Rummaging through my scrapbox I found a relic of the good old days - a BR horsebox, with a printed colour card body on a Lima continental wagon chassis. I don't remember who produced these card kits, but there were quite a few, mainly private owner wagons.
That set me thinking about some of the other stuff I can vaguely remember from British N gauge in the 1970s:
- Ian Kirk plastic coach and wagon kits
- Anbrico whitemetal body kit for a Class 50
- Graham Farish points with massive clearance between the check rails
- ABS body kit for a Class 03 to fit a Minitrix tank engine chassis. In fact, whitemetal body kits in general.
- Farish couplings with that stupid plastic U bend in the shank so they never sat level and kept uncoupling themselves
- Farish J69 tank engine with lots of plastic gears between the motor and the wheels. All of which would strip their teeth after about ten minutes running.
- Wondering why Peco never made any more locos apart from the Jubilee.
Feel free to add to the list.
Highfield made printed colour card body sides, mainly wagons but also some ex-North Eastern Rly carriages. I believe they also produced white metal body kits for a NER O Class 0-4-4T (LNER G5) and long-boilered NER 0-6-0 freight loco.
Peco retailed a Fairburn 2-6-4T and Hymek white metal body kits to fit onto Arnold chassis.
Ian Kirk actually made a Gresley non-corridor 3rd and a Thompson corridor third, as well as a part body moulding for a B1 to modify a Peco Jubilee, and several wagon kits.
Also, Wrenn/Lima brought out Mk1s, bogie Freightliner container wagon, class 86 electric loco, class 31, class 55 Deltic, a reliveried German BR212 (like a shortened version of the class 17 Claytons), 4 wheeled diesel shunter, LMS 4F, a crude representation of BR Standard 4 2-6-4T on a Swedish Railways chassis, mainly to 1: 160 scale but the Deltic looked vastly overscale.
I've got a few oddities here - like a Langley class 25 - long discontinued, and the P&D Marsh 56 (ditto), both of which though less detailed are far more accurate shape than the Farish one. Some of the stuff was quite clever - like the ECM kit for the HST using Warship chassis
Jackson Evans, Leading Etch, Cav'n'dish, Precursor, Graham Hughes, Mike Howarth (although he's still doing some oddments), plus various other lines that ended up under Marsh or BH Enterprises like DJH and bits of MTK stuff. Others like ABS seem to have sadly vanished with the retirement of the producer.
Alan
Lima was a big part of my childhood. My father was a keen scratchbuilder and the King of Plastikard. Among other things he constructed a prototype HST (about a month after the real one appeared), an LNER tram loco and for my seventh birthday, a Southern Region 4-VEP electric unit. All fabulous to look at, but powered by the motor bogie from hell. I had a Class 31 (in a strange shade of blue with small yellow ends), the "Class 17" which didn't fool me even at that age, and for some reason lots of Aral tank wagons.
When Lima got their act together they were very good. If someone were to dig out the tooling for the CCT parcels van and put it back in production it would not look out of place against the latest BachFarish offerings. But I think they only had one accurate ruler in the factory, and they kept losing it.
Do you still have your dad's scratchbuilt models (or, if not, any photos of them) ?
PS - Lima's GWR horsebox was also a good model in its day and their GWR bogie Siphon van would still pass muster today once correct GWR bogies are fitted.
The trick with the Lima siphon is to buy a cheap Dapol siphon, turn the Dapol siphon body into a grounded store of some kind and put the Dapol chassis on the Lima one. It fits a treat and then runs beautifully.
It's also possible to update it to the correct 1970s arrangements for rail blue ones if desired.
Alan
Anyone remember the Jamie Micro Traction kit for a GWR Large prairie. It was largely plastic, with a brass chassis and rather crude. My father bought one out of curiosity but we could never get it to do anything.
I believe that there may have been an LNER N2 kit from the same stable.
ABS made a range of loco driving wheels and gears
Lima's catalogue promising a King
Michael
Quote from: EtchedPixels on May 08, 2013, 10:51:07 PM
The trick with the Lima siphon is to buy a cheap Dapol siphon, turn the Dapol siphon body into a grounded store of some kind and put the Dapol chassis on the Lima one. It fits a treat and then runs beautifully.
It's also possible to update it to the correct 1970s arrangements for rail blue ones if desired.
Alan
Funny that Alan, that's exactly what I'm doing, hence my order to you from this morning!
Quote from: captainelectra on May 09, 2013, 01:08:35 PM
Anyone remember the Jamie Micro Traction kit for a GWR Large prairie. It was largely plastic, with a brass chassis and rather crude. My father bought one out of curiosity but we could never get it to do anything.
I believe that there may have been an LNER N2 kit from the same stable.
