Markits, PO Box 40, Watford, Herts, WD24 6TN

Tel: 01923 249711

Email: markits@btinternet.com

Website: www.markits.com

Product Review by Charles Oldroyd

Mark Arscott has recently supplied some of his extensive range of 7mm products for review. These include wheelsets, buffers and loco cranks. Starting with the wheels, these are produced in solid stainless steel and are chemically blackened with bright treads. They are insulated at the axle and, being solid, add useful weight to plastic or resin vehicles. The samples supplied all ran true and were very crisply finished. The Mansell coach wheels were particularly impressive. A pair of axles with bearings cost £10.94, regardless of type. Moving to the sprung buffers, we examined LBSC clipped oval coach and RCH/BR short shank round wagon varieties. The head and shank are, again, produced from stainless steel with housings in machined brass. The quality looked excellent and, being machined, needed no finishing. The oval buffers had an internal stop to prevent the heads rotating. Wagon buffers are £10.88 per set of four and the coach buffers are £17.58. I also examined loco wheel crankpins and a pair of return cranks, also produced from stainless steel. The appearance and machining quality is once again first rate, with robust fixings to both wheels and coupling rods. Especially impressive is the representation of the prototype's four-bolt fixing on the return crank. Crankpins are £4.64 per pair and the return cranks £12.00 per pair. All in all, these are components produced to the highest standards and are recommended without hesitation. They can be obtained direct from Markits or from Roxey Mouldings.. Prices quoted are for goods supplied by Markits and include VAT.