What have you done with your Keyser kit

[hayfield]

Out of interest ... what is this loco - not a Dean Goods I think with the wavey footplate.

 

 

As Ivan has said its the K's version/interpretation of the Armstrong goods, thought it was the 63xx that was on for a similar price (should have looked more closely) . They are quite good kits, but have limitations as were designed in the late 70's. Can be bought at a reasonable cost, good built ones with Romford wheels and decent motors are sometimes a steal, But need quite a lot of work if a high level of detail is required  

[Steamport Southport]

Isn't that the 322 Class Beyer?

 

Always wanted one of those.

 

http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrrj1773.htm

 

 

 

Jason

[Lecorbusier]

As Ivan has said its the K's version/interpretation of the Armstrong goods, thought it was the 63xx that was on for a similar price (should have looked more closely) . They are quite good kits, but have limitations as were designed in the late 70's. Can be bought at a reasonable cost, good built ones with Romford wheels and decent motors are sometimes a steal, But need quite a lot of work if a high level of detail is required  

 

 

Presumably that would be one of these? Quite a handsome fellow really.

 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Lecorbusier

[Brassey]

I have a K’s 322 Beyer Goods in my unbuilt kit mountain

[hayfield]

I bought a Keyser GWR 14xx 80's series kit built loco off eBay for £13.34 inc postage as I plan to do a quickie EM gauge conversion. The 80's series has the drivers with plastic inserts and axles with D shaped ends, these tend to get damaged and loose their quartering, they also have the awful HMP motors which are weak and burn out easily, the reason for using the 80's rather than the earlier 70's series is that the 80's has a better chassis with axle holes drilled out where as the 70's series has keyhole shaped holes stamped out which tends to deform the chassis

 

The loco arrived and is as advertised a non runner, but very well built, it needs a couple of minor improvements, a new bunker sub floor, rear cab grills and steam pipes

 

As for the conversion, the idea being I would add 40 tho black plasticard sides to the chassis (one at a time and drilling the axle holes out). then using a set of Romford wheels and either a DS10 or a D13 motor

 

Plan B is that I have a milled brass chassis from Bristol motors which will after slight modification to the body will fit and the motor changed to a MRRC 5 pole 

[hayfield]

Plan A failed

 

 

As can be seen, whilst having the latter style of wheels and motor, the loco has the earlier style of chassis and has too many screws on the sides which are proud of the surface. I guess I could put spacers to widen the chassis but this just complicates matters

 

 

Plan B is to use a Bristol models milled brass chassis, but the width of the MRRC motor is too wide for the boiler

 

Plan C/1 could be just to fit a set of 00 gauge Romford wheels and find an appropriate motor from the spares box, could even use an older small Keyser Mk2 motor, or revert back to plan A using spacers and continue on with the EM gauge conversion 

[Brassey]

Plan A failed

 

286.jpeg

 

As can be seen, whilst having the latter style of wheels and motor, the loco has the earlier style of chassis and has too many screws on the sides which are proud of the surface. I guess I could put spacers to widen the chassis but this just complicates matters

 

287.jpeg

 

Plan B is to use a Bristol models milled brass chassis, but the width of the MRRC motor is too wide for the boiler

 

Plan C/1 could be just to fit a set of 00 gauge Romford wheels and find an appropriate motor from the spares box, could even use an older small Keyser Mk2 motor, or revert back to plan A using spacers and continue on with the EM gauge conversion 

 

Or you could buy a High Level chassis.  Highly recommended; just a satisfied customer.

 

[hayfield]

Or you could buy a High Level chassis.  Highly recommended; just a satisfied customer.

 

IMG_1617.jpg

 

 

Far too posh and I would guess would struggle to fit as designed for a plastic body, plus the K's front footplate is several mm short. I do have a spare Comet chassis which is built and running in 00 gauge, again would need altering to fit. Fails to fit the easy, quick and cheap criteria. But thanks for the heads up

 

Edit

 

I do have High Level 57xx and Pug chassis built to P4 gauge, which came cheaply from eBay. Both stunning bits of kit

Edited August 17, 2018 by hayfield

[Golden Fleece 30]

Plan A failed

 

286.jpeg

 

As can be seen, whilst having the latter style of wheels and motor, the loco has the earlier style of chassis and has too many screws on the sides which are proud of the surface. I guess I could put spacers to widen the chassis but this just complicates matters

