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She's very good actually, considering the car is a bit of a money sink as well- I'm lucky! However- after some experimentation I have found that the favoured option for bribery/ distraction is the chocolate- although we still have a houseful from Christmas so the effectiveness is somewhat reduced. Be good to see you are Hardwicke, it's not to far from the Quays shopping outlet thingy. Guest operators and stock will be enthusiastically welcomed!

Cheers Gents. Now Tim has reminded me I should say- BT&S is confirmed (in it's current state- so no lighting rig etc and with some improvements to the wiring still required & some detailing work to do) for GlosG0G's Hardwicke show (the edge of Gloucester) on the 29th of March. This is likely to be it's only show of 2015 but we do have one lined up for 2016 already- by which time I should have built some form of lighting rig! Hopefully the Fowler will be in action demonstrating Tim's transfers and the EDM sound project Mike, I couldn't get near the stand when I first arrived (about half 11) so it certainly looked busy! I didn't get the ticking off I was expecting when I got home with my new purchase (should have thought about it really, I left with one Ixion box and came back with another...) so perhaps I should have pushed my luck and left the Manly Waddle with Paul as well. It's also the first railway show I've been to where I've been presented with a CD of metal(ish) music, cheers Keith!

Trip to the Brizzle 0 gauge show. Wasn't really planning on spending any money, other than perhaps the odd wagon and a few detailing odds and sods. Managed to elbow through the crowd around the EDM/ NG Models stand (actually I ran away and came back later) to drop off my Fowler for sound chipping, and had a good natter to Paul & Mike, and caught up with "Tim C" Tim who has very kindly printed off some BTS transfers for the Fowler. Then went for a looksee around the second hand stalls. A nice looking Agenoria Hudswell Clarke "Hilda" on the Bring & Buy caught my eye, but it was the Swindonised version and anyway it's a bit of a big old lump- and I'd told myself beforehand to behave and not make any impulse purchases. Continued my meander. Erm, ooops... I'm not very good at this whole "self restraint" lark... But it suits they layout (probably why Dave has two!) and was a very good price in my opinion. Need to try and get it apart to chip it now...

For some inexplicable reason I can't post links from my work PC, but if you search "Dapol o gauge terrier" (note "o" gauge not "0" gauge!) in Google images & scroll down you'll find some A1X EP photos on MRE mag's website. I thought they may have been posted here previously actually (the article is from a few months back) but I couldn't see them for all the informed and well mannered discussion.

If you are going to set out to build an empire, it's as well to ensure when you are building your impressive castles and palaces that there's enough farms out on the plains to support your soldiers and princesses... An accurate, sensible priced model common over a range of eras (and liveries) and found practically nationwide that would sell to the serious modelling fraternity (even if it's not the obscure protototype only found in Scotland between 1913 and 1951 that three or four of them really really really want) that will also sell to the "pretty colours" collector market seems a very sensible move to me- and not dissimilar to DJM's Hunslet Austerity in a way (which I also thought was a very sensible choice). Something they can sell lots of, get the name out there, and provide finance to support some of the more obscure prototypes that will no doubt come later. To say that the market is all going this way is frankly ridiculous- there's more variety of high quality rolling stock available RTR than ever before, a trend that doesn't show any sign of reversing (and why would it?). As for stepping on kit maker's toes, anything not useful/ popular enough to have a reasonable kit available in 4mm/ft is very unlikely to have a sound business case as a RTR model is it- so that is inevitable for as long as the RTR market continues to grow. You could even say they've been nice to the kit market by choosing something already available RTR

Richard isn't particularly hot on updating the "products" section of the website but the news section is generally pretty up to date The Facebook page is also fairly reguarly updated- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lionheart-Trains/340112329467714?sk=timeline No doubt someone will now complain that they don't use Facebook and they can't see it etc etc, but there it is all the same...

Presumably... one hopes the thermal socks aren't though! Sorry Mick!

Apologies if it's a repost as I'm not a dedicated follower of this thread. This caught my eye http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/O-GAUGE-JOB-LOT-OF-BIG-BIG-TRAIN-CLASS-35-HYMEK-/201266202658?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item2edc668822 - apparently a "job lot" now means "one", presumably he generally sells kits split into individual items... Quite apart from that, I went on to click "other items". It's an interesting business model he's using!

