For sale Flying Scotsman £7,944 @ 1923 prices

Irish Examiner
Paul Kelly, Consumer Correspondent
21st January 2008
" .......... One of the latest such serial magazines is The Flying Scotsman Locomotive series, which week by week contains parts so buyers can build a model of the famous locomotive piece by piece.
Priced at about €7.50, buyers have to purchase an issue every week for two-and-a-half years at a total cost of €937 before they finish building the model locomotive.
But for about €180 they could buy a Hornby model railway set featuring the Flying Scotsman locomotive, three carriages as well as track and a power transformer.
The train, the first steam locomotive in the world to reach 100 miles per hour, was built in 1923 at a cost of £7,944 (sterling) — equal to the cost of 13 week-by-week models of the Flying Scotsman today. "
http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=53139-qqqx=1.asp

This is an 0-Gauge ( Gooage please note correct spelling ) construction kit for the Flying Scotsman
If you look at the mag's web site page http://www.buildtheflyingscotsman.co.uk / you may note one or two things :-
1st issue @ a bait price of only 50p
Issue 2 at £2.99
and issue 3 onwards at £4.99
As a subscriber, you will automatically receive binders as they become due at an extra £4.99.
In my experience of these type of mag's you end up having to be a subscriber as they cease to become available in newsagents after about the 8th issue. Fortunately I did not have to pay 'extra' for my binders.
I can not find how many there are in total to collect. From the article above it says you have to purchase an issue every week for two- and-a-half years ! That's about £650 plus binders.
Some of you may recall a similar kit for a remote control rally car. I now of at least one person who bought the whole series and it started a new hobby for him but I remember some complaints of missing parts and issues.
It's like an airfoil kit in metal ( no motor or rails ) and I can see the attraction but is it worth over £650 even with the mag's and DVD etc. ? To me it's not !

Dragon Heart wrote:
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125 issues total If you subscribe they supply it four copies at a time every 4 weeks
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I think you are probably right, but how much would an '0' gauge kit cost for it? Another series was the model ship, which my brother-in-law built and looks good. Would he have bought a kit and built it - no, but being hand held every couple of weeks he is now pleased with the results.

Lester Caine wrote:
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Less. You can get a Just Like The Real Thing (ex Mitchell) kit of the A3 for significantly less than the magazine subscription, even allowing that the Mitchell tender is extra. That will build a far better model. You should have enough change for motor and Slater's (or equivalent quality) wheels.
Didn't we do this one a few weeks ago ?
- Nigel

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The DJH kit that is apparently the one used, is £462 + motor/gearbox £100 + wheels £128.50 = £690 on DJH's site.
So, it doesn't actually look that bad!
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Proabably - who cares!
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Cheers Richard

"beamendsltd" wrote
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It's allegedly a modified & simplified version of that, so a direct cost comparison is not possible.
John.

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But it does put it in perspective, rather than stating, as some have, that it is a rip-off without checking the numbers. I do wonder just how many will actually get built though.....
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Cheers Richard

beamendsltd wrote:
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You can say that about any kit from any maker. Just visit a few model maker's and ask to inspect their gloat cabinets. I know several with a large layout's worth of kits waiting to be put together.
(and given the prices that some now obselete kits fetch on Ebay, a cash fortune ).
- Nigel

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How true.... when trying to decide on the best option for an engine kit to buy (0 gauge diesel), I looked around for "reviews" to get some gen - one layout listed about 20 engines, and not one had been built! That's something around £8,000 to £9,000 doing nothing. Each unto their own and all that, but.......
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Why is it never me that stumbles across one at boot fair for £1.00.. ;-)
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Cheers Richard

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for
looks
every
In defence of those who don't mind this "weekly instalment" style of modelling I am currently building Hachette's German battleship BISMARCK - similar format to FLYING SCOTSMAN, but 140 weeks rather than 125. Yes, I agree, it will have cost me a fair bob or two when it's finished, and there's the (optional) radio control gear to add to the basic cost. So why build it? I find that getting a ;pack of four instalments every four weeks means that it isn't too difficult to keep construction going quite steadily whereas, if I had gone out and bought the full kit in one purchase, it would probably have sat around collecting dust and possibly never been finished. Additionally, I don't have the skills to "scratch build" and, on the one occasion that a part was missing Hachette supplied a replacement within a week. While this method of building something you want may not be to everybody's liking it does suit those of us with limited skills and also spreads the cost out acceptably.
David Costigan
PS If they bring out a kit for HMS HOOD in a couple of years, what to do??

David Costigan wrote: [...]
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Build a swimming pool?

Dragon Heart wrote:
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It's a resissue of the DJH model in A1 form instead of A3 and will have a (simplified) motor and gearbox. In my opinion it's beyond the capabilities of an average modeller let alone a beginner. Expect to see many half completed examples for sale on eBay. RM Web has a thread following construction on a week-by-week basis. Posters have already spotted a number of idiotic gaffes in the instructions so far.
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f &t095
(kim)

Dragon Heart wrote:
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In my experience of kit building, if I haven't finished in 3-6 months I will have lost interest and the kit will then sit around for a decade. Of course I'm fairly short on patience. An exception is the kit that needs major modification - eg I still have a K's kit that I started about thirty years ago that needs a much better chassis and body - the tender isn't very good either.
Does the magazine kit come with a tender? I'd prefer the model to have one of those.
Greg.P.

Dragon Heart wrote:
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125 parts from: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?tq5258
"Build the flying Scotsman - Hachette - 125 part - Issue 1 50p, Issue 2 £2.99 then £4.99 each week."

It's also on Hatchette's website : http://www.hachettepartworks.co.uk/product.php?proID 98160918

Dragon Heart quotedthe following on 22/01/2008 01:51:
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Quite apart from the typical confusion between "train" and "locomotive", City of Truro was the first steam loco to achieve 100mph, wasn't it?
The other minor little detail is that this ludicrous way to fund a model does at least get you a 7mm scale model at the end (assuming the magazine doesn't fold halfway through), whereas the Hornby one is 4mm scale. Not exactly like for like.