Kenton Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 It seems that Q kits have a certain reputation Did the Q stand for Questionable? I don't think I have ever built one (and am not looking to do so) But like MTK and others of the era we do need to see them in their historical perspective. Perhaps best left as museum pieces? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Not Q kits but, during an ongoing sort out tidy up, I found my DC Kits Class 76; The leading cab is cocked upwards, the body is a one piece moulding so not something readily fixed, though it's accentuated by the camera. Pantographs were RTR, Lima I seem to recall. Crude by present standards but it still runs sweetly enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium CloggyDog Posted February 26, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 26, 2015 From memory (t'was a long, long time ago) I binned the Q-Kits 'mechanism' and substituted a pair of RTR bogies I had spare - IIRC, the Hornby Western provided the Co trailing bogie and a Hornby 29 the Bo power bogie (could easily have done those the other way around), both bodged into a plasticard chassis and with the rtr sideframes cut off and replaced with the kits ones. I later acquired a Peak Models resin 28 body which was marginally better (slightly crisper casting, less wrong roof, etc) than the Q-kits thing, so at some point moved the chassis over to the PM one and junked the QK. Also recall the QK one never really lost it's stickiness, which made painting so much fun I did also have 2 QK LMS 10000 (never finished) and a Falcon (ditto). For a Class 28 Co-Bo, you need the Bo to be 8'6" (34mm - a 15/16/17/20/21/22/23/24/25 will yield a suitable bogie) while the Co is 5'11"+6'2½" (24mm+25mm-ish - The Western bogie was deemed close enough at 6'1"+6'1") I do have a couple of Q-Kits motor bogies in a crate somewhere... from a Co-Co or A1A. Each has a long, 5-pole double-ended motor bolted to a pair of metal strips, these strips cut away and curved at the outer ends to hold a geared wheelset in place. Wheelbase is probably 55-60mm, so I'm assuming the cosmetic sideframes (long gone) had a cast-on dummy centre wheelset... MTK - the only loco I ever owned was a 47... ended up using the tanks/batteryboxes under a Lima one, the Cabs went into a scrapyard scene and the rest cut up and used as wagon weights... about all it was fit for. I will admit to having a small stash of MTK DMU kits somewhere. Good luck with the 28! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkC Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I built one of these beasts over 20 years ago - from memory the body castings were awful - the amount of filling & filing back that was needed was unbelieveable, and of course VERY time-consuming. Instructions? :jester: I built the chassis from Plastikard, & managed to get the supplied motors to work & drive the thing - more by good fortune than anything else, I suspect... However, they aren't the most robust of motors, & the model has been sitting in a box for many years now, since they failed. I might fit a new mechanism sometime - if only to prove that 'it can be done'... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 All this talk of the old stuff - anyone got an MTK Wickham unit unwanted/unloved? Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
s_ellinson Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 All this talk of the old stuff - anyone got an MTK Wickham unit unwanted/unloved? Stewart Didn't Adrian Swain (ABS) do one of these, possibly even the very one that MTK used to do? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew F Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 Ok, thanks so far. I've only just found the time to have a good look at this kit and start it this bank holiday. Looks to be complete. Must be the top of the range package with motors and wheels There's more to follow later. It's going to be a dirty weekend! Cheers Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew F Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 The first job has been to clean the flash off the bogie assemblies and open out the bearings to accept the axles. The axles need converting from pin-points and I did this with a razor saw as the power-disc would melt the plastic insulators. Some work was needed to ensure the bogies sat flat. This is upside-down with the base plate sat on top. This bogie will also pick-up. The motors fitted with worms and sat on their mounting plates on the 'Co' bogie: The base plate on the 'Co' needed opening out very much for the axle gears and motor worms to freely clear. I cobbled together the pick-up assembly from a bit of circuit board and brass rod and screwed the motor brackets down with self tappers. The gears meshed right straight off and the bogie ran fairly sweet. It's very fast though. After 4 rounds with the heavy files the 5 cast body parts are coming together. Cheers Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 It's almost like Jurassic Park..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tomlinson Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Just a thought, but the brass sides look quite decent. You could always bin the cast roof bits which don't look very nice at all and bend up some brass sheet for the roof - detail lumps and bumps then made out of plastikard. Good luck, John. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew F Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Jurassic Park? Hopefully this will be a blockbuster too. The cab fronts have been filed down and the doors have been scribed instead of being raised. The tail lamps filed off and replaced with plastic tube. The side etches are pretty nice but I had to cut the emergency square on one side....only. The cab-sides have been scored at the back of the etch and bent in a bit. Now the fun bit First problem. With the roof centre piece in position the cabs splay out: I took off just short of 1mm from each side of the cab casts and it looks better. Instructions tell you to assemble the roof on a dead flat but I can't see that's possible so I'm assembling the them on top of the side etches once the cab front casts are glued onto the side etches first Here's the worst of it. The gaps can be sorted later. I need to design a chassis now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew F Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Ah, sorry John. I was posting at the same time. Yes, it would maybe be easier to get rid of the roof but I'm just seeing what can be done with the original kit rather than making an accurate decent model. Actually I don't know what I'm doing; I'm on auto. Cheers Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium EEType4 Posted May 3, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 3, 2015 Built one about twenty years ago, really enjoyed the build which involved allot of file work, plenty of filler and just the odd compromise here and there! Held together with Araldite it has stood the test of time really well, the odd bit of glazing has dropped out while stored away but other than that seems to be O.K. I used butchered Hornby ringfield chassis parts with Q kits bogie frames grafted to Hornby motor bogies so that they still clipped in and out for maintenance. Finescale it ain't, but at the time there were few alternatives if you really wanted a Co-Bo, and after all building such things is what the hobby is all about for me. Good luck with yours and enjoy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Jurassic Park? Hopefully this will be a blockbuster too..... Well the castings look heavy enough to do some serious damage if you threw them at a window.