John Mat

1 hour ago, RFS said:

For some inexplixable reason, this is described as brand-new! 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185826659159

Yet another mandacious chiseller. He has broken down a number of perfectly good models to sell for parts at inflated prices. If you add the prices for all the bits of this model he has for sale (including the box) it comes to £124.80. You can buy a whole model for far less. And that will include the electrical DCC gubbings that's missing from his.

I assume that the broken con rods etc. are as a result of his rush to dismantle the thing.

4 minutes ago, Paul H Vigor said:

'Hello!' - Sounds like someone moves in exalted circles??

I was instantly reminded of Lesley Philips! Ding ..

Another fine offering from our old friend Gosturd:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334811248267?

"BOXED

EXCELLENT

Two un used 5 pole motors with many uses."

Yes, I can think of a few uses for a couple of ancient motors.

On 22/03/2023 at 12:41, Compound2632 said:

One of them had, when I followed the link.

If you look at his completed/sold items he sells quite a lot. If only we knew who buys this stuff we could ask them why, and please stop!

Our friend is at it again: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334793626708?

You can buy it at that price, or buy the kits from Brassmasters for £100 cheaper. He's got a whole load of Finney kits for sale.

Or this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304838235272?

You can buy this, or phone Squires (the present owners of SEFinecast) and buy 10 for the same price 🙄

1 hour ago, Bucoops said:

Well it is N gauge so it's going to be something small.

No, it's not small, just far away... (I'll get me coat)

1 hour ago, Paul H Vigor said:

3 hours ago, The Johnster said:

 

Hmm.  Should I cash in my overvalued stash of unbuilt kits and use the cash to buy current tooling RTR which is to a far better detailed and finished standard than I could build the kit to, plus save time on the building, have the thing running straight out of the box, and use the time to do something more constructive, like finishing off the fencing...

 

Sorry, got distracted a bit there.  What was this 'time' thing you mentioned finding, and what on earth is this 'conscience' of which you speak?

 

Just to be clear, no loco or item of rolling stock on Cwmdimbath, a mixture of kit and RTR items, is in the same condition it was when it first came out of the box, they vary from major surgery to a quick weathering washover to take the new off, but none are in as new condition, and at present, all wagon kits are built, finished, numbered, weathered, and in service.  There are loco kit, scratch, and cut'n'shut projects on hold, and a couple of aluminium bodied non-gangwayed Collett coach shells won cheap off the bay of e to make into coaches, but I would deny that these constitute a kit mine.

 

It would be interesting, and perhaps depressing, though, to see what percentage of kits purchased ever get built, and what percentage of them are. started but never completed.  I have two loco bodyshells from whitemetal kits purchased and started back in the 90s, a TVR rebuilt A and a Rhymney R, that I failed to manage the chassis for, and these will one day be employed on Cwmdimbath as Barry or Dyffryn Yard engines working through, but they are low on the priority table.

 

I contend that there are two separate ways of of looking at kits, which might explain the discrepancy between kit mine/unfinished and completed models.  One would be a kit purchased as a project in it's own right, as a satisfying challenge to complete the model to the desired standard.  The result is a standalone model, which is why this sort of project is probably more common with non-railway modelled items, aircraft, tanks, ships, and so on.  Another, perhaps more familiar to us, is the kit bought as an adjunct to the building of a layout which may be planned for an unspecified future period 'when I've got time/retired/finished the shed/whatever'.  A wagon kit bought years ago on this basis might well be at the bottom of a box in the attic waiting for a layout to run on, and been superceded by a better RTR version in the meantime.

