Part one of my build series on the DJH LNER A1 pacific. Building the chassis. Here's the link to the excellent Poppy's Woodtech product range: www.poppyswoodtech.co.uk/
I have three DJH kits two of which I have had for many years, after watching your videos, I have obtained the Poppys jig and am about to start building, many thanks. Rgds......Mike
Good luck Mike, you'll do it justice I'm sure. I think the DJH kits are very good, and I doubt you will regret your jig purchase. I use mine every time.
The video is well made and a good instruction for anyone starting on kitbuilding. I however disagree with one step in the proces, the position of the bearings should be checked in the Poppy's jig before they are soldered in place, a slight difference in the distance of the holes either caused in the design for the etches or when reaming the holes can cause binding of the coupling rods. Reaming out the hole in the rod like you suggest is then more the cure to the effects than to the source of the binding. So the best way is to set your chassis up in the jig completely before aplying any solder, check and rectify any inaccuracies by filing the offensive bearing hole in the chassis plate into the direction the bearing should sit. When everything fits fine in the jig solder everything in the jig, including the bearings. In general the distance between the holes is very consistent on the 2 halves of DJH kits, and any recent kit designed with CAD software, but with older kits from small manufacturers designed by manual drawing of the design for the etch films there will be inaccuracities. And these kits still exist as I experienced with a Dragon Models kit, this was litterally drawn up with a felt pen on paper and then fotocopied to transparrent sheet to make the etches, with up to 1.5mm difference between the left and right side of a brake van in 7mm/ft.
Thanks for a very informative video. You have now shown that,with the increasing prices of RTR and with no flywheel drive on ex lner pacifics, kit building is a more cost effective way of building/ obtaining the locomotives the modeller needs. Your presenting style is very similar to Tony Wright''s, very easy to understand and follow. Well done.
Thanks Attila. It's definitely not cheap; a kit like this is about £160, wheels £60, motor, £25, gearbox £25, BUT like you say, you get a top quality drive train, you can calibrate the ratio to achieve the speed you want for the loco, and you can customise from the ground up the specification of the loco from the start. The best part of it is you have the enjoyment of building something yourself!
The Loco Builder Thanks for your reply. Building something yourself is real modelling,taking it out of a box,putting then on a track, for me, is nowhere as satisfying.
or an airfix model costs about £5 plus the chassis, wheels and motor £110 = £115 for a wonderful loco, it's how in making my gwr fleet, so many mainline locos with awful chassis but wonderful bodies 😁
Fascinating. Really good video. Would have liked a bit more info at 24:30 where you skip the fitting of the motor and gearbox, but maybe that comes up later in the series. thank you!
Thanks Tom, excellent video. I wonder if you might do a video showing how you fit the axle bushes into the frames. I find that the frame holes usually need opening out a little and I usually go at it with a drill or tapered needle file! I've got away with mostly but I think a reamer is the best way? Not sure of the size though. Many thanks Vince
Hi Vince, the best thing is a cutting broach. Like these: eileensemporium.com/index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=category&task=listing&cid=1135&name=transfers-fixing-masking&Itemid=189 Have a look on ebay or amazon maybe cheaper. I'd get a selection of sizes personally they're so useful. HTH
That was seriously impressive. I admit I was never keen on Balsa having to cut parts out. A thought came to me while watching. Why use a typical electric motor. They probably could have made solenoid motors inside the steam cylinders. You would have to quarter for certain then. Hope Hornby don't read and patent the idea.
Very nice! I might have to get one of those DJH kits. It's getting difficult to find good steam locomotive kits here in the US since Bowser stopped production of theirs, and this looks worlds better than the old Arbour Models kit I'm building right now.
They are very well thought out kits, and like I say the white metal castings are superb (especially the main body). They go together well and the instructions are clear. The only problem I have found is that the brass etch is a touch on the thick side for my personal preference, and there are 'cusped' edges which take a little bit of filing to square off. Other than that, I'd highly recommend it.
Sounds good to me! A bit of filing around the edges of some brass parts would be a walk in the park compared to reworking misaligned and deformed castings.
DJH have discontinued this loco but do plenty of very good alternatives. I purchased the last kit of this model and can't wait for more build videos to get going. Fantastic and informative keep up the great work.
Thank you David, I appreciate your kind comments. It is a shame if the kit has been discontinued. When I ordered it, they waited until they had a suitable number of orders before manufacture, so I wonder/hope we will see it again if demand is strong enough.
very nice video, the way you explain is very clear and just detailed enough. It's sad that for the price they sell these kits the bearings are not foreseen by any springs and they don't have traction on all main axles by gears on all the tractive axles. I hope you can get better engineered stuff in your hands with that skill
I enjoy watching your videos. A lot of info as well. I'd like to learn about building loco kit myself. What are the necessary tools to have when I want to start building loco kit? Thanks!
Hi Wawan, glad you like the videos. There are actually quite a few tools you need for this hobby. When I do my next video I will add a list of tools to it, as it will save me time typing it out each time!
You mentioned Hobby Holidays where you got your flux, can you please advise which flux you use. I'm torturing my self kit and scrap building in N gauge using brass, white metal and nickel silver. More videos please👍
They came in a little plastic bag with a smaller size silicone sleeve, and a grip pad. If you didn’t get it give them a call I’m sure they’d supply you.
Thanks. I'll speak to them when I see them at a show. Meantime, I've realised that they provided a long thin black tube and it's clicked with me that is axle length and can be snipped into pieces to do the same job!
Very good video but just a little disappointed that you didn't show how you quartered the wheels. I think a lot of people have trouble with that aspect of chassis building
Hi, I expain it at about 22:38. There's not a huge amount to show, as the ends of the Markits axles are square, so as long as you have the 'lead' correct and you offset one side by 90 degrees to the other, you're sorted.
Nice, but I gave up building loco kits, because as exampled here, the (Mashima ?) motor although good quality is too small & will not be powerful enough to haul 12 car trains reliably, or smoothly enough. What's needed is a Coreless motor, which obviates trying to find space for a flywheel. Coreless motors are roughly twice the power of an equivalently sized poled motor ! But you also need a BEVEL gearbox to allow a Coreless motor to "run on" (coast to a halt). Sadly I'm not aware of any coreless motors or bevel gearboxes available for kit builders anymore, at least in OO or smaller gauges. In other words it becomes pointless wasting hundreds of hours building a beautiful kit model, if it can't be fitted with an equivalently beautiful and powerful mechanism !!!!
Putting solder on the iron is not the best way by any means flux heat the joint then apply the solder putting solder on the iron causes it to oxidize before it reaches the joint
Hello Bryan, thanks very much for watching. You’re right of course that the method you state is the “correct” way to solder, however I have never really found this method compatible with brass kit building. I don’t have enough hands to hold the parts together, the iron, and introduce the solder at the same time. If you are able to build kits with the “correct” method, then I doff my cap to you sir! I’d also love to see what you have built? Send me some pictures and I’ll feture them on my next video.
The Loco Builder good morning I build aircraft and use a lot of PE I shall send you pictures of the Fokker Triplane I am building almost entirely from brass Bryan
That'd be great to see Bryan. I build plastic model aircraft too, but only ever used PE that glued on, and certainly nothing as complicated as Triplanes!