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicalEngineer Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Mike Cole (Mr Q kits) was very much a "one man band" and a very skilled modeller. I remember him well from Leeds MRS in 79-82 when I was a member. He was a teriffic character who invariably used to turn up at the club rooms with a bag of fish & chips. As alluded to previously, Charlie Petty was a member at the same time, as, IIRC was Michael Edge who posted earlier in this thread. If Mike is still with us then I guess he is well into his 70s by now. Some of his kits were better than others but in terms of quality, were broadly comparable with those available from other niche manufacturers. Certainly, I can remember some mid-80s Langley Models which drove me bonkers and have probably contributed to my failing eyesight 30-odd years on! Please don't mention MTK! The brick motors were indeed Mabuchis, similar to those used in Scalextric cars at the time. Again, they were no better or worse than many others. You are making a kit that was probably designed and cast the best part of 40 years ago. Tooling and manufacturing has moved on massively since then and I would tend to regard them as more "scratch aid" than full blown ready to build kits. For interest, these are on the Hattons website: http://www.ehattons.com/stocklist/3139613/1000588/1000635/0/Q_Kits_OO_Gauge_1_76_Scale_Diesel_locos/prodlist.aspx Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicktoix Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Mr Edge won't like the suggestion that he's in his 70s Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComicalEngineer Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Mr Edge won't like the suggestion that he's in his 70s Nick I couldn't possibly comment.... but Mike Cole must certainly be knocking on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew F Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Thanks chaps. So I've knocked up the chassis this afternoon . It's in the old Tri-ang style vertical sides and overhead bracket with Bachmann style single self tappers. Everything as simple as possible. I need to lower both mountings by aboutt 1.5mm though as it all sits a bit high. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkC Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Nice job, Andrew. Your ends & roof castings appear to be much better than the ones I was <ahem> 'blessed' with - I'm quite jealous! Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwr Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 I had a fibreglass Class 50 which I made up but it would never run very well. Can't remember what happened to it. I have a made up MTK 2 car Class 309 which came out quite well albeit I had to throw away most of the underframe castings and scratch build. Came out really well in the end on a Hornby motor bogie. I also have an El Crappo Class 15 to do in O. Brian Daniels made a good job of one of these but it's more like scratch building. Still Colin never tried to hide the fact these were very basic crappy kits. Paul R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
47164 Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Andrew , a great read and very informative.... As I have one in a box to commence and seeing your thread explains so much more than the written intructions, I can say thank you so much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew F Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 Thanks. All is going well. One problem with the bogies and side frames is that they don't mate up and need spacers/shims to get the right width. No single job can be considered a bodge as all is relative in the project as a whole. With roughed white metal, plasticard is superglued around the internal stretchers and is thus 'shimmed' into a Meky sort of spacial sticky build up and easy alignment of the axle centres in obtained. There are seperate etches for the lower suspension arms and steps; the latter aren't particularly authentic but look ok. Extra detail will improve and maybe some filler for those infernal casting pits. The sand boxes are separate castings. I've opened up the window apertures a bit too These large self tappers taken from an old VCR hold the chassis to a body mounted glued in box. I may have to beef everything up later. The battery boxes and air cylinders are fitted to this plate. I sacked off the cast cylinders in favour of these whatnot cut and shuts. The roof has been filed many times and has five skims of filler in it. I'm confident it will look spot on. Heljan plastic thing watch out! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
s_ellinson Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 That's a quality job you're doing there. I'm still building my Q kits "T" class, which must be from the same era (it's also a mix of dodgy casting and etched brass). I find building these more satisfying than some better designed stuff as recent stuff just falls together. With so many wonderful kits about the place, i sometimes feel that I'm just an assembler and not a modeller! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
47164 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Looking good, maybe a tip for you, southern fine cast do flush glazing for the Hornby Dunlop metro Vick which if still available could set things off nicely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chris p bacon Posted May 15, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2015 Looking good, maybe a tip for you, southern fine cast do flush glazing for the Hornby Dunlop metro Vick which if still available could set things off nicely. And a set of tyres all round. . Sorry couldn't resist it. . . . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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