At 09:37 PM 7/25/03 -0400, you wrote:
>At 06:32 PM 25/07/03 +0100, Art Walker wrote:
>>The LBSC of our times in my opinion. The clarity of the drawings &
>>instructions is just great.
>I don't know about that, Sir Arthur! I have the drawings and words for
>building his coal fired 'O' scale Schools-look-alike, 'Bat'. I've found
>half a dozen conflicting dimensions between the written portion and the
>drawings in looking them over.
Peter,
A few people know I am not particularly a fan of LBSC. One reason is
that in the face of evidence in many instances his details did not and
could not have worked, his attitude remained one of irreproachable
infallibility. His trademark "nuff sed" quote was part evidnce of that.
However what is written in his defense is that he made the building of a
miniature live steam locomotive, capable of doing work, which had
previously been the domain of the wealthy and leisurely or highly skilled
and well equipped, accessible and unintimidating to the average working
stiff who had only basic tools.
I interpreted Art's comment to mean that Kozo, like LBSC, has shown
another generation of people, who otherwise might not have had the
confidence to attempt to build a live steam locomotive, that it can be done
by the average person with limited resources, space, etc.
Regardless of the mistakes in his designs (and ALL designs/drawings
have them except one that I know) the principle complaint must IMHO be
lodged against the publishers and sellers of the drawings and holders of
the copyrights (P. Marshall/MAP/Argus Press, the publishers of Model Engr
and AJReevesLtd, principle seller, all in the UK) for after years of being
advised of mistakes in their drawings (of several designers, not just LBSC)
doing absolutely nothing about it. Many fatal (ie, ruined part) errors
remain in drawings after years of complaints.
My own mentor began his loco-building career with a "Mabel", LBSC's
version of an LNER Precedent class (our Aster JUMBO) in 3-1/2" gauge. He
was dismayed to discover that accumulated drawing errors cause him to have
to discard his almost completed main frames. That design is 50 years old
but I'll bet if you order the drawings from ME or Reeves today those errors
are still there untouched.
>Updates were often given later - sometimes VERY much later-
>they were not collated or indexed with the original, so that does make it
>difficult for later builders.
>Jim Gregg.
After a lengthy discussion (aka, rant) by members of the Model
Engineering List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> member Alan Stepney (UK)
began a page on his web site dedicated to the collection of known errors in
UK design drawings.
Regards,
Harry
