Well I bought the kit from Judith Edge Kits at the Wigan Model Railway Exhibition.
The white box arrived a few days later in the post.
My wife then wrapped it for opening on Christmas Day.
Upon opening on Christmas Day I found it contained:
5 pages of instructions.
Three brass sheets.
A bag of nuts bolts etc.
A bag of moulded plastic components.
Five lengths of wire
Whilst at the Wigan show I also purchased from Alan Gibson:
3 sets of driving wheels.
A set of crankpins.
Now, as this is my first attempt at a brass loco kit, I then took my time to identify the components on the etch.
This was helped by most parts on the fret being numbered, and a supplied parts list.
If I have understood the instructions correctly, the first thing I should be doing, is to punch out the rivets from the back.
Michaels instructions say that you can use a special tool, or just tap them with an hammer and pin.
I see that Kenton used a special tool when building a similar kit, with good results.OK_WB - North British 225hp 0-4-0DH
Do I really need to buy a tool like this, or can good results be made, using the pin approach?
I would appreciate any feedback on this.
Again looking at Kentons blog, I see that he has placed bushes on the frames, and swinging links.
Should this have been included in the kit?
Where can I buy them from?
I can see bushes listed on the Alan Gibson site, but I have no idea which I need.Alan Gibson Model Products
The frame can be built rigid or partly compensated (it says in the instructions).
For rigid I place bushes in each axle hole in the frame.
For compensated i am a little confused.
I think there are two sets of swinging arms in the kit.
One appears to connect the front two sets of wheels, in a see-saw arrangement.
There is a hole for the pivot on one frame etch but not on the other!
There is also another swinging arm that appears to fit on the rear axle.
I dont yet see how this would work, as it would need a method of springing to work, and if this is the driven axle from a vertically mounted motor, surely this would push the axle about?
I think to start with I will test punching out the rivets, with an hammer and pin, on some scrap brass, and see if I can get a feel for it.
