Jol Wilkinson

We don't know Phil's financial circumstances (nor should we) and it may be that your two a penny solutions are not presently feasible. The current situation is clearly far from ideal, but it is what it is. Perhaps Phil should have not have reopened the business until he had explored all the posible problems and solutions, but that would have upset some customers. Equally, until he started running the business, stock requirements, internet problems, etc. may not have been apparent. Perhaps someone with comprehensive commercial IT experience might be willing to volunteer to give Phil a hand to implement their suggestions. Otherwise there is little to be gained by offering such advice here on RMweb.

Started on final detailing, so I am doing the NER G1 (LNER D23) at the same time. The NER livery is somewhat more complex and taking a bit more research than I am accustomed to at this stage. So far, the two tenders and boilers are underway. Both models are painted in gloss cellulose. Lining is Fox on the G1 with Pressfix emlem and lettering, Modelmaster on the Jubilee.

I'm afraid we are out of cake at the moment. Following a piece in last Friday's local paper about Suffolk sausages I am putting all my efforts into investigating those that won awards at the Great Framlingham Sausage Festival.

I find it particularly annoying that the BBC are criticising those who are taking advantage of legal (if not moral) tax avoidance loopholes, rather than the governments who operate them. Luxembourg, IOM, Jersey, the Cayman Islands, et al. make a profit at the expense of the UK and other governments. Which in turn means those of us that pay our taxes. Why doesn't the BBC get stuck into them?.

CK, I think that you misread my post, so you will not be awarded any cake. Jol

Neil, while "railway modelling" may not be a competitive hobby, people often are. I agree with Paul, positive comments are what make's it worthwhile. When "awards" are involved, there will be more disappointed layout owners/operators than satisfied ones. I also don't bother with a display of "Look where we have been" plaques. Public voting will be subjective and therefore biased, so is best avoided. Other's have commented on the benefits or otherwise of having expert judges. However, if you want to win "Best Layout" then I have noticed there are some things that appear to be of help. Get the layout in one of the major magazines before the show. Have all you club members vote. If the layout has a geographic location, show it at exhibitions in that area. If you can combine all three, then you'll definitely be on a winner. It may also help to have a layout "thread" on RMweb. Jol

Felipe Massa has announced his retirement at the end of the season. That'll wind up the speculation about who will take William's spare seat a bit more.

Which is surely a definition of a collector? I agree with the word modeller being loaded, or perhaps "confusing" might be better. I consider myself a model maker, as are most of my "modelling" friends. I make what I want from kits, because I get satisfaction from that. The act of purchasing a kit is enjoyable, and holds promises of further enjoyment to come, which I don't think I would get to anywhere the same extent from buying RTR models. I also struggle with the need for even relatively small, fleets of the same loco. Unless you have a large layout, why have ten of this or twenty of that? The only duplicates I have are from different kits, where a different and usually more recent, kit provides a different building/construction experience. The interest in buying collections (as in several, some, many or lots) of RTR models is surely another facet of a consumer society. People cue up to buy the latest IPhone, because it is the thing to own, not because it necessarily makes your life better than the one you had before. People increasingly believe they are measured or defined by what they own. So if buying whatever the RTR manufacturers are producing is what gives you pleasure, don't agonise over it, just do it. Don't expect me to understand what you get out of it though.

John, no doubt prices will continue to fall but perhaps take up will be more limited than pc printer/scanners as most households won't perceive the need for a 3D printer. Of course that may change as today's school children become house owners/renters and when inexpensive 3D scanners or simpler design software"apps" are available. Then it will depend on what people will want to print for their household needs. Currently 3D printing, outside the industrial or military spheres seems to be used mainly by people with "constructive" hobbies such as model making. Jol

You can access the MERG products price list on their website. https://www.merg.org.uk/kits.php

Not all sports people do something exceptional although some, usually footballers, seem to get paid a lot anyway. Civil servants seem to get honours for simply doing the job for a number of years. Or is being a senior civil servant something exceptional? I am sure people in industry, medicine, etc. don't get recognised to the same degree. The exception of course is those in the media..

If someone does something exceptional in their chosen field, then it may be valid to give them an honour. The ones I object to are the civil servants who get an award for just doing their job.

The servo tape used in model aircraft provides a good way to hold a servo onto a smooth surface. It has a thin foam centre which ensures good adhesion and can be cut through to remove a servo. You can then remove the sticky bits of tape with white spirit or similar.

Mick, just built another, a 4-4-0 with fixed rear coupled axle, pivoted front coupled axle and sprung bogie. I have two four coupled locos that pick up on the two driven axles only and will run all day as required at a show. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/14518-lnwr-4mm-rolling-stock-for-london-road/page-4&do=findComment&comment=2905105 I accept that building sprung or compensated chassis is more involved and time consuming than assembling a rigid unit as designed. As I only want a small fleet of locos, that doesn't represent a problem for me. I am very much an advocate of "flexible" chassis as I could never get rigid OO ones to work properly, but that goes back to a time when kits had some pretty poor concoctions to take the motor and wheels. I also learned a lot about building locos and what makes them work successfully when I went over to P4 and joined the Scalefour Society. I learned what seems obvious now, about consistent relationships between wheel and coupling rod centres, crank pin radius, etc. when the only criterion before that had been getting all the wheels sitting evenly on a piece of glass. Building compensated chassis requires setting up the parts to match, which took away some of the inaccuracies in the OO models I had been building. Etched chassis went a long way to providing - if properly designed - more consistent and accurately matched components than some of what had gone before. GEM kits with cast w/m chassis blocks and coupling rods, K's (I think) brass slab frames with turned, tapped spacers and other products which were very much of their time. Jol

Time to call their bluff. If they can't/won't compete on an even circuit (get it?) then they should clear off.

