Wright writes.....

[dibateg]

Lets tap the collective knowledge on Write Wrights. I'm about to embark on an Ace GC A5 kit ( and yes it has the incorrect narrow bunker )...

So why do some A5's have a rivetted panel in the bunker back and others not? I thopught it might be to do with oil burning, but the numbers don't correspond to the list in the green book.

[mullie]

Not a loco kit but I picked up a Hornby J15 for a good price.  Here it is backdated and based on a photo in Yeadons taken in 1947. The loco was briefly shedded at Melton Constable around 1948, close enough for me. 

 

 

 

 

Gibson wheels in EM, the stove pipe has a patch on the other side.

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, 46444 said:

 

Hi Tony,

 

When fitting the 'wiggly pipes' to the smokebox on your A1's how do you go about working out the fixing points.

 

Do you use exact measurements or go by eye/photo reference?

 

I have come to this point on my two Bachmann A1's I am in the process of detailing.

 

Thanks,

 

Mark 

Good evening Mark,

 

By use of the Isinglass drawing and prototype pictures. The positions are not that difficult to plot - relationship to the superheater headers, how far above or below the boiler's centre line, how near to the leading cladding band, etc. 

 

Without being flippant, I doubt if anyone would notice if the positions were a mil or more out - backwards, forwards, up or down. 

 

Some examples..............

 

 

As fitted to a much-modified Bachmann A1.

 

 

And a equally much-modified Bachmann A2 (I should have removed the mould seam at the bottom of the boiler). 

 

 

And on an altered Hornby A3.

 

The superfluous higher wiggly pipe was scraped off (Hornby doesn't differentiate between RH- and LH- drive A3s), and extra wiggles added to the bottom moulding. 

 

 

 

Both sides of DJH A1s.

 

 

And a DJH A2/2's LH side. 

 

Most of these are formed from 5Amp fusewire and a short handrail pillar, soldered together - soldered to the cast metal smokeboxes from the inside and glued to the plastic Bachmann/Hornby ones, externally (with great care!). 

 

With regard to the RTR Pacifics, particularly Bachmann's A1 and A2, it really is worth doing; without them the smokeboxes look 'naked'. 

 

 

Don't forget the drain from the vacuum ejector pipe, either. 

 

Looking at prototype pictures, although the valves' (handrail pillars) positions are reasonably consistent on the smokeboxes (though not entirely), how the conduits are arranged and how and where they enter smokeboxes can result in no two looking exactly the same. Just get enough prototype images to work from, and don't be too worried if one wiggly pipe gets really bent. They did! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, dibateg said:

Lets tap the collective knowledge on Write Wrights. I'm about to embark on an Ace GC A5 kit ( and yes it has the incorrect narrow bunker )...

So why do some A5's have a rivetted panel in the bunker back and others not? I thopught it might be to do with oil burning, but the numbers don't correspond to the list in the green book.

Good evening Tony,

 

An ACE kit? Have you built one before?

 

Regards,

 

Tony

[Tony Wright]

The first GWR locos..............

 

 

A K's Bird; with a K's Mk.1 motor but not K's wheels. 

 

As good a runner as anything I've seen powered by a K's motor. Its polarity was reversed, but that's now sorted. £90.00.

 

 

A Korean brass 45xx, Replacement pick-ups, and a good runner (if a twitch 'tinny'). £130.00.

 

 

A South Eastern Finecast King; powerful and visually-smooth in running, but not the fastest. Still it'll probably pull a brick! £140.00.

 

Anyone interested, please PM me. 

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Tony Wright
to add something

[polybear]

38 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Without being flippant, I doubt if anyone would notice if the positions were a mil or more out - backwards, forwards, up or down. 

 

 

There are those on RMWeb that can spot a missing rivet at 50 yards.....🤣

[PJT]

44 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

A K's Bird; with a K's Mk.1 motor but not K's wheels.

 

Me again, Tony!  PM sent.

 

Pete T.

 

[lezz01]

24 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

There are those on RMWeb that can spot a missing rivet at 50 yards.....🤣

In the dark as well.

Regards Lez.

[polybear]

2 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

In the dark as well.

Regards Lez.

 

...in 2mm scale.....

