GWR wagon : the worst kit I have ever tried to build.

[Horsetan]

You obviously didn't have a mis-spent youth playing with air guns.

 

.22 calibre? Webley?

[cctransuk]

I was speaking to ABS Models the other night. They do NOT take credit card orders. It has to be a cheque or bank draft and because I live in Australia it is not cost effective for me to do that. The bank would charge me 20 pounds for a bank draft.

 

Do you not have a contact in the UK who could receive a Paypal payment from you, and who could then write a UK cheque for ABS?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[brian777999]

No, I do not have any contacts in the UK. I was thinking of sending them a 10 pound note in the mail if I just wanted a few small items.

 

I am surprised that ABS Models do not use PAYPAL themselves. Even if they added a 10% surcharge for payment by this method it would still be preferable to paying by cheque, bank drafts etc.

[30801]

No, I do not have any contacts in the UK. I was thinking of sending them a 10 pound note in the mail if I just wanted a few small items.

Royal Mail has an uncanny knack of 'losing' things that contain cash.

I had a ebay buyer try to mail me cash and only the third attempt which he sent recorded actually got through.

[craigwelsh]

I am surprised that ABS Models do not use PAYPAL themselves. Even if they added a 10% surcharge for payment by this method it would still be preferable to paying by cheque, bank drafts etc.

He may not have a computer.. Its a problem i've encountered with a few people in model railways!

 

I would assume posting white metal kits to Australia is also a bit more than your average box of Parkside.

[cctransuk]

I am surprised that ABS Models do not use PAYPAL themselves. Even if they added a 10% surcharge for payment by this method it would still be preferable to paying by cheque, bank drafts etc.

 

Adrian is about my age and semi-retired. I believe that he 'doesn't do computers' - his choice and I for one don't blame him.

 

He trades on his own terms - as do I.

 

Let's just be grateful that, for the time-being at least, he chooses to still supply his invaluable products.

 

Be in no doubt, there's a lot of us older 'cottage industries' who have no intention of keeping on offering our services indefinitely.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood,

Cambridge Custom Transfers.

http://www.cctrans.freeserve.co.uk/

[brian777999]

I have only had my computer for two years so I can understand why some people are a bit reluctant to get into it as it can be a steep learning curve at first. I am sure if he tried it that he would find it would actually make things a bit easier for him.

 

Receiving payments using Paypal would be much quicker and simpler than mucking about with cheques and bank drafts. Email is also much quicker than snail mail.

 

However, if he chooses not to "do" computers then I do respect that.

 

NOTE : when sending money in the mail always enlcose it between some stiff card. I have never lost anything this way.

[LaScala]

Whilst I can all understand Adrian Swain's reasons especially if he's been sick, I'm afraid not being web savvy in 2009 is pretty much the kiss of death commercially. Luckily I still have a 25 year old Lloyds' cheque book and can snail mail the few remaining dinosaurs producing essential bits and get them sent to Australia. Net of VAT, the postage often seems to cancel out, even for loco kits. Ironically the last one I bought was from Keykits via Paypal when they handled ABS. No complaints at all, on the contrary the Zero Zephyr kit was very much to my liking. Would be a shame if that line died out.

[Bernard Lamb]

Whilst I can all understand Adrian Swain's reasons especially if he's been sick, I'm afraid not being web savvy in 2009 is pretty much the kiss of death commercially.

 

There are a few people about who do not use these new fangled works of the devil. Up to five years ago I dealt with a major shop fitting company that had no computers. You even had to leave your mobile at reception. It did not hinder them commercially. In fact it was a benefit.

If somebody does not have these aids to business then there could well be a religious reason behind it. To those that are making snide comments please consider the broader picture before you shoot. Some people see the world in a different light.

Bernard

[2512silverfox]

Also remember that ABS did (or do) the LNER 6 plank in 9' and 10' wheelbase, fitted and unfitted.

 

Returning to the 5pl GWR opens, I built a rake of them (painted in the livery of Itters Bricks) in the late 70's using MGW open spoke wheels which went together well, and are still in good order. I do remember a problem with the floor dimensions but it was not insurmountable.

[Poor Old Bruce]

I am building the Ratio LMS 4 plank wagon at the moment and the floor in that is longer than the sides!

 

Colin

 

I think you will find that the LMS (ex LNWR) wagons come in pairs of kits, one being slightly longer than the other. I have not built any of these for some time. Go back and check your parts (so to speak), you may find that the floor for the other wagon is too short. Alternatively read the instructions to see if they tell you to shorten the floor.

 

Richard

[Kits from Somerset]

I think you will find that the LMS (ex LNWR) wagons come in pairs of kits, one being slightly longer than the other. I have not built any of these for some time. Go back and check your parts (so to speak), you may find that the floor for the other wagon is too short. Alternatively read the instructions to see if they tell you to shorten the floor.