And possibly a V1/V3? My dad had one, certainly a plastic body kit and crude, on a Farish Hall chassis with valve gear from I can't remember where.
I have dug out a few old photos (although sadly not of the HST or 4-VEP) - will scan them and put them up when I get the chance.
What exactly was the Lima 0-4-0 supposed to be? :uneasy:
Does this topic win the prize for the longest gap between posts at 5 years and 2 months?
I linked to it yesterday in a related thread (after this one came up on Google) so not wholly surprising!
Ian Kirk also did plastic kits for the LNER B1 and V1/3, the B1 used the Peco Jubilee chassis and the V1/3 the Minitrix 2-6-2 tank, MTK was supposed to do a class 20 to fit an Atlas SW1200 diesel switcher chassis. The class 20 was one of the first diesel bodies that I made in plastic and cast them in resin glue produced from a rubber mold, they also used the Atlas chassis.
Quote from: BramptonBranch on July 12, 2018, 08:35:36 PM
What exactly was the Lima 0-4-0 supposed to be? :uneasy:
A generic Plymouth-style diesel that they painted and sold in many versions for different markets.
Quote from: xm607 on July 12, 2018, 10:05:50 PM
Ian Kirk also did plastic kits for the LNER B1 and V1/3, the B1 used the Peco Jubilee chassis and the V1/3 the Minitrix 2-6-2 tank, MTK was supposed to do a class 20 to fit an Atlas SW1200 diesel switcher chassis. The class 20 was one of the first diesel bodies that I made in plastic and cast them in resin glue produced from a rubber mold, they also used the Atlas chassis.
One of my childhood memories was seeing class 20 diesels on a layout built by the Doncaster MRC in around 1973-4. Presumably MTK kits, one of the members had quite a few N gauge blue diesels that he ran on the layout.
Richard
Spotted on eBay and far more significant than you might think. I believe this set contains the first ever British N Gauge ready to run models. The Wrenn-Lima AL6, brake van, mineral wagon and Mk1 coaches were announced in summer 1967, with the train sets in the shops for Christmas that year, beating Minitrix to the market by a good few months. Hopefully this will go to someone who appreciates it.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173380007632 (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173380007632)
Richard
Looks like it has been well cared for. I wonder if the box has been switched though? The box art shows a passenger train, and the box end is marked "Set No.1 B.R. Passenger". Though the wagons look a definite fit in the inlay. :-\
Agreed, definitely not the original outer box. Doesn't seem particularly expensive if you're into that sort of thing.
Similar No 2 goods sets still seem to have the same box lid with the passenger train depicted (see vectis auctions etc.). So it's *almost* 100%.
It does kind of appeal to the collector in me, but would have to be a bit cheaper given it is mislabelled / not the original lid.
Quote from: captainelectra on May 09, 2013, 01:08:35 PM
Anyone remember the Jamie Micro Traction kit for a GWR Large prairie. It was largely plastic, with a brass chassis and rather crude. My father bought one out of curiosity but we could never get it to do anything.
I believe that there may have been an LNER N2 kit from the same stable.
Only six years since your post, and I've acquired one! Never been out of its packaging until today. I've had a quick look at the bits and reckon the chances of getting it to work would be pretty low. I'm thinking of putting together something about it to submit as an article for the NGS journal but I could do with some more information. I have a review somewhere from Model Railway Constructor, I think around 1969. Their review sample was already assembled and didn't have a motor . Does anyone know who was behind Micro Traction?
Richard
MRC review was May 1969, 50 years ago! I wonder how many were sold, and whether any others survive.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Scratchbodges/i-2DtjZgC/0/e34ffba2/L/DSCN1024-L.jpg)
Richard
Quote from: EtchedPixels on May 08, 2013, 10:51:07 PM
The trick with the Lima siphon is to buy a cheap Dapol siphon, turn the Dapol siphon body into a grounded store of some kind and put the Dapol chassis on the Lima one. It fits a treat and then runs beautifully.
It's also possible to update it to the correct 1970s arrangements for rail blue ones if desired.
Alan
Yep, works a treat Alan. There is an explanation of the work needed in my
HOLLERTON JUNCTION thread. One little bit of advice, try and get the original version of the Dapol Siphon as the couple together more closely. Having said that, you can correct this on the later ones if you have shorter couplers that you can fit (again, you can see this done and the difference it makes on my thread).
Hope this helps.
Paddy
Actually, if you are planning to upgrade the Lima siphon, you do not need to purchase a complete Dapol siphon. Dapol sell the siphon chassis separately (part no. 2A-000-020). These are currently available from Hattons for £4.50 each.
I have upgraded several Lima siphons using this chassis and the running qualities are significantly improved.
Ian
Los Angeles