AlanRogers

The Eastlight (Box 1) is currently reserved pending receipt of payment has gone, been paid for and sent. The Pentagon (Box 2) remains available as at 7th April. Ideally, it'll be claimed before month's end.

In sorting out my modelling cupboard, I find I have two old-style boxfiles, so I'm putting them up for grabs. They are both the type that has the drop-down lip and both appear to be made out of ¼" real tree wood with paper coverings, not the 3mm stiff cardboard offerings of late. I'll be clear and state that these are a little battle-worn at the edges, but structurally sound. They're Foolscap (not A4) so that's 14½" x 10½" x 2¾" and 1lb 10oz. Old measures have been used deliberately in deference to the venerability and scarcity of these most excellent stationary stores. That I never got around to butchering them myself is somebody else's gain! The offer is simple: you pay the fee for the courier method of your choice, and I'll pack and send it. I'll pack it appropriately but you take your chances with the carriage company you choose! Or you can collect from Merstham this week, Crawley after Easter. They needn't necessarily both go to the same home but it is as simple as I'll send them to the first person who sends me a private message containing their address with confirmation of the courier service and price they want to use. I'll send payment details only to the successful.

Sadly, I think you're very right.

Is the whacking great Czech flag too subtle then? What's its size - 1m by 1½m?

Observations, not instructions: If you're using one of those routers with a flat on one side of the base, counter-intuitively that does not go against your fence. The slightest twist of the router changes your bit distance from the datum and you're out of gauge. You're far better off using the round sides, which are all uniform distance from the bit. Inferior/cheaper grades of MDF have a much more fibrous core which, when you break through the surface and expose it, is a complete pig to work with. It'll almost certainly require some form of sealing before you can bond anything to it, like rail extrusions. PVA would work, CA may be better. For the sake of rail cleaning, rerailing stock, etc it's probably preferable not to rout down the full depth of your chosen rail profile. Use a piece of the correct profile rail track, put a couple of strips of business card between the rails, sit the router on the rails and set the depth of the bit off the card. This will leave the rails proud by the thickness of the card strips. Use a new or freshly sharpened bit. A blunt or crap bit will wander, and burn. Smouldering MDF is a hideous smell and the charring is difficult to sand out completely, so will show through your colouring of the ground. MDF is notoriously hard on rotary tool bits, primarily because you're cutting more resin than wood. Abide by the dust extraction/respiration comments on here already. I don't know the specifics of toxicity, carcinogens etc but it's really not nice stuff, even if it was perfumed. Just don't subject yourself or anyone you care about to it. Prepare, prepare, prepare again. Measure thrice, cut once. Practice on scrap until confident or proficient, whichever comes first. Go slower than you feel you can get away with and you'll be offered fewer opportuntiies to start again! Oh, and ... Pictures or it didn't happen!

Can I invite you to please reread that post, especially the first full paragraph? I think you'll agree that I was sticking up for Tim rather than sticking it to him. I clearly stated that I'd had a response within one working/business day, which is perfectly acceptable to me. I was a sole trader for 20 years, existing only on word of mouth. I sympathise.

I know Allen Law and I'll never belittle or besmirch their offering. Suffice to say that G&H boards are significantly lighter than those I've previously received from Tim Horn, for the same nominal overall dimensions, and that lightness can only be achieved a couple of ways ... I personally haven't found the G&H boards to be sufficiently robust for our modular setups, particularly when some of our more ethusiastic, less careful members are assisting. I prefer not to have to repair and repaint between operating sessions! That is not saying that the G&H boards are inferior; they are excellent value for money and entirely fit for purpose. Let's be entirely clear that my use case is very specific and involves a higher frequency of assembly and disassembly than the the average layout, even exhibition ones, and this is frequently conducted in an ill-advised/unwarranted hurry as the layout comprises several modules, so multiple boards, all belonging to different people, who arrive or need to depart according to varying schedules, journey times and domestic demands. I therefore have a personal preference for Tim Horn's boards, which are confirmed to still be available. The proviso to ordering is that the CAD already exists and doesn't need to be altered at all, and you're prepared to wait a while. His current delivery time is up to eight weeks from payment of invoice, according to the email he sent to me. Other baseboard cutters are also available, and there are laser cutters outside of the hobby too. Some will cut predrawn CAD files, others will require (and charge) to draw themselves, which is an understandable precaution. You pays your money and you takes your choice. I was just updating this thread with some accurate and current information to offset the previous conjecture.

