The engineers saloon has been test built and is now available.
Most of the LMS and pre-LMS sides from the 'Limited Edition' 2mm side range are now back in stock. The etches for the LNER TPO and for the Hawksworth Engineers Saloon are also now here and will be released over the next 3 months hopefully.
At the 2mmSA 50th anniversary we released the first Maunsell coaches and the return of the Midland PC Models etches shrunk from 4mm to 2mm. It was good to meet everyone. Also back in the range are the CR detailing parts which we rediscovered.
Bulleid ends are back in stock. Oval coach buffers are now in stock. This means all the parts for the Maunsell coaches are finally present and accounted for.
The range has now been further widened.
I hope to make progress on the UM16xx (ex PC Models) pregrouping stock very soon. Work has also started on completing the GWR TPO vehicles (L21/2/5) from the old Ultima company that were never finished.
TPO is now back in stock. Bulleid coach ends are on back order instead.
TPO stock is on back order, but I hope to have some more soon. Various additional bits of white metal are back in production and have been added to the catalogue.
Conversion underframes are now in stock for the Thompson conversion of the Farish Mark 1.
The UM1320 TPO stowage and sorting vans are now in stock.
Artwork has now gone to the etchers for the Thomson underframe conversion to go with the vinyl sides. Along with this should be the re-release of UM1320 with an etched underframe and production versions of the etched Maunsell battery boxes.
The Thompson set is now released and available. Maunsell instructions are
still in progress. 63ft Thompson N scale vinyl sides are now also available
for some coach types. These use a cleared Farish Mark 1 coach shell for the
conversion. Suitable bogies are available from the NGS, and for those who
want to do a thorough job a conversion kit
of etched solebars, battery box and white metal detailing, plus roof vents
and diagrams will follow soon.
Test side:
![[Thompson side test]](news-img/news-vinyl-thomp.jpg)
Royal mail prices rise very soon, and our postage prices will unfortunately have to follow.
Various new items have arrived. Some still need instructions writing or updating. We hope to have everything back up and running by the 18th.
The items to be re-released are as follows
The new items to be released once the instructions are completed are
Two other reworking projects are also under way. The 42ft LMS CCT is getting a rework as a fold up etched shell rather than the old aluminium and white metal floor and ends, while the SR royal mail stock is awaiting an etched floor design.
The first test runs of modern cut vinyl sides using the old Ultima artwork are now receiving some tweaking. In theory given the right data the software can render anything Stanier ever built that was smooth sided - at least, for the moment, providing you want it in lined BR Maroon.
Thompson 52ft4 test build.
![[Thompson 52ft4 Coach]](/news-img/ThompsonTest.jpg)
What I hope will prove to the production version of the Maunsell coaches has gone for etching. The initial vehicles are:
Aluminium roof profile and van floor profile has arrived. Various GWR brown vehicles and coaches are now therefore back in stock.
Fixed a bug on the web site where Gresley kits couldn't be ordered. Also added a feature to indicate items that have not been re-introduced but where the N Gauge society has old stock available to members.
The Maunsell test got a basic assembly test today including underframe. Some small glitches found as a result will need reworking as expected. This will now get fully built and detailed and used to produce the instruction sheets as well as to figure out how to produce an interior.
Any interest in Maunsell era Thanet stock ?
Sorry for the delays in getting the monsters/giants available, the Royal Mail have managed to lose the roofs for the moment.
Maunsells are progressing as a joint project using the Bulleid Roof/End parts, a new etched floor/truss rods and the existing Etched Pixels sides and duckets.
Most of the Gresley coaches are now available using etched floors. The triplet set can't use a standard etched floor so for the moment remains unavailable.
Hawksworth stock is now available except for the sleeper. The sleeper should follow shortly once we've verified all the parts.
Hawksworth and Gresley coach floor test etches are completed and built. We hope to have the Gresley and Hawksworth coaches available in the new year. Bogies for the Hawksworth are still under investigation.
We are also experimenting in transferring the LMS printed sides to vinyl on clear plastic. Depending on the success of this some of the LMS sides will be made available again on a "print on demand" basis.
New release by popular request is the BR Mark 1 inspection saloon. This consists of the necessary sides and ends to convert a Graham Farish by BG into a Mark 1 inspection saloon.
Some roofs are on back order, we hope to have a new batch soon but that depends upon the effects of the Christmas post
The following new items are available:
We are currently working on roofs for the GWR monster/giant vans, roofs for the other GWR printed side coaches, and Hawksworth coach floors. As these are resolved further full kits will be introduced. We can supply monsters and giants without roof if you wish to make your own in the meantime. Send an email if you are interested.
The Thompson matchboard corridor full brake is now available again. The 63ft underframe and the Carflat are now being sold as kits and not etches and include the correct white metal parts.
Plastic roofs have now arrived. We have stocks of the roof mouldings for the Gresley and Bulleid coaches as well as Hawksworth roofs and ends. This also means that some of the old Farish conversion kits are now available.
The web site has had a bit of styling exercise done on it. The images have also been trimmed to sensible sizes. Now that the production and supply side is more under control expect the web site to continue to improve.
Large quantities of the white metal parts are now listed and available for order along with many of the etched components. We hope to have roofs in the next couple of weeks and at that point begin re-releasing some of the full kits.
The following conversion kits can now be reproduced but subject to a minimum of ten confirmed orders @£7.50 per set (£10/set for the Inspection Saloon as it also includes ends). Lower prices for a larger volume order. Most of these were designed to fit the Mike Howarth shells (often with some adjustment).
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| UME1001 | LMS 50ft Full Brake |
| UME1020 | LMS 50ft Inspection Saloon (with ends) |
| UME1026 | LMS 42ft BGV |
| UME1045 | LMS 60ft P4 open first (porthole) |
| UME1046 | LMS 57ft Full Brake |
| UME1047 | LMS 60ft P4 corridor composite (porthole) |
| UME1048 | LMS 60ft P4 corridor brake first (porthole) |
| UME1049 | LMS 57ft P4 corridor third (porthole) |
| UME1051 | LMS 60ft P4 corridor first (porthole) |
| UME1054 | LMS 57ft P4 corridor brake third (porthole) |
Online ordering is now available.
Ultima products can now be ordered by cheque payable to Ultima Model Engineering Ltd, 571 Southmead Road, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, BS10 5NL. P&P is £2 or by paypal (email and we will send you an invoice). The shopping cart will be up in the next few days.
A list of re-released items is available here. There are some code changes because electronic ordering needs a unique code for each item, which the original Ultima catalogue does not have. The actual digit part of the code has been kept the same to assist people in finding the right parts.