Sourcing a 4mm Fowler 2-6-2T

[Downer]

Has anyone any suggestions as to how I acquire a Fowler 2-6-2T. I know there was once a Ks kit, and someone I met thought there might once have been one from Alan Gibson. Is the latter still available, and if so how easy is to put together. Or there other kits I haven't heard of?

 

Has anyone scratchbuilt a body for an r-t-r chassis? If so, which chassis did they use - as far as I can tell, there's none that matches the wheelbase with even an approximation of the correct valve gear.

 

Modelling the Midland lines in London can hardly be done without one, and any ideas would be much appreciated.

 

Dave.

[hayfield]

Has anyone any suggestions as to how I acquire a Fowler 2-6-2T. I know there was once a Ks kit, and someone I met thought there might once have been one from Alan Gibson. Is the latter still available, and if so how easy is to put together. Or there other kits I haven't heard of?

 

Has anyone scratchbuilt a body for an r-t-r chassis? If so, which chassis did they use - as far as I can tell, there's none that matches the wheelbase with even an approximation of the correct valve gear.

 

Modelling the Midland lines in London can hardly be done without one, and any ideas would be much appreciated.

 

Dave.

 

I believe Nu-Cast took over the K's kits, they have a Stanier 3P 2-6-2T kit no NC220 http://www.sherwoodmodels.co.uk/osc/index.php?cPath=22_212&sort=2a&page=4&osCsid=a94aca23909f2206c01a6ce28fd720cb

 

If it is the old K's kit then it should be straight forward to build. I have never brought a Nu Cast loco but I believe their chassis are better made than the K's ones, all be it the same thick brass bar construction (they might have changed now) and come with Romford wheels which are much better than the old K's one.

 

Alan Gibson kits I think are made from etched brass components and if the quality is of the same standard as their other products, then it will be a top quality kit, but a bit more difficult to build as its in etched brass. Might have to wait for some time though, see link http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/

 

Keep an eye out on Ebay as K's kits come up quite frequently, if glued together easy to rebuild, but I would try and get an etched chassis, AlanGibson sell profiled mainframes for the loco http://www.scalefour.org/ag/ag4det/locofm.htm Comet sell a Fowler Chassis kit http://www.cometmodels.co.uk/

 

You could ask Sherwood Models what type of chassis is now supplied, if its the old brass bar type see if they can obtain a body kit then get an etched chassis.

 

Good luck

[Dave Holt]

Dave,

 

I've built a model of one of these using the Alan Gibson kit - not sure if it's still available. It was good in parts, but required quite a bit of work and modification/replacement parts to achieve a decent result. It appears in a couple of photos on my "Delph based P4 layout" blog. I'm happy to go into a bit more detail if you're interested.

 

Dave.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The easiest starting point in RTR has to be Hornby's Fowler 2-6-4T.

 

The chassis requires at minimum removal of the rear bogie, shortening at rear and a pony truck adding; better accuracy obtained by also fitting 21mm dia drivers, and modifying to a single slidebar arrangement. I believe the distance between front pony truck and leading driver wheel centres is 3" shorter on the 2-6-2T, but I could live with that, especially given the approximations in the topsides half of this 'bash'.

 

The body will require rather more extensive hacking to lose all the parallel boiler and smokebox, have the belpaire firebox section shortened by about a quarter (by cutting it off the spectacle plate and reattaching) and to be shortened overall; obtained by reductions in the forward shallower part of the side tanks and in the bunker section, which also needs the side sheets reduced in height. A new smaller diameter smokebox and boiler has to be fabricated and added, chimney and dome salvaged from the original recycled onto the new construction.

 

As you may gather from the above, this is a project which has been contemplated. At present it is on hold, as the arrival of Bachmann's model of the Fairburn 2-6-4T has led to the fiction that this type was granted permission to work into Moorgate simply on the grounds of its' beauty, enabling the class 3 tanks to be quickly disposed of.

[ianwales]

HI

 

The Fowler 2-6-2T is still on the Alan Gibson list, but, according to their website they operate a system where you register interest in a kit and when enough people are interested then they will produce the kit.

 

Ian

[Dave Holt]

The easiest starting point in RTR has to be Hornby's Fowler 2-6-4T.

 

The chassis requires at minimum removal of the rear bogie, shortening at rear and a pony truck adding; better accuracy obtained by also fitting 21mm dia drivers, and modifying to a single slidebar arrangement. I believe the distance between front pony truck and leading driver wheel centres is 3" shorter on the 2-6-2T, but I could live with that, especially given the approximations in the topsides half of this 'bash'.

 

The body will require rather more extensive hacking to lose all the parallel boiler and smokebox, have the belpaire firebox section shortened by about a quarter (by cutting it off the spectacle plate and reattaching) and to be shortened overall; obtained by reductions in the forward shallower part of the side tanks and in the bunker section, which also needs the side sheets reduced in height. A new smaller diameter smokebox and boiler has to be fabricated and added, chimney and dome salvaged from the original recycled onto the new construction.

 

As you may gather from the above, this is a project which has been contemplated. At present it is on hold, as the arrival of Bachmann's model of the Fairburn 2-6-4T has led to the fiction that this type was granted permission to work into Moorgate simply on the grounds of its' beauty, enabling the class 3 tanks to be quickly disposed of.

 

Wow! If this is the easiest route, I dread to think what the most difficult would entail!!! Reminds me of the "how to make a Jubillee or Black V out of a Triang Princess" type thing in MRC is about 1963. Think I'd hang out for the Gibson kit - warts and all.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Funnily enough a Jube from an old Princess article, most likely in the old 'Constructor', was what got me started hacking RTR about; this for the simple reason that kits were fearfully expensive in my impecunious youth, but Triang Princesses were available second hand, and I really wanted a Jubilee having seen them performing regularly through St Albans among other locations. (Such an elegant machine, quite my favourite among the LMR types.) Beware what you read, it may set you off on a lifetime path of bad habits.