[Barry Ten]

I'm holding off on the current set of GWR/WR locos as I need to work through my earlier acquisitions via Tony, but here is one of those, in case it's of interest. This is a scratchbuilt Saint Martin (the first of the Halls, rebuilt from a Saint) and came to me because the previous owner had trouble with the loco on tight curves. It needs a bit of treatment to get around my inner loop, but it's fine on the outer one, with its slightly more generous radii, as I hope is clear here. The engine needs a bit of cosmetic attention but I reckon I got a good 'un! Thanks Tony.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

There are those on RMWeb that can spot a missing rivet at 50 yards.....🤣

Philosophically-speaking, how can you spot something that isn't there?

[Tony Wright]

Amazing! Both the Bird and the Korean Prairie have sold already (I wish I had more of the former).

 

May I ask again, please? When anyone first responds, will you please give me your full name? Many do (thank you), but I can't link everyone's Christian name with their surname (and I'm not going to comment on 'user names'!).

 

Thanks in anticipation.

[PMP]

3 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Philosophically-speaking, how can you spot something that isn't there?

He didn't say they couldn't see the hole where it should have been.....

[paul.anderson@poptel.org]

8 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Bill,

 

I honestly don't know. 

 

Sales have been very rapid indeed regarding the latest batch of locos - the 7F has sold as well. 

 

I hope the GWR/WR locos sell as fast, but that's not been my experience in the past. I'll be posting pictures of them over the next few days, and invite PMs. 

 

What tends to happen is I sell most on Wws, then take what's left to exhibitions (always asking show managers/traders if it's OK). It's rare these days at most shows to find traders selling kit-built locos (many are RTR box-shifters, new and/or SH), so, I'm not in 'competition' so to speak, only with regard to taking money. 

 

I do check each loco and fix what's needed (or, as you say, identify problems). Easy fixes are commonplace, but I don't have the time for complete rebuilds (it probably wouldn't be cost-effective, anyway). Several of the recent locos were 'noisy' in their running (a consequence of open-framed motors and straight gears), but they were visually OK in their movement. The O1 sounded like a lumberjacks' convention, but the friend who bought it didn't mind, suggesting (like me) his hearing wasn't as good as it was! He also bought the A1, despite its detail anomalies and slightly noisy running, but then he's capable of 'putting things right' as it were. The prices I asked reflected this.

 

So far everyone seems pleased with their purchasers (thanks to all for informing me of safe arrivals), so my descriptions must have been right and the prices right. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Dear Tony

 

The key thing is that you are trusted -- for good reason: you have decades of making model railways and writing about them. Little Bytham is how to do it, and so are the videos on everything. And you never try to pull a fast one. I've bought a few locomotives from you in the past few years, and every one has worked well (except of course for the GWR County Tank you sold me a couple of months ago for twenty quid as a wreck and is now nearly done up!). This is not the case with purchases from eBay. Long may you prosper.

 

Best

 

Paul

[Tony Wright]

7 hours ago, paul.anderson@poptel.org said:

Dear Tony

 

The key thing is that you are trusted -- for good reason: you have decades of making model railways and writing about them. Little Bytham is how to do it, and so are the videos on everything. And you never try to pull a fast one. I've bought a few locomotives from you in the past few years, and every one has worked well (except of course for the GWR County Tank you sold me a couple of months ago for twenty quid as a wreck and is now nearly done up!). This is not the case with purchases from eBay. Long may you prosper.

 

Best

 

Paul

Thanks Paul,

 

I have no experience of eBay (other than anecdotal evidence talking to those who use it), but it seems it's an 'auction' of extremes at times. By that I mean incredible bargains (often the result of the owner not knowing what he/she was selling) or complete dross (described as the complete opposite). 

 

Talking of 'working' locomotives, last week a friend showed me a couple he'd bought off a chap who'd bought them at an auction (I think that's right). Both were beautifully-built and nicely-painted, but, it transpired when he tested them, neither ran at all well; no thought seemed to have been given to their negotiating any curves! Thankfully, he didn't pay top dollar, but they seemed typical of many I've seen - good (very good) lookers, but duds at running.

 

Which all the more convinces me that probably over 90% of kit-built locos don't work properly. I don't mean that they're 'noisy' (though some are); many of this more recent batch of locos aren't as quiet as those with more modern drives (a consequence of their being older and having open-framed motors and straight Romford gears), but visually they're OK when running. No, even some very good lookers just don't work properly - jerky, shorting out, struggling to negotiate even generous curves, afflicted with tight spots and unable (as a consequence) to pull a train. Their lives are destined for a glass case existence. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.