 

Richard

 

Looking at the instructions there are long and short floors.

[Adam]

There are a few people about who do not use these new fangled works of the devil. Up to five years ago I dealt with a major shop fitting company that had no computers. You even had to leave your mobile at reception. It did not hinder them commercially. In fact it was a benefit.

If somebody does not have these aids to business then there could well be a religious reason behind it. To those that are making snide comments please consider the broader picture before you shoot. Some people see the world in a different light.

Bernard

 

None of these are the case with Adrian so far as I'm aware, he simply, of his own free will, chooses not to use the 'net for business.* Even with these arrangements (and having stopped supplying the general trade), last time (last weekend) I saw him he said he was doing quite nicely thank you and had worked a five-day week re-stocking post-Warley. My impression is that he has all the business he wants, and can cope with as a one-man band, knows his market pretty well and fair play to him for that.

 

Dealing with all the things that go with a web ordering/despatch creates a lot of work in and of itself; time which could be used casting and packing (so the chap who runs Dart Castings told me earlier this year, and Dart/MJT have a much smaller range than ABS).

 

Adam

 

*I'll volunteer at this point that dad has known him for many years, we certainly have enough of the kits and bits.

[cctransuk]

I'm afraid not being web savvy in 2009 is pretty much the kiss of death commercially.

 

Sorry - I can't let that pass; it's simply not true and misses the whole point of what us 'cottage industries' are all about.

 

At the risk of boring some readers I'll set out my own circumstances, which I believe are pretty typical.

 

I am sixty years of age and my full-time job is managing the engineering section of Cambridge City Council. I am a life-long railway enthusiast and modeller.

 

Several years ago Woodhead Transfers ceased trading and with it went the only source of quality BR wagon and NPCS transfers. At about that time I discovered ALPS desktop printers which allowed one to print in white, so I made the modest investment and started to produce my own waterslide transfers.

 

Hoping to assist other modellers I wrote to the editor of the Model Railway Journal extolling the virtues of ALPS printers. Coincidently, at the time my letter was published ALPS withdrew from the UK market! I was immediately inundated by requests from modellers to print bespoke transfers for them.

 

Now I could, (and perhaps should), have been selfish and said "Tough - I'm alright Jack"!

 

Being somewhat 'green' about matters commercial I briefly offered a bespoke transfer service under the Cambridge Custom Transfers title, only to find that the time involved in researching, designing and printing to customers' invariably vague specifications was completely unsupportable in my spare time, and commercially unaffordable for customers if I charged even a modest hourly rate.

 

The bespoke transfer service was very short-lived but I did agree to offer for sale any transfer sheets which I produced for my own purposes. My charges really only cover my costs, but the inroads which this service makes into my own modelling time are very significant indeed.

 

So, I feel that I can offer my service on my own terms. That means written orders by post and payment by cheque - the only exception being sterling or Euros cash, and Paypal strictly for overseas customers. Paypal IS a pain from the trader's point of view - their charges seem to be quite random and I have to charge ??3.00 to be sure of covering their deductions.

 

If a small trader chooses not to use computers and Paypal that's their choice. I doubt that too many of them rely on their railway model products as their sole income and most of us will have gone out of business long before cheques are abolished.

 

I sympathise with our Southerm Hemisphere colleagues, but surely you accept when choosing to model UK subjects that obtaining the necessary products will not be simple?

 

I cannot believe that any overseas modeller cannot strike up a digital friendship with a UK modeller who will agree to accept Paypal payments and write UK cheques. This list might be a good place to try and make such an arrangement.

 

So - the blunt truth is that it is unlikely in the extreme that any 'cottage industry' is going to fold as a consequence of insisting on cheque payment. If we value their products and the time which they devote to producing and marketing them then we may have to put ourselves out a bit - especially if we live other than in the UK.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood,

Cambridge Custom Transfers.

[brian777999]

"I sympathise with our Southerm Hemisphere colleagues, but surely you accept when choosing to model UK subjects that obtaining the necessary products will not be simple?"

 

Well, this posting of mine has taken a strange turn !

 

John : I agree with everything you have said but actually I do not have much trouble obtaining most of what I need to model UK railways. Usually I call and quote my Mastercard number and the goods are here about 12 days later. I use SKYPE and it costs me about 5 pence per minute to call on the phone. There are only a few items which have proven difficult to purchase such as GWR wagon buffers, the swan neck lever for DC brakes and fine chain as used in the Cambrian GWR crane kit.

 

This is somewhat frustrating but certainly not the end of the world.

[Kits from Somerset]

Meny people miss Mainly Trains for this reason as it was a one stop shop.