 

287.jpeg

 

Plan B is to use a Bristol models milled brass chassis, but the width of the MRRC motor is too wide for the boiler

 

Plan C/1 could be just to fit a set of 00 gauge Romford wheels and find an appropriate motor from the spares box, could even use an older small Keyser Mk2 motor, or revert back to plan A using spacers and continue on with the EM gauge conversion 

When I used to build these, many moons ago, I too found the screws were proud of the chassis but just reasonably tightened them to make sure the chassis was true then soldered the screws and spacers to the frames. Afterwards the screw heads were filed flush with the sides.

 

Garry

[Graham456]

When I used to build these, many moons ago, I too found the screws were proud of the chassis but just reasonably tightened them to make sure the chassis was true then soldered the screws and spacers to the frames. Afterwards the screw heads were filed flush with the sides.

 

Garry

BUT surely those screw heads added a bit of releief to those gert slabs of brass Edited August 17, 2018 by Graham456

[hayfield]

BUT surely those screw heads added a bit of releief to those gert slabs of brass

 

 

But that's part of the charm of kits of this age, the super detailed chassis of that time were difficult to build, as etched kits were in their infancancy

 

Firstly with Keyser kits, they were both cheap and complete except for glue and paint, half the price of a Wills kit once all the components had been bought. The first and 70's series with pre-quartered wheel sets had chassis which were relatively easy to build, it was not until the 80's series came out with plastic spoked wheels and the HPM motor that issues started to creep in 

[hayfield]

I bought a Keyser 14xx for a quick rebuild, idea being was to buy a kit with the 80's series plastic spoked wheels, HPM motor and drilled frames Found a nicely built kit for £13.34 inc postage, but on inspection the frames were the older pressed style. So the idea of a quickie conversion with plasticard glued to the sides went out of the window (4 frame spacers to counter sink + enlarged brass wheel bearings

 

 

Plan B quickly followed in using a Bristol Models EM gauge machined brass chassis I had lying around. This sadly failed the chassis fitted the loco but the MW 005 5 pole motor was too wide at the front end.

 

 

The project stalled a bit until I decided to just space out the frame spacers with washers, went into the spares box and low and behold EM gauge frame spacers waiting inside. The main issue is that they are designed for thinner brass sides, so plan C being to fit the bearings from inside and file flush, still a bit wide but as its a 4 coupled loco little side play will be required

 

As for the motor, I think one of my D11 will be pressed into operation

Edited August 30, 2018 by hayfield

[relaxinghobby]

Ks kit from way back when, London and Brighton round ended open goods wagon.

White metal, looks like I have put in a plastic floor to reduce the weight and to get the wheels turning

added fold up brass W irons and bearings.

Not Ks own wheels.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2018 by relaxinghobby

[cctransuk]

Ks kit from way back when, London and Brighton round ended open goods wagon.

White metal, looks like I have put in a plastic floor to reduce the weight and to get the wheels turning

added fold up brass W irons and bearings.

Not Ks own wheels.

 

P1010055.JPG

 

P1010053.JPG

 

You didn't put the plastic floor in to reduce weight - K's didn't supply a cast one !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Steamport Southport]

That's a new one on me.

 

Are you sure they aren't Nu Cast rather than K's?

 

 

 

Jason

[D51]

This looks like the K's kit W10 - SR (ex SECR) Tarpaulin Wagon.  It didn't come with the wire for the rail either!

£1.73 in 1979, the last year it was produced by K's in cast metal.

 

Frank

Edited August 31, 2018 by D51

[hayfield]

That's a new one on me.

 

Are you sure they aren't Nu Cast rather than K's?

 

 

 

Jason

 

Jason

 

Nucast took over the K's loco kits, some received new chassis but were not supplied with wheels motor or gears. Don't think either the wagons or coach kits went to Nucast, but could be wrong

[Steamport Southport]

I don't remember them being reissued after the merger/takeover. Nu Cast definitely had a range of pre grouping wagons in whitemetal which included LBSC wagons. I think they might have came from Sutherland Models originally.

 

Here's a MR wagon.

