MJI

The RTR manufacturers are not my colour match standards, mine are Precision, been using it since it was based in Churchdown near my old school. Nearly 40 years.

Australia My boss keeps going over to there and New Zealand. On a free day he visited Hobbiton. We are selling factory software over there, and looks like we could make market leader in time.

Has anyone noticed the huge amount of mobile phone users glued to screens in everyday tasks? An example is the chip shop queue, say ten or so people in front, 3 or 4 will be constantly at their phones. I feel very silly for just pulling mine out to check time or call my wife. Those things soak time, people constantly messaging, playing time wasting games (as a time sink rather than leisure), going on various social media. As to phone zombies crossing roads aghhhhhhh!

I am of the opinion that more hobbies make a person more interesting. Games are more a generational thing than an age thing, you are of the same generation of the first computer gamers, but never had exposure, hence no interest. My generation it hit main stream and now the youngsters with the fast reactions have to watch out for sneaky 50 somethings. A good way of describing it is if you are flaked out in front of TV, do you? 1) Watch the latest comings and goings of various fictional people in fictional places doing boring things (soaps) 2) Or shoot hostile aliens in the face (games) As I have little interest in those sort of things I would rather watch a film, a really good documentry (eg Attenborough), or game. But if bright and sunny I would rather keep off the TV and do something else. My main hobby is still modal railways. As to your TVR, still a pity that you sold it. I like interesting cars and TVRs are interesting.

Don't worry 10 year old PC here, was so powerful when built it is still relevant. Blue stuff, hmm, blue car, blue Diesels, all the games boxes are blue, my fleece is blue, my bathroom is blue, I think it is my favourte colour, I actually like the BR corporate image livery. However a lot of reasons I have got into AV are related 1) I love films 2) I loved videoing trains and really wanted a video camera for GWR150, but got one end of 1985 early 1986 not sure when. 3) I have done videos of railways, done the VCR to VCR editing and also PC editing, PC is easier once you get the hang of it. Annoying gadgets 1) Smartphones drive me bonkers. 2) I detest the latest version of WIndows but may have to have it next year as my work PC is nearly a decade old as well. 3) My car radio is illogical, it took me half an hour to cancel sat nav after it got triggered during a repair, kept wanting to go to Solihull. As to widescreen TV, I had one in 1999, the year my twins were born, and about 10 years later an LCD panel TV. I buy top end quality kit but rarely. Bought the widescreen for DVDs and digital TV, also my old TV was wearing out. Bought current for HDTV, size and the widescreen tube was just starting to fade. Now to modern gadgets they can be good but it depends on how good the user interface is, some companies are excellent some are rubbish. In general modern mobile phones interfaces are quite poor. Many small digital cameras are bonkers. Latest Windows is appalling. One reason I like Sony stuff is that their user interfaces are usually OK. As to my vision, yes getting old, I run in three modes, no glasses, computer glasses and normal glasses, as extremely short sighted, but my issue is hearing, I have bad tinnitus since an ear infection and I have found to listen to stuff I need really good qualty kit now. I find modern digital phones can be difficult to hear on, and compressed audio on cheap devices painfull. we all get old and lose some inputs but they work well enough. My wife wanted the PC today so said to go on games to get me off the PC, but I wanted to model instead, so annoyed her anyway with a large pile of Airfix air conditioned coaches spread over the table. In blue (and grey). I hope I am not boring everyone here!

If you want to feel better about youtube just have a look at some railway videos, like Deltic and 50 double heading.

Spent today doing C1 and electrification flashes then decided to reunite chassis and bodies and found I have lost a 2E chassis as a few boxes lopped off and single fan fitted. AGHHHHHHH So grabbed an open first, stripped it down and used that chassis, that FO will become a WR 2F FO.

Got to say this Tony but the more you learn the more you realise that you do not know. I have learnt so much I feel incredibly stupid sometimes.

Changing of skills really, the biggest skills hurdle I ever had was at work around 18 or so years ago, if anyone wants to learn about some very basic programming methodoligies please ask.

OK There are three ways of doing widescreen. The proper way, the rubbish way and the acceptable way Proper way is normal HDTV. stuff as Blu Ray, some broadcast HDTV and most current generation video game machines. 1920 x 1080 for 16 x 9, this is square pixels, looks really good. The acceptable way was how Freeview works with standard definition, as per BBC1 2 and so on. Also the Proper way of doing widescreen films on DVD in the UK 720 across and 576 down used as 16 x 9, however the pixels would be rectangular, but this is the best picture you can get for detail from standard definition. This is called Anamorphic Widescreen The rubbish way is letterboxing, or why the Titanic DVD was rubbish. The whole picture is 720x568 but as 4x3, old squarer TVs, like the old PAL broadcasts pre digital TV. For a widescreen film they put large black bars top and bottom so it looks OK on a 4x3 TV, but DVD players can easily down scale anamorphic to fit 4x3. But wiht widescrren TVs you have to zoom in and get worse picture quality, you only get 426 visible lines rather than 568. It looks bad! I hope this is not confusing, any questions just ask. I would rather have questions and people learning than saying who cares.

