JSModels

It seems I've failed to update this thread recently! Apologies for that... Anyway, here's a video on my new retaining wall kits: Regards, Jonathan JSModels

Here's the map, with exhibitors listings. Hope that helps? Jonathan JSModels

A correction, if I may; MMR Models will not be there, despite what the website says - David has unfortunately had some health issues & has had to pull out, but very graciously allowed me to take his place & attend my first GOG event. Jonathan JSModels

Luke, Just soak the ply around the hole(s) with very thin superglue, that will strengthen it more than enough. Jonathan

Well, I'm doing an Easter trail with the kids this morning, then back home for lunch, loading up, and should be there to set up by mid-afternoon. Really looking forward to the weekend! Jonathan JSModels

Reading your plans for automating the layout immediately struck a chord with me - when I first built my shunting puzzle I wondered if it would be possible to automate one. Having exactly zero skills or knowledge in that area however immediately made a theoretical idea only! I did think it would be really cool if it could be done, and I did wonder if it had already been done somewhere by someone, but maybe it never has. Until now... (The fact that Phil used my buildings on the layout is an added bonus!!!) Jonathan JSModels

I can confirm that I will be attending this show, despite not being on the list* - it's definitely the furthest south JSModels has ventured... *The list hasn't been updated since last year, it seems.

I could do you a set of templates to whatever radii (and length) you wanted, but I'd recommend doing them in acrylic rather than MDF, as it would be stronger and more stable.

JSModels is pleased to announce a new addition to it’s range of 4mm scale buildings Sharing the same footprint as the very popular ‘Pump / Boiler House’ kits (156 x 84mm) this small industrial loco shed is the perfect complement to the ‘Canalside’ range of industrial buildings, and is large enough for any OO or OO9 industrial loco. Available in 2 versions, with and without a roof-mounted water tank. Both versions are available in a choice of brick or stone finishes. Featuring laser-cut parts in a combination of 1mm, 2mm, and 3mm MDF, the model features internal roof trusses and smoke hood details, with the hoods leading to 2 covered chimneys/vents on the roof. 2 shapes of doors are included, both flat-bottomed (for inset track) and shaped to go around a raised trackbed. Note - image above shows pre-production test & development versions (painted by Dan Evason, Tunnel Lane Model Railways), flanked by the (unpainted) final production versions (there are a couple of very minor differences between the two!). The water tank version comes with an optional planked roof for the tank, and both kits include stone etched blanking panels to replace some windows if required. All kits include our signature removable windows (for easier painting & glazing) laser-cut pre-shaped roof slate strips, acetate glazing material, and printed assembly instructions, illustrated in full colour. Pricing for the 4mm scale / OO gauge kits is as follows: Code Description Price JSM40366B - Small Industrial Shed (Brick) - £35; JSM40366S - Small Industrial Shed (Stone) - £30; JSM40367B - Small Industrial Shed w/Tank (Brick) - £40; JSM40367S - Small Industrial Shed w/Tank (Stone) - £35. These kits are now available for pre-order on the website now. Shipping of pre-orders will begin week commencing 27th February, and stock will be available at the Preston & District Model Railway Show on 4th & 5th March (subject to demand). 7mm scale / O gauge versions of these kits will be available later in the year.

David, Regrettably, not anywhere near as much as I would have liked. I took the initial prototypes to Doncaster in February last year, but whilst I was there, little did I know that back in the workshop the 'Colossal Computer C*ck-up' was occurring, in which I lost many months' worth of work, including all the drawings for the towers. Since then I've completely re-done them (with a significant redesign in the process) and expanded the range of products which will be available, but I simply haven't had the time needed to devote to getting them ready for release. Back in October/November I had a cunning plan to get everything done for a big launch an Doncaster this year, including a big spread in BRM, but that plan derailed for a number of reasons beyond my control and now won't happen. There's 7 main products, with variations that take the total number of products to 11 or 12, I think - but it's an all-or-nothing kind of thing; I can't release them one at a time unfortunately as it wouldn't really make sense to do it that way. Most of the design & drawing work is done, and has been for some time, but it's everything else (instructions (which take longer to do than designing the kits themselves!), packaging, website, promotion, etc) that's the stumbling block. I'm still working elsewhere full time, and have a family, so whilst I can grab an hour or two here & there to do bits & pieces, I really need a block of 2 weeks or so to hammer it full-time, and there's just zero chance of that in the foreseeable future... They will come, eventually. Along with everything else on a very long to-do list! Regards, Jonathan JSModels

Someone asked me a few days ago why I don't offer some kind of 'assortment' pack of the different sized slate sheets. I didn't really have a good answer as to why not, so here it is! Contains 6x A4 sheets in total, with 2 sheets of each of the 3 sizes - 9" wide, 10" wide, and 12" wide slates. Available from stock now! https://www.jsmodels.co.uk/home/4mm-Scale-Roof-Slate-Selection-Pack-6x-A4-sheets-p524232833

I've just been through this thread and replaced all the missing images - not as painful a process as I feared! Since my last update on this there's been a few additions, namely some reindeer, and a certain jolly chap in red, looking down on proceedings from his tower:

Sorry, please ignore!

