BRM February 2021

[Howard Smith]

'Tis the season of goodwill and Santa will soon deliver a copy of the February 2021 issue of BRM through subscribers' letterboxes, with access to stream another varied episode of BRM TV. Non-subscribers will be able to pick up printed copies in stores from December 31. Digital edition copies with bonus video content and BRM TV will go on-sale from December 25 – the perfect read and watch for the Christmas period!

 

In this episode of BRM TV...

We tour the multi-era EM gauge layout, 'Little Burton', set in its 1950s guise for an overview of some of its trains...

 

...Phil Parker provides advice for neater model painting...

 

...and Howard Smith shares tips for beginners looking to make custom components from brass.

 

Inside this issue...

 

LAYOUTS

 

Little Burton (EM) – few have been inspired more by the railways around Burton than Clive Baker, whose third iteration of this area is also his finest.

 

Modbury Torr (3mm) – not wanting his kit-built efforts superseded by new RTR releases, Paul Hopkins turned to this heritage scale, which he believes is accessible.

 

Charlie Strong Metals – predictably, Hornby’s Ruston & Hornsby 48DS locomotive has stimulated new layouts, including this highly-immersive metal recycling scene by Dave Hall.

 

PRACTICAL BRM

 

How to create a park scene – a communal centre-point for many villages, towns, or cities nationwide, parks offer escapism. The same is true of their model counterparts, as Michael Russell shows.

 

Adapt an RTR locomotive to HO scale. HO scale is niche in the UK, hence finding suitable British prototypes is challenging, though not impossible, as Richard Gawler explains...

 

How to make your first model – Howard Smith believes this platform kiosk kit is an accessible entry point for new modellers.

 

Motorise a turntable kit – Phil Parker constructs an accessible kit, while providing options for its control.

 

Improve the appearance of track, Part II. Continuing the transformation of permanent way, Howard Smith examines options for transitional-era modellers.

 

Layout Inspiration: Old Oak Common. Now under radical transformation for HS2, this former North-London locomotive outpost was a thriving Mecca for railway enthusiasts. Andy York shares his vision for a model, with a track plan.

 

REVIEWS

 

Review: Dapol GWR 'Mogul' 2-6-0

 

Review: Bachmann 94XX 0-6-0PT

 

Review: Graham Farish Class 31

 

Review: Revolution Trains KUA nuclear flask wagon

 

Review: Hornby Steampunk range

 

We hope you enjoy the issue and in the meantime, stay well and enjoy the festivities (as best you can...). Though many places are shut nationwide, remember, there's always time for modelling...

H 

 

 

[PenrithBeacon]

February issue released in December?

[AY Mod]

16 minutes ago, PenrithBeacon said:

February issue released in December?

 

Yeah well we'd already done December and January so we thought we'd do a February one rather than January again, plus (because of print dates) we have to get it out around Christmas. That's the way it goes when you do 13 issues a year but if it's a problem, buy it after the 31st from the shops and hide it until after the end of January.

[47137]

I am really looking forward to this. I've had odds and ends in Amateur Photography some years ago, but this  BRM has my first paid article.

 

I can't help noticing Phil's cutting mat looks pristine (though not his fingers!), but mine is over a year old.

 

- Richard.

[Phil Parker]

1 hour ago, 47137 said:

I can't help noticing Phil's cutting mat looks pristine (though not his fingers!), but mine is over a year old.

 

That will be my stunt cutting mat that stands in for the real one in photos. Sadly, the budget doesn't run to having a glamorous hand model to stand in for my mucky, but authentic, fingers.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

On 16/12/2020 at 14:24, AY Mod said:

 

Yeah well we'd already done December and January so we thought we'd do a February one rather than January again, plus (because of print dates) we have to get it out around Christmas. That's the way it goes when you do 13 issues a year but if it's a problem, buy it after the 31st from the shops and hide it until after the end of January.

By which time I’ll have forgotten where I hid it and be wondering why it hasn’t come...

[Phil Parker]

8 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

By which time I’ll have forgotten where I hid it and be wondering why it hasn’t come...

 

That's not a problem, you can always buy another copy. We don't mind, really we don't!

[Hroth]

You could have called the "January" issue the "Christmas" issue and the forthcoming issue the "January" issue.

 

See, it all makes perfect sense!!!

 

 

Anyhow, Happy Christmas, and a better 2021 than 2020 has been.... 

 

[AY Mod]

4 minutes ago, Hroth said:

You could have called the "January" issue the "Christmas" issue and the forthcoming issue the "January" issue.

 

 

There is some logic to that but no doubt someone would still mutter if it came out before Xmas eve, any Christmas is cancelled.

[Huw Griffiths]

On 18/12/2020 at 10:40, Keith Addenbrooke said:

By which time I’ll have forgotten where I hid it and be wondering why it hasn’t come...

 

On 18/12/2020 at 19:15, Phil Parker said:

 

That's not a problem, you can always buy another copy. We don't mind, really we don't!

 

I wonder why ... .

 

Next, you might be saying you'd like us to visit our local WHS most months - and possibly even buy our own copy of a certain publication.

 

Of course, it's possible that you might have a slightly different suggestion ... .

 

(It's not for me to suggest what that might be.)

 

 

Huw.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Huw Griffiths

[ELTEL]

Received my downloaded copy of the February issue of BRM on Christmas morning.

 

Just as well as there was nowt worth watching on the box.

 

I was looking forward to the video on the Bachmann 94xx after reading the review, but it seems to be missing 

 

Or is it me...

 

Seasons Greetings 

 

 

[Stevebr]

On my copy the 94xx is on page 98. Haven’t read the magazine but on a quick flick through it looks a good issue

 

[AY Mod]

43 minutes ago, ELTEL said:

I was looking forward to the video on the Bachmann 94xx after reading the review, but it seems to be missing

 

Apologies if there's been an omission Terry but I did leak the 360 video here a while back.

 

 

[Mikkel]

A nice mix of features in this issue. Thanks to Howard for those useful tips on making brass components 

[ruggedpeak]

Just signed up for RMWeb Gold and reading this issue via Exact Editions, really like Charlie Strong Metals, excellent photography.

[Chris116]

Another excellent issue that fell through my letterbox at lunchtime today. I have got an old plastic platform newsagents stall but will need another for the layout so having seen the build on the Metcalfe Mini Kit I decided to make that my second station newsagents only to find that Metcalfe have sold out and two other large stores are awaiting stock! Oh well, I will have to put that one on a back burner until the kit reappears.

 

EDIT:- Started to do some work on my Wisconsin layout only to find a number of Metcalfe kits I had forgotten I had bought and the goods news is that I have the Platform Kiosk so the back burner has been put away. 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Chris116
I found I already had the kit!

[steve1]

Talking of the Metcalfe Kiosk kit, it would make a nifty hipster coffee stop on a modern layout.

 

Looking at the Steampunk stuff, the gears could be used as scenic items on virtually any industrial layout in pretty much any scale. In addition, a modern layout could house the figures quite legitimately in a group hanging around a pub or shopping centre.

 

steve