Rumblestripe

You were the highlight of the show for me. For me the effect of the layout is almost to elevate me, the viewer approaching the layout, to the feeling of being a skylark soaring above a valley in the northern fells. The sinew like curves are utterly beguiling and on closer inspection not a single element dominates. In some layouts the scenery dominates or the rolling stock not here you have achieved a coherent image. A triumph.

Twas a grand day out indeed. If anyone is thinking of going don't think twice, some superb layouts and excellent traders. Oh and the steak pie was a triumph! Car Parking was a little tricky, the signage was so low that it was obscured by a parked car. If you are going and assuming you have good mobility I recommend parking at the far end of the car park which is better drained and less "claggy" - to use a good Yorkshire phrase. Well done and thank you all who worked so hard to put the show on.

One thing to bear in mind when weathering your structures is how long they have been there. So your Victorian terrace behind your pre-Grouping station is only perhaps a decade old ,so go easy on the weathering. For example, lichen on concrete is VERY slow growing. So your 60s concrete signal box is unlikely to be covered in lichen spots in the 70s. Of course in steam days the houses will get smuts all over them from the those dreadful "Iron Horse" thingies...

Many moons ago I was a young student at Liverpool University pleased to discover Hattons in Smithdown Road was close by to my halls in North Moseley Hill Road. So it feels like another little bit of my youth has gone. A sad day indeed. I'd just like to echo other's thoughts on here for the staff and those affected by this closure.

The Wickham looks fantastic, but the standout for me is your figure modelling, lovely depiction of a couple of characters perfectly portrayed.

No she went of her own accord... If the town doesn't look too combative I might brave Smiffs in the morning otherwise it can wait till post Chrimbo. Contents looks good mind.

Well this is a most surprising turn of events. What a lovely bit of news to start the week. I do hope that the trader who did the right thing doesn't end up out of pocket. Will the insurance reimburse him?

There is a very useful website that may help you find appropriate model paints. The site quoted by @Moxy gives you the RAL reference number. Open this website https://www.modelshade.com/paint-conversion-chart/ and choose the option for "RAL Colours" So we can find a wide choice of equivalents for those shades Cinnamon/ Ducks foot is RAL 8001 in Vallejo Model Color 70.865 "Ochre Brown" Purple Brown/Burnt Umber is RAL 8016 Vallejo Model Color 70.985 "Hull Red" Cream is RAL 1015 Vallejo Model Color 70.837 "Pale Sand" It also gives Humbrol, Revell, Tamiya, Testors and AK matches though some of them are not very close. For example for the cream shade the site suggests Tamiya Flat Flesh which is way too pink. But it can give you some good options outside of Railway colours. Vallejo in particular has a huge colour range and also a considerable range of airbrush ready shades in the "Model Air" range. Where there are no RAL colour codes given you can sample your screen and convert the hex code to RAL values (search for an online converter there are several)

I haven't seen the article but I feel duty bound to point out that the Lotus Elan was Glassfibre bodied and would not, indeed could not, rust (the chassis was a steel and did rust... enthusiastically)

No, that's Jerry Beale I think 😕

Smiffs in Darlo seemed to have fewer copies than usual. Three left after my visit and one of those was a bit creased. Good read as usual.

A quick note - when I try to access the video, YouTube reports it as "private". You probably need to tick a box or summat? 🤷‍♀️

I follow this guy ("The Bearded Explorer") on YouTube mostly he does abandoned properties and occasionally classic cars, he never takes anything other than photos and tries to leave everything undisturbed. He doesn't tell us where it is to avoid less scrupulous visitors so please if you know don't say. In this video posted today he goes to a barn and shows us several locomotives, a few carriages, a rail mounted crane all stored in barns and shed that are literally falling down. I thought it might be of interest on here.

Getting a similar problem using MS Edge Browser. AdBlock is disabled but I was unable to access the site until (rather unintuitively) I promised to sign up for Gold Membership just to be able to report the problem.

Thanks. I'll have to have a dig through my back issues.