M.I.B

I take it that the GWR one is backing onto it's tender........................ Looks good though.

Thank you for the photos from Down Under ( and across a bit.....) I personally can live with the moulded handrails and lining faults - I agree with OldDudders in this respect- Having had to put up with a Ks Star But a warped front frame and the wrong wheels is unacceptable for £150. Please Geoff from Steam, show yourself...............(and Lode Star)

If the wheels on Lode Star are replaced I will be satisfied at £150 a pop. If the frames are bowing up, it will be going back, and I don't care if Steam or any one else loses out. Sale of faulty goods. Steam should not accept anyof these models from Hornby if they are faulty. There is no excuse for not knowing that they are faulty having seen the posts on this thread. Let's hope all is well.

Many thanks. We have just had the cessation of our BFPO services announced so nothing more from Home for us until we go Home. Greetings from the world of beige - and i'm not talking about the contents of most over-50s' wardrobes......

I tend to miss things from time to time, out here in the far flung corners of the US Empire.... is there and issue with the Steam Stars? I too have one on order but probably won't be at Home when it arrives.

but ahead of it are two 4-plankers and what looks to be a 9 cylinder CORDON........

Gilbert, You have brought so much enjoyment and inspiration to so many by sharing your layout. Don't get wrapped around the axles now that you have found out an error or two. Most people strive to get 10% of what you have achieved, so be exceptionally proud with what you have. My fear would be that to get obsessive has a danger of you coming to hate PN and drive yourself up the wall striving to achieve a level of perfection bordering on the manic obsessive. Make the compromise between what you have, what you want, what you can afford, and most of all, what you enjoy. (I hear 4772 has some sort of GN/NE LNER significance? or is that 4472?)

The windows in that TOAD on the right look odd - no glass???????

More than a couple - 3 yearlings to a box like this - or 2 large hunters per box.

Please stop mentioning 47XXs - having bought one completed I don't need someone to look at what's going on here and Didcot and thinking that they are onto something.........

National Benzole x 4. Fina one is silver, but too young to be with my lot. Would fit your period though. I had a rethink of milk tanks while I was home too. 2 LMS chassied 6wheelers will also head to pastures new. 7 wagons for sale easily justifies buying a few more grey vans and perhaps some of the larger GMR/Airfix black Shell/BP tanks.

I have rooted out 4 beige ones and a Fina that don't belong in my "end of GWR" period, so I'll Ebay those and replace with some Mobils if I can find some. Thanks for the informtive links and debate.

I've had a BG buying frenzy too. Kits and RTR. There is something quite pleasing about BGs: clerestory, to Hawksworth. I even have 4 teak ones in 2 types to make up a visiting pigeon special, as well as 3 different LMS ones to add some alternative colour to the sea of chocolate and cream. As always, thanks for sharing and inspiring Rob.

The Hornby Gresley looks great to me.

Thanks once again. Everything I have centres around 1945-49, but there is a rake of early clerestories and a couple of engines that sit 20 years earlier than that because I couldn't resist (a County, a Saint and Lode Star when it arrives).

I have always re-read your modelling posts to extract every scrap of detail, but the POLLEN one will get read a few times more - mainly because there is one sat at home awaiting my return. Where did you get those securing chains? I think I will be using a pair of Dublo turntable sides/girders for a load. I won't need any liquid gravity then. Best wishes from the sand.

The Bachmann Dukedog wearing TP&P numbers and plates.............. Oh - sorry it's still not here yet.

That's what 57XXs are for

Having spent 20+ years restoring and racing cars as a hobby before making the change this year back to modelling, primer and prep is something I do know about. Acid etch works well on metal. I have never tried it on plastics. I think it will be too harsh. UPol's plastic primer IIRC is the equivalent, but is formulated for 99.99% of plastic substances. Sorry I am not able to lay my hands on either primer out here, otherwise I would have used to sprue for a side by side test.

TY for the explanation of the ballast loads. I also have a pair of Pollen E's to sort when I get home. Painting looks a little different to the norm - see the piece on the Ebay page of this forum - some one has explained how to get paint to stick to this odd 3d printed medium. I was going to use UPol plastic primer and then Railmatch spray over that.

Brilliant. Good to see you back in the saddle. Term over - more modelling and Big Didcot time? What do you use as ballast in those wagons?

My "pet" plumber and builder are like this because they are so good at what they do. They have no need to advertise and getting a "slot" for a job is like getting a good table at the Ivy. However, mine usually phone when they can't make it. or have been called away to an emergency. Take this as a positive sign.

I am not a fan of diesel layouts, especially when the words 'traction" and TMD are involved, because most of them are just sheds with lots of sound locos plonked in front in a "look what I have got" style. But this is very very different. Detail, depth and quality. Well done, especially for modelling things which get missed like pylons. And I am envious of the scenic'd fiddle yard - the finish on that alone is better than may layouts. One comment - the 1940s "pill-box" needs to be rotated 180 degrees - the firing slits would have afforded at least a 100m uninterrupted vision. Yours are 10 feet away from a 1930s house. Spin it round and it could be covering down an unseen canal, or covering some once open wasteland now covered in Wimpey/Barratt/Persimmon boxes.

I only ever saw Hornby group stuff in Modelzone.