 

https://picclick.co.uk/NuCast-MR-LMS-BR-5-plank-10-12T-wagon-kit-NC505-white-202197359242.html

 

This looks like the K's kit W10 - SR (ex SECR) Tarpaulin Wagon.  It didn't come with the wire for the rail either!

£1.73 in 1979, the last year it was produced by K's in cast metal.

 

Frank

 

The plot thickens. I'm certainly not disputing this, but I'm pretty sure that it's a LBSCR wagon as I don't think that the SECR had round ended wagons. I can't remember any being in the SECR wagon book.

 

I reckon it's one of these.

 

http://cambrianmodels.co.uk/lbseswkits.html

 

 

 

 

Jason

[Compound2632]

I don't remember them being reissued after the merger/takeover. Nu Cast definitely had a range of pre grouping wagons in whitemetal which included LBSC wagons. I think they might have came from Sutherland Models originally.

 

Here's a MR wagon.

 

https://picclick.co.uk/NuCast-MR-LMS-BR-5-plank-10-12T-wagon-kit-NC505-white-202197359242.html

 

 

The plot thickens. I'm certainly not disputing this, but I'm pretty sure that it's a LBSCR wagon as I don't think that the SECR had round ended wagons. I can't remember any being in the SECR wagon book.

 

I reckon it's one of these.

 

http://cambrianmodels.co.uk/lbseswkits.html

 

 

 

 

Jason

 

... but the SER used round-ended wagons aplenty. Sr Diagram 1327. The end framing was rather different, though.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Compound2632

[Skinnylinny]

It looks very like an LB&SCR Open A to me!

[Nick Holliday]

I don't remember them being reissued after the merger/takeover. Nu Cast definitely had a range of pre grouping wagons in whitemetal which included LBSC wagons. I think they might have came from Sutherland Models originally.

 

Here's a MR wagon.

 

https://picclick.co.uk/NuCast-MR-LMS-BR-5-plank-10-12T-wagon-kit-NC505-white-202197359242.html

 

 

 

The plot thickens. I'm certainly not disputing this, but I'm pretty sure that it's a LBSCR wagon as I don't think that the SECR had round ended wagons. I can't remember any being in the SECR wagon book.

 

 

Jason

NuCast produced a range of LBSC wagons, open, van, single and twin bolsters, specifically to accompany their C2X loco kit. They eventually passed to ABS, although only the bolster wagons reappeared under their label.

The K's kit has always been a puzzle. It is very clearly an LBSC Open A with early brake gear, yet for some reason they decided to call it an SECR wagon, which it only has a passing resemblance to. It would be interesting to know if this affected sales in any way; at least in SR livery it might not be such a problem.

[Robin Brasher]

I came quite close to completing a Ks Adams Radial. The radial truck was part of the body so the model would not run on less than 3' radius curves. I cut off the truck mounting and replaced it with a conventional pony truck made from a tin can. I gave up with the model when I tested it and the motor burnt out. I have still got it somewhere but I am glad Hornby and Oxford Rail produced some ready to run versions.

[Mallard60022]

I gave my really carp effort of a WR 97XX tank (glued together circa 1972) to a RMW friend this week. He will transform it ...........I hope.

Phil

[hayfield]

I don't remember them being reissued after the merger/takeover. Nu Cast definitely had a range of pre grouping wagons in whitemetal which included LBSC wagons. I think they might have came from Sutherland Models originally.

 

Here's a MR wagon.

 

https://picclick.co.uk/NuCast-MR-LMS-BR-5-plank-10-12T-wagon-kit-NC505-white-202197359242.html

 

 

The plot thickens. I'm certainly not disputing this, but I'm pretty sure that it's a LBSCR wagon as I don't think that the SECR had round ended wagons. I can't remember any being in the SECR wagon book.

 

I reckon it's one of these.

 

http://cambrianmodels.co.uk/lbseswkits.html

 

 

 

 

Jason

 

Keyser's own description states ex SECR in their own catalogue, as for which one k's never went that far with their information 

[Steamport Southport]

Keyser's own description states ex SECR in their own catalogue, as for which one k's never went that far with their information 

 

Thanks, and thanks to everyone else that has replied.

 

So it was definitely K's then. It's just that I can't ever recall seeing it mentioned anywhere. I've got most of the other wagon kits so it's one to look out for.

 

Just for fun, if I wanted a proper model then I would buy the Cambrian kit. 

 

 

 

Jason