Nope- Tower has expected delivery dates up on their website- the first batches are just getting on the boat by the sounds of it, so 4-6 weeks, the rest following on about a month after.

Does the infamous Cortina on Black Country Blues count as fly tipped?

Wasn't planning on going to either, but sounds like a good excuse to go to NG South West, Shepton Mallet is a nice run from here

Mine may well end up named "Achilles" Seriously though, it does sound like they are pretty close, the date is getting steadily closer... I've already decided that I'll give in to temptation, I just need to decide if I'm patient enough to wait for a sound one.

Well, since you've put it like that Paul... pretty please with a cherry on top I think I would have done the just the same had someone tried it on with me! There are a few bits of minor damage to this one (knocked the brake actuator arm thingy under the cab off, and got an errant blob of glue on the keeper plate in gluing it back in for starters!) that I'll catalogue & photograph before you get it. I'll drop you a line later on- since I've painted it it's probably best if I just send the chassis- I could potentially drop it with you at Brizzle actually, that sounds like it could work well for timing.

I can't take any credit for the layout- it's Dave ("Ruston")'s handiwork. But the Fowler could have been made for it. I think it was Dave that suggested the Fowler in the "what would you like next from Ixion" thread so that's probably not surprising! When I bought it the cunning plan was to then save up for the EDM sound project at a later date, but since Paul's illness he has understandably stopped offering it on non- EDM purchased models so short of buying another one I think I've missed out! The stay alive would have come in useful as well I suspect, although I'm very impressed with it's running with an out of the box cheapo Hornby decoder.

Hey now, that's a bit unfair... they got new lights front and rear and different wheeltrims too I've a set of Ital telescopic damper brackets to go on Mud actually- it's supposed to make quite a big difference. Can't find a better pic of the DT on here, so have one of the Scammells instead. Long term project belonging to another friend, this is the better of the pair (a very early Gun Tractor, most are recoveries).

I know the chap with the zetec head on a B series car- he's had it from new, and does everything to it himself. If the one on the slotmags is a sort of aqua green then it's actually a 1300 as I recall- there's only a couple left that colour!

Have a Coconut. Diamond T 980 tank transporter Mallard was one of the options for the estate's respray, but it will most likely be "black tulip" as then I can have the lovely (it's a relative term) red interior. It's definitely one of the better colours that they came in. They are very thin on the ground now, but they are starting to become more popular and better recieved in the general classic car world at least. Estates seem particularly uncommon, I suppose they lead a harder life than most- the guy that's going to do the bodywork is big into them and has done quite a few over the years, but hasn't had an estate in in a long time, I think he's quite looking forward to it. I think it's worth doing, everyone else thinks I'm nuts Mud is on wider wheels, lowered 1 1/2" and with 4 leaf rear springs (standard on the estate), and as such handles rather better than you'd expect. The saloon, despite having anti roll bars (being a Mk2), rather less so. The Dolomite is a much better car but it was quite a lot more expensive when new.

