Romsey Les

I haven`t seen anything on this for a while so thought I`d ask if anyone has any updates. I have just this week discovered the dreaded "cracked end" on my R2420. I rang customer service at Hornby and in a nutshell the guy said "Scrap it". I`m not happy with that response so I have made a formal complaint via the web form on the basis that as Hornby accept this is a fault in manufacture Hornby have supplied goods that are not fit for purpose or "not of merchantable quality" We shall see how they respond, if they respond at all. Any evidence that matters of improved since the change in personnel at Hornby ? Is Simon Kohler still back on board ?

Thanks Happy Hippo, I`ll pass this on and ask him if he has any more detail.

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this so apologies if not. By brother in law bought this loco and coach in Welshpool some years ago and is now thinking of disposing of it as he has run out of space. He believes it is a Merlin monarch. It is on a display stand with glass cover. The track is 32mm. This is not really my area of interest but as he knew I was on RM Web he asked me if I could find out more.I can obtain more detail if needed. Can anyone advise what it might be worth ?

I seem to have started something here so just a thought or two. I used to find that epoxy was easily broken down with paint stipper, e.g. Nitromors or similar, some years since I did it though, the formula of the stripper and the epoxy may have changed since? I think ebay has been good and bad. I think it is a pity that some of the toy fairs/swapmeets have declined or stopped operating since the advent of ebay and it has certainly had an effect on those model shops that used to carry good secondhand stuff, many have closed. On the other hand I lost count of the time and money I spent trawling around looking for particular items, I accept I enjoyed browsing through what was on offer but often came away with nothing. The plus side of ebay is that there is more stuff available, often small items you would have struggled to find in those big mixed boxes hidden under the table. My son tells me the reason people pay silly prices is firstly that you don`t have to go out to look, you sit there and play on the screen and it arrives by post. Secondly he thinks people don`t consider Paypal is real money, people don`t think of it in the same way as handing over cash. People who buy things on ebay are not forced to pay over the odds, it`s their choice. If you want loco X or Kit Y you can see if it`s on ebay and pay what you are prepared to. If you think it`s been bid up too high then don`t buy it. If you want to you can spend the next 5 years going to toy fairs, swapmeets and shops looking for it. If you can find it then lucky you. In my experience if something on ebay goes over the top in price there will be another one along fairly soon.

Thanks to everyone for commenting. I`ve decided to sell it so I have put it on ebay, Les

Attached (hopefully) is as far as I got with it. The body is assembled with epoxy. Better pictures in daylight tomorrow if anyone wants some.

Adam reminds me (correctly) to be more careful in the way I phrase my questions. I realise there is no RTR model of a Flatiron. Perhaps what I should have said is that I am toying with the idea of getting rid of it and wanted to know if this is the kind of thing that is likely to attract buyers. I think I`d better do a bit more research before I post again, I had no idea Wills kits were still available, Les

I`ve got a Wills Flatiron kit with a chassis kit. I started it (just) about 25 years ago but somehow it got put on ice. Is there much interest in these kits nowadays as the ready to run models have got so much better? Thanks in advance for any replies, Les