New project ahoy !
Let me tell you a secret. The next layout my father and I build will be based on the Isle of Man. OK if you’ve talked to us at shows this isn’t going to be a huge surprise. Even if it is, I doubt it is as exciting as the story of Elvis being found on the moon or something.
If you model the Isle of Man (hereafter called IOM to save my fingers) and doing the steam railway, you build Peacocks. Loads of ‘em.
With Warley show at the NEC this weekend I’m going to be adding to the stock of IOM loco kits currently maturing the in the cupboard. It seemed prudent though to see if they were any good before trying to persuade Branchlines to do a deal for another eleven. (Note to self: This is a joke. You will only be buying one kit this time). Digging the kit out of the box labelled "IOM” I find that the wheels are Gibson and not the normal (and preferred to be honest) Romfords. Since the next big project will have Gibson wheels, albeit with EM axles, I might was well get the practise in.
IOM Peacock chassis are complicated beasts. There is a lot on show and what you see give the locomotive most of its character. The Branchlines kit was designed in the 1990’s and was one pretty state of the art then. It’s good today as well. Etched in nickel silver, a lot of thought has gone into its design. So much that I had to follow the instructions to the letter to get this far. What you see is just under two hours work and I still have work to do, notably on the prominent front pony.
It all looks fine so far. As long as it if flat and square I should pretty quickly have a running chassis. Then I get to decide how many more to add to the collection this weekend.
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