Frequently Asked Questions: DJH Model Loco - gifts for locomotive enthusiasts.

Are your kits suitable for newcomers to all-metal kit construction?
If you’ve never built this kind of model before, we suggest you try one of our easy-to-assemble beginner’s kits – they’re available in both 4mm and 7mm scales. If you have basic craft skills, patience and a measure of manual dexterity you’ll find DJH locomotive models are no more difficult to assemble than many plastic kits. However, we would not recommend the novice to start with a kit for a large express passenger or heavy freight locomotive.

Do I need a complete home workshop in order to build one of these kits?
DJH kits require very few hand tools – most can be built using nothing more advanced than a drill, a small vice, a selection of files, fine tweezers and a pair of pliers. The kit instructions detail the specific tools you’ll need. As your skills grow and you build more locomotives, you may wish to expand your toolkit and acquire more specialised modelling equipment. But for the beginner, most of the tools you’ll need can be found around the house or at your local DIY store.

Are soldering skills essential?
All whitemetal and many of the brass components in DJH kits can be assembled using epoxy or cyano adhesives but a measure of soldering is unavoidable when you come to building the working chassis (we can assemble 00 valve gear -excluding K40- for you at an extra charge of £10 per kit, plus postage). Simple soldering is not, however, a difficult skill to acquire. The kit instructions outline the main principles and a few minutes’ practice with some spare pieces of metal will help you learn the basics.

Hints from our Pattern-Maker

Solder
The two solders I use all the time are:-

Low melt solder (commonly known as “Woods” metal). This solder can be melted in boiling water and I believe melts at approximately 70°C. This is to be used for white metal and pewter only.
60/40 solder (commonly known as Multicored solder used for electrical work) which melts between 183°C and 234°C where as white metal/pewter can melt at around 280°C. This solder is used for soldering brass and nickel silver only.

Flux
You could use any of the following fluxes:-

Low melt flux (which is 10% phosphoric acid 90% water)
Bakers soldering fluid No 2 for brass used for 60/40 solder
Frysol ‘Blackband’ soldering flux
Various solders from Carr’s

Soldering Irons
I use various soldering irons of different wattage, they are:-
15 watt/45 watt/60 watt/100 watt/175 watt/ all using a 240 volt AC supply.

The 15 watt & 45 watt are used for white metal. A common mistake here is that people use a clean tinned iron (which is necessary for electrical and brass soldering). The knack here is to “dirty” the iron (which happens naturally with an iron that is in constant use). This can be achieved by burning an off cut of timber with the tip and the shank to blacken these areas before commencing soldering. When you pick up the solder with the tip of the iron it will form little beads on the end of the bit instead of flowing around the tip. Use plenty of flux and hardly any solder, as the flux boils away it draws the solder right into the joint.
The 15 watt iron is for small delicate components.
The 45 watt iron is for larger components, and if you are feeling really confident, for large parts i.e. “boiler to firebox” you can use a 60 watt iron, but only do this from the inside and watch what you are doing!
The 60 watt/100 watt/ and 175 watt soldering irons are used for brass work.

Suggestion: Practice with any spare casting which you do not need first, as it doesn’t matter if you melt them.

Do the kits come with full instructions?
All our kits have a complete set of professionally-compiled instructions covering every aspect of assembly, with exploded-view diagrams, parts lists, prototype history etc. Our 3.5mm scale kits of foreign prototypes are in the language of the country concerned.

What parts do you include with each kit?
All our kits consist of a complete set of body and chassis components, plus a supply of nuts and bolts, straight brass wire and handrail knobs. Paint and transfers are not included. Our 3.5mm scale locomotive kits include motor and gearbox and wheels. 4mm and 7mm kits do NOT include motor/gearbox nor wheels but suitable motorising kits and wheelsets are available direct from DJH as a separate item.

We recommend a suitable motor/gearbox for each kit. However many of our older kits (now only made in short runs) were designed for Open Frame type motors, which are no longer produced. We recommend either AM10 which is small and compact OR AM9 which is more powerful but bigger in diameter and may require material to be removed from the unseen part of the boiler or firebox underside and to leave out or modify the existing motor mounting (but this will not detract from the finished appearance or strength of the engine) or AM12 which consists of 1626 motor and 30:1 gearset. Motor and gearbox dimensions are included to aid your choice.

Since there are so many options regarding couplings, we leave the choice to the individual modeller.

