Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
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Your kit built locomotive looks good.
I haven't built a brass etched kit - as you say, they don't make them for U.S. prototypes, but I have built a Bowser K4 pacific. I built it 40 years ago when I was just starting out in the hobby and did not find it hard to build at all. I was pleased with the results. I also built an MDC Boxcab Diesel kit and when MDC came out with an upgrade kit, I rebuilt the mechanism with it. I was very pleased with that locomotive.
Northwest Shortline used to make upgrade kits for MDC and other kits to enable them to operate better, don't know how easy those were to install or how much they improved operation. Cal Scale used to offer super detailing kits for MDC as well.
Frankly, I think if there were a market for them, kits would still be made today.
Enjoy
Paul
I would love to come across some unbuilt brass import "kits". Soldering them together is the easy parts. It's when the "kit" is nothing more than a stack of brass sheet, tubing and wire is where things gets complicated.
I almost agree with you, but I think that the biggest reason why there are no US mfg's of kits is that there has to be a profit at all time...
No individual/clubs that makes a kit to support their own hobby, the result is that the only production is made by companys with profit demands....
We have at least a dozen brass kit mfg's in Sweden, but most of them are run to finance their own interest in the hobby.....
I think that working with brass is much easier than plastic. I used to marvel at the kitbashers who would buy 3 or 4 Athearn shells and chop them up and put them back together to make an otherwise unavailable loco. With brass you can unsolder and redo. Not so with plastic. I really enjoy working with brass. it's a miracle material.
Hergy I think that working with brass is much easier than plastic. I used to marvel at the kitbashers who would buy 3 or 4 Athearn shells and chop them up and put them back together to make an otherwise unavailable loco. With brass you can unsolder and redo. Not so with plastic. I really enjoy working with brass. it's a miracle material.
I agree to a point. I like the speed and the ability to easily take things back apart with soldering. Cutting and filing brass is more time consuming and takes a variety of tools though. I find plastic much easier to work with in that regard. Nothing beats the durability of brass.
Brass is my favorite over plastic.......
I scratch built a Pacific Electric steeple cab loco over the winter.
I don't think there are any steam loco kits in brass any longer as there are too many folks out there who won't take the time to build one.............. Instant gratification takes too long ! ! !
see ya
Bob
Graffen I almost agree with you, but I think that the biggest reason why there are no US mfg's of kits is that there has to be a profit at all time...
I have to disagree. D&H did make a small number of US prototype kits. But the prices were breath-taking in comparison to die-cast kits. As long as there is enough of a supply of out-of-production plastic/die-cast kits from Mantua, MDC, Bowser, etc., there is no viable market for $600 etched brass kits. Not when I can get any of the die-cast kits for less than $100 on eBay. And a standard older brass model is generally in the $300-$400 range. It's not the profit, but the costs of engineering the brass kit that are daunting. More than a couple of sales are needed to make up those costs.
David Hoffman makes quality RTR mechanisms and custom castings for MDC and Keystone Shays - and has over a year's backlog. And there are others who rebuild and/or paint brass locomotives - and they have similar backlogs. At the same time, it's very difficult to charge enough for one's time to make it worthwhile to do that sort of work instead of spending time on the hobby or at a real paying job. Rarely can these folks afford to do their work on a full-time basis.
just my thoughts
Fred W
Athabaska scale models out of Canad offers a real neat etched brass NYC 10 wheeler. It's based on the MR how to article a few years back, and it builds up into a real nice 10 wheeler. I built one, it took me awhile, but it's done, it looks perfect, and it runs great. I have another on my shelf that I'll dp sometime soon.
Check them out on the web, those kits are really decent...
Van Hobbies H1b, K1a, T1c, D10g, F1a, F2a, G5a. Division Point: H24-66 Hammerhead, Alco covered wagons A-B-B-A, C-Liner A-B-B-A, EMD FP7A A-B-B.
H1b modified to replicate modern day 2816. All with Tsunamis.
CP guy in TX Athabaska scale models out of Canad offers a real neat etched brass NYC 10 wheeler. It's based on the MR how to article a few years back, and it builds up into a real nice 10 wheeler. I built one, it took me awhile, but it's done, it looks perfect, and it runs great. I have another on my shelf that I'll dp sometime soon. Check them out on the web, those kits are really decent...
Yes, and I'm so wanting one of them!
But as I understand it, the driveline has to be sourced by some other means, as the Bowser isn't available anymore.....
I tried to mail them, but they haven't answered me yet....
But that the driveline isn't available might be a blessing in disguise. Then you can have code 88 wheels and a decent gearbox....
I wonder what class it is? NYC F12?
I built a Bowser Challenger kit and found it awesome, particularly in learning how things worked together, component names, etc. I preferred it over the plastic as mistakes were more easily corrected and it is durable as well as good looking. I would like to build a brass kit of US locos--steam and diesel. My son would too.
This thread reminds me that there was an article in MRR Mag a few years ago about scratch building a brass loco. I wasn't crazy about the prototype however. To do some of the components you almost need custom laser cutting to make it look good. I built a DOD heavy flat car a few years ago from scratch and recall that the hardest part was the chain tie down racks.
Richard
Since I model Japanese prototype, almost all of my locos are brass, built from kits.
Most of those kits are still available, but the current prices are heart-stopping! Every time I see them advertised in Tetsudo Mokei Shumi I give silent thanks that I acquired mine decades ago, when I could (almost) afford them.
I still have a couple of unassembled kits. I would call them semi-assembled - all the soldering is done, the remaining assembly simply requires screwing subassemblies together. However, I do have one bits and pieces kit - the parts are formed (cylindrical boiler, rounded cab roof) and all ten thousand holes have been drilled, but the assembly will require a lot of time with solder, flux and appropriate hot-ended tools. That one will get built when I actually need to put that C12 class 2-6-2T into service.
Don't get me wrong. It's not that I love brass. It's just that the locos I wanted and bought back then were available in brass - period. The only plastic equivalents were unpowered kiddie toys in odd scales. (The serious kiddie toys in HOj were built of galvanized steel!)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Oh, a C12! I had one in live steam before.... So good looking locomotives!
Here are some better pics of my H3 build:
I think having to source a driveline from elsewhere might be a blessing in disguise. The old worm system used on the model reminds me of the old United brass drive. Just a shaft with an open worm on a driven gear. It works, but it's not the most efficient system out there.
It does allow you to check how it rolls without the motor on it though.....
Graffen,
She is a beauty! Congrats on a wonderful job you did.
The loco reminds me of a SBB A 3/5.
Thank you for the larger photo's. It looks terrific!
Mike
You have captured that "used, but not abused" look excellently, Graffen!