Sotto

If it was this one, it's on their website!!: https://www.festrail.co.uk/a-summer-of-footplate-rides/#!

This media response to model rail related events is simply in keeping with the modern tendency to report everything as a prospective unstoppable disaster, whether it is next week's weather, aging populations, too much violence, air pollution, etc etc irrespective of whether it actually is a disaster, or indeed whether it is happening at all. The fact that many of these stories contradict just adds to the fun (NHS in trouble because too many old people, no one interested in model railways because not enough old people).

Panel lining can become an obsession though. I have a (waiting to be built) 1:350 U boat. I have watched a video by a military modeller which shows dramatic panel lining which to scale would mean panel gaps a foot wide. I have also seen photos of the real thing taken from a similar apparent distance- not surprisingly, no visible panel lines! I do agree though that there are some astonishingly high standards amongst military modellers.

This is a really interesting topic. My standard of what is 'acceptably realistic' is quite low by some standards, and for me it is easier to say what spoils the effect of realism in an otherwise acceptably realistic model. I'd say the main one is inconsistency- the standard of realism needs to be similar for the whole landscape. Then there are scale errors, such as using a 1:50 scale truck on an O Gauge layout. To get better than 'acceptably realistic' a layout has to take you somewhere. I remember seeing Pempoul at an exhibition; it just shouted rural France, and I wouldn't have minded if no trains ran. It is still the layout I have most enjoyed seeing. More on topic, I'd agree that eyelevel is most realistic, but in an actual layout compromise is needed, otherwise foreground items obstruct the view.

Leaf has a large table the top of which is the original Hattons sign from their shopfront, or a repainted version of it. I guess that will soon be all that is left, bar the memories.

Never wanted one of those before, now I do. 1 left now!

For me, and probably many of my age group, Hattons is/was more than just another retailer. I remember the old 180 Smithdown Rd shop as a place to visit as a special treat with a railway enthusiast uncle who lived nearby; more recently I have lunched in the restaurant that occupies the later Smithdown Road shop. I probably sound stupidly sentimental, but this news is for me at least a shock in the way that no other retailer's demise has been. A David Bowie moment.I hope the staff all find decent new jobs. With a bit of luck some of them may even look back and discover that an enforced change works out better for them. That was my experience of redundancy and I wish them equal luck.

I have had trouble gluing plastic brick sheets to laser cut structures in the past - I guess plastic to paper is similar to plastic to wood and my eventual solution was Rocket Card Glue, so I would second that suggestion. The name led me to initially assume it was just for card kits, but it is much more versatile than that!

There is a pop up video ad that I often see here which shows a chap not in the first flush of youth crawling around a layout that appears to be in a space about 3 feet high under a floor. Every time I see it my back and knees hurt in sympathy...

I think it depends on which generation of the loco you have- mine had no original enclosure. Still not enough room for that particular speaker. Plenty of others seem to be small enough though, it is just knowing how good they are, or not!

Well back from tinkering, as you will have already worked out if you have taken the body off there is only about 6 to 10mm of height for the speaker depending on whether it is narrow enough to fit between as opposed to on top of the rails on the chassis - either way the full sized Megabass speaker will not fit without cutting its enclosure off- probably best to use it for something where it fits without that!

Just spotted that you asked same question in the main HM7000 thread and had a useful answer. Oddly, that answer has also enabled me to identify my unknown 'too big' speaker- it is one of the Road and Rails megabass examples- the biggest. I might try seeing if it will squeeze in with some chopping....

No suggestions I am afraid, but I am interested in the answer as I have a couple of 66s awaiting sound fitting and space seems limited. Or at least, too limited for the only spare speaker I have lying around.

I have just heard from Hattons to the effect that they expect deliveries between January and March 2024, so they must have done just that!

Must try harder! Scratch build a periscope...