowing me to have it for my own use, to which I quickly began messing with it, a Triang Jinty chassis and some spare Princess wheels, the current result being this:

 

I have added a pickup and tested the motor since taking this photo, and I'm happy to report that it actually works rather nicely!

 

I need to get a hold of another kit for the body, to which I'll use the valve gear on the TTR Pytchley I mentioned in my previous thread on converting TTR locos (yes, I finally found a good valve gear set!).

 

Once this is complete I'm debating doing the City of Truro kit on the Triang L1 chassis, currently the only thing I'm worried about is the outside frames, getting them to fit is easy enough, but I'm unsure of how to actually fix the cranks to the wheels, more so a problem of how to make sure they fit square with the axle than how to actually fit them, any assistance with that would be great.

 

Back to the title of the post, is kitbashing these kits worth it? I managed to buy a Prairie kit second hand (which should arrive later this week with any luck) for £12, and I had all the chassis components to hand already, paint is also something I'm not worrying about as I have some to hand already, so in this case yes! Of course this may vary depending on how you wish to tackle the chassis, this is just something I wanted to fiddle with as it's something I already had most of the components for. In the case of the City kit, I spent £15 on an L1 to take the chassis from (loco only, damaged body) and the kit itself costs around the same, so £30 for a City should hopefully be a good deal, all depends if I can throw together a decent chassis (I might go for the Shrewsbury kit instead though as the outside frames are something which is kind of intimidating me).

 

I shall return on updates on the kitbashes soon for those who wish to see them progress.

A pack of Romfords extended axles and cranks, bushes for the Triang chassis axle holes and wheels of your choice. A "Nellie" block and rods is the simple way to go down the "City" route. See below... 

Have you checked out the "Lets see your Airfix/Kitmaster kit" Thread?

Edited July 31, 2023 by 33C
added detail

[SRman]

Simple answer to the OP's question: of course it's worth it, as long as you get some enjoyment from it. That is, if you get enjoyment from the kit-bashing and building phase, or you get enjoyment from the end result, or all of these things, then it is worth it. No one else has to judge your efforts, and it is all a valuable learning process.

I have kept some of my earlier efforts, poor as they are now compared to later efforts or modern products, but they have a part of me in them (sometimes literally, with bits of my fingers included!! 🤣🤣 ).

I once used a slightly adapted Triang Princess Royal chassis (the old shorty version) with Bulleid BFB wheels (also from Triang), to motorise an Airfix ex-Kitmaster Battle of Britain loco, with the Airfix bogie and trailing truck and their wheels. Any thoughts of building a brass chassis were way beyond me in those days, and still not really something I'm good at even now.

Just enjoy whatever you do. 👍

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by SRman

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

10 hours ago, 33C said:

A pack of Romfords extended axles and cranks, bushes for the Triang chassis axle holes and wheels of your choice. A "Nellie" block and rods is the simple way to go down the "City" route. See below... 

Have you checked out the "Lets see your Airfix/Kitmaster kit" Thread?

Would you be able to direct me to any sources for the listed components? I was considering a Nellie chassis as I began to notice the L1 may end up being too long, I have spare Nellie chassis’  to hand already so that should be easy enough to sort, more so wondering where to find the Romford axles and cranks, I’ve never used their products before so it’d be nice to finally give them a try.

[33C]

Roxey mouldings list all the above on their website. Extended axles, 00 gauge @ £1.95 each for example.

[Phil Parker]

2 hours ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

I was considering a Nellie chassis

 

Scale Link do replacement axles etc. for this application - https://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Locomotive_Driving_Wheels_-p1.html

[Phil Parker]

14 hours ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

Back to the title of the post, is kitbashing these kits worth it?

 

It depends on what you mean by "worth it" - if you aim to produce something of the same quality as modern RTR, then forget it. Far too much work.

 

If, however, you aim to enjoy yourself and develop a load of skills along the way, they it is VERY MUCH worth having a go.

 

14 hours ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

a model I'm proud of for my first bash

 

That tells me that what you are doing is certainly "worth it". If you are enjoying your hobby, then you are doing it right. Many of us started with just this sort of bash, and look where we are now!

[SRman]

34 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

That tells me that what you are doing is certainly "worth it". If you are enjoying your hobby, then you are doing it right. Many of us started with just this sort of bash, and look where we are now!

 

Wot? Old, bald, fat, daft, deaf and worthless??? 😉🤣

p.s. I know none of us are all that.

