Hi Ian
Thanks for the feedback.
On recommendation by AKA47 I have decided to follow the heater block rout pioneered by nophead. Adrian has posted an updated hot end design on the wiki
here which has links to suppliers for the resistors...
I have asked Leeds metal Supermarket for a quote on aluminium and brass rod to make the block from. Once I get feedback from them I will post info here.
All in all I think the heater block is more elegant and tidier than nichrome so no longer looking for nichrome.
Having said that, I may consider it when I get to build my heated bed... that is still months away.
Cheers