What have you done with your Keyser kit

[hayfield]

47 minutes ago, Barclay said:

I've been labouring on this 1361 0-6-0ST for months now, and it is finally coming together - CSP chassis & chimney, Gibson safety valve, buffers, injectors, smokebox door handle. Unlike the Coal Tank I can't really recommend this one - too many faults!

 

 

Stuart

 

This kit must be 50+ years old and designed to use chassis motors and gears of the time, plus designed to be produced at a budget price, and perhaps compromises were taken in the design

 

Fast forward to today with our expectations very much higher, chassis, motor, gear and wheels design and technology has improved no end

 

If you were designing a kit today I guess it would be a mixture of etched and resin cast components, with smaller motors and gear train which would leave the cab clear for detailing

 

I think you are doing a splendid job with this one and I guess it will out live any modern RTR model and possibly outperform them

[Steamport Southport]

4 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Stuart

 

This kit must be 50+ years old and designed to use chassis motors and gears of the time, plus designed to be produced at a budget price, and perhaps compromises were taken in the design

 

Fast forward to today with our expectations very much higher, chassis, motor, gear and wheels design and technology has improved no end

 

If you were designing a kit today I guess it would be a mixture of etched and resin cast components, with smaller motors and gear train which would leave the cab clear for detailing

 

I think you are doing a splendid job with this one and I guess it will out live any modern RTR model and possibly outperform them

 

Oh. I don't know, the Heljan version is a little belter and will pull a house down!

 

 

 

Jason

[Barclay]

The K's 1361 is now complete, except for number plates, vac pipes and lamps. I'm pleased with the result and it runs very well, but this one really fought me!

[DavidStarbuck]

To all of you that responded on my question regarding the Jubilee colour, thank you very much.

In the end I went for the Humbrol code 20 acrylic with 3 coats and a final coat of satin varnish.

I'm quite pleased with it as it's turned out a close match to some of my coaching stock.

Also this was my first attempt at the K's Walschaerts valvegear, bit fiddly but managed it.

 

Not perfect I know but its good enough for me.

Now what to build next? I have a collection of more than 40 kits as my retirement plan !

[hayfield]

3 hours ago, DavidStarbuck said:

To all of you that responded on my question regarding the Jubilee colour, thank you very much.

In the end I went for the Humbrol code 20 acrylic with 3 coats and a final coat of satin varnish.

I'm quite pleased with it as it's turned out a close match to some of my coaching stock.

Also this was my first attempt at the K's Walschaerts valvegear, bit fiddly but managed it.

 

Not perfect I know but its good enough for me.

Now what to build next? I have a collection of more than 40 kits as my retirement plan !

 

The main thing is the enjoyment you receive in building it

[Barclay]

I recently built this very old K's Great Eastern Railway loco sand wagon. I say very old because the wheels supplied with it weren't on pin-point axles. It has Prickly Pear etched W-irons and springing, and runs very nicely, but, Hell, it's heavy! Lettered as an internal user.

 

Edited April 17 by Barclay

[Captain Kernow]

This K's pannier was originally built by Peter Lawson, but was one of two bought by me from Tony Wright recently, when Peter decided to sell his collection due to ill health.

 

This is how it arrived:

 

I wanted to renumber it, which would also enable me to put the smokebox door plate in the correct position. I also added a small number of extra details, such as lamp irons and sand pipes, but wanted to keep the essence of the loco as it had been built.

 

 

 

Now finished and in service:

 

[Chas Levin]

On 17/04/2024 at 14:17, Barclay said:

I recently built this very old K's Great Eastern Railway loco sand wagon. I say very old because the wheels supplied with it weren't on pin-point axles. It has Prickly Pear etched W-irons and springing, and runs very nicely, but, Hell, it's heavy! Lettered as an internal user.

 

 

Very pleased to see this: I have one in the pile, positioned towards the front (i.e. I actusally do intend building it quite soon!). With old kits, it's always encouraging to see someone make a really good job of it to modern standards - shows what can be done!

