Nigel Lawton OO9 Simplex part 1 - opening the box and references.

I've wanted to build one of Nigel Lawton's tiny OO9 locos for a while now, partly because both of the kits that he produces are of small internal combustion prototypes, partly because they're finely detailed scale models and partly because they're interesting kits with rather unusual drive systems...

The Simplex type chosen for the kit is a 1916 20 h.p. 'bent frame' petrol loco, a good choice of prototype as 950 were built for war service (supplying the front line), and a good many were sold into industrial sevice after the war. So the loco is suitable not only for WW1 layouts but also for virtually any narrow gauge post war layout. Many were fitted with diesel engines post war, Simplex themselves could either carry out the conversion or supply a kit of parts. A few survived into the 60s and beyond in industrial service.

The kit is complete, everything that you need to build a complete model is in the box (including liquid lead!) apart from solder, glue and paint, which is quite common in the OO9 world but rare outside of narrow gauge modelling.

The kit comes in a plasic box usefully sized to house the finished loco (I like that);

Instructions cover 8 sides of A4, and are pretty comprehensive. They can be viewed as a pdf on Nigel's website, usefull not only because you can see whats involved before buying but also the photos in the instructions can be blown up on screen to give a clearer image.

Two nickel silver etches are included, one for the chassis and a seperate etch for the body. I do note that spares are included for some of the smaller parts, again something that I like to see.
Body etch;

And chassis;

As for the rest of the parts, 12(!) zip lock bags contain a selection of castings, pulleys, micro-motor, drive belts, bearings etc.
Here's the motor, wheels, and a selection of pulleys;

I'm not a military modeller but mine will be finished in war department livery as a loco that has been sold off for further use in industry (pulling skips...). A driver figure is included, however the figure is in uniform so he'll be substituted for a Simplex driver from Geoff Stevens range.

References:

The Early Years of the Motor Rail & Tramcar Company by W.J.K. Davies, published by Plateway Press.
A Guide to Simplex Narrow Gauge Locomotives by D.R. Hall and J.A.S. Rowlands, published by The Moseley Railway Trust.
Narrow Gauge at War and Narrow Gauge at War 2, both by Keith Taylorson and both published by Plateway Press.
Narrow Gauge & Industrial Railway Modelling issues 38 and 39.

Paul.