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MRJ 274


chris p bacon
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Blueball and Bottom Works were at the Uckfield exhibition where I saw them today, along with Midland in Bristol. I would say that Blueball is the first time a diesel-era N gauge layout has held me enthralled - the quality of modelling is superb. I'm not overly keen on sound on exhibition layouts but the roar of the Paxman engines (along with a cloud of noxious diesel exhaust fumes) was the only thing missing when the HST went through.

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In Smiths in Newtown this morning. Looks good

I thought I had perfected "slow modelling" - 6 years plus to finish a 4x2 "quicky" layout before I got onto the proper one. 

Three shows with adverts: Warley, Manchester, and the most important one, the Mid Wales Model Railway Show in Welshpool on Saturday.

Apologies but I could resist a plug for our show.

Jonathan

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I picked up mine when I went to the Uckfield Show on Saturday... 

 

Not actually from the show (didn't see one there) but from the newsagent round the corner from Uckfield Railway Station. 

 

An excellent issue (and an excellent show), and covered three of the layouts at the show which was an added bonus for my train trip home. 

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Purchased yesterday and spent an extremely enjoyable afternoon reading this excellent issue, well done Jerry for the content.

Thank you for highlighting these issues in your Editorial, I hope it serves to help anyone unfortunate to find themselves in such a position in life.

 

It has addressed many current concerns in personal modelling and any issues which may raise their ugly head.

 

I must applaud those who have contributed and have been " brave " enough to write about their personal struggles outside of modelling and the way in which it has helped to get back into a real life situation. 

 

The other content is superb and with the greatest respect I certainly consider this to be one of the best issues for a long while.

 

G

 

 

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I've acquired a copy of 274 and got to see Blueball Summit at Uckfield - it's a sumptuous and stunning layout. But I'm a little confused. The thread on RMweb about BS is by Andy Stroud who talks about his layout and the building of it, whereas the article in MRJ is attributed to Andrew Bartlett which is also written in the first person. What's the story there?

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3 minutes ago, grahame said:

I've acquired a copy of 274 and got to see Blueball Summit at Uckfield - it's a sumptuous and stunning layout. But I'm a little confused. The thread on RMweb about BS is by Andy Stroud who talks about his layout and the building of it, whereas the article in MRJ is attributed to Andrew Bartlett which is also written in the first person. What's the story there?

 

I was confused initially too Grahame. - it's Andy, from Stroud!

 

jerry

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On 18/10/2019 at 18:34, Bonafide said:

I have no idea of the scale of the Cavan and Leitrim No. 22L bogie brake van described in the article by Simon de Souza as it is not stated.    

 

Does anybody know the scale of this model, please?  The question is asked with a genuine desire to be informed, thereby enabling the article to be read in context.

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18 minutes ago, Bonafide said:

 

Does anybody know the scale of this model, please?  The question is asked with a genuine desire to be informed, thereby enabling the article to be read in context.

Its 4mm scale running on 12mm gauge.

 

Jerry

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My issue has just arrived and has been already read from cover to cover. Well done Jerry for an excellent mix of articles.

 

The one that really made me think was the "Slow Modelling". Now my modelling has sometimes been very quick indeed and there was a spell where a new layout every year was pretty normal. However those days are long gone. The time to think about a model, a layout or a project has expanded and my previous "get on with it" attitude has been replaced by a "do it once but do it right and think about it for as long as it takes to reach that point". There are some jobs that I have done often enough not to need that approach but anything I haven't built before gets a lot of thinking time now.

 

So I totally see where the author is coming from. If there are two ways of approaching a task and one involves drawing it in CAD and having it etched/3D printed/laser cut and the other involves me getting out a sheet of plastic/wood/card/metal and a knife/saw, then the latter approach wins every time. It is much slower but to me, model railways has always been a practical hobby. When I had a proper job, I spent 95% of my time on a computer. Even now, I spend a lot of time on emails or the internet. Going into the shed and getting the hand tools out is a welcome break from the electronic and internet age we find ourselves in.

 

I fully accept that most people will just want their model as quickly and easily as they can and will adopt any technology that they can to achieve their objective. That is fine but it isn't for me. Somehow it is reassuring to know that I am not alone (and therefore probably slightly bonkers and off the rails) in my approach!

 

I am another one who has had some tough times and it wasn't so much the hobby itself that got me through them, it was the friends that I have made through the hobby. their company, good humour and encouragement to keep going was a huge help.

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A really good issue, but one thing that puzzled me was the comparison photographs of the Garrett in the lighting article. 

 

I used to do theatre lighting for an amateur dramatics company, and have done some studio photography in my time, so the principles are familiar to me - but I don't know if it was my eyes getting older, the printing process flattening the contrast in the images, or that they just used the wrong pictures, but I didn't see the effects in those comparison pictures that I was expecting and they all looked pretty similar. 

 

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5 minutes ago, sharris said:

A really good issue, but one thing that puzzled me was the comparison photographs of the Garrett in the lighting article. 

 

I used to do theatre lighting for an amateur dramatics company, and have done some studio photography in my time, so the principles are familiar to me - but I don't know if it was my eyes getting older, the printing process flattening the contrast in the images, or that they just used the wrong pictures, but I didn't see the effects in those comparison pictures that I was expecting and they all looked pretty similar. 

 

 

Vide supra.

 

 

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A very fine issue and extremely  thought provoking.  

 

Gerry's superb editorial piece really summed things up for me. I stopped actively modelling for a number of years due to changes in personal circumstances. Quite some time later, work related stresses dictated that I needed something away from work to 'empty my head' and a return to active modelling was made in 2015. 

 

The escape my various modelling adventures provide is invaluable and I'm sure this has kept things on an even keel. 

Some would say this is not good,  simply escapism but I beg to differ. There are no similarities to my work and as such I can totally switch off from the day to day pressures. My wife understands this and encourages it. Life can be extremely frustrating and stressful. However, the completion of a modelling project, irrespective of whether a small figure is painted or trains run for the first time can off set all of this..

The feeling of accomplishment is a very splendid thing. 

 

Rob. 

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Someone else who did some stage lighting when younger - much younger.

And I worked for the lighting profession so I actually understood most of what was in the article . 

My only concerns were the bulk of the lights he uses - something else to fit in the car/van when exhibiting the layout - and that they would be in the eyes of the operators.

Our club is experimenting with two runs of LED strip of different colour temperatures and both dimmable. This should enable us to vary the effective colour temperature.

This of course gives even fairly undirectional lighting suitable for an overcast day. It is not suitable if you want a sunny day and sharp shadows.

However, there are still issues of discontinuous spectra with many kinds of discharge lighting and LEDs which can mean that the appearance is not what is expected. Colour temperature on its own does not tell the whole story.

And though it was not part of the brief for the article it is worth stressing that you should build your models under the same light sources as you wish to display them as or on a layout.

Jonathan

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On 16/10/2019 at 19:23, Siberian Snooper said:

 

I nearly put my foot in it,  by mentioning Copenhagen Fields and then remembered that it's 2mm finescale and not N gauge.

 

 

Quite correct, but in its original short form we used to run some N gauge stuff.

 

Tim 

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1 hour ago, Chris-GNR said:

I've been out of the loop for a while so have managed to miss a fair few issues. I fully intend to pick up 275 when its out so can anyone tell me the expected released date published in 274 please?

 

Cheers

Chris

 

21st November 2019....

 

Andy

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