Worsley Works

Neil Kirby

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Jan 19, 2006, 1:03:25 PM1/19/06

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Hi All,

I am thinking of purchasing an 'etches only' kit from the above
manufacturer , as was wondering if anyone here has any experience with
these that they might like to share.
--
Neil Kirby

Paul Boyd

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Jan 19, 2006, 1:12:29 PM1/19/06

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On 19/01/2006 18:03, Neil Kirby said,

> I am thinking of purchasing an 'etches only' kit from the above
> manufacturer , as was wondering if anyone here has any experience with
> these that they might like to share.

Provided you take these for what they are, they are great. They are not
intended to be kits, but an aid to scratch-building. You won't find
many tabs and slots in their rolling stock kits, for instance, and you
might find that you want to do some things differently. I am currently
building several dozen 4mm scale coaches for the Festiniog Railway from
Allan's etches, and so far so good (apart from the tedium of batch
building!!!)I also have a "kit" for the FR Funkey diesel, and a few
dummy runs shows that that will turn into a nice model.

What I would advise though is that firstly be prepared to wait
sometimes, and also when the etches do arrive, check them carefully to
make sure they are what they are meant to be. I have had some shipping
errors, but they are always corrected quickly.

Which particular etches of his are you interested in?

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Neil Kirby

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Jan 19, 2006, 1:52:36 PM1/19/06

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In message <43cfd68d$0$1496$ed26...@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net>, Paul
Boyd <no_...@ddress.com> writes

>
>
>Which particular etches of his are you interested in?
>

I have noticed that he is now selling 4mm version of the 42xx, and says
to ask if you want any of the others in 4mm. I really, really want a
72xx!
--
Neil Kirby

Nigel Cliffe

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Jan 19, 2006, 1:50:05 PM1/19/06

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I'd echo Paul's comments.

Treat as scratch aids, and they are decent.
As kits, they fall well short of what really good kit designers achieve in
slot-together and thought up folding sequences (though well above that which
some truely dreadful "kit" producers have sold in the past).

Alan (proprietor of Worsley Works) is a friendly chap, and will usually
modify and consider corrections if suggestions are made to him. As well as
checking the etch to be what you've ordered, also check for any bits missing
(through over-etching eating the tabs) and check the register of front to
rear (I've seen some coach sides where the window register was out by a
significant and very noticeable amount).

I'm the builder of the 2mm scale O2 on the Worsley site, which was a gift
from Alan with a "can you motorise that challenge".

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

uncle...@talk21.com

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Jan 19, 2006, 3:12:20 PM1/19/06

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On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 18:50:05 -0000, "Nigel Cliffe" <m...@privacy.net>
wrote:

>
>I'm the builder of the 2mm scale O2 on the Worsley site, which was a gift
>from Alan with a "can you motorise that challenge".
>
>
>- Nigel

you little show off :o)

often look at that and marvelled... it really is excellent...
certainly puts me in a downer :o)

I asked Allen about producing class 07 but he doubts there will be
much call for it. Heh, I was looking forward to the challenge of
scratching a chassis for that one :o)

I have built two locos from Allens kits and you have to remember they
are not what you'd get from Langlet etc... they really are the
necessary stuff to get you going and you will be doing a lot of
filling and filing to get it all looking just right.

My first was class 22 in N. Where as I am quite pleased with it, it
was my first attempt at this approach. It really is the best fun I
have had building a kit and the most testing. The finished item is a
fine representation of the class but a tad rough in places - but this
is totally down to me and my in-experience.

The second that I did was a D6xx warship (oft called class 41). This
turned out much better and it is obvious this was down to me
understanding the medium better.

I can testify that Allen is very helpful and encouraging and if you
have any recommendations on the kits (I made a suggestion regarding
the warship roof and horn grills) he will take it on board.

My advice is get stuck in and enjoy yourself - get a good soldering
iron (temperature controlled is great) and take your time... get lots
of pictures of the real thing and keep offering the parts together
before soldering.

I looked at his site today and he has a new class 35 Hymek kit listed
and I understand he may be planning class 74.... oh joy!!!

at the risk of being accused of kicking the arse off it, have a look
at my two completed kits here under the "More advanced stuff" heading.

http://www.luddite.me.uk/modelling/

h

Paul Boyd

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Jan 19, 2006, 4:00:10 PM1/19/06

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On 19/01/2006 18:50, Nigel Cliffe said,

> I'm the builder of the 2mm scale O2 on the Worsley site, which was a gift
> from Alan with a "can you motorise that challenge".

