Craftsman models

[hayfield]

Ian

 

The thing is how much is a new kit today, now I am not having a go at anyone or singling anyone out but prices of both kits and parts have seemed to have increased quite a bit over the past 30 years

 

A new tank loco will be about £90, a set of wheels will range from Gibsons £25 ish or Markits £40 ish, motor £15 to £20  gears £5 to £18. So when a kit in new condition like this comes to the market it will get a good price, it was well listed, but if it ended on a Sunday night I would think it would have sold for a bit more. Its still far cheaper than the component costs

 

One solution is to look for more unfashionable kits, or kits which have been built and need a refurbishment, or source the additional parts

 

I recently bought a Wills (not a Southeastern Finecast) Collet goods unbuilt but with all the parts for £59.90 inc postage, the parts I kept

 

Southeastern Finecast etched chassis (£35)  Alan Gibson Drivers and tender wheels (£30) Gearbox (£15) Motor (£20). We are talking about packed up parts valuing around £100 retail. I sold the loco kit for £22, as you can see the parts came in at about £40. I have a couple of bodyline kits waiting for these parts but its a game of waiting and watching and loosing quite a few opportunities which sell above the upper limit I set

 

But you have to search these things out, look for badly listed items. They are out there but have to be found

 

What region/era/type of locos are you looking for?

[ianLMS]

My layout is late 1930's LMS, NW england so ex-LNWR/Midland would fit well as well as later LMS Stanier types. I have a few R-T-R already, but fancy trying my hand at building a brass/white metal kit especially after whetting my appetite with the brass horsebox kit.

 

The ex-Midland 1P fitted the bill nicely. I dont have a R-T-R version, its a small tank loco and looked a good kit to cut my teeth on. It would have looked good on the layout with just two or three suburban coaches behind it. 

 

My current R-T-R stable consists of 3 x Black 5's, a Railroad Patriot, a Mainline Jubilee, a NRM Streamlined Corontation (just becuase - too large for the layout but looks great), a Bachman 3F, 2 x Airfix & 1 x Hornby 4F's, 2 x Bachmann Jinty's, a Stanier Mogul, a Crab and my latest purchase, a Webb Coal Tank. I am happy to replace any of the above with a kit built one, but ideally, the small tank/tender loco's would be my first choice (Jinty/3F, 4F).

 

I am not keen on the Compounds hence the reason I dont own one.

 

Ian

Edited April 26, 2018 by ianLMS

[Jol Wilkinson]

Ian

 

The thing is how much is a new kit today, now I am not having a go at anyone or singling anyone out but prices of both kits and parts have seemed to have increased quite a bit over the past 30 years

 

A new tank loco will be about £90, a set of wheels will range from Gibsons £25 ish or Markits £40 ish, motor £15 to £20  gears £5 to £18. So when a kit in new condition like this comes to the market it will get a good price, it was well listed, but if it ended on a Sunday night I would think it would have sold for a bit more. Its still far cheaper than the component costs

 

One solution is to look for more unfashionable kits, or kits which have been built and need a refurbishment, or source the additional parts

 

I recently bought a Wills (not a Southeastern Finecast) Collet goods unbuilt but with all the parts for £59.90 inc postage, the parts I kept

 

Southeastern Finecast etched chassis (£35)  Alan Gibson Drivers and tender wheels (£30) Gearbox (£15) Motor (£20). We are talking about packed up parts valuing around £100 retail. I sold the loco kit for £22, as you can see the parts came in at about £40. I have a couple of bodyline kits waiting for these parts but its a game of waiting and watching and loosing quite a few opportunities which sell above the upper limit I set

 

But you have to search these things out, look for badly listed items. They are out there but have to be found

 

What region/era/type of locos are you looking for?

 

Not all kits are a such bargain. London Road Models kits sell on eBay for an average of 91% of the current LRM price at the time of sale. That includes carriages which tend to be less popular.

 

The D&S LNWR 10T Brake Van kit sells for 50% more than you would pay the upgraded LRM kit that uses the same w/m patterns for the castings but has new etches with additional parts.

 

GEM kits are possibly going to get more expensive as manufacturing has been stopped, although that may only be temporary.

[hayfield]

My layout is late 1930's LMS, NW england so ex-LNWR/Midland would fit well as well as later LMS Stanier types. I have a few R-T-R already, but fancy trying my hand at building a brass/white metal kit especially after whetting my appetite with the brass horsebox kit.

 

The ex-Midland 1P fitted the bill nicely. I dont have a R-T-R version, its a small tank loco and looked a good kit to cut my teeth on. It would have looked good on the layout with just two or three suburban coaches behind it. 

 

My current R-T-R stable consists of 3 x Black 5's, a Railroad Patriot, a Mainline Jubilee, a NRM Streamlined Corontation (just becuase - too large for the layout but looks great), a Bachman 3F, 2 x Airfix & 1 x Hornby 4F's, 2 x Bachmann Jinty's, a Stanier Mogul, a Crab and my latest purchase, a Webb Coal Tank. I am happy to replace any of the above with a kit built one, but ideally, the small tank/tender loco's would be my first choice (Jinty/3F, 4F).

 

I am not keen on the Compounds hence the reason I dont own one.

