009 loco for a first time to 009

Martin said the following on 28/06/2008 11:13:
You may want to look at - about halfway down.
I've built several of their kits, and they are beautiful - about as far removed as a lump of whitemetal on a Grafar chassis as you can get.

Paul Boyd wrote in news:g454h8$5a8$1$8300dec7 @news.demon.co.uk:
And I'm still saving up for my first ones from them :-(

Not until youve finished that london Road Model I hope :-)
CHeers, Simon

"simon" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:
Mrs W gor bless her little cotton socks bought me some casting gear for Xmas, when not actually ripping up track and re laying it (and repeat) and building scenery I've been making rolling stock and figures. 009 wagons are dead easy to make even without a casting machine you can get good results. Tipplers, flats, wagons and soon to come bogie stock as well ... just need something to pull them now ;-)

Seconded.
Skip the makers of whitemetal lumps, with a few exceptions they are a source off grief and disappointment.

Eeeek £80
Nice though
Anything cheap and recommended as a first 009?
Or bite the bullet and have this
Need more than just the Parkside Dundas modern coach model as at the end of or

On 02/07/2008 16:40, Martin said,
Well worth the money - in fact it's well worth a lot more money.
Guess what I would suggest? :-) So long as you have previous experience of etched brass kit-building... Their kits I have experience of really do go together extremely well. If you have to file something to fit, you've done something wrong. The only possible stumbling block is the small size of the things.
You might want to have a browse through the model rail section of my website where you'll see a few examples of Backwoods kits in build so you can get a better idea of what the kits will be like generally. I don't model 009 though :-)

GWR Inspection saloon (DW80975) and an 05 shunter
Quite a few etched sides on Lima bases

While I'm sure the Backwoods kits build into beautiful models and several people here clearly don't like white metal kits, I find the Chivers Finelines kits quick and easy to build and quite appropriate as a first venture into 009 for the less experienced. Steer clear of anything four-coupled because the chassis are either too hard to find, too hard to get running acceptably or both, but there are several six- coupled types that are good starter kits. The Russell kit (which you said was your favourite loco) goes together perfectly acceptably, and captures the look of the prototype despite some compromises made to accommodate the chassis. If you're not too concerned with the fact that the valve gear is wrong, the drive's to the wrong axle and the frames are inside, it fits very nicely on the Dapol 45xx chassis with no modifications, and will give you a relatively cheap starter loco that runs nicely. Once you've got that going to test the layout, then maybe it's time to try something more complicated (and authentic looking).
For more info from those with more experience, I suggest you join the Narrow Gauge Railway Modelling Online forum at you'll find lots of active discussion on all things 009 related.
Dave

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com said the following on 03/07/2008 14:24:
Oh yeah - I forgot Chivers. I haven't built any of their narrow gauge kits, but the Wantage Tramway loco kit I have built goes together nicely (again, photos on my website). The problem with many white-metal kits is that they are mis-shapen lumps. For instance, I have the Langley "Prince" kit and quite frankly I should have returned it as not being fit for the purpose for which it was sold.
As far as chassis goes, Branchlines do the "Hawk" 0-4-0 chassis that is vaguely Hunslet-based and will go nicely with the Chivers Hunslet locos - this is a far more practical proposition than trying to find the flaky Ibertren chassis, and is simpler to build than a Backwoods chassis, I believe.

I've built a few Chivers kits, and they all fit together well, build easily and look like the loco they're supposed to represent; the problems I've had are with Bachmann chassis, which seem to be about as durable as cream cheese. The GEM kit of Dennis is a beauty, very chunky and businesslike, and it fits on a Grafar chassis with no modifications. The Peco Glyn Valley tram looks fine too, although it needs the chassis cut up a bit more. Rodney Stenning's Corris No. 3 is a very nicely made hybrid white metal and brass kit, but again it needs a small 0-4-0 chassis. Overall there are plenty of fully acceptable white metal kits out there; so far I've been lucky enough not to get lumbered with any of the bad ones.
Dave

There seems to be a demand for a cheap and half-decent 0-4-0 chassis which is actually obtainable and works fairly well - something like an N-scale version of the Hornby pugs which power so many 7 mm scale narrow gauge locos.