I know a thing or two about simplexes, I'd say they're probaly one of my specialist subjects. So when it came down to it I wanted a simplex or two for my railway. The oppurtunity then arose to build the first one, a bonnet, cab & base plate for a 20/28 h.p Simplex sighted on eBay for £15, as far as I was concerned these were the tough bits to make for a loco, so they were duly purchased along with a I.P budget chassis and four-wheel drive set.
I'm not going to go in to huge detail of the construction as I feel that's better left to a magazine such as '16mm Today' or perhaps 'Garden Rail'. The parts were assembled and a loco sprung from that, encountering a fair few problems along the way. The side frames were cut from steel plate found in the scraps at Boston Lodge, and the radiator and small simplex detailing parts came from the nice people at Cambrian Models. It requires the final 'touching up' of the paint, weathering and also a few finishing touches. I'm very happy with my first attempt at scratch building a loco. I'll post some more photos when I finish it.
I wonder who that was! 