WARREN KERFOOT discusses the high points of the Dornaplas range.
For the scratch-builder in OO and N there’s a real unsung hero in the Gaugemaster range... Dornaplas!
The series offers some really exciting possibilities for the UK modeller and, in tough times for the wallet, these are inexpensive and great value for money. From complete buildings to make Terraced or Detached Houses to the well depicted Station Buildings, Waiting Rooms, and Goods Yard buildings... each around a modest price point for some really good looking and prototypical British railway structures.
However, there’s another dimension to this range... the builder’s packs of Windows, Doors, Chimneys, Gutters, Valancing and more. The OO Sash Windows are a particular favourite of mine, available in different pane combinations and sizes these are neat mouldings, very crisp, flash fee and consistently robust, and these come in useful quantity packs, so a row of houses or a factory, where repetition is the key, can be done easily.
Again, these are at bargain prices compared to our other UK brands that give you less in the packet and a variety that isn’t anything like as useful.
And, the joy of the range doesn’t end there, Point Levers, as well defined as whitemetal, but more of them for less money. Gravestones... Window Louvres... Bicycle Sheds... Railway Huts... Platform Kits... Outside Loos... the list goes on! And again, this bargain range isn’t brought to you at the expense of quality. These are always well defined sturdy items and inexpensive to buy.
I think this range is spectacular and gives modellers the chance to try scratch-building without the fear of the price of etched windows and doors and in plastic which we’re all used to working with and bonding.
Here’s a tall signal box in progress on my OO layout using these very same DPB21 and DPB22 windows to depict an LMS arrangement I wanted to try and achieve... the low relief factory behind uses the Dornaplas industrial windows.
