Model Railway - What's your latest acquisition?

The Kitmaster Blue Pullman was made only in 1961, the last full year of Kitmaster's existence, and are quite hard to find nowadays.

The power cars were 31, the Kitchen car were 32 and the Parlour car were 33 in Kitmaster's catalogue.  The final Kitmaster kit was a New York Central Hudson 4-6-4 no 34 in the catalogue. Airfix took some of the old Kitmaster tools but not these. 30 was the BR Standard Mogul which was taken over by Airfix and ended up with Dapol and is still made.

The kits nowadays are more valuable unmade so I am in two minds whether to get the glue out or not!

Thank you for that information, LC&DR. I could tell they were old, by the box styles and designs. Modern boxes always look more shiney! 

Please most images on the forum once you have built them, if you intend on building them, LC&DR.  

GNR-Gordon-4 (HF)

Another consequence of collector versus modelling enthusiast ... pity.

I suppose they could remain in boxes, and a set of Bachmann purchased for use.

These are obviously substantially updated wrt the original Triang ones, which were excellent in themselves - I had a set I abused when barely a teenager - taking full advantage of the knurled wheels to climb inclines barely seen this side of East Hill funicular railway!!

Al.

Al.

Re the Blue Pullman kit.

Whether I keep them unmade or build them is a really moot point. I do have the Triang Blue Pullman (three cars only) , but I don't think I will get a Bachmann one and strictly speaking they are outside my main interest group.

I actually enjoy building kits, but once made up the Kitmasters are usually static display models. They take up room, can get broken, and don't add much play value. They can of course be motorised but getting hold of the correct Kitmaster motor bogie isn't that easy, I do have one but Mazak rot  has caused it to split in two. I love the box artwork and so I would keep the boxes whatever. 

I do have a number of other unmade Kitmasters, including the sought after Beyer Garett, but having just bought a working Hattons/Heljan Beyer Garett I am less inclined to build that one either. I did in fact build one way back in the 1960s, but it got destroyed eventually, the way of most of my early kit building attempts. 

My attitude to them can change of course so they are kept pending the day I decide to make them, or not as the case may be.

I did another 'Al   Al' again!!  Silly me.

Your call obviously.

DMU's aren't mine either, but I suppose it was a 'Premium' DMU ....

Guilty as charged in that I have a 125 as well, so not totally out.

How good is the detailing on those Kitmaster models? They have a good 'name', but being 60 years old surely it's quite limited relative to today's offerings.

Al.

We made a Kitmaster loco, might have been a Britannia Class or similar, over 50 years ago and I seem to recall the detail was incredible. 

@LC&DR

Yes, I am unsure the kits are worth more sealed up, but if you do decide to build them, please post images on the forum. If you decide to leave them sealed, that's fine also.

Do the boxes state how many each kit contains?

GNR-Gordon-4 (HF)

Kitmaster detailing.

They were very much the product of their age. All handrails pipework and smokebox dart on steam locomotives are moulded to the boiler or smokebox. There is no cab glazing you have to do this yourself. Smoke deflectors are fairly thick, as are cab roofs. The Kitmaster coupling is pretty basic. There are vacuum pipes included but they are pretty crude. The most annoying thing is that where lining is meant to go there is a raised bead. It is intended to make lining using a paint  brush easier and neater. This is where the BR lining would be so if you are wanting to paint it in pre-nationalsation colours you may find it is in the wrong place. 

Generally speaking they are dimensionally accurate and when made correctly do look good, but cannot hold a candle to the latest Hornby or Bachmann main range models when it comes to fine detail. 

If you want to improve the detail it is possible to file off the handrails, drill holes for handrail knobs and replace the moulded detail with wire, and also file off the raised lining bead, if one wanted to line it with transfers instead. 

None of the boxes are now sealed, when new they were sealed with a few short bits of stick tape, and the contents were sealed in a cellophane bag, with a sheet of transfers, a gel phial of adhesive (messy or what!) and an instruction sheet and a form to report missing bits. A Humbrol railway colours paint catalogue was sometimes included and their own catalogue as well. 

Each box contains one kit.

If you are interested in Kitmaster there are a couple of interesting books "The Kitmaster Range . Let's Stick Together. The definitive guide to Kitmaster and Airfix Railway Construction Kits"  by Stephen Knight. Published in 1999,

Oh sorry, I though they were sealed. That's a shame. At least you won't feeling guilty cutting the sticky tape!   

Do the kits state how many parts, each kits contains?

GNR-Gordon-4 (HF)