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| Alphagraphix | R Crumbleholme |
| 48 Grosvenor Road | 01902 675362 |
| Ettingshall Park | |
| Wolverhampton | Email: sirberkeley@outlook.com |
| West Midlands | Web: http://www.alphagraphixkits.co.uk |
| WV4 6QV |
Purchased, reviewed and photographed by Mark Horley
I bought this kit at the 2018 Gauge O Guild show at Telford, direct from the Alphagraphix stand priced at £50. The prototype was originally built for the LSWR in 1851 and survived into the 1960s but was not preserved. Alphagraphix have brought out a number of kits representing items from the Colonel Stephens light railway empire, and this coach was used on the Kent & East Sussex Railway. The kit comes neatly packed in a flatpack cardboard box. The box contains three sheets of etched brass components, a bag of whitemetal castings, printed card interior, glazing and instructions. The instructions are a suggested assembly sequence, with annotated photographs of the model. There is also a scale drawing.
The body sides and ends are sweated together from two etches. The outer skin has most of the panel detailing half-etched on the surface, with a second inner panel with all the droplights and inner window frames. The sides have a slight tumblehome, easily formed in the thin etch. The lower panel of the ends flares outwards. To achieve this I bent it around some brass rod, which is more difficult to get right. The four body panels have to be soldered together, when it is a little tricky to get everything square and lined up. The roof is half etched on the inside, to make it easier to form to the correct profile before soldering on.
The floor, solebars, buffer beams and upper stepboards are a single piece, easily folded to shape. Half-etched overlays add the detailing but there is a gap left at each corner behind the buffer beam. The instructions suggest gluing a strip of wood (coffee stirrer is about the right size) behind the buffer beam but I elected to use a sliver of etch to fill the gap. The kit is designed for the body to be glued to the floor on completion but, wanting access to the interior, I arranged 12BA nuts soldered onto the body side ledges, so the two assemblies could then be screwed together. I use steel screws to hold the brass nuts in place while soldering as I find this greatly reduces the risk of soldering everything solid!
The chassis is compensated with a rocking unit at one end. I found the dummy W-iron castings have to be fixed flush to the floor rather than the bottom of the solebar, in order to line up with the axles. I fixed the four hangers for the lower stepboard at even spacings. Later examination of prototype photos and the scale drawing suggested to me that there may in fact have only been three hangers. I also felt the hangers were too long so shortened them by about 3.5mm, so the stepboard lines up with the axleboxes.
The kit includes vacuum cylinder, V-hangers and rodding but no representation of brake hangers/shoes. I found some etched brass silhouettes in my spares box and replicated these to give eight brake shoes. I replaced the solid buffers supplied with sprung examples from Haywood Models. Those in the photograph look different from the drawing but in such a long-lived vehicle it would not be surprising for changes to have been made.
The completed coach was sprayed with etching primer from an aerosol can. The white roof and black chassis were similarly painted by aerosol while the coach sides were sprayed brown with an airbrush. The kit includes a card interior complete with sofas which are a masterpiece in origami. However, with the brass lip on the bottom of the bodysides I had to glue the partition and sofas inside the body shell rather than to the floor. Accepting the difficulties outlined above overall I found this an enjoyable kit to build.
We showed this review to Roger Crombleholme of Alphagraphix.
He replied: Very many thanks for sending the article on constructing our kit for the K&ESR Royal Saloon. I’m pleased your contributor enjoyed putting this pretty little vehicle together and is happy with the finished result.