 

Ian

 

Ian

 

What I call the composite kits (mixture of etched brass and whitemetal (sometimes resin castings) are few and frw between and when they come up as Jol has written quite expensive. Unmade kits also fetch a premium. I find the best thing is to look for kit built/started kits which go for less but tend to be complete, the most common being GWR & SR locos, but there are a few LMS styles around. Best of all would be to save up and buy one of John's London Road models

 

But if looking for a bargain There are 3F's tanks that come quite regularly, Wills / SEF Caley tanks and K's did a 1F tank which used a HD R1 chassis. I will keep an eye out and PM you rather than broadcast an item

[ianLMS]

Thank you John - very much appreciated.

 

I know brand new kits on the market such as Alan Gibson, Brassmasters etc are very, very expensive, and currently too much for me to take a risk on. £20 on a wagon is one thing, upwards of £150 is something totally different.

 

I will keep an eye out for un-finished kits and see what comes up whilst saving my hard-earned. One of the things that concerns me is the correct wheels/motor/gearbox so thats one reason I am after a complete kit. I do not understand the different motor types, gear ratio's etc nor what would be the correct one to fit in a particular loco.

 

Your help, along with others is really appreciated. 

 

Ian 

[hayfield]

This is the right place to get advice from, as we all assist each other. No one is either too old to ask for advice of too young to give it

 

As for wheels to start out with Romford or the more modern versions from Markits are thought to be the best for the novice as they self quarter, trouble is they are now quite expensive, that's why I am always on the look out for them, easy to spot as they have round brass bolts on the axles and you need the special hollow screwdriver 

[Jol Wilkinson]

Thank you John - very much appreciated.

 

I know brand new kits on the market such as Alan Gibson, Brassmasters etc are very, very expensive, and currently too much for me to take a risk on. £20 on a wagon is one thing, upwards of £150 is something totally different.

 

I will keep an eye out for un-finished kits and see what comes up whilst saving my hard-earned. One of the things that concerns me is the correct wheels/motor/gearbox so thats one reason I am after a complete kit. I do not understand the different motor types, gear ratio's etc nor what would be the correct one to fit in a particular loco.

 

Your help, along with others is really appreciated. 

 

Ian 

 

Ian,

 

very, very expensive?

 

Most etched or cast kits are bought in surprisingly small annual volumes, probably in single figures. So there are none of the economics of scale that apply to RTR products. RTR models seem to be creeping up in price and while a kit with all the bits is usually more expensive, the gap does seem to be narrowing. However, if you want to model a particular era, area railway or a specific loco, etc. then you may have to consider going along the burnt fingers and paint under the fingernails route. I have done for many years and while I find some of the current RTR models really impressive, still get satisfaction from making my own models.

 

Jol

[Steamport Southport]

I always used to watch eBay for bargain Craftsman kits and the only one that really used to go for less than RRP was the Lord Nelson. Probably because of the RTR version. £45 on average as opposed to about £80 RRP.

 

The worst one was the GWR 36XX 2-4-2T, I never saw that for less than £100.

 

 

 

Jason

[ianLMS]

The satisfaction of building my own loco is what I am after, and taking on a new challenge. The only reason I am shying away from £150+ kits is I might make a complete hash of it and it ends up on the scrap heap.

 

I will keep an eye out, but will probably get a couple more wagon type kits to practice on first before turning my attention to the loco's.

 

Thank you all

Ian

[PenrithBeacon]

Sensible approach!

[hayfield]

Kits on the second hand market are like busses, you wait ages for one then a few turn up in quick succession and normally sell for less

[MonsalDan]

Is this range likely to return at any point in the future?  Anyone heard anything?

[John Tomlinson]

31 minutes ago, MonsalDan said:

Is this range likely to return at any point in the future?  Anyone heard anything?

I think if you go back over the thread, the answer is sadly not.

 

Rumoured to have been sold to someone who in the process got all the moulds mixed up for the cast parts, rendering them unusable.

 

A lot of the range has in any case been rendered superfluous by developments in RTR, you simply don't need detailing kits anymore for old Lima and Hornby locos that have been superceded.

 

Ditto a lot of the DMU etches, with alternatives available elsewhere - think Worsley Works, Silver Fox, plus if you have the money RTR from Bachmann e.g the newish 117, Heljan I think to do a 104.

 

John.

[MonsalDan]

1 minute ago, John Tomlinson said:

I think if you go back over the thread, the answer is sadly not.

 

Rumoured to have been sold to someone who in the process got all the moulds mixed up for the cast parts, rendering them unusable.

 

A lot of the range has in any case been rendered superfluous by developments in RTR, you simply don't need detailing kits anymore for old Lima and Hornby locos that have been superceded.

 

Ditto a lot of the DMU etches, with alternatives available elsewhere - think Worsley Works, Silver Fox, plus if you have the money RTR from Bachmann e.g the newish 117, Heljan I think to do a 104.

 

John.

That's a shame, the loco kits are more what I was after.

[John Tomlinson]

Just now, MonsalDan said:

That's a shame, the loco kits are more what I was after.

In that case keep an eye on Ebay - stuff does appear from time to time.

 

John.

[corsair]

dont suppose any one can help with a craftsman class 04 conversion kit to early version please thanks 

[Blandford1969]

On 11/03/2021 at 11:04, MonsalDan said:

That's a shame, the loco kits are more what I was after.

When loco kits come up they fetch good money. My class 27 cost £150, although whether it ever gets built is questionable.