I got into 7mm modelling way back in 1984 as a result of Webster releasing their very nice injection-moulded kit for a GWR 'Toad' brake van. As my main modelling interest has always been wagon building it seemed an obvious thing to try - I glued it together as soon as I got it out of the box and was immediately hooked on O gauge! I still have this, my ever 7mm model, tucked away in the loft. It was never quite finished (note the lack of weathering and varnish over the transfers) and one or two bits have broken over the years, but it's an interesting curio. This kit is still available from Peco, as is the GWR open wagon next to it.
My second purchase was a Slaters private owner coal wagon. I wasn't very impressed with the poor quality of the lettering on this kit, so my interest in 7mm vanished as quickly as it had arrived. Seeing other examples at exhibitions months later I realised that I'd been unfortunate enough to receive a rogue kit, but at the time I just assumed it was another example of the sub-standard rubbish the UK modeller has to put up with and went back to modelling US prototypes.
With renewed confidence most of my wagon building moved into 7mm, Slaters kits being popular with me at the time as I was fascinated by the colourful private owner liveries available. This example is unfinished, as always, but at least I'd got an excuse now. In order to get a layout operational in a new scale I was busy assembling kits to a 'good enough to run' standard with the intention of revisiting them later for interior detailing, weathering, etc. Of course, this didn't always happen...
Unlike many modellers of my vintage I was NOT tempted into O gauge by the various models that Lima released in the 1970s. I found these to be disgustingly crude, despite the undeniably attractive pricing. The 4F in the photo was given to me by a colleague many years ago and as it was free I thought I'd have a go at sprucing it up. I went as far as buying a chassis for it before losing interest - it was never going to make a convincing 4F no matter what I did to it.
Similarly Lima's rather questionable attempt at a Class 33 left me cold. The example pictured here is another freebie, I fitted some screw couplings and sprung buffers that I had lying around, but the dreadful performance of the pancake motor meant I was unwilling to waste any more time or money on the thing.
7mm modelling normally means building locos yourself, from kits in my case as I have no interest in scratchbuilding the damned things. As a LNWR and Midland enthusiast I found no shortage of kits to entice the trusty credit card from the depths of my wallet, although if memory serves my first few were actually GWR locos from Springside that were receiving favourable press at the time.
As I used to be quite a prolific kit builder I can't remember who produced this Johnson 0-4-4T, but I have a vague feeling it might be a Slaters offering. The example here was a casualty in our last house move - I have the missing parts somewhere but no inclination to repair it, I'm afraid.
Almost all of my 7mm pre-grouping stock, along with similar P4 models, was sold a couple of years ago to fund my return to modelling modern prototypes. This example survives purely because the damage made it unattractive to buyers at the time. I'll probably fix it next time I'm short of cash...
I never did have the pile of unbuilt kits in 7mm that I've got in 4mm, no doubt because of the price, but I do still have a few kicking around. I didn't sell these as they wouldn't command the premium price that a nicely constructed, ready-to-use model would - I thought I might as well keep them in case I ever felt like a spot of soldering and swearing.
These days I primarily build diesel & electric era wagons, such as these Parkside examples seen under construction. Unlike many people I've never found locomotives anywhere near as interesting as a nice, rusty wagon. I suppose I'll have to build a loco or three before long, but I find I can't motivate myself when there are still wagons out there that need assembling!
I've never felt entirely comfortable with having a model built for me by somebody else. I don't know why, because logically it's not much different to buying a 4mm ready-to-run model from Hornby or Heljan, but somehow it feels like cheating. Giving my guilt-management techniques a thorough testing, then, is this 7mm Class 37, professionally built from a DJH kit by Keith Barber. Although currently lacking a few detail parts it still makes an interesting comparison with the diminutive 4mm equivalent from Bachmann.
A similar comparison using wagons - a 4mm Lima PGA and it's 7mm equivalent. The latter was picked up secondhand and is somewhat battered - the kit is currently made by Nigel Stanley Models.