Peter I find the "Billy" to be an odd model. I chose it over the other more "British" looking engines partly because my personality demands that I do everything differently from everyone else, and partly because I like the way the smokebox saddle sits a bit higher than the other engines. I think if I had been more informed I would have ordered the "simply 7/8ths" 16mm body kit instead of finishing the engine in its present "Koppelly" look. I do not actually find Koppel engines to be particularly aesthetically pleasing due to the blocky well-tank frames and the spartan bodywork that does nothing to alleviate the blocky look. On "Billy" however, the outside frames, fat boiler, large low-slung cylinders and somewhat softened body lines make the engine look more "British" than a real Koppel engine. Now that I've done the engine up with British 16mm accessories, and a tender, I'm left wondering how I would explain its existence from a "scale" point of view. I've decided that it represents (a fictitious) one of Barclay's later efforts using Koppel design ideas on a bespoke outside-framed tender locomotive for an imaginary railway. That way I can glue on whatever details I think make the engine look the way I like without having to do any research to try and find a prototype.
I've settled on a DJB whistle, locoworks running boards and mechanical lubricator pipework, various bits and bobs for boiler "plumbing", some buffer-beam overlays and new couplers from swift 16, and a couple of other things, maybe a new dart for the smokebox, and then I will leave it alone. Except maybe lining as well.
I'm not trying to express any anti-Koppel or anti-Barclay sentiments here, it's just that I don't find the engines very attractive but at the same time I do like the Roundhouse "Billy". Which is weird but I bought the "Billy" kits before I knew what a "Koppel" was!