As I continue my explorations into Sn3, On30, On3 I have come across a company called Railmaster Exports from Australia. They appear to be making brass/White metal locomotive kits in Sn3 for a wide variety of locomotives- even non-Colorado prototypes. Since SPNG and Carson & Colorado are two roads I really like, this might be the start of a very interesting model railroad. I believe that Paul Scoles has used their kits for his Sn3 PBR&NCo.
Has anyone here built any of their kits and what did you think? How difficult is it to order something from Australia? Opinions? thanks - Nevin
I have not personally built a Railmaster kit, but one of the guys in our round robin group has three for his Sn3 Lake Tahoe Ry. layout. They seem to assemble OK provided you’re familiar with steam locomotive kits or have worked with brass. The one he has finished is a 2-8-0 which runs as well and looks as good as a typical brass import. The frame is assembled from brass for durability, while the superstructure consists of metal castings with some brass details.
Visit their site at http://www.railmaster.co.nz . Note that most of the kits are now available with built up mechanisms or fully assembled for an extra charge. According to the modeler with the LTRy layout, Railmaster is a good company to deal with and is very cooperative if a kit has missing parts or some other problem. Railmaster has a reputation for responding quickly to questions and to requests for custom kits, etc.