Hi Hester,
I attend quite a few of the southern shows for the S7 Group, demonstrating and giving advice on the stand, and obviously this question does come up quite often...
There are a lot of people out there that say they wont model in Scale7 because it's more difficult and more expensive, and that life isn't long enough, to which my answer is generally along the lines that two of those points are true..
Yes, it does cost that little bit more for wheel profiling, wider frame spacer material from the stores, or home cut versions which I make from sheet brass etc, but it's not a huge amount, and well worth the improvement in running and appearance.
Yes, it does take a little more skill, as you will more than likely need to spring your chassis' and when it comes to outside cylinder and valve gear engines, there is a little jiggery pokery involved to get the distance you need between slidebars and coupling rods etc....
Yes, it takes a little longer to build to Scale7 standards, rather than pulling some etches out of a box and soldering them together..
Is life long enough for Scale7? Deffinitely.. I Started building in Scale7 with very little experience in around 2008, built a scale7 J68 in a week, and I now have 5 finished engines, 3 with inside valve gear ( 1 of which won the Telford competition in 2011 - shameless plug!) and numerous wagons and coaches. I have another 4 engines which are nearing completion too.
When I'm speaking to people on the stand, I ask one question.. If they are a member of a modelling society, and that society only has current or future leanings towards o/FS then I might suggest it's probably best not to model in Scale7. If you want to be involved in the pinnacle of 7mm railway modelling sign up...
Videos...
J68 in 7 days..
Running quality of S7
I hope this helps..
JB.