I hope they do 2D also so that accurate sets can be made up without lots of carving up. Are you changing regions as well? 2D are mainly ECML with a few TSOT, FK, BFK on the Western Region 2E are everywhere but ECML, WR are mainly TSO 2F are mainly WCML but some FO are WR So I have 5 x 2D TSO, 3 x 2E TSO, and 1 x 2D TSOT from 8 TSO and 2 BSO I thought I had more 2E TSOs but after a big stock take I worked out I had only bought 8 Airfix TSOs. All of the Western region air con sets seem to be mainly 2E TSOs, 2D BFKs, random FO and FK and the odd W19xx buffet, but I have seen ER aircon sets on the Lickey route. But very belatedly I found that Airfix aircons make better late 2Cs than Lima, just when I had only 1 toilet etch left

£18 on Ebay with postage but then add the £20 for Shawplan bits. However for rake 3 what do I use? Biggest problem is that most WR sets are 1CDEF mixes with pairs of BFKs. This keeps pushing Airfix due to price of BSO FO

Colour and B&W B&W is much better when sourced from a luminance only medium like B&W film (I like Tri X), converted from a colour medium especially when RGB rather than luminance with colour differences. The worst B&W I have seen recently was on an expensive Sony LCD TV which however does standard to high def upscaling rather well. But since my B&W stuff is very limited it took until recently to notice. In the old B&W TV days B&W looked better on a B&W TV. Now to colour balances. I have had 3 video cameras, all same make, but all different technologies. Yet you can tell by the colours (and build quality) that they are the same make. The tube camera with portable VCR was fantastic in the 80s, camera was low on features but good on picture quality, the portable undoubtedly best of generation. About 15 years ago I went DV 16x9 as well not letterboxed, looked great on a tube widescreen TV, colours very similar. Most recent is HDV, again matching colour balances. Compared to a Canon which seemed muted even in high summer. And autumn colours were not obvious. I do want a digital camera sometime, I know what sensor brand I want, but not camera brand. From my experience a high end Sony sensor is still worth having. This does seem to point to Nikon.

Most go carty car I have ever driven was my old Sunbeam. I had it during the end of the hot hatch era, it was old then but went well enough. Had all new suspension though, forest springs and competition struts Had two very funny TLGPs One was a MG Metro and I had a trailer on (full of lightish stuff), the other a warm hatch who red lined when I hit power band (tall gearing). However one FWD hot hatch found out that RWD cars take different lines in tight bends. I do miss that car.

After seeing what Peter Jackson said about WW1, they saw colour and remembered it like that. Monochrome is fine for artistic reasons, but my favourite 1960s stuff is Ivo Peters Cine footage.

I made a mess of our work microwave with tinned soup. Just tipped into bowel and nuked. Someone said to put a plate over the top. Didn't I do it at home? We don't have a microwave oven, as hardly used it and it was starting to fail. Boiling in saucepan is no slower than using a microwave oven. Things in kitchen, I got very technical when we replaced the oven and stuff. I have also repaired the washing machine. Funning that I can quote model numbers of TV, PC CPU (Q8200), a few of my VCRs but not the kitchen white goods.

All of mine are structurally OK Sawing underframes is not easy!!!! Glues well also for BFKs

I work them over, etched frames and laserglaze 5 TSO still TSO, 1 is TSOT and 2 are now 2E It is nice to have a rake of matching vehicles hence the 2F FOs are Airfix ocnversions

I have 8, but boxes chucked.

With the release of Hornby and Bachmann aircons I was expecting a flood of these on Ebay, but there isn't. Lots of FOs masquerading as TSOs Lots around £40. I have a repainted one on watch. So where are they all?

I have three Mainline of this chassis type, recently inspected but OK Mine when failed will get Comet chassis.

I just ended up recycling all my old ones as stock has been moving into Really Useful Boxes as sets. When ONE vehicle design has three different boxes they look messy. Airfix GMR Mainline

Usually a BSK

My 2D DBFs use FO roof and part sides and I cut off the brake bits from a BSO on the roof and filed and sanded to size. Managed all cuts with no filler, not even needed the file and fill square section. I worked out dimensions from pictures, and the plans in Mark 2 book. But one thing I have trouble finding are TSOs, plenty of BSO FO, but no TSOs, still one short for two sets, may have to 2xBSO one

Airfix minerals turned into TOPS era MXV and MCV, a couple now with Chivers 21T minerals as MDVs. So a short rake of worn out minerals to sit in a siding or get dragged by a 20, 25, or 31. Then all of my cement wagons all modelled after a visit to a now closed cement place near Gloucester. Tanks are all WIP, brake vans I need to fix a few and use them. These lead onto other brands such as Cooper Craft, Cambrian, Parkside, Ratio. Got a nice rake of tipplers (Parkside) as Westbury area based MSVs, will sit behind a Bath Road 47. Most wagons are slightly modified, Airfix minerals all gained brakes, lost top flaps. Lots of Parkside vans, mainly wide door VEV VWV types, a few tubes (STV), ONE plate (SPV) so far as quite a bit of work to modify the kit. Mine all mine, no one else has the same wagons (I hope). However a lot of them should sit in sidings as quite a few were heading for scrap.