Are RTR models 'really' that good?

[Noel]

May I suggest that there is evidence here of some confusion of purpose? A first class modelmaker should always produce a result which is well above the standard of r-t-r. However, the point is that r-t-r has greatly improved in standard over recent years, so that the disparity is no longer so obvious, and requires close-up photographs in some cases to make the differences clear. When the model is on the layout, and viewed at longer range, the differences will be much less evident. If you want to build [or buy] museum showcase standard models that is up to you, but it does not invalidate r-t-r models detailed to whatever standard the owner wants because s/he is more interested in the overall impression of a layout, and its consistency of modelling, than the individual models on it. Liking Canaletto rather than Seurat, or vice-versa, is a matter of personal preference, not artistic merit.

Noel

[Andy W]

Fifteen or so years ago we had no choice - or rather we had the option to build our own; commission a build or accept very basic, and inaccurate, ready to run. The standard has now improved dramatically.

"Liking Canaletto rather than Seurat, or vice-versa, is a matter of personal preference" I rather like both!

[Tim V]

Talking of panniers - check out the latest Dapol offering.
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... msearch__1

[Jonathan Wells]

The improvement on RTR over the last 15 years have encouraged me to look at P4 because I felt that the mutterings about millimetre sized discrepancies on RTR OO models all overlook the massive discrepancy in the model track gauge!!

I have 4 RTR OO locos of recent vintage ( Hornby Black 5, Bachmann J39, 9F and B1 ) and I was reasonably impressed with the details on those models and plan to convert them to P4 eventually. What puts me off as they come is that they ALL have wobbly wheels and waggle like crazy on the rolling roads! As I strongly desire to achieve wobble free running on all my locos, this puts me off sticking with OO - I might as well go P4 if I have to change the wheels to rectify that!

Diesel outline RTR I found generally have smoother mechanisms and have much less wobble. I found that my Heljan class 15 and ( second batch ) class 17 are both SO smooth and wobble free!