[LaScala]

Wasn't this a thread about a Ratio kit? Isn't there something faintly ironic about defending small suppliers not using the internet and Paypal on a web forum? Can I remind Bernard & John that I was actually praising Adrian's products and keep an old cheque book to deal with the situation? Obtaining modelling materials in the southern hemisphere from the UK or anywhere else is incredibly easy, inside a week more than often without leaving home. A far cry from twenty years ago.

 

How are your solebars Brian?

[brian777999]

I cut off the W irons and re-glued them to the sole bars. I might actually have saved this kit from the bin ! I used the truck tuner to ream out the bearings. I had to shave off quite a bit but at least it runs. It is certainly not the best wagon I have built but I think I will go ahead and paint it up and see how it finally looks.

 

I am going to have to buy another one of these wagons just to see if I can build it properley without any drama. The trick to this one is to make sure that you have the width of the floor correct because you cannot change the space between the solebars once you have glued the sides to the floor. Careful filing and dry runs with bluetac are required before assembly.

[Brinkly]

I must say that I don't like one of my Ratio plank wagons as it caused my right index finger to lose nearly the whole pad! Even now it hurts! (I did it back in easter!) My beef if with the stupid raised mouldings, which I was trying to remove quickly!

 

But apart from that I rather like the kit, it goes together much better than some of the Cambrian Wagons, and I stress some as the latest box vans from Cambrian are much better than some of the older plank wagons.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick

 

 

[Barry Ten]

I thought they were woodlouse, but I didn't dare comment.....

 

Me too - I thought "now there??s an example of out of the box thinking with regard to wagon weighting"...

and readily available under the workbench, too - simples!

 

Re: Ratio kits - made most of them, and agree with some of the other posters that given the age of the

mouldings, they are very good.

[karabuni]

...

 

I have a feeling the Parkside 5 plank LNER wagon is wartime build - as far as I know the pre war LNER 6 plank is only available from ABS as a whitemetal kit , and getting hold of ABS is not easy either. His stand at Warley is the best bet , which is no help if you live outside the UK. Parkside also do the ex LNER steel High - which dates from 1945

 

From Cambrian Models:

 

The early type of LNER 6 plank with a wood underframe is now in our range (since Dec. 2009), as Kit C81. It's only been sent out to two retailers (who have "standing orders" for new kits) so far, others that have ordered them will be getting them soon.

 

 

Barry

Cambrian

[iL Dottore]

I have had mixed experiences with the Ratio Kits, most of them go together quite easily, my "Tunnel Toad" (GWR tunnel inspection van based upon a standard TOAD Brake Van) went together very easily (apart from having to cannabilise another Toad for a running board), as have the GWR wagons from them I have built to date. If I have problems with fitting the wheels, it is quite often because they are too tight - but filing down the pin in the pinpoint often solves the problem without affecting the running qualities (at least so far).

 

As for using Top Hat or Flangeless bearings, I find the easiest approach is to add them whilst the part is still on the sprue - a drop of MekPak is dribbled into each hole, the plastic allowed to soften and the bearing firmly, but carefully (to avoid wonkiness), pushed home. Generally, the resulting spacing is sufficient to drop the wheels in without problems.

 

In the past with some particularly PITB models, I have cemented in place one side (solebar and W-Irons), removed the locating pips from the other side and with wheelsets in place glued the second solebar/W-Iron unit in place. Using a semi liquid cement (like Revell's) gives me enough time to square things up before it sets (unlike with MekPak)

[edubs]

I'm doing one of these Ratio GW 5 planks at the moment, havent done one for a few years. all I needed to do was make 10 thou styrene "washers" to space the bearings away from the back of the axleguards and the wheelsets fitted just fine. You need to assemble the sides and ends and pop the wheels in fairly smartish so that you can adjust everything square while there is still a bit of give in the corner joints.

[iL Dottore]

....Coal should be in Felix Pole wagons (hard to find)...

The Dapol GWR Loco Coal model (see http://www.Dapol.co....emart&Itemid=59) is GWR diagram N32 coal wagon but can be converted into a diagram N27 wagon (the proper' GWR Loco Coal wagon) as the N27 is essentially a N32 but without the end tipping door, both ends being the same: i.e. 'plain' with two upright stanchions. Although most N27 wagons carried Dean/Churchward brakes not the Morton brakes on the Dapol underframe there is a photo reference of an example with Morton brakes in GWR Wagons before 1948 (Vol. 1. p29). The conversion is quite simple - just replace the end tipping door with a plain end (and there are a number of ways of going about this).

[Donw]

When I worked in EM back in the early 80's there used to be some nice etched w iron sets from Colin Waite. I used these and either the plastic spring/ axleboxes cut off and fixed to the W iron or the EM soc cast ones.

Donw