28 May 2021
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Never lost for things to talk about, Rick Wilson delves into his model stash to share his favourites.
Having a wide range of transport interests means that my collection inevitably reflects this variance. From a very young age, anything that moves on rails has been of great interest and this extends to trams both old and new. My enthusiasm for this particular area has been heightened in recent years through my ongoing involvement with Tramways and Urban Transit magazine but there is one type of classic tram that is a real favourite of mine.
CKD Tatra's incredible T3 design is nearly 60 years old but is still working in large numbers in the Czech Republic and notably so in the city where it was manufactured, Prague. Nearly 14,000 units were produced between 1962 and 1997 but such has been their usefulness, the cars have been modernised several times over.
The original design was an evolution of its predecessor, the T2, but the new front end has truly become an icon in the world of tramways – so much so that it was carried over to its successor, the T4 too.
In early 2019, Premium Classixxs released its marvellous replication of this wonderful vehicle in 1/43 scale and I had to add it to the smaller but just as appealing Atlas partwork release in 1/87 that was already on display at home. The latter lacks some of the detail of its bigger sibling but was a snip at just £15 compared to the RRP of £112.99 for the 1/43 version.
Even cheaper, but not so much value as it is a fairly basic and rather toylike 1/87 scale release, is one by Abtonpom from Russia. At £9.99 it lacks a lot of detail but does have the charm of the much-loved Prague livery.