Not necessarily, in the early days of the 16mm Association members used to make engines out of cornflake boxes and dog food cans and so on But the downdside is, of course, its hard to make detailed models of real prototypes this way.Matt wrote:Yeah, that's the main problem with our hobby, it's very, very expensive.
One engine that I'd like to see would be a R&ER 3 foot gauge tank loco. They've never been produced as far as i know, and I think they would be very sucsessful on the 45mm market.
I'm not sure they'd catch on TBH, there seems to be a dissappointing lack of interest in 3' in garden railways What I'd really love to see is the Isle of Man Railway locos in live steam - the Accucraft models are beautiful but cost far more than I'd be willing to pay for an electric loco.