J94 detailing kit

[modfather]

I seem to recall a few years a ago a company offered a detailing kit for the Dapol/Hornby hunslet/austerity/j94 which consisted of bufferbeams, bunker backs, ladders, chmneys etc but I cannot find the review.

 

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I am aware I can buy it all seperately,but I would prefer to get it all in one place

 

Cheers, Matt

[AMJ]

I'd say it depends upon how much detail you are wanting to put on or even if the loco that you are modelling had the specific items fitted if you are adding details.

 

There are certain minor details that need to be fitted for the GPCS versions but to most folks are not noticable likewise fitting a Giesel ejector involves a bit of a tweak.

 

Best to work to a photo of a known loco and see what details you need to get a fair representation of it. Most parts will come out of bits of wire and the odds and ends box.

[modfather]

amj - I am more than aware that detailing a loco requires research. There was a kit by kingdom kits, which comes with new bufferbeams, extended etched bunker, injectors, chimneys, cabs which is what I need.

[Gordon A]

Hi Mathew,

 

I could not find Kingdom kits on thw web or listed in the UK model s directory.

 

NB Models might be able to supply you with some bits as they list a cast Austerity.

 

Gordon A

Bristol

[f#m]

Mercian models may also be a source of castings and other bits.

 

Though to be honest if it was me I'd just buy the kit and be rid of the Hornby since by the time you've payed for a new Hornby one and detailing bits it probably comes to the £110 price tag of the complete kit and doesn't have the horrible mouldings under the boiler for the motor mount and other problems.

[Porcy Mane]

Matt,

 

I think it was "Chilton Iron works" that used to do an etched detailing kit for the Lambton Cab version of the Austerity. I can't remember if the bits included buffer beams.

 

Porcy

[5944]

I remember seeing something similar at a show a few years ago. Another thing that I saw was etchings to the wheels, to make the Hornby ones actually look like Austerity wheels. For some reason I didn't buy them, and have never seen them since.

[Adam]

The question has arisen before - see here. The Kingdom kit was more a variation set with an etched 'Lambton' type cab, cast injectors, a couple of different chimneys and, if I've remembered this rightly, some electric headlamps. The detail on the Dapol/Hornby body (or the Kitmaster/Airfix/Dapol version) is generally excellent* and the issues - barring the buffer beams - are resolvable by modelling skills rather than any possible kit.

 

I remember seeing something similar at a show a few years ago. Another thing that I saw was etchings to the wheels, to make the Hornby ones actually look like Austerity wheels. For some reason I didn't buy them, and have never seen them since.

 

You're thinking of the AMBIS etch (I have one in front of me as I type this as it happens), which includes etched steps, brackets and coupling rods for the earlier Hunslet 50550 type. The overlays - so the instructions state - were actually intended for the Sharman Austerity wheel which are almost certainly no longer available. Gibson do the correct pattern and these look more or less spot on.

 

HTH

 

Adam - oh, and if you wonder why I have all this detail in my head: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=12020&start=100#p631712

 

* Dapol/Hornby - Poor tank top/bottom join and heavy moulded 'strap' steps (a BR only fitting), dreadful injectors, overfed handrail knobs and the funny boxes under the boiler to accommodate the motor. Bachmann copied all these exactly for their O gauge version... Despite all this it's still a very good model.

 

Kitmaster/Airfix/Dapol - Moulded handrails, etc., armour plate buffer beams (the Dapol/Horby one has these too) and obviously, the need to get a running chassis: there is currently none available.

[modfather]

Thank you all very much for this valuable assistance - I'm using the Hornby one because I've been given one, I would feel rude chopping it up into the 50550 that I would like, so I am only looking to bring it up to the standard of some of my newer (and kitbuilt) OO/P4 stock.

[Adam]

New wheels and handrail knobs would be the quick win. Buffers bufferbeams if you're fussy.

