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MRJ 218


MartinWales

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Picked mine up from 53A Models here in Hull this lunchtime......

 

Editor is Paul Karau......

 

Contents.

The Way Ahead by Don Rowland

Break Time at Hornsey by Kier Hardy

Schull and Skibbereen in 6mm by Roger Bird

LNWR two arm ground signal by Steve Hewitt

Brent Plus by Peter Cross

Bradfield Gloucester Square part 3 by John Elliott

 

Great cover pic......A Deltic !!!

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Just arrived through my letterbox, pleasant surprise even though I have to work today so won't be able to get a good read until later.

 

Another good issue IMO. Don Rowland going full steam ahead with radio control at the age of 82; another masterpiece of urban blues from Kier Hardy (but all in b/w apart from the cover); and a lovely portfolio pic of a sloping, rambling market garden on p266.

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Not my favourite issue.

Good to see the latest creation from Wibble.

Most, all? of the construction articles are very much minority interest areas, none of which ring my bell.

The strange colour cast problem in some photos that was around a few issues ago has come back.

The LNWR signal article is ruined, for me at least, by the use of "snap shots" rather than "technical photographs".

Bernard

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Just arrived through my letterbox, pleasant surprise even though I have to work today so won't be able to get a good read until later.

 

Another good issue IMO. Don Rowland going full steam ahead with radio control at the age of 82; another masterpiece of urban blues from Kier Hardy (but all in b/w apart from the cover); and a lovely portfolio pic of a sloping, rambling market garden on p266.

 

You've highlighted the articles that are most appealing to me and I wish the photos of Keir's layout had been in colour. As someone for whom the idea of layout wiring is akin to the thought of having one's teeth feathers pulled, I'm particularly looking forward to reading Don Rowland's Radio Control piece. I like Bradfield Gloucester Square but five pages (with lots of meaningless white space and that could have been condensed into three) on operation is too much for me.

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If this issue does not have immediate appeal, fear not: come back to it in a year or two. By that time someone will have taken the notion of radio control a lot further, like putting it in a 2mm scale Terrier. Someone else will have had the brilliant notion of exhibiting Hornsey Broadway alongside Copenhagen Fields for there are common factors. I'm not sure how many steeply inclined market gardens will grace future layouts but having seen the Portfolio pic of Robert Dudley-Cooke's offering I can forgive him for not describing how somebody else made his Ocean Liner saloons in the last issue! The exposition of Bradfield Gloucester Square's timetabling should be seen as space well allocated and how I wish that using Microsoft Access as the basis had occurred to me when I was sent on an Access training course to a converted water mill somewhere in Cambridgeshire towards the end of my working life. Brent Plus is a perfect illustration of the concept of the parallel universe which cropped up when we were discussing Dr Who a while back.

 

I shall come back to MRJ218 when the time comes to tackle double ground discs and I have the necessary courage (Dutch or otherwise) to deal with them ...

 

Chris

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Only managed a brief sift whilst at Uckfield show on Saturday... whilst by lad was encouraging me to look at mroe of the layouts. The front cover certainly got my attention and will be causing me a little mroe of a rethink on where my diorama ideas were going... yes, looks like it's been done now. It would have been nice to have seen more in colour inside, but that I would think that wouldn't I.

 

Jon

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Got my copy today - this has to be a classic edition, I've rarely seen so many excellent articles between the covers of one mag. The Hornsey layout is absolutely amazing - I'm no fan of diesels, but the sheer quality of it knocks me over. Love the Schull and Skibbereen article - Roger Bird is obviously a bloke who goes to great lengths to get things right, like nipping over to Donegal to look at a set of valve gear. (Makes me ashamed that I find it hard work to travel to NRM York!) And so much more, including Don Rowland, one of my all time heroes. Thank you MRJ! That's the rest of Monday written off.

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Is 218 ever going to reach WH Smith's north of the border?

