Commission: 6point5 Manning Wardle...

Although the production kits aren't quite released, as the designer, and the man who sources and checks the 3D printed components, I was able to secure some parts 'ahead of release' for a valued and long standing customer who has supported me since the beginning...

This latest model is again finished in his trademark livery of green with yellow/black lining - this is my old favourite Humbrol 131 with the Fox 2mm/ft scale yellow black carriage lining set. The kit is very straight forward, a few parts to glue together and some brass rod to cut to length for the canopy.

The result though is very pleasing indeed! The model is based on scale drawings, the 18" Manning Wardle's varied significantly over the years at the Royal Arsenal and at Chatham. I've used a Chatham example here as it better suited the Busch mechanism, and it's of one of the later style without the decorative cab roof. The compact mechanism leaves the cab clear, which is especially nice in this fully open cabbed model.

The etched name and works plates are in brass, a supplementary fret in the kit, as they didn't look right on nickel silver - too chunky for the scale somehow. It's nice to finish her off, and I hope she'll do stirling service on my customers 006.5 layout. It's probably the smoothest running chassis I've had to date.

If you'd like me to build one of my own kits to your specification, then get in touch for a personal proposal. More soon...