Barclayfication in 009: before and after...

I visited Charlie Insley this Saturday and took my now crewed up Barclay...

We took the opportunity to pose it with his unmodified Minitrains Boehler - which allows a really inreresting comparison between the models. Despite the fairly simple modifications made the character by replacing the cab and chimney has been completely changed.

You can also see the benefit of the shorter couplings I've developed.

The crew are Dapol workman figures with SERIOUS surgery (leg amputation) to get them to fit nicely within the cab openings.

I also had the chance to view the Minitrains Bagnalls first hand. It was lovely to see them in the flesh and they are a great representation of Charlie's model, itself a pretty close interpretation of Excelsior, albeit lifted up in the air on the larger wheels.

I couldn't resist posing it with my own Peckett to show the scale and also to show two ends of a very broach church of a hobby. The Bagnalls are definitely the 'toy end' of the spectrum - whereas Stuart's kit for the Peckett is pretty much finescale.

A fun afternoon catching up with Charlie - we should do it again soon!
More soon...