Thursday, February 14, 2013

009 PW Train and tracklaying in Hornby Magazine

It's all a bit high-tech in this Month's Hornby Magazine. I've built the Narrow Planet multimedia kit for a 009 diesel and added a Boston Largs Works flat wagon.

Multimedia kits are nothing new - we've been using etched brass and whitemetal in the same model for many year. Here though, there is a loco featuring a 3D printed body on to which etched panels are glued. Simple enough for the beginner in 009 (that's 4mm scale on N gauge track to represent 2 footish narrow gauge). The wagon is cast in resing with more etched bits to handle those areas castings don't work well for.

Both kits are well out of the mainstream but are well worth a look. Narrow minded modellers have been snapping them up in droves proving that cottage industry manufacture is still going strong even with all this lovely RTR around.

Clayhanger Yard reaches the point of being a model railway with track being pinned in place. It's a bit scary doing this job in O gauge with points working out at £36 each, but hopefully this is the last big bill for the model. To be fair, with the Peco pointwork, you are getting excellent quality and for something that will sell in fairly tiny numbers, that means you'll have to shell out for than a fiver to build a layout. Bit of a shock that to modellers who still think fivers are white and pop bottles can be returned to the shop to redeem a penny but in the real world, that's how it is and no amount of moaning on the Web will change it.

On the other hand, once the pain is over, the layout should give many. many years of pleasure so it's hopefully worth it.

PW Train

4 comments:

Bill Luty said...

Nice to see a rare 009 article in Hornby magazine. Hopefully Peco's rtr wagons and coaches will give 009 more exposure and tempt a lot more mainstream modellers to have a go. Even if only as a feeder. If/when the rumoured loco appears it should really have a impact. Then maybe they'll let you do more narrow gauge articles.

Iain Robinson said...

I do remember (being an old dinosaur)in the late sixties there was a glut of narrow gauge articles due to people like Eggerbahn producing RTR stuff and of course, the availability of TT undergizmos. The GWR folk were filling the letters columns of the "Modeller" with their complaints. With the new L&B stuff, it might happen again, who knows. Anyway, these models are superb and a lovely scene, too.

Christian said...

Looks like a beautiful little layout - may have to pick up the hornby magazine for a change!

Phil Parker said...

Christian - The layout is The Handyman Hall railway which I wrote up for Hornby Mag some time ago. There are a few bits on it on the blog here: http://philsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/009

The main photo on the article shows nearly all the layout and I'm sure you will find the build of the two vehicles interesting.