h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi skinnylinny - just read your article on model railways in which you write

"As far as I am aware, very few 00 scale models of any non-British trains have been produced, in fact the only such models of which I am aware were from the Kitmaster range, which has long been out of production, and the scarcity of these "foreign" models compared to the rarity of most Kitmaster kits means that they will be like hens' teeth!"

As a modeller in a related area (WW2 military vehicles) can I point you towards Revell Models of Germany, who have recently brought out an interesting-looking range of German railway locomotives of the wartime period? These appear to be in a compatible scale to tank, vehicle and figure sets of the period (generally 1:72 or 1:76) and might be worthy of closer examination - there appear to be at least four types of German loco available in kit form covering the period late 1920's to late 1950's, with the emphasis appearing to be on WW2.

(I guess German railways had a lot of ground to cover in 1942, even if their projected British timetables had to be scrapped...)

Obviously the kits are non-functioning, but I understand plastic kits can be adapted to available motorised chassis assemblies?

Hoping this is of interest (a personal project is to build a model of a German armoured loco of circa 1942, together with anti-aircraft gun over the tender, and armoured truck with tank turrets)!

Oh, and a good few of the old Kitmaster locos, although not all, are nmow being re-issued via Dapol models of Llangollen, but of course you'll know that...

Yes, many Kitmaster kits have been re-introduced - via Airfix then Dapol, but not all of them, which is a great shame. I seem to remember also reading that the Deltic kit (which I have built) is missing glazing parts, which were lost and never recovered. Anyway, the kits that were lost would have been invaluable, as not only were there 00 gauge ones, they had a wide range of TT3 gauge rolling stock as well. Also dapol have produced their own kits, mostly of rolling stock. Unfortunately, all of the Kitmaster rolling stock is gone, including the carriages, to the best of my knowledge.
I have to admit to not knowing anything about motorising kits for any of the Revell locomotive kits, although I suspect that the diesels could operate as "push-along" models, but the steam locos cannot even do that - the valve gear and cylinders are one piece that clips into the wheels. Also they are in H0 scale - therefore they are a little out of my area of expertise.
Thanks for the compliments - I've been writing the entry slowly, because I'm currently buried under a veritable mountain of schoolwork, preparing for GCSEs. If anybody would like to offer assistance, it would be gratefully received.
Thanks,
Skinnylinny