Andrew F Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I've just bought one of these un-built kits from a toy fair as I felt sorry for it. I feel more sorry for myself now but has anyone built one of these and would they like to share their experience? In the box are two small rectangular 3-pole motors. Anyone know what they would be and what performance one can expect from them? I was quite surprised to find motors and Romford wheels as I thought the kits were 'body and bogie frame' only and there's no chassis. Is there a hot tip for the chassis or is it a dip into the tinder box? The instructions or appalling and suggest the most frightful bodging about with wood and the white metal castings remind me of MTK on a bad day. Looks like a lot of fun and something to go with my Dave Alexander Co-bo which was quite enjoyable to build. Cheers Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted January 26, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 26, 2015 I have built the Q kits CIE A class and it was very basic. I used it more as an aid to scratchbuilding rather than a kit. I don't know the origin of the motors but decided to abandon them all together. I mounted my A class Co Co on a cut down Lima Deltic chassis. A lot of cutting and fileing was necessary but I got there in the end. I don't know about the MV, but the A class contained some metal reinforcing along the bottom edge of the bodysides which added to the difficulty of filing down to fit the chassis. There were no wheels in my A class kit. Good luck if you decide to go ahead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I tried their LMS 10000 kit, after reading an article in BRM about building one. The model in the article had a fibreglass body, and looked OK, but by the time I'd ordered they'd switched to a mix of cast metal (which looked unlike any whitemetal I'd seen before or since) and some etched brass bits. I never finished the thing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I built a class 56 from one of their kits late 70s early 80s, ove riding memory is drilling and filing out windows, fun it wasn't. I seem to remember it having Mabuchi motors which fit your description and press stud fastenings for the bogies, don't think I ever got it to run properly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossdp Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I recall something that I suspected to be a Q kits SR prototype diesel. I think it was fibreglass with steel strip moulded into the inner sides presumably to add weight and stop it warping. I think it even came with dummy fibre glass wheels to make a display model, but this one had been motorised with a read-to-run chassis. Looked OK but not a sharp as a SIlver Fox one. I expect the builder must have put a lot of effort into cleaning up the body. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ColinK Posted January 26, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 26, 2015 I tried and failed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I built a reasonable "Kestrel" when it was a resin body. Until I tried a Silver Fox kit i didn't realise how bad the Q Kits one was.I then tried the Gas Turbine which turned out to be White Metal ? and it was appalling - I should have known. Neither of them came with motors or wheels. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Parker Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I've a part built CoBo - used the ends and sides but not the rubbish roof. Power was to be from a US loco chassis and scratchbuilt bogie as the suggested motorising arrangement involving "thick glue" in the roof was laughable. Must dig it out and again and have another go... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicktoix Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Q kits were introduced in the 1970s by Mike Cole and were a revolution in their time. Powered usually by sagami double ended motors driving two axles. Set up properly they ran very well. They were very much of their time and not up to current standards. I have a pair of 10000 and 10001 which run very well but the bodies are not correct and may have "lifted" from previously available commercial models. Remember they were designed nearly 40 years ago. Mike was A very innovative modeller and produced an excellent diesel sound system and some useful hand held controllers. Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.T.Ford Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I've a part built CoBo - used the ends and sides but not the rubbish roof. Power was to be from a US loco chassis and scratchbuilt bogie as the suggested motorising arrangement involving "thick glue" in the roof was laughable. Must dig it out and again and have another go... I remember giving you that kit. Now you know why! CAT Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I have somewhere an un built Kestrel - no wheels or motors in mine (think they were extra back then in the 70's). The resin body has degraded over time and gone all sticky and gooey, and the cast plastic bogie side frames have disintegrated all whilst in the box. I got a Heljan Kestrel a couple of years ago - so the Q kit will just sit & rot into oblivion - like the prototype - Why I might post it to Putin for his birthday present !!! Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I got a Heljan Kestrel a couple of years ago - so the Q kit will just sit & rot into oblivion - like the prototype - Why I might post it to Putin for his birthday present !!! Careful, you might find something radioactive in your tea as a reprisal...... Wasn't Mike Cole the chap who scratchbuilt diesels? I remember seeing articles on them in an old Railway Modeller from the 1960s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicktoix Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Mike built many diesels and had a large layout, Sundown and Sprawling. Measured about 50ft lon at exhibitions but also had it set up at home where it ran in a loop around the garden Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Yes, Mike Cole had a layout in the Railway Modeller called Sundown & Sprawling, a very long thin straight layout with a station each end, and all the latest diesels built by him. He later marketed a range of kits Q Kits, Kestrel is one. I later in the 80's bought one of his sound systems that worked OK, but I later sold it on. Anyone remember MTK Modern Traction Kits ?, these were basic white metal kits, but needed skill & patience, little of either I had back then !!. I bought a class 40, 45, 25 and a Clayton. The Clayton turned out OK but was static as I could not fathom how to power it. I read (on here probably) they were later reintroduced & renamed "El Crappo" kits !!! Thank god Lima saved my day in the 80's. Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Yes, Mike Cole had a layout in the Railway Modeller called Sundown & Sprawling, a very long thin straight layout with a station each end, and all the latest diesels built by him. He later marketed a range of kits Q Kits, Kestrel is one. I later in the 80's bought one of his sound systems that worked OK, but I later sold it on. Anyone remember MTK Modern Traction Kits ?, these were basic white metal kits, but needed skill & patience, little of either I had back then !!. I bought a class 40, 45, 25 and a Clayton. The Clayton turned out OK but was static as I could not fathom how to power it. I read (on here probably) they were later reintroduced & renamed "El Crappo" kits !!! Thank god Lima saved my day in the 80's. Brit15 MTK was a chap called Colin Massingham. Apart from the cast diesels (I've a Class 25 body, without a chassis), he did a few injection-moulded and cast whitemetal wagon kits and a range of DMUs and EMUs. Many of the SR units on Paul Wade's 'Tonbridge West Yard' started their days as MTK 'kits', which shows what hard work, patience and superb modelling can produce: Paul's layout also incorporates parts of one of Colin's Iron Ore Tipplers, but you'll be pushed to find it.. (hint- look to the right of the footbridge at the far end) I think the El Crappo name was reserved for his O-gauge range. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I love these diesels, since having an old H/D one in childhood, I do have a body made from resin and a previous owner cut out the grills (I now need mesh). Must make a start one day Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I had a DC Kits class 76 in resin, I know that DC was Charlie Petty but was there a link with Q Kits, both were in Leeds? Anyway, it came with a motor bogie, press stud fixing, large, twin shaft, Mashima Can motor and a very crude general assembly method. Despite my misgivings it ran, still does, as sweet as a nut. I suspect it was more luck than good design, or my excellence in assembly . Yes, filing out the windows was a pain but, overall, it wasn't too bad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Devil Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I had a DC Kits class 76 in resin, I know that DC was Charlie Petty but was there a link with Q Kits, both were in Leeds? Anyway, it came with a motor bogie, press stud fixing, large, twin shaft, Mashima Can motor and a very crude general assembly method. Despite my misgivings it ran, still does, as sweet as a nut. I suspect it was more luck than good design, or my excellence in assembly . Yes, filing out the windows was a pain but, overall, it wasn't too bad. I can't comment on the connection, but I seem to remember the Q kits ones were in a very hard Fibreglass type material, the windows on those did take some filing in comparison to the DCkits EM1.....I did both. As has been stated they were very much of their time, I remember there not even being a conversion kit or anything else available to do a 56 at the time. Could I do one now, yeah probably, but like a lot of stuff, it's almost pointless, as anything I could build wouldn't be as good as an r-t-r item, but you do have the 'I built it' scenario, which is still very hard to beat. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
47164 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Andrew, I am in the same boat having picked one up recently , the kit is complete and like you I am head scratching over the building a chassis, it does make MTk kits look good in a bizarre way. I will watch your trials with interest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted January 27, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 27, 2015 No link between DC kits EM1 and Qkits other than that I made the patterns for Charlie and some of the moulded Q kits (including the above mentioned CIE A class) - and that we were all members of Leeds MRS at the time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chris p bacon Posted January 27, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 27, 2015 MTK was a chap called Colin Massingham. Apart from the cast diesels (I've a Class 25 body, without a chassis), he did a few injection-moulded and cast whitemetal wagon kits and a range of DMUs and EMUs. My brother was mates with him and said the casting machine was on the stairs landing. Colin owned/worked Slough Model Centre and with my brother and a few others they purchased the Warship 821 & Hymek 7029. When they were looking for somewhere to store them Colin approached the chairman of the GW Society at Didcot. He wasn't very receptive until Colin offered to name the Hymek in their honour. "what would that be" was the reply "7029 Clunk Castle" said Colin..........he walked out of the shop........ Nice chap Colin.....but never get in the Vitesse with him ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 A friend from long ago bought a Q kits GT3 kit, took one look and returned it. I never got to see it, sadly. On the Co-Bo topic, I don't know the arrangements for the body, chassis etc., but would it be possible to get a High Level bogie to fit? They would certainly be a far better choice for good running. Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 ....Anyone remember MTK Modern Traction Kits ?.... How could we forget? Eventually they became unavailable. Then the late Alistair Rolfe acquired the range to run alongside his own No Nonsense Kits. When Alistair died many years ago everything became unavailable. It then passed to Phoenix Paints.....where it continues to be mostly unavailable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I guess everyone has one or more MTK kits if they are past a certain age, my DMU's waddle even on the straights, the wagon Basher is quite good and the Class 40 is next top the bed in case a burglar comes in (its nearly as heavy as the real thing!!) Anyone mentioned the coffin lid yet? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
s_ellinson Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I'm currently building a Q Kits London, Chatham and Dover "T" class 0-6-0, and have an R1 to build. They're very late ones - possibly the last sold. They are probably the worst whitemetal kits i've ever seen and i'm only condsidering them because of the prototypes they represent. I bought them off Mike Cole in 2006, after he'd stopped advertising. I remember going out to his house and him being very apologetic about the quality fo castings and some bits missing. I suspect if I'd got them twenty years before they'd have been a bit better, mouldings crisper and so on. however, these days they're shocking. from what I've seen of the diesel prototypes, the same applies. However, being of a mascohistic bent, i plough on, although i'd never suggest that it's going to be a brilliant result. Good luck, mon brave!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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