Thank you to everyone who dropped by my stand at either the Warley or Manchester shows, just to say hello, have a chat, or make a purchase. Warley was by far the biggest show I've done, and between that and Manchester, my shelves have never been emptier! For all the people that ordered chimneys/roof slates/accessories/lighting on the Saturday (all contained in the one box I forgot to take!) they have now all been wrapped & will be posted today, though when you will get them is entirely in the hands of the Royal Mail... I'm planning to spend some time over the next few weeks building my stocks back up, developing a couple of new products, and getting the new O gauge/7mm scale products on the website (which, like most things, has taken far longer than it should!) so I can hit the ground running in the New Year. I'll be publishing a list of the booked shows for 2023 in the next few days, once I finalise a few last-minute details. Regards, Jonathan JSModels

Paul, Apologies for the delay, I've only just revisited RMWeb this morning, it's been hectic since getting back from Warley! I still haven't got the new stuff on the website, and I'm away again this weekend so won't do so for a while yet, but in the meantime, the boiler house footprint is approx. 275 x 145mm. The chimney is 68mm square, and 585mm tall. Regards, Jonathan JSModels

Eileen's Emporium have pulled out of the Manchester show due to illness (or so I've been told). Jonathan

We're at Warley this weekend, and have some new kits with us - the pump/boiler house, and the small chimney, but this time in O gauge: Being 7mm, these are quite big - this 'small' chimney is slightly taller than the OO gauge 'large' chimney, at approx. 590mm (slightly over 23”). Also, I now have the artwork to do many of my other kits in 7mm too, and whilst they aren't 'stock' items (due to lack of storage space, mainly) they are available on a cut-to-order basis. Regards, Jonathan JSModels

Cheers Andy, I'll have my mobile as backup anyway, good to hear that signal is generally ok. Haven't been to the NEC for about 8 years, I don't think! Jonathan

Fantastic Chris, Thank you, it never occurred to me to check the NEC website. Doh! Jonathan

Does anyone know what the situation is for traders regarding signal for card readers? Does the NEC have a WiFi system you can use, or what the phone signal is like in the hall? Jonathan JSModels

As a trader, this was my very first attendance at the Wigan show. I thought that overall the exhibition was excellent, with a high quality of layouts and a great mix of traders. It was however quite disappointing in terms of takings, which was a direct consequence of the low visitor numbers. It's a shame, as I would have attended next year (a very good friend & mentor from the trade tells me I should never decide that a show isn't worth doing until I've done it three years in a row!) Regards, Jonathan JSModels

If your baseboards are going to be simple rectangles (and from your description, it's likely to be) then you might want to try one of the many companies who will do this for you. Just Google "model railway baseboards" and there's loads to choose from - I've just had a very quick look, and you could get one 5'x2'6" and one 4'x2'6" for less than £200, which considering the cost of timber thesedays isn't bad at all. They usually come as a kit & are very simple to make, or some companies will even assemble them for you, but you'll probably need to find one local to you for that as otherwise the delivery cost would be quite high.

Ian, Not really, I don't feel like I should be giving anyone any advice 😆 Just don't go with any expectations, and you won't be disappointed. And don't forget anything! Jonathan

As a small trader - and one who only started up in business at the beginning of lockdown, so never traded 'pre-covid' - I don't attend shows to make money; I go for the exposure more than anything else. To get my stuff in front of more modellers, and show them what I can do, in the hope that they might buy something from me at some point in the future. But I do have to try to cover the basic costs of attending, I can't afford not to. Out of the 10 shows I've attended in the last 12 months, I consider myself lucky that I've only made a loss at one show. The other 9 covered the expenses, but some only just (and that's without paying myself anything for my time). I've come to the conclusion that unfortunately some shows are just not economically viable to attend. And not necessarily the smaller ones either. Small, local shows (within an hour or so's drive) are OK, since the only real expenses are the cost of the stand itself, and fuel. Smaller shows (obviously) have a lower footfall, and therefore fewer potential sales, but lower stand costs, and if I can keep the expenses low then that helps. Shows further afield are more problematic, mainly due to the phenomenal increase in hotel costs. I used to travel quite a lot for work a few years ago, and pre-covid you could get a room at a Premier Inn for under £40 (and Travelodge, maybe less than £30) but that same room now costs £90-£110 a night. If that's 2 rooms for 2 nights, then throw in evening meals and you're immediately adding over £500 to the costs for the weekend - and there's very few shows where the sales would even come close to covering that. Certainly not the smaller ones. The bigger shows have more footfall, but much higher expenses - some of which are, in my humble opinion, unjustifiable; for example I've recently converted my stand to operate entirely from small USB battery packs, as one show in particular wanted over £120 for 2-days' use of a mains socket! Around £50 on rechargeable battery packs, and 2-3 hours' work, and I'm all set for any future shows too. You have to weigh up the costs vs. the potential takings. It doesn't help that some show organisers can be 'somewhat optimistic' about how many people they expect through the door. I don't think it's malicious, or that they're attempting to purposely mislead anyone, but they do want to seem to be an attractive proposition (one show promised 5 to 6 thousand people over the weekend, but in reality I'd bet my mortgage that it was less than 2,000). Then you have shows that target the general public rather than the existing modelling fraternity - a noble thing, to try to get the 'new blood' that the hobby needs, but whilst they're happy to pay to get in, they don't generally buy stuff once inside, so there's no benefit to most of the traders. In the end, it's all a bit of a gamble; you pick the shows you do based on the information you have, and you hope you do OK. Regards, Jonathan JSModels PS - I'm at Leeds this weekend, which was the very first show I ever attended as a trader, last year. So my first return visit!