[cctransuk]

Not Keyser - but I am currently building an Anbrico ex-GWR streamlined railcar, to be W14W.

 

It is fitted with a 7' WB Black Beetle motor bogie, and will be portrayed in 1950s condition with the side panels over the bogies removed.

 

The kit was not provided with bogie sideframes, as it was intended to run with a full set of side valance panels.

 

Some years ago, I was fortunate enough to get hold of a set of exquisite whitemetal bogie frame castings. These had been produced with the intention of reintroducing the Anbrico kit - but I don't think that this ever happened.

 

Photos later.

 

CJI.

[hayfield]

On 17/04/2024 at 14:17, Barclay said:

I recently built this very old K's Great Eastern Railway loco sand wagon. I say very old because the wheels supplied with it weren't on pin-point axles. It has Prickly Pear etched W-irons and springing, and runs very nicely, but, Hell, it's heavy! Lettered as an internal user.

 

 

 

As far as I am aware none of the whitemetal wagon kits ever came with either bearings or wheels with pinpoint axles, I am certain neither did the latter plastic range which were introduced in the latter days of K's

 

I remember whilst I was still at school a neighbour brought a K's terrier and two or three SECR coaches, the loco struggled to pull the coaches on the flat. These days were before parts like etched W irons and wheels with pinpoint bearings were available from main stream sources (mainly retail in those days)

 

I have to great affect fitted etched W irons to both whitemetal wagons and coaches

[RodneyS]

The K's sand wagon was my first white metal kit.  I saw it advertised in the Model Railway News when it first came out and eventually managed to obtain one.

 

It came with Jackson metal wheels with the domed ends and rather strangely they were nickel plated.

 

I glued it together with Evostik which is all I had at the time and was disappointed that it wouldn't run on my Triang track !

I also had problems getting it square.

 

Eventually it fell apart and was put in a box.

Come the lock down and I decided to reassemble it.  

Unfortunately one of the wheelsets had disappeared, goodness knows where as it's not that small.  Perhaps I used it for something.

 

In the interests of 'historical accuracy' I used a similar set of wheels which were in the familiar blackened brass.  I enlarged the axle holes and used some equally old Peco brass axle bearing cups.  The wagon is quite free running, obviously not as good as pin point bearings but not too bad.

 

During the reconstruction I discovered why I had so much trouble with it.

The axleboxes looked to be castings which had been added to the patterns for the sides.

One was rather shrivelled up and deformed which resulted in that axle hole being a bit higher than the other one.

As the kit seemed to have two identical castings the difference in height was effectively doubled.  

It could never have been assembled square.

 

The sensible thing to do would have been to use etched W irons as Barclay and Hayfield did.

However, as I wanted to keep it original, I filled the two offending holes and re-drilled them.

More by luck than judgement I managed to get the new holes in the right position and the wagon is now in one piece - and square.

 

It would be interesting to know if Chas Levin's kit also has the same problem.

Rodney

Edited April 20 by RodneyS
Removal of big blank area !

[ROSSPOP]

I`v had a hankering to build a Keyser kit.

 

The last one built and completed was back in the 1970`s .It was a GWR 44XX and after a great struggle it ran quite well but with a slight duck waddle......

 

By chance I came across a Keyser HO kit,  made for the European market in the late 1970`s I think, selling for a very give away price. So I snapped it up on impulse.

 

It was produced for the German market and is a kit of the diminutive `Glaskasterl`  driver only operated loco.

 

I have to say that the castings are exquisit and as well as the `traditional ` thick brass chassis sides it also has a very nice fold up etched brass chassis complete with brake hangers and shoes. It also has shouldered coupling rod bearings and metal threaded  crankpin bearing holes in all drivers........ blimey !! don`t remember being that spoilt with the British kit offerings.

 

Obviously after  50years the wheels are badly corroded.....

 

But I`ve managed to save them......

 

The axles were ok but I polished them to be a better push fit in order to reduce any dreaded wheel wobble as they are only the size of shirt buttons.