[The Johnster]

I have form in this genre, some ill-advised kitbashing using what were then Airfix kits in my teenage years.  My only excuse was that it was the mid-60s and my paper round money was mostly earmarked for expeditions with the lads to Grim Oop North where there were still steam engines.  It started with motorising an Airfix 61xx with an old Triang Princess chassis, the hardest part of which was grafting the kit cylinders on outside the Princess's.  This worked quite well, especially when I'd ballasted it as much as I could.  Encouraged by the success of this, I made an ersatz 43xx using another Black Princess (a local 2h shop had a steady stream of these cheap as chips), running plate and the cylinders again from an Airfix 61xx, and boiler, cab, and tender from an Afx Cot.  The major drawback of this was the motor sticking out of the cab, but as HD thought this was ok on their locos, I considered it acceptable.  It ran well, but there was little room for ballast and it's haulage was not brilliantl

 

Up and running now, I put a Triang Winston Churchill  chassis under an Afx Biggin Hill, which was actually an improvement on the Triang model.  I had one of those awful Triang 08s, which I hated because it didn't look anything like an 08, not a patch on the HD, with a generic Jinty chassis and thought this could go beneath a modified Afx 61xx to make my favourite loco, a 56xx, because I couldn't afford the Trix RTR which didn't look right anyway.  My attempt did not look much better for obvious reasons... 

 

Another failure was a 42xx; HD Stanier 8F chassis with the Walcheart's cut off and driving the wrong axle, again with 61xx topworks but this time a CoT boiler.  Then I decided to have a go at an S15, with a Walcheart's Princess chassis and an Afx Schools, which wasn't too bad.  There was also a BR Standard 4MT Mogul with Triang 3MT tank under it, which looked no better than the 3MT tank, but it ran.  There was also a Black 5 which was a cut-down Black Princess to an article in MRC, but I used the 8F boiler and cab left over from the '42xx'.

 

All this was variably successful, and I learned a lot from it, mostly not to be so stupid in future (says the guy attempting a Collett 31xx from a cut up Baccy Ivatt 4MT chassis, Afx RTR running plate, cylinders & motion, an old ML 43xx boiler, and ML 56xx cab, tanks, & bunker).  It was a huge amount of fun, and the experience stood me in very good stead for future projects; I reckon it was a major factor in training me to be able to attempt whitemetal kits.  I learned about quartering, crankpins, trueing wheels, and much else.  I was introduced to handrails, handrail knobs, and renumbering transfers. 

 

Back in those days, the standard of RTR and kit models was nothing like modern stuff, especially below the footplate where Triang considered it worth marketing models with 'fully working Walcheart's Valve Gear' as if this was gilding the lily rather than an essential part of the model!  It was only a few years earlier when RTR was doing well if it got the number of wheels on a loco within the ball park.  There's less point now, there isn't much you can make in this way without there being a better RTR model available, and if you can't match the RTR model you'll never be happy with the kitbash, but it's still good fun and good practice for better modelling later in your life when you can afford the RTR, and if you can put up with the anomalies (I'm not suggesting that a 42xx out of a HD 8F driving the wrong axle, and the result of an ill-advised sh^g between a 61xx & CoT is acceptable, or any other of my abominations) you'll save a lot of money.

 

Go for it!

[SRman]

This was one I would deem a success: I created a Merchant Navy using two Airfix Battle of Britain bodies, cut through their fireboxes at different points to create the extra length. The profile was widened and a curve persuaded into the sides using hot water to soften the plastic and cold water to set it again. The cab unfortunately remains the narrow one (so not accurate for the MN). The larger smoke deflectors were created using the kit ones enhanced with plastic sheet and filler. The tender was an old Hornby Dublo one with brass sheet sides and fairings added - I would claim some success with this one. Etched name plates were added.

The chassis was a Wrenn/H-D Battle of Britain/West Country with the valve gear removed. I bought that second-hand for a bargain price with the Walschaerts gear already gone.

I mixed my own shade of blue, and added HMRS LNER lining, and BR crests and numbers (albeit I spaced them too closely together!). It can still run on DC, but is in the "too hard" basket for DCC conversion. It is a conversion/hack that I am still pleased with, and spends its time nowadays permanently in the display cabinet.

 

 

[sagaguy]

This one i made a couple of years ago,Dapol body,Dublo Barnstaple chassis with modified valve gear.

                    Ray

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

On 31/07/2023 at 22:38, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

...is kitbashing these kits worth it?...

Definitely, and there's a further aspect which you are clearly learning as you go, and other posters here are demonstrating. All the RTR product is also a kit, that just happens to have been assembled. Scrounging around for s/h is now something of a minority sport, and while 'everyone else' is muttering about prices, you are one of the few with a key to a well stocked bank vault...

[33C]

You can also have a bit 'o' fun by buying all the badly made, incomplete and broken kit models on eBay etc for cheap and then...

 

Use them on Chinese, battery chassis, (or C/W!)

Make imaginary loco's,

Add wings and jet engines from other kits,

Go green and power with a wind turbine like the Battle-space ram!

 

Always thought that 2 C.O T's, side by side, looks very Irish mono-rail...

 

Or......Biggin Hill "Big Boy" !?

 

Nurse, the smelling salts!

 

[The Johnster]

Nurse, he's out of bed again!