[neil_s_wood]

Whether a kits any good or not really depends on the manufacturer and whether they can be bothered putting in decent instructions.

I've found the German plastic kits Vollmer Faller, all pretty good. The Walthers plastic ones are good but DPM are a bit vague on instructions.

Metcalfe are pretty good, Superquik are a bit lacking instructions wise. Hornby and Peco kits are pretty easy but they are also pretty basic. The Town street models are straight forward to assemble. The main issue is getting plaster to stick to plaster.

I only ever attempted one loco kit which was an Australian one. Can't remember the makers name, was from somewhere in New South Wales though. That pretty much put me off. It was awkward to assemble and ended up costing more than

a ready to run and to be honest it doesn't look that great. At the end of the day while I enjoy making kits, I am going to spend more time running a train than building it. So after that experience I no longer bother with Loco kits. While after building a few you may gain the skills to make perfect kit loco, I don't have the money to waste with the first few attempts going wrong.