barney_leadhead

Sorry to hear of this - first met John when I joined Kempston Model Railway Club as a junior in the mid 80's and even after I stopped going to the club regularly I always seemed to bump into him at various local shows over the following 30 odd years. He was a thoroughly decent bloke and I send my condolences to his family and loved ones.

The light on the table makes it look like the loco is simmering gently and has a wisp of steam coming from the safety valves.

Lovely looking model and much improved over the original. I love to see these old models given an update and daresay they will last longer than many of the superb looking but fragile and 'not made for maintenance' models of today.

Interesting to discover this shop less than 20 miles from my home. Must get over there when things are a little better as I love a good browse especially secondhand stuff.

Slightly OT........ I remember the Beatties shops in Bletchley and MK but wouldn't they still have been Taylor and McKenna in 1980 changing to Beatties shops in the very late 80's after T&Mc went pop? I'm certainly not questioning your memories though as in 1980 I was 9 or 10 years old depending where in the year it was. I had a Hornby H&B van in Taylor & McKenna livery which IIRC came free with a loco purchase from the MK shop which I'm sure I didn't get until after 1981. My original wagon is long gone but I did pick up a couple of replacements a few years back. I do remember Neal's in Bletchley too and spent some pocket money there.

If you are thinking of buying a circular saw then maybe you need to treat yourself to a budget track saw then fit it with a fine blade. Lidl and Aldi often have budget ones for under £100 or maybe try the Titan from Screwfix. You would maybe have to work in reverse and have the material you want on the waste side of the blade so it may involve a couple of practice cuts to take into account the exact blade width when rotating. At 4mm thick the pieces you cut may well curve when cut though. My personal choice is to use a track saw rather than a table saw for accurately ripping and sizing sheet material every time these days.