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I found these huge spirit levels for sale in a local (south London) junk shop. They are huge, heavy and for use in the railway industry - possibly track laying. Who might have a use for them now? I didn't buy them as they are for the real thing, not modelling. The shop is asking £300 per level (£900 for the box of three). Does anyone have any ideas about their practical use or who might use them now?

That is an interesting point about modelling aesthetics. I see a fair few layouts where the modellers have sought to add a lot of authentic grime on tracks, ballast etc. Colliery and other industrial layouts are an obvious case in point. But I often feel they just make the layout look like a grubby mess. Maybe it is just me, but I prefer seeing a layout of any sort in a "clean" state, if I can put it that way.

Good point.

You may be right. But when I asked the seller to offer a cheaper postal service he didn't really engage. Oh well, it seems unlikely to sell at its quoted price.

This may be old ground for some, but I am amazed at the extortionate charges some French eBay sellers try to impose on foreign buyers. I am interested in an old O gauge clockwork autorail. The seller wants to charge £19 (yes, nineteen pounds) for p&p. That is literally twice the amount another French seller is charging for p&p to the UK for a similar item. What gives?

My second attempt at making a model tree looking like a French plane tree. Covered in modelling paste to represent the bark but yet to be painted or decorated with leaves.

It is a very good film, enhanced by the real explosions representing the bombing of the marshalling yard. I read that SNCF were very happy for the real location to be blown up (watch that ground heave) because they wanted to demolish the yard anyway.

I followed advice from various quarters. I teased out small bundles of postiche (very fine fake hair) about one inch long. I think my bundles may have been a bit too thick. But one at a time I sprayed each bundle with firm-hold hair spray, then scattered each sticky bundle with Noch loose fake leaves. When the bundles had dried, using a brush I coated each branch with PVA glue then, with tweezers, carefully positioned and stuck the clumps of "postiche-and-leaves" to each branch. At this point the leaves were fragile and prone to falling off when touched, so as a final touch I sprayed all the branches and leaves with a matt clear lacquer, in this case Humbrol's matt acrylic varnish spray. This seemed to have the effect of removing some leaves so maybe I need to try a different brand of spray lacquer or improve my short range spraying technique.

Update: the finished article. My first ever hand-made tree. Does it look like a French plane tree to you? And if not, what would you alter to improve it? My next one will have longer and more vertical branches.

In your experience, which company makes the best (as in, most realistic) leaves for modelling trees. Or, failing that, the best looking scatter material that can pass for tree leaves? Thanks.

Or "modeling" paste as it is incorrectly spelled by some manufacturers on Amazon. Anyway, I came across this stuff while looking for an alternative to the often recommended mixture of Artex and PVA glue for creating and spreading imitation bark on home-made model trees. Nothing wrong with the Artex mixture I imagine; it is just that you have to buy at least a 5 kg packet which would be enough to coat hundreds or even thousands of trees. So, the high-density version of modelling paste, on its own, seems a good alternative. It is quite thick, can be applied with a brush, dries in a few hours and, while still damp, seems capable of being textured. Three layers will coat a tree trunk and hide the contours of twisted wire armatures. I haven't painted it yet but don't see why that should be a problem. I bought a 100 ml tube (agreeably small for my purposes) made by Pebeo and costing £6.00. There seem to be plenty of other manufacturers of ordinary but thinner modelling paste but only Pebeo and Winsor & Newton appear to make a thicker version. It is generally available from art suppliers and, gram for gram, it is about 15 times more expensive than Artex powder. Its advantage is that it comes ready mixed in various useable quantities. If you want I imagine you could add PVA glue to improve the mixture. Pic of progress on my French plane tree so far.

You could try these people who will print a backscene for you from the picture or photo of your choice: http://www.idbackscenes.com/index.php/id-backscenes I have used them and all went well.

Are there any books, booklets or pamphlets which you would recommend on how to make model trees?

Does anyone have experience of buying from Aubertrain and using his/their models? The business seems to be an "artisan" manufacturer of high spec models, based near Pau in the far south west of France, supplying a lot of stuff for modellers of French narrow gauge railways. Has anyone here had anything to do with this supplier? I ask because I am tempted to buy some engines which look fantastic but which are very expensive.

Does anyone know where I might buy model figures of TinTin or Jacquest Tati/Mr Hulot - and in HO (1/87) scale? I have scanned the internet and found that Preiser do not make them. The Herge' company Moulinsart makes figures but only in a larger scale (1/24 I think). I found an Indonesian seller on Etsy who makes some TinTin figures, supposedly in 1/87 scale, but they do not look quite right to me. Any thoughts?