AlanRogers

The Eastlight (Box 1) is currently reserved pending receipt of payment has gone, been paid for and sent. The Pentagon (Box 2) remains available as at 7th April. Ideally, it'll be claimed before month's end.

In sorting out my modelling cupboard, I find I have two old-style boxfiles, so I'm putting them up for grabs. They are both the type that has the drop-down lip and both appear to be made out of ¼" real tree wood with paper coverings, not the 3mm stiff cardboard offerings of late. I'll be clear and state that these are a little battle-worn at the edges, but structurally sound. They're Foolscap (not A4) so that's 14½" x 10½" x 2¾" and 1lb 10oz. Old measures have been used deliberately in deference to the venerability and scarcity of these most excellent stationary stores. That I never got around to butchering them myself is somebody else's gain! The offer is simple: you pay the fee for the courier method of your choice, and I'll pack and send it. I'll pack it appropriately but you take your chances with the carriage company you choose! Or you can collect from Merstham this week, Crawley after Easter. They needn't necessarily both go to the same home but it is as simple as I'll send them to the first person who sends me a private message containing their address with confirmation of the courier service and price they want to use. I'll send payment details only to the successful.

Sadly, I think you're very right.

Is the whacking great Czech flag too subtle then? What's its size - 1m by 1½m?

Observations, not instructions: If you're using one of those routers with a flat on one side of the base, counter-intuitively that does not go against your fence. The slightest twist of the router changes your bit distance from the datum and you're out of gauge. You're far better off using the round sides, which are all uniform distance from the bit. Inferior/cheaper grades of MDF have a much more fibrous core which, when you break through the surface and expose it, is a complete pig to work with. It'll almost certainly require some form of sealing before you can bond anything to it, like rail extrusions. PVA would work, CA may be better. For the sake of rail cleaning, rerailing stock, etc it's probably preferable not to rout down the full depth of your chosen rail profile. Use a piece of the correct profile rail track, put a couple of strips of business card between the rails, sit the router on the rails and set the depth of the bit off the card. This will leave the rails proud by the thickness of the card strips. Use a new or freshly sharpened bit. A blunt or crap bit will wander, and burn. Smouldering MDF is a hideous smell and the charring is difficult to sand out completely, so will show through your colouring of the ground. MDF is notoriously hard on rotary tool bits, primarily because you're cutting more resin than wood. Abide by the dust extraction/respiration comments on here already. I don't know the specifics of toxicity, carcinogens etc but it's really not nice stuff, even if it was perfumed. Just don't subject yourself or anyone you care about to it. Prepare, prepare, prepare again. Measure thrice, cut once. Practice on scrap until confident or proficient, whichever comes first. Go slower than you feel you can get away with and you'll be offered fewer opportuntiies to start again! Oh, and ... Pictures or it didn't happen!

Can I invite you to please reread that post, especially the first full paragraph? I think you'll agree that I was sticking up for Tim rather than sticking it to him. I clearly stated that I'd had a response within one working/business day, which is perfectly acceptable to me. I was a sole trader for 20 years, existing only on word of mouth. I sympathise.

I know Allen Law and I'll never belittle or besmirch their offering. Suffice to say that G&H boards are significantly lighter than those I've previously received from Tim Horn, for the same nominal overall dimensions, and that lightness can only be achieved a couple of ways ... I personally haven't found the G&H boards to be sufficiently robust for our modular setups, particularly when some of our more ethusiastic, less careful members are assisting. I prefer not to have to repair and repaint between operating sessions! That is not saying that the G&H boards are inferior; they are excellent value for money and entirely fit for purpose. Let's be entirely clear that my use case is very specific and involves a higher frequency of assembly and disassembly than the the average layout, even exhibition ones, and this is frequently conducted in an ill-advised/unwarranted hurry as the layout comprises several modules, so multiple boards, all belonging to different people, who arrive or need to depart according to varying schedules, journey times and domestic demands. I therefore have a personal preference for Tim Horn's boards, which are confirmed to still be available. The proviso to ordering is that the CAD already exists and doesn't need to be altered at all, and you're prepared to wait a while. His current delivery time is up to eight weeks from payment of invoice, according to the email he sent to me. Other baseboard cutters are also available, and there are laser cutters outside of the hobby too. Some will cut predrawn CAD files, others will require (and charge) to draw themselves, which is an understandable precaution. You pays your money and you takes your choice. I was just updating this thread with some accurate and current information to offset the previous conjecture.

I didn't discuss exhibition attendance with Tim. In his shoes, if I was attending a show as part of a layout display that was built using my products, I'd be daft not to take along at least a static display and some business cards.

For the reassurance of all here present - information current as at 22nd May 2023 17:30 Concerned that Tim's website appears no longer to even have a web hosting package, and his Facebook Page hasn't been updated in three years, I sent him an email at 16:12 yesterday afternoon. I received a reply at 17:30 today, so a little over 24 hours later. That is far from a slow response in my book, within reasonable working hours on the first day back to work after the weekend. He's reassured me that he's more than busy enough with word of mouth orders, so he's not continued with development of the replacement website and isn't really using Facebook. His Facebook Page clearly displays his mobile number and email address. And, contrary to the comments above, you do not need to log into Facebook to access this information! Just browse to https://facebook.com/timhornlasercutting/ and dismiss the login prompt. It's there, plain as the nose on my face, a page on the internet, the same as any other. Indeed, it is also the first link served in the list of results returned by a simply crafted search phrase ("Tim Horn Baseboards") in a popular search engine spelt something like Go Ogle. The only thing I'd add is that the email address he responded from was timhornlasercut@gmail.com which may or may not be the mailbox to which his published address is redirected to. I leave it to you to decide which you use but I'd give up expecting an online presence from a trader who responds to phone or email. For clarity, my only connection to Tim is as a previously satisfied customer who enquired about reordering boards designed by him for our group several years ago. As such, I was checking in to find out if that door had closed on me. It has not, as at today's date.

It's almost always gratifying to see a layout in the flesh that you've followed online. K Street Yard was certainly no exception.

No, and the website is no longer accessible, insecure or otherwise. It looks like they are no longer trading here.

I'm finding this sort of stuff coming up all of the time in what appear to be quasi-regionalised online news feeds, something like an actual newspaper but there's no obvious media body behind it. There's no evidence of research into the story either, no quotations, no balance, just the propagation of gossip, almost as if they're picked it up somewhere and rebranded it as a story on a slow news day. To be honest, it's not much better than the email chain letters of old. Regurgitated content without substance appears to be what passes for journalism these days. As a result, now I tend to only believe what I read in real newspapers, even if it is online, and then take that with a pinch of salt proportional to the amount of red in the masthead.

In the family diary. "No dear, it's been there for almost a year!"

Fantastic photos @PaulRhB thank you. Knowing @warbonnetuk and @roundhouse for some years, and been along to a couple of these meets, discussions are afoot! It's just possible that you might be getting another operator at future events. Not necessarily me I hasten to add though, if the planets align and his interest is confirmed, I suspect I'll be browbeaten into some woodbutchery at a future date as well.

So, not so much "Too Good To Be True" as "That Boat Has Long Since Sailed" which is a fairly common occurence for me. Thank you very much for the alternate suggestion though, which I will watch with interest. As you say, the price point is similar, as indeed is the design, but I imagine this is an opportunity for a new version that builds on the experience of the old whilst avoiding any conflict over intellectual property. That's not really a major issue for me, as computer networks and configuring devices are my training. Thanks for supporting and endorsing Iain's post, as that helps me. One opinion is just that, while two or more that actually concur are definitely worthy of notice!