422 NEWS - March 2025

Hello again, it’s been a couple of months since I last gave an update. It has been a busy time, with the post-Christmas modelling season in full swing. There was the Trent Valley Modelling Day at the beginning of February, followed by Narrow Gauge North in early March, followed closely by Howden Model Railway show this coming weekend, 29th & 30th March.

The Howden show will be something a little different for us. It’s a friendly, local show at Howden Secondary School, featuring layouts in a range of scales and gauges. Having focussed almost exclusively on specialist narrow gauge shows in recent times, this will give us the rare opportunity to show the developments that have taken place with the O gauge range of Coach Builder scratch aid kits. It will be particularly fitting to have the Hull & Barnsley stock on display as the line followed what is now the boundary of the school field. I will also be demonstrating some of the construction and painting techniques that I use with my kits. I was hoping to be releasing some of the Port Wynnstay O gauge models at this show, but continuing frustrations sourcing chassis components means that only the resin body components are currently available. I was aware at the time of taking over Port Wynnstay (PWM) that two of the previous suppliers of ‘traditional’ O gauge chassis components had ceased trading but felt confident that ‘Plan B’ would seamlessly solve the problem. As it transpired, Plan B resulted in a considerable let down and much time wasted. Plan C was equally fruitless and I am currently waiting in the hope that plan D comes to something. I don’t want to go into too much detail but progressing the PWM O gauge kits really now boils down to two things: Firstly, the kits will need some form of re-design/ update as far as chassis and running gear is concerned. Secondly, relying on several suppliers to support a kit range appears to be unworkable, especially as there are fewer and fewer of the ‘old school’ producers still in business, and those that remain seem unable or unwilling to take on extra orders. It would seem therefore that the best way forward is to be as self-sufficient as possible, but that will take some time and effort. For my part, producing the resin castings is relatively straightforward and I currently have body parts available for the GNoS van, the North British 6-wheel 15ton van and the Caledonian 6-wheel van. I hope to have ‘body kits’ for the remaining PWM O gauge vehicles available over the summer as that seems now to be the best short-term compromise.

The news concerning the Port Wynnstay Narrow gauge range, I’m pleased to say, is much brighter. I have a modest stock of curly spoked wheels on 24.5mm axles now thanks to Paul Martin of EDM, which means that the iconic Ffestiniog gunpowder van is now available, together with the FR end door van and 4-ton open wagon. The FR sliding door van is underway as is the Welsh Highland coal wagon kit. I have a good selection of quarryman’s coaches available and the bug-boxes are once again in production. Hopefully this is now a useful collection of PWM narrow gauge kits and the plan is to have them available through the web shop as soon as time and stock permits. Speaking of the web shop, regular customers may have noticed that stock levels have been a bit low recently and I have to admit that selling via the web shop in addition to selling on eBay and at shows has been something of a challenge through the busy Winter months. If you have been waiting for a product or kit, can I thank you for your patience and understanding. If an item is out of stock, it really helps me if customers could click on the back in stock notification request (orange button on the item details page). By doing that, I can see where the priorities are and direct my efforts accordingly.

If you are in the Yorkshire area and able to get to Howden this weekend, please do drop by and say hello.

Engine Shed News

From time-to-time customers have been asking what is happening with the engine shed kits. Standard gauge modellers may have seen in the latest O gauge guild Gazette some details of the O gauge stone engine shed. This has been something of a stop-start project with pauses and re-thinks along the way. This is now to be available as individual modular scratch-aid parts under the product code BC29 (A, B, C, D & E). The idea behind it is that builders can choose the combination of parts to build a structure that best fits the requirements of their layout, whether that be a complete shed to house a loco as part of the operation or perhaps a low-relief form to suggest a larger shed stretching beyond the visible scene. The part packs have been arranged to give what is hopefully the most useful and flexible range of options. As these are scratch-aid parts the builder will have to do some fabrication work, primarily constructing a simple internal sub-structure onto which the castings are overlaid. This is best done with foam board or MDF / plywood. I had briefly considered making the castings full-wall thickness, but as a prototypical shed wall could be three-feet wide or more decided against it on the grounds of both increased weight and cost. As it has turned out, designing the parts as overlays has probably made them more versatile. The display model in the photos illustrates the smallest shed that can be constructed using each of the part packs. The centre wall panel is an extension piece that can be added in, enabling the length of the shed to be increased as desired. Originally, it was going to be a kit for a shed with three windows each side, using laser-cut internal sides for support. This idea unfortunately had to be abandoned, but I do have a few of the internal side wall MDF trial pieces remaining which are available for sale on a first come, first served basis.

O gauge engine shed built using parts BC29A-E

The second engine shed to report on is the narrow gauge stone shed, BK18. This has been unavailable for some time owing to difficulties in sourcing the laser-cut MDF internal wall pieces at a reasonable price. As such, the kit is being reworked and will be available again shortly. The revised kit will have new cast resin internal walls that sandwich the window castings and glazing as before to create the internal window reveals and give the additional structural support previously provided by the MDF. The advantage to this is an improved kit with interior wall detail and windows on both sides (as often requested) at only a small extra cost. Having done a test build using the new parts, I hope customers will agree that it is now a better kit and I can see opportunities for possible future developments of this model.

For now, however, buildings work will have to go on the 'long-term' list as more pressing Port Wynnstay rolling stock matters need to be attended to. I am starting to build up a stock of castings for the first kits to be rereleased and continuing test building from the new moulds. Those that follow my eBay listings may have spotted a slightly reworked Quarryman’s coach body kit, in the style of the preserved coach No8, which made it out before Christmas. I am also currently tracking down suppliers for the non-resin parts that go into many of the PW kits. More on the Port Wynnstay range another time.

I hope everyone had a happy and restful Christmas and enjoys a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Best wishes

422 Modelmaking

Port Wynnstay Transfer Complete

We are pleased to announce that we have completed the transfer of the Port Wynnstay master patterns and they are now safely tucked away at the back of the workshop. The main task over the coming weeks and months will be getting to know the new arrivals and establishing which kits can be put back into production first. 

For anyone not familiar with Port Wynnstay Models, it is a long-established range of 7mm scale cast resin rolling stock kits for both standard and narrow gauge. The narrow gauge range covers many iconic examples of Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway rolling stock going back to the early days of both lines. The standard gauge range has some really interesting and slightly unusual examples of pre-grouping vans. Mostly Scottish in origin, many of these vehicles lasted well into BR days, travelling south of the border, even being photographed in London and East Anglia. 

We hope to have the first examples from the Port Wynnstay range available in the New Year. We will be creating a new section on the website to accommodate the 60+ additional products where customers will be able to see when items become available. 

If anyone would like more information about specific kits, enquiries can be made via the contact form on the website or via email using info@422modelmaking.co.uk.