 

I appreciate the satisfaction of completing kits to a reasonable standard 'I did that!', but don't buy them for that reason.  I buy kits, or embark on cut'n'shut kitbashing projects, because they are the only way of obtaining certain locos, coaches, or stock within my capacity to complete successfully (and some are proving resistant to this capacity).  As  examples, I have a kit-built all-steel LMS sliding door van on the layout (Cambrian IIRC), a 3D print Cordon, a Five 79 Pigeon Van, and others, because a) I want them and b) they are not available RTR, or I'd have the RTR version.  I use Bachmann RTR 16ton mineral as opposed to the Dapol Kitmaster plastic kit version, because the Baccy is a better model than I can make out of the kit, to the extent that I am happy to pay Baccy's prices for them.  Baccy, to their credit, offer them in most of the varieties common in my era.  For similar reasons I use Baccy or Oxford RTR 7-plankers, but have a single Parkside ex-SNCF 'cupboard door' 16tonner and a Dapol KM 16 tonner with posed open doors. 

 

There are no ex-Airfix style B-sets, they never ran at Tondu but according to the late Chris Foren E147s, flatenders, did, so I have a set of those from Comet.  There are, however, a couple of cut'n'shuts representing a Collett non-gangwayed bowended all-third and a matching brake third.   One day I'll replace these with Comets, but they'll do as placeholders for now, my increasing dissatisfaction with them being the driving force behind my future Comet kit acquisition.  Kits tend to be built very shortly after I buy them at Cwmdimbath, because te layout is in full existence and the stock is needed for traffic.

Expand  

I guess I've bought kits over the years, that still await construction, in the belief (alas too often confirmed) that if not bought now, they will disappear from the market, never to be seen again. It seems that niche kit manufacturers have an unfortunate tendency to get fed up and move on to other things, go bust or die in harness. I shall always regret not buying a couple of ABS AA16 GWR Toad kits when I had the chance!

I have to admit to doing the same, but I'm not a good judge of the market. I've bought kits in the belief that I'll never see another one, only to find a much better example for sale the following week.

On 15/03/2023 at 08:00, Swissrail said:

On 15/03/2023 at 07:24, 40152 said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295565223785?

 

Apart from the cheeky price label, look carefully at the fourth photo. Just what IS that on the left of the pic? <shudder>

That's the front offside wing of a dawg!

It's a dawg that's pi**ed off at having its bed used as a background to model all that tat. All that doggie hair presumably comes free with the collection. You can understand why the camera is shaking and the poor use of English. The dog probably has his teeth firmly embedded in the guy's backside! At least he didn't say "from a pet free home".

On 07/03/2023 at 11:23, MrWolf said:

I wonder if it's considered more valuable because it's unstarted? I prefer to build the kit myself, that's half the fun.

There are however a growing number of people who collect plastic kits of all kinds and they have to be mint, boxed and preferably sealed.

A friend of mine collected model aircraft kits with the intention of building them when he retired. When he eventually retired and went to inspect his kits he realised to his horror that he had become SABLE'd and there was no way he was going to live long enough to build them all!

On 03/02/2023 at 21:08, Michael Hodgson said:

Perhaps they had realised there might be improper mingling !

The Games master at my school couldn't understand why I gave up cricket for the summer term to play tennis instead (I was rather good at cricket at the time). Well as the school had ripped up it's own tennis courts to build a sports hall the nearest tennis courts were at the all girls school down the road.... Happy days!

On 24/01/2023 at 21:03, Tofufi said:

They bought it today for £110 plus auction fees... I watched it go through and wasn't tempted to buy it at that price!

 

That said, if they do sell it, a £250 profit before eBay fees isn't to be sniffed at!

I was at the auction but wasn't tempted by this. It was a non-runner when I tested it and looked to have been in a display cabinet for years. The brake rigging was all bent so wouldn't have run anyway. Had I known how much it would sell for on the 'Bay I would have taken a punt. The guy took the pictures straight off the auction catalogue. There was a similar one went straight after this sold for £120 plus fees and commission. Sorry for the late post but very behind on my RMweb lurking at the moment!

Well I got mine today. Looks beautiful but already one of the lamp irons has pinged off to make friends with the floor. It runs fine in DC but in DCC no lights or sounds apart from the brake squeal. Anyone else have the same problem? It came with the factory fitted sound card.