Loco Kit's

Very few loco kits are complete in any normal sense of the word. There are so many tastes in motor and wheels that it would be impossible for it to be otherwise.

Some that spring to mind are the DJH starter kits at

You still need to provide glue and paints.

MBQ

You have two basic choices; whitemetal or etched brass. My own preference is for etched brass or nickel silver, so my comments will be biased in that direction. Firstly, I'm not aware of any kits that are complete in the true sense, but any manufacturer worth dealing with will be more than happy to at the very least tell you exactly what extra bits you need to buy, and they may even sell you the bits themselves so you do in effect get a kit. It is also worth buying a kit from a quality manufacturer, as one of the biggest problems has come about because people buy a cheap, poorly designed kit, then blame themselves when it doesn't go together, so never try again. High Level Kits

comes to mind as an excellent designer of small locos, one of which may do you. They also sell the appropriate motors, and will be able to tell you exactly which wheels you need and where to get them. Everything else is included. These are beautifully designed, and the parts really do go together nicely with a minimum of tools - filing to make bits fit just doesn't happen. This is important, as it gives you the confidence that you can do it! Falcon Brass is best avoided at the beginner stage even if they are cheap, as these kits do need a little more skill to turn into a good model. (Was that diplomatic enough?!)

It is also well worth getting one or two of the Iain Rice books published by Wild Swan. He does books on whitemetal and etched brass construction, and I find that his style of writing makes everything appear so easy, and it really is! Unfortunately Wild Swan are still in a previous century (19th?) and don't have a website or email, but their books are very widely available.

Good luck, and if you think you can't do it, then you're wrong!

Paul Boyd

The closest I know is the DJH beginner kits, 1 steam 1 diesel, never built one though :-)

Kevin Martin

He will say what's needed. For most High Level kits you need wheels, crankpins, axles and motor. The wheels are usually from Alan Gibson, specifying the gauge (OO, EM, P4). Gibson's crankpins are quite nice, though the bits are small and easily lost - keep a strong magnet handy to find the washers and nuts should you drop them in the carpet ! Motors are usually Mashima can motors, which High Level can supply.

I'd go along with the plug for High Level for the same reasons. But, I would recommend building a few etched wagon kits (or similar) first to get the hang of things - its a lot less expensive in cash and morale to build a sub-standard wagon than a loco.

A High Level 0-4-0 is probably OK with a rigid chassis in OO, which removes the complication of springing or three-point compensation. A OO version would also have the wheels closer together which means any of the types with outside cylinders have less critical clearance on the connecting rods and crossheads.

I've just about finished assembling a High Level Hudswell Clark "Coronation"

0-4-0 to run on P4 track. Its a really nice loco to build, though you won't do it in a couple of days. The instructions are very thorough, and it builds to something which comes apart with nuts and bolts to make servicing and painting easy; my only very minor cricisms are that the wheelsets don't drop out (unless you change the design), and you have to be imaginative on how to paint the cab interior (I've chosen to fit the cab roof with springy wires so it can be removed). The resulting loco has a 100:1 (or thereabouts) gearbox, which makes for a very slow and controllable loco. Its a lot simpler build than the Neilson "piano tank", where the tank assembly is a bit complicated to make.

To build it I think this is a rough tools list which I used (*):

- soldering iron (I'm using a 50w temperature controlled Antex),

- solders and fluxes (eg. Carrs 188 for most of it, low melt useful for the whitemetal bits),

- araldite to fix the backhead to the firebox (you might also want superglue or araldite for a few other parts instead of soldering).

- small drill bits (and archemedian spiral drill) for drilling out wire holes in castings (for cab fittings, etc).

- small saw to separate lost wax castings from sprues

- small vice for holding things

- tapered broaches for opening out holes in etches to take wire (small packet of broaches is about £8 from tool suppliers such as Eileens or Squires)

- small files (for holes and removal of tabs after assembly where they need filing flush).

- tool for pushing out rivets, such as a scriber hit gently with a small hammer

- hard cutting surface (eg. perspex sheet) to cut parts from etch.

- garryflex block and glass fibre pencil for cleaning up parts prior to soldering

- bending tool (a brass door hinge is ideal and a lot cheaper than a "hold and fold" tool !)

- screwdriver, small pilers, wire cutters, tweezers

- Eveleigh Clamp to hold things whilst soldering (

)

(* excluding the lathe & gubbins I used to fashion my own hornblocks for suspension as you can either build it rigid or use commercial hornblocks).

- Nigel

hornblocks).

'5522' Models do a beginner's fret for a simple box van. Designed to give you practice in all the things you will be needing to do to build more elaborate (and expensive) etched kits. Price is GBP7 for one fret or GBP12 for a pair. Builds into LMS D 2079 or LNER Cov B. This a fret only hence the low price. You need to get all the solid parts from other sources (but all are easily obtained). The idea is that if you get the fret together OK then you buy the other bits to finish the model. If on the other hand you don't manage to build the thing then you have only lost a small sum and have learned that maybe etched kits are not for you. 300 frets have been sold so with no complaints so far so it must be a reasonable test.

AlistairWright '5522' Models mailto: snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com if you are interested.

Sounds like a decent suggestion for 4mm scale.

- Nigel

I built the DJH starter kit for the Class 02 diesel in 2 hours!! (Then it took another two to replace the cast handrails with wire ones...........) Everything in the box except glue, paint and transfers. Although I soldered mine together, they are easy to glue. Most definitely recommended as a first loco kit.

Then you can proceed onto some of the "larger" DJH kits, of which *most* can be put together without recourse to a soldering iron.

These other kits will however need motor and gears. *Most* other manufacturer's kits also require wheels.

A pic of my 02 can be found at

and clicking on the link to "Tontine Street" - and it's the third picture down

HTH, Mick

The message from "Mick Bryan" contains these words:

I bet yer paint dries quicker than mine does... ;-))

"Mick Bryan" wrote A pic of my

02 can be found at and clicking on the link to "Tontine Street" - and it's the third picture down

HTH, Mick

Mick, Great shoy and love the scenery, but where is the shunters pole across the buffers? :-)

Andy Sollis CVMRD

- Home of the Churnet Valley Model Railway Department Remove the 4F from E-mail to reply

On 21/07/2005 17:27, Andy Sollis- Churnet Valley model Railway Dept. wrote,

Que??????

In message , Paul Boyd writes

Hope that helps.

On 21/07/2005 20:20, Jane Sullivan wrote,

Yes it does - thanks!!!!!!!

??? No I didn't ?

Wasn't me being quoted.

Andy