PC Models coach kits

[mvrnut]

I am looking for advice on PC Models coach kits.

Are they an accurate portrayal of the prototype? The sides look to be pre-coloured, or are they decals?

Are these kits still being manufactured?

Any advice on these kits is most welcome.

 

Many thanks,

Chris

[petethemole]

I have four secondhand assembled examples of the GWR toplights in brown/cream,all in need of refurbishment, plus an unbuilt kit. The sides are precoloured but the markings come as a set of Methfix decals. I can't comment on accuracy to diagram although they look ok in a simple comparison against photos. Mind you the unbuilt kit, claiming to be a D45 brake 3rd has the sides for a composite! I have yet to tackle mine but Il dottore of this parish had a thread about them last year. They haven't been made for some time, I believe, but the GWR and LNWR types appear on ebay, that's where all mine came from.

Pete

[Jol Wilkinson]

The sides were printed over clear acetate (AFAIK) and represented a very good shortcut to complicated liveries. The coats of arms, numbering, etc. were applied separately (with Methfix or Prssfix transfers from the PC range, now available from the HMRS). The later kits were better, with extruded aluminium tumblehome supports, etc. (rather than pressed tin).

 

They need care in assembly but painting is confined to the underfarme/bogies/ends/roof,etc. and unless you have some experience in producing two tone liveries/complicated lining they are a good route to take for "out of the run" models. I know Peter Chatham (the original designer/manufacturer) and I think it's very likely that they are accurate. I have one in my collection of LNWR carriages, it's a very nice model.

 

The PC carriage range was taken over by Wheeltapper Coaches, but they ceased supplying them late 2009. They pop up on ebay fairly regularly or at auction houses like Vectis. I think the later ones came in "clear bubble" packaging, the earlier ones in cardboard boxes.