WHS have yet to distribute MRJ 218 in many parts of the UK but during today's call to their distributor, it was claimed that most shops should receive their allocated copies on 25.10 - that's tomorrow.I hope that this helps.Tim

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I too was interested in Don Rowland's article about wireless layouts. I remember him writing a few years ago about the potential of Red Arrow but the system disappeared for a while after Bernard Weller's death. I also saw a demonstration of a similar system at Scalefour North earlier this year and the proprietor said that he was due to demonstrate at Scalefourum but whether this happened I don't know. Around the time of the original appearance of Red Arrow I recall an article by Andy Farquarson who tried out the system in both a 4mm and a 7mm loco but I can't place where the article appeared. Can anyone remember? Unlike the rather large and unwieldly PP3 battery than Don has shoe-horned into an LNWR tender, Andy used circular, button type batteries which strike me as being a rather better solution than a clunky PP3. Andy also fitted them into tank locomotives, something which I can see causing Don a problem when he tries to get a PP3 into a Jinty!

I have a suspicion that a DCC-style decoder allied to battery technology may be the real future and all the wiring that we currently wrestle with may come to look impossibly old hat. The only problem I can see is that which, on a larger scale, dogs the electric car and that is getting the required output for the longest period from the smallest battery. As any possible solution is still unlikely to have a application suitable to 2FS it may just persuade me to try something larger . . .

 

David

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firstly I must admit I haven't got my hands on a copy of 218 yet, but i have to agree with ChrisF's comment "If this issue does not have immediate appeal, fear not: come back to it in a year or two". I inherited what was a full set (at the time) of MRJ from number 0 from my late father who also contributed a couple of articles over the years. I have continued to purchase the latest issues as they have become available. I continually find myself going back through them finding articles about an item I am working on or looking for inspiration on a particular idea towards a layout that might get built or a technique in a "how to" article. During the "research" i often find articles which at the time were read and passed by, but are now relevant or of interest as either my interests have changed or developed over the years, or because i have got further with a project, for example a signalling article will be relevant which it may not have been 5 or 7 years ago.

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I too was interested in Don Rowland's article about wireless layouts. I remember him writing a few years ago about the potential of Red Arrow but the system disappeared for a while after Bernard Weller's death. I also saw a demonstration of a similar system at Scalefour North earlier this year and the proprietor said that he was due to demonstrate at Scalefourum but whether this happened I don't know. Around the time of the original appearance of Red Arrow I recall an article by Andy Farquarson who tried out the system in both a 4mm and a 7mm loco but I can't place where the article appeared. Can anyone remember? Unlike the rather large and unwieldly PP3 battery than Don has shoe-horned into an LNWR tender, Andy used circular, button type batteries which strike me as being a rather better solution than a clunky PP3. Andy also fitted them into tank locomotives, something which I can see causing Don a problem when he tries to get a PP3 into a Jinty!

 

Yes the system at Scalefour North was also shown at Scaleforum.

 

Andy Farquarson did a review of Red Arrow in Scalefour News #95.

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Yes the system at Scalefour North was also shown at Scaleforum.

 

Andy Farquarson did a review of Red Arrow in Scalefour News #95.

 

Thanks for the confirmation about the demo at Scaleforum.

 

I'm not a member of the Scalefour Society so does anyone know if the review appeared in another magazine or journal?

 

David

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WHS have yet to distribute MRJ 218 in many parts of the UK but during today's call to their distributor, it was claimed that most shops should receive their allocated copies on 25.10 - that's tomorrow.I hope that this helps.Tim

 

The operative word is 'most'

 

 

Tim

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Read the Keir hardy Hornsey article today - stonking good stuff. Grimy, run down 70's grunge perfectly captured. I was also a spotter in those years and the memories came flooding back - brilliant.

 

Keir had a couple of boards of this layout at the small one day show we did in Cheltenham earlier in the year and its every bit as good in the flesh. Very much looking forward to seeing it in all its glory.

 

Jerry

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Arrived today, so browsed whilst reclining in my pit with a cuppa and choccy digestives! (Rest day for me!).

 

Very interesting article by Don R re the radio control.

 

I have often thought about trying to bash something up using a cheapy rtr model as a starter.

 

I picked up a car for way less than a tenner in Model Zone a couple of weeks ago so maybe its time to have a look.

 

An interesting editorial to, a lesson for us all perhaps?

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