Here we have a virtually completed GWR 14xx kit.
It is built up from a Modelworks kit, but done so by a model engineer to a competent standard. Modelworks kits have often got a bad reputation, and I think this is largely due to the fact that they were sold originally as something that they were not. The Modelworks blurb old the kits as simple to build up into working steam models by someone with effectively little mechanical skill and a screwdriver! The truth was rather different, and without a capable model engineer it was often very tricky, and sometimes impossible to make the kits into working models. That said, I have a full, part built 14xx kit here (available as well), and having had a good rake through all the little sealed plastic bags, I am really very impressed with the quality of the parts. The machining is generally of pretty high quality, with a nice surface finish, and there are so many parts that it certainly can't be considered a skimpy kit! It's really a very thorough job.
Due I think more to a few little mistakes here n there with manufacturing tolerances and parts (as in truth happens in even the finest of model engineering drawings as well), and exacerbated by the odd choice of materials every now and again,.... (aluminium smoke boxes and brass motion parts) the kits were not everything they promised to be and therefore consistently disappointed customers, gaining a poor reputation. With all that in mind, a competent model engineer could make most of the ModelWorks kits into good models. The 14xx is also arguably the most well respected of their products, a great many having been finished and run successfully for many years.
This one has had a good few bits 're-engineered' by the builder. The smokebox is steel, rather than the aluminium of the kit. The Chimney, sandboxes, top feed cover are all Didcot Brass castings rather than the stock Aluminium or square, crude Model Works versions. There are however still some bits to sort out before it will be trundling round your track.
For any more information please don't hesitate to give me a bell on 07816 963463.
Sorry it's sold!