 

In the absence of a chassis kit (any progress on this Gordon?), there's no point in ruining the lovely paint-jobs that Hornby put on the Austerity by correcting the details. Some decent injectors would help too - I've used the Kitmaster parts and made them from scratch in the past in the absence of a proprietary casting - but carefully cutting away the (fictional) backplate and replacing the pipes with wire makes an immediate visual difference. I have a set of the Mercian castings too and can only say that I hope the etchings are better!

 

Adam

[cactustrain]

Hi Matt,

 

My Hunslets are built using the Hornby loco. I've used Gibson handrail knobs, wheels, smokebox dart and buffers. The injectors are the Hornby items recycled (but they aren't on the outside for a 50550 anyway). The buffer beams are scratchbuilt. As usual, the detailing parts end up costing more than the original loco!

 

It makes a half decent model, the biggest problem being the boxed in section in front of the firebox to hide the motor. This is not easy to correct, but apart from that, it looks prototypical. (fancy Bachmann including this compromise on their O gauge version. What a shame).

 

Regards,

 

Michael

[Adam]

(fancy Bachmann including this compromise on their O gauge version. What a shame).

 

In O, that's an error. Not a compromise.

 

I've seen some excellent models based on the body - which is fundamentally accurate and generally nicely moulded - Cap'n Kernow produced one for his 'Engine Wood' layout and I'm quite pleased with mine (see below) for example. Both though have had new chassis which facilitates the removal of the boxes under the boiler.

 

 

The Giesel is scratched from plastic sheet btw.

 

Adam

[Horsetan]

I've looked at the half-completed wreck that is my J94 (ex-Dapol/Airfix/Kitmaster plastic kit body), and see that I built a chassis and had an etched detailing fret, both from Wychbury Loco Works in 1991. The chassis fret was £10, and the detail fret was £7.50.

 

Since they operated from the same address as Mercian Models:

 

1A Market Way

Hagley

West Midlands

DY9 9LT

 

I'd second the earlier posting which suggested you contact Mercian to see if these parts can still be bought. The J94 is in the Mercian range anyway - click here, and see kit SG5

 

The detail fret I used was for the extended "hopper" bunker. Very easy to solder together. Not quite so easy to combine with the Dapol/Airfix/Kitmaster cab, but it is possible - you basically end up carving a lot of rebates......

[RThompson]

Hi all, to add to this topic in terms of detailing parts i now have available to go onto the Dapol / Hornby Austerity tank / J94 replacement etched bfferbeams of the correct pattern, the originals are very wrong.

 

http://www.rtmodels.co.uk/rt_models_006.htm

 

I'm hoping at some point to have some lost wax brass injectors available in the near future as i already have the patterns which i produced some 8 years ago.

 

Regards Robert Thompson, RT Models

[Adam]

Hi all, to add to this topic in terms of detailing parts i now have available to go onto the Dapol / Hornby Austerity tank / J94 replacement etched bfferbeams of the correct pattern, the originals are very wrong.

 

http://www.rtmodels.co.uk/rt_models_006.htm

 

I'm hoping at some point to have some lost wax brass injectors available in the near future as i already have the patterns which i produced some 8 years ago.

 

Regards Robert Thompson, RT Models

 

They look rather good - typically after I've more or less completed my latest austerity - takes some of the faff out of the process. Now if a decent chassis were available...

 

Adam

[Horsetan]

Hi all, to add to this topic in terms of detailing parts i now have available to go onto the Dapol / Hornby Austerity tank / J94 replacement etched bufferbeams of the correct pattern, the originals are very wrong.

 

http://www.rtmodels...._models_006.htm

 

I'm hoping at some point to have some lost wax brass injectors available in the near future as i already have the patterns which i produced some 8 years ago.

 

That's excellent news. The etched bufferbeams would certainly be a stronger alternative to thinned-down plastic ones.

 

Going slightly OT, I also looked at the "lengthened frame" kit for the Maunsell "N", and it occurred to me that it could also be adapted for use on the sister "U" class engines that were either given new frames / front ends and cylinders (e.g. the preserved 31806)