Inspiration past and present or the ravings of an avid modeller
1974 meant training for an occupation, getting married and starting a layout....I think that`s in the right order of priority!!! Was`nt possible to go to exhibitions so books and magazines was the norm for me. Lack of space meant N guage on the back of an old door!!
Get something running quickly........
Real inspiration began with dragging my family to the venerable Didcot Centre, equipped with my Zenith SLS camera...remenber those cheap Russian imports??. First shot of a real loco.... 1982
29 years later, my initial inspiration is back to kit form.....
I guess for an avid GWR modeller it had to be a trip to Pendon Museum....
This was from a time when the Vale seen was not on public display
This all led to me selling the N guage stuff, which ran very poorly (early Grafar and LIma) and having read about Protofour as it was then, purchased my very first etched kit.. a Mallard Models 517 class. Took ages to build and then was severly damaged having had a Black and Decker drill dropped on it! Here it is after it`s second build......
lack of small quality motors in the early eighties, hence the motor showing in the cab....
Life can be hard, and from here on in, I became unfaithfull to the GWR....I know! I know!! I should have sought treatment, But bringing up children and then teenagers as well as a career and home move to the south, wrought havoc with time constraints etc and I was banished to the dining room table.
Father in law`s xmas prezzy was a book on the LSWR which inspired a period of that company`s modelling, particularly as Jidenco did quite a large range of kits
A LSWR layout was built but never quite completed as I baulked at the thought of making and lining all those coach kits....
Completing this pre group project was too daunting for a solo modeller and I ended up completing a much smaller project over a five year period. This time in Southern livery.
Having now retired and persuading my employers that my long service award should be an MOK 7mm GWR autotank loco kit, it is time to return to my GWR modelling roots. Loco`s are built and inspiration for a finished layout project is needed.
I no longer buy any of the regular railway modelling magazines as I find them much a clone of each other and rather boring in content. Even the dear old MRJ has , in my view, become tired and the photography aint as good as it used to be.
I never keep piles of old mags ,preferring to remove and file any articles that interest and inspire
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