Worth a punt on this little tankie I wonder?

I'm going to start a loco "stash" while I can and was thinking about this instead of going for the Flying Pig I talked about the other week.

http://www.acmemodels.co.uk/OGCatI2MTT.htm

It says its an ideal kit for beginners who want a bit of a challenge so I should be ok, what can possibly go wrong building a nice simple little 2-6-2 tank engine apart from wondering if this comes out of the infamous JH school of unbuildability. Does any of the good folk here have experience of building this one?

 

It is indeed a kit buyers minefield as I realised and the only thing to do for newbies is do as Pete did which is just virtual model your way around all the various forum offerings. As Rob says in his sound advice go for the best you can afford because unless one either has good building skills and an understanding of the making process the prospect of "doing" an early design kit becomes fraught with issues. I was lucky in that many years ago I went to art school and studied sculpture along with the dark art of mould making which involves learning a back to front thinking skill making investment moulds... so to me these kits are a challenge not a problem as long as one thinks a way round putting them together and has heaps of back up research material to hand. For me personally this little Ivatt tank doesn't cost an arm and a leg and the build pictures show a reasonable representation of the real thing is possible, that is so much the better than bidding for something that may not even be a complete kit. I would certainly want to upgrade the castings with better quality lost wax ones from Ragstone and factor in Severn Mill etch plates into this one. I'll let you know how I get on I'm going to ring the chap later today.http://www.click

 

That makes perfect sense Rob, maybe us modellers should define kits into two main categories, the Pre-CAD ones which whilst possibly quite well drawn still need an element of scratch input and the hi-tech Post - CAD variety such as Finney7, MOK and the newly soon to be reworked Gladiator offerings which are bang on. The really old school stuff that involves putting frame sides together with screws and brass rod spacers are kits which have become victim of technology advancements ... of course I don't mean that in an offensive way because as collectables they are just as valid in their own right.

 

So I just rang the nice man who has these etches and in true fashion he is going to phone back tomorrow to see if he has the Ivatt etches in stock, otherwise he informs me he definitely has some Stanier 2-6-4 tank ones if I prefer as he sold two of those last week. He asked if I wanted Slater's wheels and motor drive units also, I declined because as a canny "adopted" Yorkshireman I know what his game is. So it's either an Ivatt or a Stanier tank for the stash.