Park Royal Railbus

If you read classic car magazines, the advice is always against buying part completed projects. You don't know all the bits are there and some of the work may have been bodged. In theory the same rules apply to model kits. They may look tempting, but if any of the component parts aren't in the box then you could have bought a pile of junk rather than the ingredients for a model you can be proud of.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule. An experienced car restorer can probably source any missing bits and make good badly done work. Likewise, I think myself sufficiently experienced to be able to scratchbuild absent parts (not always the case). Anyway, second hand model kits are cheaper than cars and you can throw them away rather easier than car and unless you are daft enough to try writing up the results on a blog while building...

Anyway, a few months ago I was in my local model shop and on the wall was a second hand Park Royal Railbus kit. In the bag was the Dapol model and (this is the good bit) the Branchlines motorising and detailing parts including motor and wheels. £30 instead of 45 which sounded like a bargain to me. I've always wanted to do one of these, even though I have absolutely no use for one in 4mm scale.

While digging out the Ford Y kit I also re-discovered this bag of goodies and thought, "That won't take long and be a bit of fun" so here we are.

The motorising parts have been part assembled, the interior bent up and given a touch of solder. The plastic parts are off the sprue and the raised lining sanded off. Instructions are included and for a change I've even taken a look. All the big bits appear to be there and lets be honest, if there are plastic parts missing, a new kit isn't expensive.