Wheels
Markits, Tel: 01923 249 711 (manufacturer)
Mainly Trains Tel: 01984 634 543 (stockist of Markits wheels)

Kit Building Courses (and more):
Hobby Holidays - Phil and Jo Atkinson
The Spinney, Low Street
Beckingham
Doncaster
South Yorkshire
DN10 4PW
Telephone 01427 848979
E-mail phil@hobbyholidays.co.uk
Web www.hobbyholidays.co.uk

What kind of metal are your kits made of?
Most DJH Model Loco products are composite kits with components made from a variety of metals – whichever is most appropriate to the purpose. Thin parts with a fine edge, such as cabsides and smoke deflectors, are generally made from etched brass. Mainframes are made of thicker profile-milled brass, for durability. Bulky, rounded parts such as boilers and cylinders are made of whitemetal (an alloy of lead, tin, bismuth and other trace ingredients) although in more recent kits these components are cast in pewter. For the ultimate refinement, delicate details are often moulded in lost-wax brass which is easier to solder than whitemetal.

Are these metals safe to handle? Provided you follow basic safety procedures, such as washing your hands after handling metal components, there should be no problem. As ever, simple common sense applies to all safety issues – be careful when using sharp tools such as files and knives and only use adhesives in a well-ventilated area.

What if I get stuck, or damage a component?
If you have any difficulty building your loco, or if you simply need advice, please write to us OR email technicalsales@djhengineering.co.uk. If you lose or damage a component, you can obtain a replacement by filling in the form included with each kit.

What if something doesn’t fit properly?
Other than the routine cleaning-up of flash from castings and the removal of fret tags, we’d be very surprised if you had any major difficulties. Before going on sale, all our kits are test-built by our in-house engineers and modified as necessary. If you have a problem, it may well be because a part you fitted earlier isn’t quite seated properly, or because there’s an excess of glue or solder causing dimensional distortion. Don’t attempt to modify any components until you’ve checked back over your work and isolated any faults in assembly technique.

How do I paint my models?
Car-spray acrylics give an excellent basic finish and can be readily matched with many railway liveries. For painting smaller areas of colour, use a sable brush and ordinary acylic or enamel modellers’ paint. The best finish comes from an airbrush but good ones are expensive and it takes skill to use one properly.

What is the minimum radius curve the locos will negotiate?
Except for small tank locomotives, which can accommodate 24in radius curves and pointwork, our 4mm and 3.5mm scale models need a minimum of 30in radius. None of them are suitable for first-radius ready-to-lay track.

Are DJH 4mm kits suitable for EM and P4 as well as 00?
Our kits are supplied with 00 scale wheels and frame spacers, since this is the gauge more than 80% of 4mm scale modellers work in. However most of our kits can be readily adapted to EM and P4 without major modification. With some early kits (numbered below K30) a little more work may be required to achieve the necessary clearances . More recent models make dimensional allowances for fitting wider frames etc.

Do your kits make provision for fitting compensation?
The majority of modellers in both 4mm and 7mm scales prefer to build rigid chassis without the complication of beams and springs. Most finescale modellers have their own preferred methods of fitting compensation and we leave the choice to them.

How well detailed are your kits?
We include all the detail that is clearly visible on the prototype. Most builders are looking for an accurate working model rather than something that’s complete down to every last nut and bolt. However, many modellers enjoy adding extra layers of fine detail to DJH kits in order to produce a locomotive of true exhibition quality.

Can you recommend some good books on building scale model locomotives?
Wild Swan Publications have a wide range of quality modelling titles that can be ordered from your local bookshop. We particularly recommend two popular books by Iain Rice – Whitemetal Locos: A Kitbuilder’s Guide (ISBN 0 906867 77 0) and Locomotive Kit Chassis Construction (ISBN 1 874103 10 0). They contain a wealth of practical information and step-by-step illustrations by a master of his craft.

Also Tony Wright’s Kit building Videos or DVDs – ‘In the Right Track’. Tony is Assistant Editor of BRM magazine and a lifelong Modeller of over 400 locos. In this series he builds DJH A2 Pacific as well as 2 kits from other manufacturers:-

Part 1 - Tony begins with the white metal and brass components and shows how to build a rolling chassis with a basic body. Running time approx 2 hours. LINK (3614)

Part 2 - Tony completes the detailing of the locomotive body and finishes the model ready for painting. Running time approx 3 hours.

Part 3 - Tony is joined by professional painter, Ian Rathbone and covers painting and lining locos and rolling stock.