Tony Teague

yes, and produced from a fairly poor kit (in my view!) by Golden Arrow models, another 'obscure' model by an obscure but still extant outfit; I have one: It has a resin body sitting on a Bachmann class 08 chassis. Tony

My late wife & I did an excellent Danube river cruise about 7 years ago, which included a walking tour of Bratislava; I vividly recall that our lady guide, who was in her mid-thirties, told us some alarming tales of people being shot as they tried to swim across the river to escape to Austria. She said that on the day that the border was finally re-opened, she and a school friend crossed the bridge that is in your picture 4 or 5 times in each direction, just because they now could. It gave us an amazing understanding of the freedoms that we had enjoyed throughout, but which had been denied to others. I took many pictures (no railways or trains I'm afraid) but this street art always comes to mind: No-one seemed to care about the trip-hazard! Tony

I finally managed to finish the two laser cut buildings today, and overall I think I am happy with them. Did I save any time over scratch building - a little, but are the results as good - probably not, given also that I enjoy that process. The whitewashed stone canalside stables / workshop now looks reasonable given that I built it completely incorrectly to start with; I added gutters & downpipes front & rear as I felt they were needed, but later found that a representation of guttering was included in the kit, but not in the instructions, so even had I read them I might not have known they were there. I quite like the uneven roof finish which is achieved through each strip of slates beng separately applied to rafters beneath, and I also replaced the chimneys with cast ones from my spares box. The second building is a tiny lock-up but having 'dark brick' wrappers it was quite tricky to hide the joins since they are printed on white paper (picture at end of post). I have of course got many card kit buidings on the layout, of fairly ancient vintage, and these are certainly a step up from those, however, if I compare these latest results with those acheived through scratch building, then there is no question in my mind that I prefer the latter; examples of these, all built & painted by me, are Churminster Goods Shed: St Giles Church, Stowe Magna: The Brewey Tap public house: and Churminster loco-shed - which is built around an original Metcalfe model of which only the internal structure remaains: When buying the two laser cut kits I acquired a couple more as I felt that they would fit in well with the Old Churminster 'ambience' that I was trying to generate, and I will certainly go ahead and build them to fill the spaces fairly rapidly, but whether they will be the final implementation or whether they will get replaced later is anyone's guess. In the end they will certainly have saved some time. The job now is to complete the surrounding scenery so that these get the chance to blend in! Tony

So sorry to hear this; my two, who were brother & sister both had to go about 3 years ago and just one month apart. I know how distressing this can be. Tony

An archive pic, not previously shown - all quiet on Churminster Shed: Tony

Stunning work! .......and people say that my DC wiring is complex............. (long live simplicity!) Tony

Having diverted back to TRAINS, I note that I have not posted an update on PROGRESS since 30 June, but there has been some, so here goes. I needed to build the 'retaining wall' to the rear of the canal warehouse so that I could complete the landform around it - here is the work in progress, followed by the 'finished' job: There is a lot of grassing and addition of trees, etc, to be done; the site to the right of the warehouse will be occupied by a cottage that was there before either the railway or the canal came to town. The eagle eyed will notice the basic / unfinished structures of two buildings beneath / to the left of the warehouse, and more of these can be seen here: In my last PROGRESS report I mentioned that I might look for some suitable building kits to expedite progress in this area, and I very rapidly came across several laser-cut products from Scale Model Scenery (SMS) that might look right; that these two are unfinished can be blamed on my being a male person and, in consequence, not reading the instructions, thus making a relatively simple job complicated! The water level in the canal has also increased again and I am really liking the reflections - it is obviously a calm morning: The laser cut buildings are not perfect, for example they rely upon printed paper 'wraps' which look Ok but lack any texture such as you get with moulded plasticard, conversely they should be a quick way to populate the area, given that I still have several buildings to complete. I started with the white building and in my haste I failed to notice that it was assymetric and, ignoring the fairly detailed instructions, I actaully built it inside out! - This was OK until it came to the paper wraps, two of which were of course the wrong way round...........😪 I decided to apply them back to front as the building needed covering and I thought that I would then attempt to emulate the 'textured, whitewashed stone' effect represented on the paper, but soon after, I realised that SMS also sold sheets of the printed paper separately - so I ordered some and cut & affixed them to match the erroneus sides - this was my 2nd mistake!! The kits have very nicely printed and close-fitting window & door frames, but with 2 layers of paper wrapped into every side of each opening, instead of 1, of course they won't fit....... Much cursing and prolonged fine work with a scalpel and they are now going in - but any time advantage is certainly now lost; fortunately the smaller 2nd building is being built correctly. The overall lesson is of course, RTFM! Anyway - here is an overview of the developing scene, which is broadly what I had envisaged; this 4 shot panorama does funny things with perspective and has had the effect of sharpening the curve under the bridge: So a lot left to do, and I haven't forgotten the external hoist to go on the front of the warehouse, as well as adding several roofs! Tony

In extreme cases this is the consequence of using PVA: Boiler split! Tony

The latest "addition to stock": Yes, it's an air-conditioner! Those in the UK may remember that we had a 2-day "summer" a little while ago, and having thought about this for over 2 years I decided now was the time to go for it! Since then I have wondered about my sanity as I sat here shivering, but things have warmed up again - perhaps only briefly, so I am hoping to realise some benefit; in any event the unit is connected to an air-source heat-pump so it will also provide heating. Hopefully this will somehwat extend my modelling season! Tony

Chivers also did a couple of loco kits that I am aware of: An ex-LBSCR Billinton D3, and an ex-SECR J class - an unusual prototype; both of these built for me by Chris Philips. Oddly, for an SR layout, I also have a couple of Chivers' LMS express fish vans; I made up the kits which were weathered by Mick Bonwick. Finally, no-one has mentioned MARC Models, which is certainly now defunct and made models of many obscure prototypes across all regions; this is his SR Bulleid cinema coach & generator van: He (Mike Radford) also produced in conjunction with Model rail magazine, a more or less complete set of kits to make up the SNCF Night Ferry stock: Tony

Especially his backside..........

I have been amazed at the number of 'obscure' / sometimes defunct kit makers that have appeared on here, but I am pleased to be able to offer a couple more kits and manufacturers - all Southern Railwya I'm afraid: This is an Ace Products ex-LB&SCR Marsh J2, whilst the two that follow are both from Q Kits: An ex-LC&DR Kirtley T class above, followed by a further ex-LC&DR Kirtley model of an R1 below: Finally an E.B. Models (Exclusively Brighton) ex-LB&SCR Billinton E3: All of these were built, painted & lined for me by Chris Phillips. Tony

Three more for your 'obscure' or discontinued collection; the first is a Craftsman Lord Nelson, builder unknown as I acquired it on flea-bay: Next are a pair of what I believe to be Kitmaster bodied West Country locos; again I have no idea about the builder or the chassis, but each has a Portescap motor: Finally, an SR, ex-LSWR Drummond K10 from an E.J. Sharp kit, built & painted by @DLT ; it needed much modification (as illustrated on his RMWeb thread) & has a High Level gearbox: Tony

Tony If it would be of interest I have a number of Southern kit built locos by 'obscure' or lesser known manufacturers, most of which are now defunct; in particular I have several from Ace Products. As an example, this is a Billinton / ex-LB&SCR K class, built, painted & lined for me by Chris Phillips & then weathered by the late Mick Bonwick: I believe that it wasn't the easiest build but it seems to have made up well in the end! Tony

He'd probably do a better job than either the new one or any of the last several!