 

 

The chasssis is unlike any Keyser kit I`ve come across....

 

 

 

Just to be awkward  it has no brass bearings and the rear axle hole is a larger diameter than the rest.

 

So, delving into the far reaches of the railway shed,  I still had some 4mm modelling parts  and found a set of suitable bearings . These were easily soldered into place using the traditional method of using the coupling rods as a jig to alighn everything up...

 

 

At the same time I added the brake rigging rods for extra chassis stiffening .

 

The K`s motor had deteriorated , even in it`s plastic shrink wrapping. I serviced it back into working order but found it  an unreliable performer. I therefore modified the chassis to take a small Mashima motor and branchlines fold up 38.1 gearbox.

 

 

 

 

I also managed to `power` off the centre axle which I think improves performance....

 

 

To be continued..........

 

 

[Steamport Southport]

The later kits were outstanding. Certainly a step up from those that had their origins in the 1950s or '60s.

 

Have a look at the Lord Nelson for example, with proper etched chassis and valve gear. Unfortunately the downside was still the wheels and motor.

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/509164/keyser_k_s_l50_4_6_0_lord_nelson_steam_locomotive_kit/stockdetail

 

 

 

Jason

[Chas Levin]

On 19/04/2024 at 10:39, RodneyS said:

During the reconstruction I discovered why I had so much trouble with it.

The axleboxes looked to be castings which had been added to the patterns for the sides.

One was rather shrivelled up and deformed which resulted in that axle hole being a bit higher than the other one.

As the kit seemed to have two identical castings the difference in height was effectively doubled.  

It could never have been assembled square.

 

The sensible thing to do would have been to use etched W irons as Barclay and Hayfield did.

However, as I wanted to keep it original, I filled the two offending holes and re-drilled them.

More by luck than judgement I managed to get the new holes in the right position and the wagon is now in one piece - and square.

 

It would be interesting to know if Chas Levin's kit also has the same problem.

Rodney

 

Morning Rodney, yes, my kit has the same deformity:

 

 

 

 

 

So I too will be adding someone else's underframe. Not a problem, as I'm currently building my first sprung wagon and I'm keen to try more...

 

 

[Chas Levin]

On 21/04/2024 at 21:27, ROSSPOP said:

I`v had a hankering to build a Keyser kit.

 

The last one built and completed was back in the 1970`s .It was a GWR 44XX and after a great struggle it ran quite well but with a slight duck waddle......

 

By chance I came across a Keyser HO kit,  made for the European market in the late 1970`s I think, selling for a very give away price. So I snapped it up on impulse.

 

It was produced for the German market and is a kit of the diminutive `Glaskasterl`  driver only operated loco.

 

 

Morning John, what a coincidence: this is the second kit in a row on this thread that I too have, and I only have a very few K's kits! Nice job you've done there - I will make a note for when I come to build mine.

The kit I have is a set, with the loco and two 4-wheel carriages, all in the same box: is yours like that too?

[Barclay]

1 hour ago, Chas Levin said:

 

Morning Rodney, yes, my kit has the same deformity:

 

 

 

 

 

So I too will be adding someone else's underframe. Not a problem, as I'm currently building my first sprung wagon and I'm keen to try more...

 

 

Interesting - I don't remember mine looking that rough, but it was an old kit, in a plastic bag with the orange header card. Perhaps the mould became damaged at some point?

[hayfield]

 

I think you will find many of the K's wagon and coach kits which when offered up back to back do not match

 

With the exception of the lowmac I have found (especially as most have no floors) to rebuild the chassis by making a new floor, fitting etched W irons, saving the axleboxes and springs.

 

In many cases depending on which gauge is being used it may not be necessary to compensate the chassis, but the difference using pin point axles and bearings makes is enormass. 

 

I have just opened one of these sand wagon kits I brought over the last 12 months for £5, it was still packed up in tissue paper in a sealed plastic bag, it has the same deformity