Unfortunately small business that encounter communication and supply delays can get sucked into a downward spiral. Customer sends order No immediate acknowledgement or delivery Customer sends follow up enquiry Proprietor diverted from sourcing product, packaging, taking to PO, etc. to relpy Other peoples orders delayed. They send enquiry And so on I agree that shows are a must, to create an ongoing customer awareness, build customer relations, etc. A contact link carries the implication that it is a business communication and will be dealt with during business hours. Providing a normal email address seems to cause people to think that they can use it at any time and will get a fairly quick response, even to some of the most difficult enquiries (will your kit 27AB make the loco shown on page XX of so and so's book published in 1957?). How do I know all this? Simply from being a friend of someone who runs a Small Supplier's business. So, I wish Phil all success. We need the C&L range of products and while these "start up" difficulties are annoying, we need to give him time to get things fully up and running. Looking at the outcome of some other "takeovers" it could be much more frustrating. Along with several friends I hope the Exactoscale P4 carriage and wagon wheels become available again, but am not going to pester Phil to find out what is happening with those until everything else sorted.

To which I would add compensation, springing or some other system that keeps all the current collecting wheels in touch with the rails all the time. However, I realise that some modellers believe that all loco chassis are absolutely "true", all wheels are exactly the same diameter and totally concentric and that track can be laid as flat as a tool room surface plate, so such complications are unnecessary. My experience with a P4 layout (oh dear, I've used a naughty phrase) at exhibitions is that it is best to cover the layout overnight. Before a running session, clean any obviously dirty rail sections with a very fine cleaning block, then vacuum the track area and finally wipe the rail surfaces with a light solvent such as cigarette light fluid.. Starting with clean loco wheels they usually have only needed one wheel clean over a weekend (some not at all). Avoid coarse cleaning blocks as these minutely scratch the rail surface which encourages dirt to stick. Provided that we follow that approach, the layout and stock usually run well. Having said all that, our next outing will probably be a disaster. If so it will however bring enjoyment to those who have paid £1.00 per hour to go around a show so they can point out what is wrong with the layouts on display, why they don't run properly, moan about the catering, etc.

Do Do they celebrate Christmas with such enthusiasm?

Having visited relatives in NZ I thought there drove used cars from Japan, imported when the are no longer wanted in the land of the rising sun. There are/were two large vehicle carriers that made a weekly run into Auckland. However, discerning drivers (my nephew claims to be one) are now going for imported s/h European cars (invariably.German). Surprisingly, given their roads and speed limits it seems that they prefer more powerful and faster the car so you can collect more fines, the better.

There is some interesting and worrying reading in that article, Did America Fernandez's parents name their child with a prophetic view of the future and Trump's presidency. The youngster sharing the same name as a rather controversial American General claims they like all kinds of animals and then goes on to say they were most impressed by a snake eating a mouse! Perhaps he/she should be renamed Lunatic. As they are residents of Pratt, I started to wonder if the publication date of the publication was 1st April. However, an internet search shows that there are several Pratts in the USA as well as a Pratt Institute.

Why shouldn't someone make a value judgement on something without actually trying it. People can make sound decisions based upon information - however it is presented - but it doesn't mean that they are narrow minded, unwilling to adopt new ideas, etc.. Your reference to iPods is interesting. I bought one for my wife (I use a Samsung tablet in much the same way) and later matched it with two pieces of kit with docking stations. She recently damaged the iPod so I bought her a replacement. Guess what, it has a different connection and won't fit the docking stations. Otherwise it appears identical and doesn't appear to have any other benefits. Presumably the new connector is a technological advance - although I haven't asked Apple - but is a disadvantage to me. It is ironic that despite all the advantages technology has brought us - and some such as those in the medical field have been very important - that people are apparently more stressed and less happy.

Note that the "Registrant Contact" is not Paul Dunn, whose name also does not appear. So any action against Paul Dunn may not be recognised by the domain provider, who therefore may not be willing to take any action.

Pete, it isn't about denying the forward march of technology, it is about accepting and effectively using what provides a benefit, both as individuals and as society. I had a PC from the early days, use CAD to design things, use SatNav, have a smart phone (which is actually rather stupid and does what others want it to, rather than me, its owner), drive a 67 plate car with lots of bells and whistles, etc. Social media, when people allow it to effectively take over their lives, restricts rather than enhances their awareness of what is going on around them. Better to look around you at what is going on in the world, rather than be staring at a small screen letting someone else tell you whats going on? Stay in the house and ask Alexa (other brain replacements are available) or go out and explore the world, meeting other people as you do so? Of course those are sweeping generalisations, but for those who see the technology as providing totally rosy future, may I suggest watching the film The Circle, with Tom Hanks and Emma Watson (originally as a novel of the same title by Dave Eggers, published in 2013). If you can control/manage the technology, then that's great. If you let it, and its designers and manufacturers, control what it does and gives you, than you may have problems. Jol

A friend of mine was an apprentice at BL during Red Robbo's days. From what he tells me, Mr Robertson used the word "working" but didn't actually do any, along with his brother Union "officers". They apparently preferred to sit around in their union office, at BL's expense. Like other notable Union activists, he seemed to think conflict was the answer to getting the UK's industry back on its feet.

The main difference being that.at Christmas the supermarket shelves aren't full of costumes for angels. shepherds, wise men, donkeys, sheep, etc. Otherwise they are pretty similar. Most of the participants don't know what is the original reason for the "celebration", commercial interests have taken over, street begging is acceptable, although dressed up as carol singing (or carol murdering in some instances).