Went to a model railway exhibition at the 'Head Of Steam' at Darlington today, and there, in a glass case, is a little 3 1/2 inch gauge Rob Roy, donated I think by the family of some deceased old boy. Never having been up close to a small locomotive such as this, I came away with even more of a desire to construct one. Having spent the last few years building vintage model aircraft from balsa, which to be honest are very ephemeral, this thing was a big hunk of very physical metal, and I can see where all the hours of painstaking work go.
My hat is off to anyone who manages to complete even one of these, and I know of people who have done several.