Well, I've just bought on Ebay, an unstarted 'DJH' metal kit for a rebuilt "Merchant Navy". The kit cost me £140 (listed on DJH website at £176 and 'Made to order' only), but comes with a full "Romford" wheelset (£66 extra) and a "24/7 Developments" nameplates and flags set (£30 extra) for "New Zealand Line". I'll still need the AM9 motor/gearbox set from DJH (£60), paint and some decals, so it's not gonna be a cheap exercise, but it looks to be a fine model and it'll keep me busy over the winter! Just might be my head on the block when SWMBO finds out! Keith.
Hi Keith, I have built a couple of DJH kits - a 7mm A3 and a 4mm Q7 What let the 4mm kit down was the agricultural frames - basically slabs of 2mm thick brass with holes drilled for the wheels and spacers. To solder them together I put them in a vice and heated them with a garden weed wand (at that time I hadn't heard of a microflame let alone bought one) because my soldering iron fell on it's knees laughing at me.
Hi Rob. I recall reading somewhere that the DJH loco chassis was somewhat "agricultural", so I'm not that surprised to hear you say it too. I though I'd also seen somewhere that there was another small company that does a chassis kit for this loco, but not managed to find who it is/was yet, as I've looked at 'Highlevel' and 'Alan Gibson' and they don't do one, maybe SE Finecast do, not checked yet. I'll wait until it arrives, and look at the possibility of fitting hornblocks and making the chassis fully compensated if it's 'do-able', although if the chassis sides are 2mm thick, I might have to think again. No worries on the soldering front, my "Bernzomatic" torch is capable of brazing if needed, so 2mm brass won't be a problem. It won't be the first kit I've bought that turns out to be one I didn't ought to have bothered with, guess you've found that too. Onwards and upwards! Keith. Attached files
Superb Keith, that certainly trumps my weed wand and raises into the bargain. I also spy some Jidenco instructions in the background, you really are a brave soul. Say's he that has a couple of Laurie Griffin loco kit's in the stash which are I believe Jidenco etches blown up to 7mm but accompanied by superb LG castings. They should prove entertaining when I finally get around to them.
Ah yes, the dreaded "Jidenco" wagon kit I bought on impulse, then found out about "Jidenco's" reputation. The sides were a fold-over brass fret, little chance of even the 100 watt soldering iron mastering that, so out came the blowtorch......easy! I guess I'm lucky as my trade training (Electrician) back in the early 60's before the advent of crimp lugs and tools for large cables, meant that I was taught to use a blowtorch to solder cable lugs on. Following on from that, I was then expected to do a certain amount of plumbing work involving the sweating into hot water cylinders, of immersion heater flanges, easy on the top of round cylinders, something else altogether in the side of a rectangular "combination" tank.....a touch too much heat and the solder runs down the tank, the flange falls out and you start all over again, so you learn to control the heat fast! If I need to, I can always 'borrow' SWMBO's cook's blowtorch, much smaller, but less heat, 'horses for courses' I guess, but still useful. I've been thinking about the 2mm thick DJH chassis and wondering if maybe I could use the sides as templates to make new parts in 0.3mm brass, then hornblocks/compensation would be an easier proposition (maybe?). I know I like a challenge, but this could be a challenge too far! Time will tell, and I might well be asking you for advice in the future. Keith.
Hi Keith Try Comet Models, http://www.cometmodels.co.uk/ Check out the products section - Locomotive Chassis and components Listings for chassis packs, frames and motion sets. Paul
paul_l wrote: Sadly for Keith, they don't seem to list a chassis for the Merchant navy only the West Country/Battle of Britain. That's a shame because Comet have a good reputation for their chassis.
Wizard Models are now listing Comets kits https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/locomotive/br-rebuilt-west-countrybattle-of-britain-4-6-2-chassis-pack-lcp51/ The rebuilt kit has instructions for converting to the un-rebuilt version Paul
Ah, that's more like it, Paul! I'll see what the DJH chassis looks like first, if it's a 'no-go', then I'll look at attempting a remake of the chassis in 0.3mm using the original as a template, and a set of hornblocks instead of a rigid chassis, if that fails, then this will be my 'fall-back' option. Thanks for your efforts in finding this option. Keith.
Must have been half asleep last night when looking at this one, as I've just realised that the chassis kits are West Country/Battle of Britain, not Merchant Navy........Mmmmmmm, I'll need to look again, methinks. Keith.
