[quote user=“marknewton”]
fwright wrote: "I’m with you there. If DJH would just make a few smaller US engines
Yes, DJH indeed did offer these larger locomotives (I clearly recall the NYC 4-6-4 and perhaps one other model also) in kits here in the States about 20 years ago. But those were diecast, I thought. Regardless, they were generally considered well beyond the skill-level of most hobbyists at the time and would, I expect, be an all but impossible task for the average State-side modeler today.
[quote user=“marknewton”]
At one stage many years back, DJH did make some rather good kits for the USRA light 4-6-2 and 2-8-2, and I think a NYC 4-6-4. But I haven’t seen them anywhere in recent years. They also make, or made, a kit for the “Pershing” 2-8-0s of WW1. These could possibly be useful for kit bashing? The South African models in the DJH range are rather nice, too. The only problem I can see with bashing them is that you might decide you like them too much as they are!
Mark - your right. I have one of the DJH Light Mikes - they never sold well in the US, and you can pick them up on eBay from time to time quite cheaply.
The grass always looks greener from the other side of the fence. Most British kit manufacturers are little more than “cottage industries” producing small numbers of kits at comparitively high price (there are a few exceptions). Almost all require a considerable amount of time, skill and effort to put together well. Many loco kits require mechanism parts from RTR sources, or alternatively are true craftsman kits requiring many hundreds of hours to complete one loco. Many are virtually impossible to get running well. It is true however that there are probably more kits available in the UK modelling scene at present, but there seems to be a growing number of this type of supplier in the US also.
We Brits admire the US kit manufacturers for using multiple material types within kits. Most British kit manufacturers stick with one material they know well (eg; white metal, resin, photo etched metals, injection moulded styrene) even if another material would be better for some elements within the kit. The detail parts and decals