Thornycroft

"There's something strange about this new locomotive... Gasp! It doesn't have a fire exit! Enjoy your deathtrap, railfans!"

With thanks to a friend for the above quote!

Some readers may remember I picked this up at the WIrksworth show last October, intending to put it together at a much later date.

Instructions were... interesting... to say the least. The parts aren't particularly numbered on the sprue, instead relying on a small exploded diagram and the names of the parts on an actual lorry. Being slightly hopeless when it comes to internal combustion, Google was to hand many times to try and identify the parts on the real thing!

Painting wise I knew it'd be better to have a colour that was at odds with the railway stock, so neither green, brown or grey. Research showed that either blue or red were the other most likely options and thinking that blue might make it look a little too 'Jack Jones the Butcher', red it was!

You'll also notice there's no driver at the wheel. The supplied figure with the kit appeared to be nearer HO scale to the eye, but even so the plan is to have the lorry parked up in the station yard with a figure stood beside. There's actually one of the Airfix workmen figures earmarked for such a cameo, positioned with his back to the viewer his outstretched arm could almost look like he's boasting to the loco crews parked alongside!