We first saw this engine, not quite complete at Harrogate in 2009. In 2010 it was back, and carried off a 1st award and the Precision Paints Award for the Best Finished Model.

Flash Gordon is built to 1:6 scale and a typical example of a Big Lion showman’s engine. The model is numbered 14847, the full-size version of which was built for E Cox of Codnor, Derbyshire and originally named The Adjutant. It does not seem to have survived.

Construction of the model was started in the 1970s by Bill Whittaker of Bolton, who obtained drawings and castings from the H R Plaistow firm. Eventually it was put on hold whole other projects were undertaken. Sadly, Bill died in 2002.

The build was taken up by Alan Crossfield in 2006, but the drawings were in poor condition and of little use. Plaistow had stopped trading and although Stuart Models took it over and then another supplier, and the drawings were no longer available to him. Most of the information had to come from photographs and preserved examples.

The result is a fine model.