Judith Edge's "secret" LMS Princess

[Horsetan]

Anyone who hankers after a modern etched interpretation of the LMS "Princess Royal" 4-6-2s may be interested in Judith Edge's "scratch aid" etch which broke cover today on RMWeb. I was as surprised as anyone to discover its existence, but I'm pleased that someone's had a go!

The etch is for the loco only and, being scratch-aid (in the style of Worsley Works, etc), you don't get fittings / castings with it. As far as I understand it, you also have to make your own boiler and firebox (or salvage one from the Hornby-China body, or scrounge something suitable from ProScale), but the entire footplate, smokebox, front inside cylinder casing, cab, outside cylinders, and all three main variations in the valve gear - 46200/1, 46205, and the rest of the class - are covered for the first time. Previously manufacturers had stuck to 46203-46212 only. You also get mainframes and trailing truck.

I've registered my own interest in trying a set. £45 each, I'm told. If there's enough demand for it, Mike Edge may upgrade it into a regular production set in his kit range.

Add a Comet tender, and wheels by Ultrascale, and dare I say you could be most of the way to a 21st century "Princess"?

You do have to source your own castings / fittings, though.

[Horsetan]

The etch turned up today, so here's a view of what you get.....

[DougN]

Where is this going in the stable young horse? is it going straight to the top of the pile or down the list a bit? We havn't seen what you have been up too for a while.

[Philbax]

It's fabulous, I got mine from Scalefourum, wheels on order, already got the comet tender.
Now have to wait until xmas as it is one of my presents.
BTW did you get the print out of the boiler and the firbox to assist making it from scratch?

philbax

[Horsetan]

Where is this going in the stable young horse? is it going straight to the top of the pile or down the list a bit? We havn't seen what you have been up too for a while.

I'm in the middle of building a GNR(I) "S"-class 4-4-0 in 21mm gauge at the moment, so don't expect the Princess(es) to leave the frets for a while. The aim is to build 46201 and 46203 to demonstrate the differences in valve gear.

As they will eventually be built in the heart of the Orthodox Jewish community here, that would technically make them Jewish Princesses. See also Frank Zappa's song on YouTube.

It's fabulous, I got mine from Scalefourum, wheels on order, already got the comet tender.
Now have to wait until xmas as it is one of my presents.
BTW did you get the print out of the boiler and the firebox to assist making it from scratch?

The frets are good enough to put in a picture frame and hang on the wall. A lot of fun can be had just by photocopying onto A3 and identifying / marking off the individual parts, giving you your very own parts list. Shall we compare notes?

Mike provided all of the development drawings, so no problem there.

If the worst comes to the worst, I also have a spare ProScale "Princess" boiler and combustion chamber firebox etch (would be interesting to compare this with Mike's drawings), plus the sloping throatplate casting, that were in an eBay box of leftovers acquired two years ago. There were a surprising number of leftover Princess etch parts in that box, including

- an almost complete tender.
- chassis frames, cylinders and valve gear etches
- complete cab

I think someone basically bought the ProScale kit and then robbed it of parts and castings to detail either a Hornby RTR or K's/NuCast kit. Very expensive way to detail a loco!

Thought: do you think Mike could be persuaded to do something similar for a "Duchess"?