It's ok, I haven’t suddenly decided to start a revolution, tempting though the idea is. I am of course referring to the figures for the layout. These are a mix, mostly from Andy Stadden with some from Prieser and a few older ones in places they can only be glimpsed at. The men are the problem. Most of the Edwardian ladies have wide skirts and so stand up without too much of a problem, though the ones with the hemline daringly 3 inches off the floor do tend to tip up. The men will too but the smallest disturbance and they all fall over. Hmm, fine if you are modelling a Glasgow Friday night.

So, how to make them stand up? The obvious answer is glue but it is rather a permanent solution. Done it in the past, if you want to move a figure for variety or to add detail it tends to take a lump of the scenery out stuck to the feet.

So I bought some “Tacky wax”. Maybe its just me but I didn’t really like it. Doesn’t seem to stay tacky enough to hold someone up unless you put a fair sized blob on the feet. Then they just look like a figure stuck in a big blob of wax. I tried a few things, such as warming it first, but to no avail. Still didn’t like it somehow.

I did have a play with magnets, but getting ones tiny enough is not a practical proposition.

Finally I decided to go for the wire in the foot method. I’m sure its not new, but very few good ideas are. Drill a 0.4 hole up through the foot. Superglue in a short length of 11 thou piano wire. When set grind it back to about 5 mm. Drill a 0.4 hole in the place when you want a figure and plant them.

Advantage is that you can take them out and swap them round easily. The hole is tiny and easy to fill if you don’t want it there but from normal viewing distances it vanishes anyway.

Some pictures to give an idea.

A man thinking about some work.



But he went off for tea, leaving just a hole.



His mate turned up for the back shift.

How many ? Well that many for a start.