Building an SR Schools using the Airfix kit - or parts of one!

[Pierview]

About two years ago I acquired, via that well known auction site, a part built Wills Finecast SR Schools class kit. Included in the package was an unused Craftsman etched chassis  intended to motorise the venerable Airfix (nee Kitmaster) plastic kit. The Wills cast chassis and motion parts were also in the box and I therefore concluded that the original owner's intention was to place the etched chassis under the cast loco body in view of the Craftsman kit's finer valve gear profile. I could see the logic of this and was initially minded to do the same. After weighing up the changes required, however, I decided instead to complete the Craftsman kit as was intended ie to motorise another Airfix schools kit. I say "another" since over the years I have produced 3 previous schools motorisations using this chassis and still have two of them in my current loco stud. 

 

As would be imagined, therefore, I am very familiar with the Craftsman kit and in common with other kits by this manufacturer I have found that it is well thought out and easy to assemble. I believe that it first appeared in the late 1970's and in my view it is much better than many motorisation packages of the time, some of which were complete horrors!

 

My chassis was the early version designed for the then ubiquitous X04 type motor but I had no intention of using one of those and instead fitted a High Level Road Runner + gearbox and 1527FE iron core motor. Markits driving and bogie wheels completed the chassis. The bogie had yet to be fitted when this photo was taken.

 

The plastic kit boiler was posed for effect.

 

After identifying the Airfix kit parts that I wished to use, I set about them with saw, craft knife and emery boards and removed sections of the under boiler and footplate to provide clearance for the mechanism. With this done I then removed the raised boiler bands and lining, moulded handrails and pipework, and for good measure  also took off the chimney, dome and safety valves. The rather sorry remains are shown here.

 

 

Re-detailing saw replacement wire handrails fitted and other boiler fittings from a variety of sources. The large diameter chimney was spare from the Wills kit and I added other schools spares purchased from Squires, who now market the SEF range. The rather nice etched smoke deflectors are from Silver Tay models and they are a great improvement on the original rather heavy looking plastic kit ones. Other details were fabricated from scrap materials to hand. 

 

 

With previous conversions I have used the Airfix tender kit suitably detailed but on this occasion, just for the hell of it, I decided to use a Bachmann N class tender body that I had in stock. I have no idea why there appears to be a surfeit of this particular moulding but there are plenty about and they are cheap as chips. I bought one a few years ago without really knowing what do with it but I do have a tendency to buy anything southern that I think might be useful one day!

 

The problem with this tender of course is that it has a stepped footplate to line up with the N loco cab so a modification was necessary. I achieved this by sawing out the stepped section before gluing it back on a plasticard insert to bring the footplate to a straight profile. The leading steps also had to be shortened to suit the new arrangement. The hand brake also needed to be moved to the RH side and I fitted replacement wire handrails. A matching Maunsell etched tender frame kit was obtained from Wizard Models but this also required some modification as it was designed for the mogul tender and as such had the characteristic oval cut outs in the external frames. As the schools tenders had plain frames I therefore cut oval inserts from scrap brass and soldered these in position before re-profiling the frames slightly. Surprisingly the Wizard kit does not provide axlebox/spring castings so I fitted GWR ones. They are so similar that only a real expert would see any difference. Jackson disc wheels were fitted and a simple pick up added. The wire from this is soldered to a split pin which fits into a short length of capilliary tube soldered to the loco pick up plate.

 

This is the position at the present with detailing completed apart from the metal safety valves and boiler clack valves which will be added after painting has been completed. 

 

Hopefully completion in a week or two!

 

Barry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23 by Pierview
grammar

[Pierview]

After a concerted effort over the last few days  I have finally managed to complete the Schools model , as shown here.

 

 

 

 

 

It seemed a never ending task and I had forgotten just how much work was involved in bringing such a vintage kit up to a reasonable standard. I chose to model 30918 "Hurstpierpoint" firstly  because it was a loco that I saw in service, but also because the long name appealed to me! I am reasonably pleased with the result but do not anticipate undertaking any more Airfix kit motorisations, as over the years I have accumulated no less than 18, and I think that is enough! I suppose that I should now tackle the Wills Finecast Schools kit that inadvertently spawned this project next, and hopefully that will be more straightforward and provide an interesting comparison with this plastic kit bashing exercise. So Plastic or Whitemetal ? Two different 'schools' of thought!

 

Barry

 

[Pierview]

I have just completed the second of my two Schools class locomotives which I chose as this year's summer project.  This one is a part built Wills Finecast kit , the spare chassis of which was used to produce the Airfix motorisation previously described. I already had one Wills Schools, completed many years ago, and I knew it to be a nice well detailed kit, albeit with the early white metal chassis. I am not a fan of these and did briefly contemplate purchasing the updated etched chassis from SEF, but decided that as I already had 4 schools (5 now!) the expense wasn't justified on this occasion. In any case, my previous experience with Wills cast chassis blocks has been that whilst they are rather basic, they are nevertheless otherwise accurate and quite serviceable. Being of their time, however, they are inevitably designed for the Triang X04 motor and its variants and I wanted something a bit more modern. I therefore fitted a High Level Road  Runner +  gearbox, Mashima 1424 motor and Branchlines flywheel. I had previously robbed the kit of its coupling rods for my L1,described here last year, so I  fitted replacement Gibson ones. Markits driving wheels were added but bogie wheels came with the kit as acquired. The tender had already been assembled quite neatly so that just left the locomotive body.  I didn't find it necessary to add much in the way of extra detail other than lamp brackets and some under cab pipework but I replaced the smoke deflectors with Silver Tay etched ones and treated myself to a Markits turned brass chimney to replace the cast version. I also replaced the safety valves with brass ones.  

 

The result of my efforts is shown here. As I had all but exhausted my supply of HMRS BR passenger loco lining I used a bespoke Fox set, which I think give a better finish, although great care needs to be taken with their application.

 

 

Finally, here are the two Schools models together for comparison. 

 

The Wills kit is without question the more detailed and accurate of the two models and considering that it was first introduced in 1972 is a very fine kit indeed. The Airfix kit, on the other hand, owes its ancestry to the Kitmaster model of 1959 but is a surprisingly good representation. However, there are many features which need to be improved and this inevitably needs a great deal of work and improvisation. If one is patient though the improved kit body,  combined with the excellent Craftsman chassis, will provide you with a quite decent looking Schools. 

 

Anyway, schools out now  and I have another Q1 to renovate...

 

Barry

 

 

Edited September 11 by Pierview