Building an Ace Products 4mm kit

[Chris-GNR]

Hello all

Dose anyone have any experiance of building any of the Ace Products kits from thier 4mm range?

Its spesifically the GNR J1 Kit in 4mm that im keen to find out about.

Regards
Chris

[lnernut]

I might be wrong, but I seem to recall someone saying some of their kits were designed originally for 7mm and were just reduced in size, hence there were some tolerance issues.
It would be worth using the search function to see if you can find the thread.

[jwealleans]

I think it's fair to say that they come from a mixed set of origins and their quality can reflect that. Graeme King on here had no problem with their O2 chassis as the basis for his P1 build; I have a friend who built their C1 as a commission for a client and found it very hard going. 7mm modellers tell a similar story. Probably not for the beginner.

Edit - having looked at their website, there's no mention of scale anywhere. How do you tell if a kit is 4mm, 7mm or both?

[mick b]

JW look at Gresley and GNR engines there are a couple listed on those pages. No J1 listed as 4mm.

[jwealleans]

Ah, got you, Mick. The range must have changed, though, as he used to do the C1 in 4mm. Mozzer built one on RMWeb some time ago. I was trying to find the pages on his thread but couldn't this morning. I don't think he was impressed, as I recall.

[lnernut]

For the handful of kits available in 4mm, the price is in blue under the 7mm price (which is in red)
C2, C12, D2, J51, O2 and N1 as well as some LBSC engines.

[Atlantic 3279]

Although I succeeded with the O2 chassis kit without having to abandon any of the intended parts, it wasn't entirely a case of "no problem". Some parts of it actually impressed me, especially given the clear price advantage compared to a PDK chassis at the time. Awkward bits however included:
1. Having to alter the cylinder stretcher to fit frames at OO spacing.
2. Having to similarly alter the motion bracket stretcher, as well as having to file parts of it away to almost nothing to clear the flanges of the larger wheels I was fitting for the P1, in OO gauge positions not anticipated when the chassis was drawn to suit 7mm O Gauge. I'm pretty convinced that the motion bracket as supplied would not have fitted in the 7mm version either, but that's another story...
3. Having to find a way to fold a long thin edge neatly to 90 degrees on the nickel silver etch for the slidebars.
4. Having to reduce the width of the pony truck, which would have been a simple fold-up etch in the original scale.
Fortunately of course, none of those problems would be likely to feature on an inside-cylinder 0-6-0 fitted with wheels of the size it was designed to use!

[Chris-GNR]

Thank you all very much for the feed back thus far.

I to was under the impression the J1 was a 7mm kit only but a fellow modeller friend of mine showd me a current printed price list that shows it as available in 4mm at £99.99.

As we both are needing models of them for our current project I was keen to gain some feed back regards them. I'm aware you can encounter discrepancies when a kit is shrunk down from a lager original photo etch. Given the nature of the problems Atlantic 3279 encountered with the O2 I think it might be worth a risk.

Regards the coming from mixed origins I think your right, I got from them just the chassis for their C12 & the etch is marked Magown Models, not that this is a problem I was just surprised when opening it.


Again, many thanks for the feedback.

Chris.

[GeoffB]

Hi Guys,

For what it's worth, I work in 7mm and I haven't had direct experience of these kits, but I know a number of people who have and they were - well, the nicest way of putting it - perplexed to say the least! There were so many issues with some of the kits that they were extremely difficult to get to fit together without fairly major actions being taken. The word in 7mm is that they are "an aid to scratch building"! A good friend just finished a D2 and he just about threw it in the bin a number of times, vowing not to touch another one from that stable. With all these first hand reports, I just steer clear of them.

GeoffB

[GeoffB]

Chris,

The etch for the C12 may be marked "Magown Models" but please don't confuse that with Jim McGeown of Connissoureur Models. I built two C12's in 7mm - see on this forum - from Meteor Models kits that were designed by Big Jim and went together extremely well - ie everything fitted very well and was dimensionally correct, which is Jim's trade mark.

Regards,
GeoffB

[Chris-GNR]

GeoffB

Thank you for the info regards your friends experince with the 7mm kits. I think we'll have to review our options, whatever they may be.

I have a few 4mm Connissoureur kits & its clear they are of a differant class.

Thanks again
Chris

[john coffin]

whilst we do not do a J1 yet, you could also try some of the London Road Models GNR locos, some designed by Malcolm Crawley, including the J6, J3 and 3 tenders, plus some designed by me, N1, Square tank C12, D2 and D4, plus a Stirling inside spring tender suitable for many other locos.

Paul

[notascoobie]

whilst we do not do a J1 yet, you could also try some of the London Road Models GNR locos, some designed by Malcolm Crawley, including the J6, J3 and 3 tenders, plus some designed by me, N1, Square tank C12, D2 and D4, plus a Stirling inside spring tender suitable for many other locos.

Paul

I have experience of building London Rd kits. My experience is that go together well and make nice models. However there is forming to be done - specifically raised footplates on J6/K2 etc, the curved Ivatt tender tank and the Ivatt cab. More difficult than a cast kit but superior result.

However, for Paul, most importantly, when is the Stirling Single going to get done?...........

Regards,

Vernon

[john coffin]

Well, Vernon, would love too, but How big a whole in the boiler do you want for 00????????

Stirling singles of all types have boilers which are about 16mm wide over centreline, which means for 00 you need to cut the boiler,which also means the splashers will look weird. Not so bad for EM and P4, and I have done much of the original design work for the 8 footer, so how many of you would buy such a kit or would you like a 2-2-2

Another interesting one is sorting a large Atlantic, but for me the real problem is the same as that for the 0-8-0 long tom,
the washout plugs on the corners of the fireboxes. The small Atlantic is much easier, but then I only do etched stuff
Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

How big a whole in the boiler do you want

Would you need the whole hole....