Commission: Narrow Planet Barclay in 009…

It's quite a few years since I first designed this Narrow Planet Barclayfication kit, and I was excited when asked recently to repair a Boehler and put one together for a customer...

The kit was inspired by a model that friend John Wooden had built using the Boehler, but anglicising it, the more I looked at it the more I thought we could get away with a Barclay using this as the basis. The beauty of this kit is how simple the conversion is yet what a transformation results.

They wanted a plain and clean 'Penryhn' inspired livery, and so I've retained the sheen in the finish to contrast with the heat resistant paint on the smokebox. The decals are from the Fox N scale range, and I modified those on the cab to better represent the Penrhyn style of corners.

These days we're spoilt for no motor in the cab in many 009 models, however you shouldn't dismiss these Minitrains models as they are truly superb running performers. The flywheel is big enough to give a fair bit of stall resistance in use, and the motor and drive are smooth and quiet.

If you have a kit that I've designed that you'd like me to assemble, do get in touch for a personal fixed price proposal. I am happy to work on anything, as a commission model maker I'll build kits or scratch-build as required, but it is always fun to revisit models of my own design. Until next time, more soon...