West End Workbench

[Atlantic 3279]

£26 !?*!!!!

How ****ing much!

In that case you've definitely got a good point Mick, with bells on too. If that sort of price doesn't imply "de-luxe" then I don't know what does. Etched in 24 carat gold at that price I'd hope.

[mick b]

Glad you said that I thought it was just me !!!

[jwealleans]

Says £23 on the website I'm looking at, which is what I paid.

I'm not sure how fair it is to imply quality from price, but I'm also unsure that this is the forum to discuss it. If he's priced them too high, they won't sell. That will be the ultimate arbiter.

[mick b]

Sorry Jonathan for my typo it is £23. I thought that forums are for discussion thats the idea. Sorry for using your thread I should have used a seperate one, as it was going off your builds somewhat.
I think price should reflect what you are getting to a degree, I am glad you did your build as it brought up some good points.
I have no idea how many of these kits are selling, as I said earlier I look forward to his new kits .

Mick

[Bill Bedford]

There is something awfully wrong here. This kit is for a 5T Milk van, not a fish van

[jwealleans]

Well, that's raised my eyebrows, at least. Can you expand on that, Bill? I have no original sources for the vehicle, although I'd have thought Steve Banks might be knowledgeable enough to have spotted that kind of error.

I'm awaiting copies of the references quoted in the kit, which are HMRS Journal Vol 10 No. 3 (pp 59-61) and No. 5 p136. Brian Slater on the GC group indicated that the drawing accompanying the article was taken from BR/OPC drawing no 11601 (GCR Drawing 2185). Presumably the drawing might indicate what the van was for?

Mick, sorry, forum, small 'f'. Meaning my thread, really. I'm usually happy for it to wander, but that's not an avenue of discussion I want to go down.

[mick b]

Mick, sorry, forum, small 'f'. Meaning my thread, really. I'm usually happy for it to wander, but that's not an avenue of discussion I want to go down.[/quote]


no problem

[Atlantic 3279]

Sorry for my part in the digression onto the matter of price JW - price is one of my hobby-horses!. I agree we ought to return to the core topic.

I've sent you an image which you may already have elsewhere but it does appear to show these vehicles in use in numbers in a GC fish train. Bill's information will therefore be of real interest to me too.

[wehf100]

Had a quick look in my various p/copies of GCR diagram book entries. This is diagram 51, drawing 2185. Described as 5-ton fish van.



The 5 ton milk van of a contemporary period looks very similar, but according to the re-drawn diagram in Dow Vol II it had a steel underframe and distinctive lower side planks which were laid diagonally in a herringbone pattern. I'd be interested to know any more.

Will

[jwealleans]

Thanks to some very helpful people on this and other forums I have now been able to complete this and here it is in primer. I think Will may have answered the Milk Van question in his post above, unless there's more information out there we haven't seen?



A nice little kit to build; with better instructions and a drawing it would be very easy. Take out the need to cut the holes in the rocking unit and it would be a doddle. My earlier brake lever comment was slightly unfair; looking at the extra undocumented bits on the etch there was an overlay for the lever guide. As per my offline discussions with Graeme the brake levers and steps are now in the right places relative to the doors. I've rolled a roof and added some scrap etch to the top of the ends to Evostick it in place. The vac pipe is intentionally offset from centre; anyone who's tried to couple 3/screw link vehicles in 4mm can tell you why.

I found myself with some welcome spare time last night and on a whim got this out of the drawer.... I was only going to have a look at what modifications would be needed to fit the BullAnt unit to it, but I ended up switching the iron on again... anyway, by 9 pm I was looking at this:



I was determined to build it before the Dapol one comes out and it went together quite quickly. Despite the generally good reputation Crownline (and now PDK) have this kit isn't quite right; either the footplate is too wide or the bufferbeam too short, as it doesn't project at each end as it should. It's also very thin and given that I use 3 link couplings it needs to be more robust. I'll make up a new one and remake the rivet details with those Archer transfers. The brass is very thin and easily distorted; I don't know what the camera has done to the top of the cab door opening but it doesn't look like that to the naked eye. I did have to do some adjustment to line the panels up but I don't remember doing any after the photograph was taken. The bottom of the cab door shows how it didn't quite fit and still needs some tidying up.

[tommyg1992]

I can see you use alot of Comet Model kits

I have been looking at them and I am slightly confused

and was hoping you could answer my question

the Comet Kits for £40.50 what is acctually contained in the Kit?

Thanks Tom

[jwealleans]

I use a lot of Comet parts, but I can't remember when I last built a full kit of theirs. From what I recall, like most etched coach kits, you get everything you need to build the shell of the coach and the bogies, but not wheels. I'm pretty sure you get a roof but what I don't know is whether you get parts to build the interior. I think you get the corridor side and compartment partitions but I'm not sure about seats.

If you're going to have a go at building coaches and haven't before, the Coopercraft range is probably the place to start. They're quite straightforward and you can upgrade them with detail parts as you get more familiar with what's available. You can build a push-pull set from their kits.

[Atlantic 3279]

The finished look of the fish van is tempting, although they look different again with the Mansell wheels fitted I notice. I like the idea of one of those myself, to add variety to my fish fleet, but not at the current price.
It would appear from your image and description that the Crownline approach to the Sentinel was about the same as the ProScale philosophy - never mind about strength and separate overlays for raised details, just etch it all out of one thickness even if most of it does end up as wafer thin half-etch.

[jwealleans]

A quick qord to say that I shall be at Rail-Ex Southwest (Taunton ) this weekend with Thurston and the completed Restaurant Car. I expect I'll get some photos posted next week.

[jwealleans]

Not much from me, what with working and covering for holidays. I did get some time this weekend, though and managed this:

Chivers van all but ready for the layout. I see I've photographed the side with the wobbly paintwork; must remember to make sure it's the other way round. I'll bring it back and weather it once the season's over (which it may be already, thinking about it).



The Sentinel is also complete and now in its 'stealth' livery of that hideous yellow filler primer from Halfords. It took some packing to get to the right height and then to get the axlebox castings to fit to the wheels. They duly fell apart and had to be bodged together from the back with bits of wire and solder. The sandboxes aren't great either, but some of these had canvas covers over them so I'll probably do that to hide the missing filler caps. Other than that and the very thin brass it didn't go together badly. The instructions weren't great and I have a few bits left over which I can't see on any photos, but they may be for the LMS version. All in all I'm pleased to have it built before the Model Rail one hits the shops as I expect I'll be having one of those.