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Alexander Models LNER J27 Kit.


IanR
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I started building the J27 kit a couple of weeks ago and it's almost finished.

I've been taking pics of the build as it's been taking shape and I'll post them soon.

I intended to post the pics and report on progress as the build progressed but I didn't get around to it! :roll:

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IanR said:

I started building the J27 kit a couple of weeks ago and it's almost finished....

You've built a loco in 2 weeks? :o I started building a plastic Parkside hopper wagon more than 2 years ago...... :oops:

Looking forward to seeing the photos and notes about the build Ian - expectations are high! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Way back in the seventies and early eighties I used to build white metal loco kits, it was the only way you could get a decent model. Then Mainline and Airfix started to produce ready to run models to a good standard and the kit building stopped.

Nowadays if it's available RTR, especially with the excellent offerings from the likes of Bachmann and Hornby, it's hardly worthwhile building a kit as it would be difficult to match the level of detail.

Lately I felt like building a kit again and decided that I would build an LNER J27 as I used to see them on my spotting trips to York back in the sixties.

I ordered one from Dave Alexander Models and the following photos show the stages of the build.

When I used to build white metal kits years ago I used

Araldite adhesive but this time I decided to try soldering. I'm glad I did as it's much easier than I thought and quicker. I've used glue on some of the smaller parts.

The Alexander J27 is a well made kit and all of the parts fit together with little preparation.

Don't think that kit building is a cheap alternative to off the shelf models because it most certainly isn't! Once you've bought the kit you have to buy wheels, motor, gears, transfers and paint.

Anyway here's the photos.

What's in the box plus extras on the left.

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I like to see kit-built models in the raw, so to speak, in their base components, and there are some super examples in the above photos. You've made a stunning job of this little loco and the finished product really does look the business. It's as good, if not better, than anything I've previously seen either online or in published form and it's going to be a real asset to the K&W Railway. Thanks for taking the time to record it's construction and for sharing it with us. Looking forward to seeing it in action soon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Simply stunning Ian and all the better for a little weathering. A J27 is that a North Eastern P3?. I have video of them at work in the North East of England. 65894 which when preserved on the NYMR was numbered 2392. Like 0-8-0 63395 both were preserved by 'NELPG' I have a Railscene video which shows the P3 struggling up the 1 in 49 through Darnholme and eventually slipping to a stand (it had to be banked by a class 25)

I like your step by step guide to building it. Over here we had Lloyds Models who did NSW prototype Nickel Silver/White Metal kits but the company who cast the kits was DJH. They came complete, ie, wheels, gears, motor, and all we had to do was paint and line them and add numbers. All gone now. Even the garratt I have which is a plastic model was available in kit form complete from Lloyds Models.

A lot of the kit manufacturers have gone but if they'd made some of the models which are very unlikely to ever appear from the R-T-R manufacturers they may have survived.

Also it's a great skill which seems to be dying out due to our ever readiness to have R-T-R models.

I have a book by Ian Rice on building kit locos and he showed kits compared to R-T-R models at that time and the detail missing from the kits compared to the R-T-R models (Mainline Jubilee) showed how basic some kits were. Apparently one of the modellers at Pendon used nothing more sophisticated than a car tyre to provide air for his airbrush. He just pumped it up to 100psi and when it got low pumped it up again.

Roy.

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Thanks for your remarks Roy and you're correct, it is a NER P3.

I've just started a LNER Q6/ NER T2 kit (same as 63395), also by Alexander models. This will be more of a challenge due to the eight driving wheels.

If these models were available RTR I doubt that I would be building kits of them... you just can't match the detail of modern RTR stuff. What's betting they appear in next years Hornby/Bachmann new models!

I've enjoyed building the J27 though and hopefully I'll enjoy building the Q6 just as much.

100psi in an air brush? You'd need some sort of additional pressure regulator. I use around 15psi.

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I would say that they used a pressure regulator but perhaps at the time the only air compressors were massive pieces of machinery and not the small ones available nowadays.

One of the modellers there was a bloke called Tony Smith who was a carpenter. He went on to build many private owner coal wagons all from scratch including all the lettering on the sides all done by hand.

I had a look at the Alexander website and at the Q6. I like others here will no doubt be looking forward to your progress in photos of the locos construction.

Was the Q6 a three cylinder engine and because of it's small wheels it sounded like it was going faster than it actually was?

Apparently NELPG would have loved to have saved a WD 2-8-0 but had an extremely difficult job just raising the money to purchase the J27 and Q6. Thank heavens they succeeded when others were only interested in saving Clan Line or Scots Guardsman. Many didn't think about saving the railway workhorses and went for the glamour locos.

Roy.

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