Having seen what some of you 2mm boys can do, I would have thought that
Allen (I spelt it right this time!) should have known he was on to a
loser there! Mind you, I wish I had as much room between the frames as
you do for my finescale 4mm narrow gauge stuff :-)

Nigel Cliffe

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Jan 19, 2006, 5:32:43 PM1/19/06

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uncle...@talk21.com wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 18:50:05 -0000, "Nigel Cliffe" <m...@privacy.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> I'm the builder of the 2mm scale O2 on the Worsley site, which was a
>> gift from Alan with a "can you motorise that challenge".
>>
>>
>> - Nigel
>
> you little show off :o)
>
> often look at that and marvelled... it really is excellent...
> certainly puts me in a downer :o)

Easier than it looks. Mechanism is essentially the same as the DY1
(described on 2mm website) with smaller 816 motor, remove gears between
axles and substitute power transmission by coupling rods.

However, not much use for N, unless you can make your own wheels :-)

> I have built two locos from Allens kits and you have to remember they
> are not what you'd get from Langlet etc... they really are the
> necessary stuff to get you going and you will be doing a lot of
> filling and filing to get it all looking just right.

Not sure I'd put Langley anywhere near the first division of small scale
kits.

I was thinking of 4mm stuff by people like Mitchell or High Level. Or in
2mm, Higgs, Jones, Eveleigh, Harris, etc.

> My first was class 22 in N. Where as I am quite pleased with it, it
> was my first attempt at this approach. It really is the best fun I
> have had building a kit and the most testing. The finished item is a
> fine representation of the class but a tad rough in places - but this
> is totally down to me and my in-experience.
>
> The second that I did was a D6xx warship (oft called class 41). This
> turned out much better and it is obvious this was down to me
> understanding the medium better.

I think your locos look pretty good from the photos. Clean from mess and
excess solder on the outside, which is the main thing to learn.

If you want a soldering suggestion; try some of the 179 degree
lead/tin/silver solder which is available from the Carrs range (at least its
available now, Carrs are suggesting it might disappear with the new "no lead
in electronics" solder regulations). Its expensive stuff, about 5 times the
price of normal tin/lead solder, but if you want free-flowing super smooth
solder, its fantastic.

> I can testify that Allen is very helpful and encouraging and if you
> have any recommendations on the kits (I made a suggestion regarding
> the warship roof and horn grills) he will take it on board.

Agreed.

Nigel Cliffe

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Jan 19, 2006, 5:45:58 PM1/19/06

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Paul Boyd wrote:
> On 19/01/2006 18:50, Nigel Cliffe said,
>
>> I'm the builder of the 2mm scale O2 on the Worsley site, which was a
>> gift from Alan with a "can you motorise that challenge".
>
> Having seen what some of you 2mm boys can do, I would have thought
> that Allen (I spelt it right this time!) should have known he was on
> to a loser there!

He'd just seen the DY1, which is a much bigger loco, and it has skirts. He's
a generous chap, and I think he thought I'd like a puzzle.
It took me a while to realise that an almost identical mechanism to the DY1,
with an 816 rather than a 1016 would fit easily.

> Mind you, I wish I had as much room between the
> frames as you do for my finescale 4mm narrow gauge stuff :-)

Build outside framed stuff :-)

manat...@hotmail.com

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Jan 20, 2006, 4:19:54 AM1/20/06

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Nigel Cliffe wrote:
> Neil Kirby wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I am thinking of purchasing an 'etches only' kit from the above
> > manufacturer , as was wondering if anyone here has any experience with
> > these that they might like to share.
>
> I'd echo Paul's comments.
>
> Treat as scratch aids, and they are decent.
> As kits, they fall well short of what really good kit designers achieve in
> slot-together and thought up folding sequences (though well above that which
> some truely dreadful "kit" producers have sold in the past).

I made the mistake of buying a "complete kit" by Crownline (on eBay so
maybe I was naive). OK, it was complete as far as it went, and fitted
together OK but it seems no thought had been given to what a kit should
build.

It started out as a detailing kit for a Hornby loco and had been added
to so you got a body kit, a chassis kit with no thought for motorizing
(the Hornby model was tender drive), a whitemetal replacement tender
top and an etched tender chassis so now it's no longer tender drive!

It's still sitting in its box, half fininshed.

MBQ

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Jan 21, 2006, 4:58:32 PM1/21/06

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Mike Parkes writes

>
>like the Ivatt/Standard 2 tank conversion pack for the Hornby 2-6-0
>which included white metal slide bars

I had this one as well, I gave up when I realised the gap between the
left & right slidebars was less than the width of the wheels with the
coupling rods on! Tight clearance I can just about cope with, negative
clearance is beyond me ;-) I have mentioned this kit before elsewhere,
and asked if anyone had ever seen working example...... I had no takers.
--
Neil Kirby