And done. This is more or less as per the instructions with some extra structural reinforcement added. Is it good? Well taking into consideration the age of the base kit design and the material, yes. Critics will bleat on about cliches and lack of detail, but that misses the point somewhat. I drew the line at adding loads of extra detail, but that could be done and lift it quite considerably. The other is the height, but that's a whole other set of questions.
As per the last post, I am minded that it creates a vibe, and a real period feel layout could be developed using the range, the only problem being the signal box which to my eyes doesn't fit with the rest of the railway 'A' series. Well, not like the original 1960s one did. I wonder if anyone has one on a shop shelf somewhere?
Thinking back to what other ranges of building kits were available to me in late '70s Hastings, in card there were Prototype, Builder Plus, and I'm sure I remember another range but not its name. Prototype were lovely, but limited in range and pretty focused, I seem to remember Builder Plus being on rather flimsy card and sometimes had a slightly odd appearance..
ReplyDeleteI also bought a few kits from Thornton, these were plastic sheet with some embossed (vacformed) bits. A few of these, picked up (very) cheaply over the last few years, lurk in my "vintage 00" box.
I guess many of these ranges retreated into obscurity with the onset of injection moulded plastic building kits, mostly from Wills, but some by Ratio and even Heljan.
I'll keep an eye out for a signal box kit...
Prototpe suffered from a printing process that meant they looked better from a distance, but the kits were very good in other aspects. I have a small stash somewhere. I just wish I could update the textures. Builder Plus were variable. some were brilliant, others vey toy like.some of the Bilt-Eezi range were excellent, especially the stoine buildings. IIRC W&H/Hamblings or was it Eames did some very nice ones as well. Was it Gerry Beale who had a small range of kits in early MRJ days? I still have some of 7mm embossed brick card I'd earmarked for the "one day" GVT layout.
DeleteNow we have Scalescenes, which probably combine the best elements of all those ranges. They are very well thought out designs
Hi James,
DeleteI'm trying to remember which Prototype kits I actually built...certainly the tiny (Watlington?) signal box, a small waiting room and, inspired by a visit to Loughborough Central, the GCR bridge.
More recently, I bought the plastic water crane from the Tetbury loco shed as a packaged separate part and have used it on a 009 water tower.
I don't remember Bilteezi being available locally, though I bought a couple of their backscenes recently which are very nice.
Yes, I think Gerry Beale was associated with some card kits, brick papers etc.
Not sure, but possibly Howard Scenics? I've certainly got some of their embossed sheets in 4mm, which are very nice.