# Aster Castle kit



## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

Has anyone built or in the building process of the new Castle kit?


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## AsterUK (Jan 2, 2008)

Hello Dan, quite a few have been built here in the UK and run (snow permitting) without problems. There was a write-up in the latest G1MRA Newsletter. 

I know I am biased but the Aster Castle is an excellent runner and looks great with polished copper chimney and many brass fittings! I was talking to Geoff Calver an hour ago and he remarked on the ease of building the Castle compared to other recent Asters.

If you need any spacific information then please ask me and we will do our best.

Andrew


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## tony23 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dan Pantages on 02/03/2009 10:24 AM
Has anyone built or in the building process of the new Castle kit?


I see you are an Aster dealer have you not sold any then?


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## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

I have sold some, but none of my customers has put theirs together yet. I was just collecting any information about how others did. As you can see there are no problems with this engine.


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Dan,
I understood that as a dealer, Hans supplied you, free of charge, with a kit of each of the new locos so that you could put them together and test them.
Maybe I have my facts wrong here!
However, if you would like to buy one, and then supply me with the kit, I'll do it for you!!
All the best,
David Leech,
Delta, Canada


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

As Mr Pullen notes - the build write-up by David Stick in the newsletter is a good read. The loco shown in his photos is truly an amazing piece of fine work...if I was a rich bear it would have to be the GWR version for me.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## deWintonDave (Jan 5, 2008)

Just out of curiosity, how much does this Aster Kit retail for?

Dave.


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## RP3 (Jan 5, 2008)

Dave I don't have the exact price in my head but it is more than the GN S2! - kit or factory built. One has to pay dearly for the extra two cylinders. 

Ross


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By RP3 on 02/04/2009 6:04 AM
Dave I don't have the exact price in my head but it is more than the GN S2! - kit or factory built. One has to pay dearly for the extra two cylinders. 

Ross


I think that that comment is over-simplfying the matter. The Castle is a lot smaller than the S-2- and has correspondingly a great many more smaller parts, even excluding the 'extra two cylinders' that you note, seemingly disparagingly.

Smaller does not necessarily mean cheaper - sorry, more economical. But it *IS* a case of 'small is beautiful' and it is without doubt the most beautiful model of any Great Western locomotive I have ever seen.

So please feel free, as I did many years ago, to try and build from scratch, a four-cylinder locomotive with four sets of valve gear between the frames, and do it 'cheaply'.

I did it in 00 scale, four millimetres to the foot, in nickel silver, and it drove me bats. It also costed out as the most expensive 00 scale model I had ever built for anybody before or since, but I was very torn about actually letting the new owner take it off me, even for the disproportionately large amount of money he paid me. Three months later, it was advertised in the 'Railway modeller' by the guy who had bought it, for three times what he had paid, and with a claim that HE had built it for a client who then could not afford it. Grrrrrr. 

As I only know the UK prices for a kit and a built-up model, I'll not say any more.

tac
http://www.ovgrs.orf/
G1MRA #3641


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## RP3 (Jan 5, 2008)

Tac, you read too much into my words but succeeded only in misrepresenting them. I didn't oversimplify and I didn't disparage; I stated the fact that the Castle costs more than an S2. 

The Castle is an expensive model. It is small and it is intricate with it's two extra cylinders. I'm sure it was difficult to construct, and that difficulty (together with unfavorable foreign exchange trends) contributed to its relatively hefty price -- even by Aster standards. Whether it should cost more than an S2 is anybody's guess. Others will judge whether it is worth the price or not, and I wish Andrew the best success in selling his stock of this model. 

Ross Schlabach


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Dear Mr Schlabach - I guess the world-wide economic recession hasa lot to do with international pricing these days.

My advice is to buy a 'Castle' now.

Our friend Mr Wright makes some VERY nice passenger cars to haul behind it - I'm certain that he would oblige you in that respect, and a rake of eight or ten would look pretty good. The 'Castle' would hardly notice. 

tac
http://www.ovgrs.org/
G1MRA #3641


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## tony23 (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow Tac, as I know you seem to look at costs the Castle with 8-10 wrightways coaches would cost around £10,000 now that's ridiculous


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By tony23 on 02/05/2009 7:35 AM
Wow Tac, as I know you seem to look at costs the Castle with 8-10 wrightways coaches would cost around £10,000 now that's ridiculous










No comment.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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