Ohh, bad British cars, I can play this game I may have a problem. The 4- wheeled love of my life is a 1973 ('74 registered, had the fun of convincing the Doovla to give us tax exemption this year, took 6 months but we got there in the end!) Mk1 Morris Marina estate in beautiful "Tundra" (scunge) green, affectionately known as Mud. She has very few redeeming features, with minimal interior left, a very very tired 1800 B series under the bonnet and not many panels that aren't either rusty, dented or both- but she puts up with a ton of abuse and seems completely resilient to whatever gets thrown at her, and keeps struggling through MOTs as well. This year she'll be carted off to the IoW for some much needed bodywork attention, the spare room being full of replacement panels, and a rebuilt engine too. After 40 hard years, including a visit to the scrapyard from which she escaped to be put back to work, I think it's well deserved! She recently (OK, about a year ago) gained a stablemate in the form of a '78 Mk2 Saloon in the rather more appealing Flamenco red. Technically a 1300 auto, except for the fact that both those bits were missing- I bought this one from a Morris Minor specialist who had fitted the engine and 'box into a customer's Moggy Thou. The car had only done something like 18000 miles from new and, unlike Mud, who is already on her second set of wings, doors and sills and is overdue due a third, is completely original and to all intents and purposes rust free. It's now had a recon engine and box thrown in to replace the missing one (the engine cost more than the car...), but I'm still dealing with a few foibles, it is roadworthy again now though. Hopefully will get it all sorted in time for summer, it's hiding in the garage at the moment. For two years I helped a friend restore his Triumph Dolomite 1850HL, finally getting it back on the road last Summer in time to tackle the Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run in October- 2000ish miles in 48ish hours. We made it round with no problems, a great experience. I attempted to put a blog together as we went round, although it's a bit lacking as when not driving or navigating I was mostly sleeping- see http://team71rbrr.wordpress.com/. Do get to play with some even more illogical stuff on occasion, we had this one out a couple of days ago- belongs to another friend, it's a proper labour of love. A virtual coconut to anyone who can work out what it is Edit- it says on the back- doh!

Idea was to pretty much fill the relatively square area of cabside ahead of the opening (where most people put the worksplate, which will migrate elsewhere). Without going and waving a ruler at it, probably about 1/2" a side? Could be worth a go. It'll get a dusting of lacquer once it's done, it's only loosely reassembled to test it (no glue!). Meant to say, we did try a Lionheart 64xx, no way- it's definitely not a big engine layout Looked good though!

Another variation on the "paint yer Fowler" theme... Needs red rods, various detailing bits reattached and so on- and grimeification. It was supposed to be red, but the rattle can (Tamiya) I picked up turned out to be metallic (luckily I did a test piece- does anyone want a sparkly Triang- Hornby Toad?) so decided to go for something completely different I do wish I'd got one with the EDM sound project though...

Keep us posted Mister Neil It lives! Managed to set BT&S up today, as a complete layout for the first time. Power still seems to be getting to where it should be, and the points all worked which is a relief! We do seem to have a dead frog on one point which I need to look at, and the Fowler seems to have a dislike of the inset track- possibly flange contact (ooh err). Track needs a good clean (and then have a go with the graphite sticks Dave recommended for better contact) but it was great to get to "play" at last. The Fowler's new livery certainly divided opinion- it needs BTS roundels (as on the tankers) on the cabsides (any recommendations for good custom transfer manufacturers? Dave has given us the artwork), various detail bits reattaching and a few extras adding, rods painting red, and a generous helping of dirt to tone it down a bit! It's chipped now (Hornby- it's the smallest 8 pin one Antics had in the shop- a TCS DP2x- UK direct one wouldn't fit surprisingly- still too tall!) and runs really very nicely. Couple of different viewpoints, and the Fowler on test.

Depends which bit breaks... but yes, almost certainly! Gearbox is an R380, potentially containing custard and iron filings from the slickness of the gearshift! Phase 1 of the backscene reinforcement is now complete, will update later this week hopefully. I've also resprayed the Fowler (still in bits currently) and made a bit of progress on a couple of wagon kits, I'm probably not far off enough having enough stock now really (except locos, which we're really rather short on) but I'll probably build a few more vans. The stock has already been out "on tour" a couple of times and doubtless will do again so it's nice to have a decent rake. Dave has sent us the artwork for the custom transfers and, as of this morning, my young lady has acquired a laptop capable of running photoshop so I'll making some tweaks and hopefully getting a few more run off (once I've worked out where- I don't have a printer), specifically the roundel for the cabsides of the Fowler.

Seem to be clicking the ratings icons a lot here, but all justified A variation on the Lowmac theme would be the most useful to me of the "skill builder" range

Cheers folks. I was hoping to progress along a similar path to Chris, probably starting with one of Jim's Lowmacs before tackling a brake van. Ultimately I'd like to tackle an Agenoria industrial or two, I believe the older kits are a bit easier so hopefully I'll be a slightly shallower learning curve than Chris' one with the Pannier- but it'll be a while before we get there anyway. Thanks for the offer of the step by step build blog Chaz, and for the words of encouragement from all sides