I didn't discuss exhibition attendance with Tim. In his shoes, if I was attending a show as part of a layout display that was built using my products, I'd be daft not to take along at least a static display and some business cards.

For the reassurance of all here present - information current as at 22nd May 2023 17:30 Concerned that Tim's website appears no longer to even have a web hosting package, and his Facebook Page hasn't been updated in three years, I sent him an email at 16:12 yesterday afternoon. I received a reply at 17:30 today, so a little over 24 hours later. That is far from a slow response in my book, within reasonable working hours on the first day back to work after the weekend. He's reassured me that he's more than busy enough with word of mouth orders, so he's not continued with development of the replacement website and isn't really using Facebook. His Facebook Page clearly displays his mobile number and email address. And, contrary to the comments above, you do not need to log into Facebook to access this information! Just browse to https://facebook.com/timhornlasercutting/ and dismiss the login prompt. It's there, plain as the nose on my face, a page on the internet, the same as any other. Indeed, it is also the first link served in the list of results returned by a simply crafted search phrase ("Tim Horn Baseboards") in a popular search engine spelt something like Go Ogle. The only thing I'd add is that the email address he responded from was timhornlasercut@gmail.com which may or may not be the mailbox to which his published address is redirected to. I leave it to you to decide which you use but I'd give up expecting an online presence from a trader who responds to phone or email. For clarity, my only connection to Tim is as a previously satisfied customer who enquired about reordering boards designed by him for our group several years ago. As such, I was checking in to find out if that door had closed on me. It has not, as at today's date.

It's almost always gratifying to see a layout in the flesh that you've followed online. K Street Yard was certainly no exception.

No, and the website is no longer accessible, insecure or otherwise. It looks like they are no longer trading here.

I'm finding this sort of stuff coming up all of the time in what appear to be quasi-regionalised online news feeds, something like an actual newspaper but there's no obvious media body behind it. There's no evidence of research into the story either, no quotations, no balance, just the propagation of gossip, almost as if they're picked it up somewhere and rebranded it as a story on a slow news day. To be honest, it's not much better than the email chain letters of old. Regurgitated content without substance appears to be what passes for journalism these days. As a result, now I tend to only believe what I read in real newspapers, even if it is online, and then take that with a pinch of salt proportional to the amount of red in the masthead.

In the family diary. "No dear, it's been there for almost a year!"

Fantastic photos @PaulRhB thank you. Knowing @warbonnetuk and @roundhouse for some years, and been along to a couple of these meets, discussions are afoot! It's just possible that you might be getting another operator at future events. Not necessarily me I hasten to add though, if the planets align and his interest is confirmed, I suspect I'll be browbeaten into some woodbutchery at a future date as well.

So, not so much "Too Good To Be True" as "That Boat Has Long Since Sailed" which is a fairly common occurence for me. Thank you very much for the alternate suggestion though, which I will watch with interest. As you say, the price point is similar, as indeed is the design, but I imagine this is an opportunity for a new version that builds on the experience of the old whilst avoiding any conflict over intellectual property. That's not really a major issue for me, as computer networks and configuring devices are my training. Thanks for supporting and endorsing Iain's post, as that helps me. One opinion is just that, while two or more that actually concur are definitely worthy of notice!

Afternoon all Accepting that the item is currently out of stock everywhere, including the manufacturer, I'd appreciate opinion both positive and negative on the Digikeijs DR5000 command station please. I've watched the YouTube videos. I've read the marketing guff. Given the ridiculous price and equal unavailability of Digitrax kit at present, I'm considering this as an alternative for my home setup, yet to be built. Opinions should be based on first-hand experience please. Things I like about it, and am therefore particularly interested in opinion on, are the ability to simultaneously use both Xpressnet and LocoNet controllers, or indeed wireless throttles via the built-in wireless access point. I use JMRI and I haven't explored the interoperability there yet; again, opinions welcomed. It seems like an incredibly well-thought out, well-rounded price of kit, especially for the prices I'm seeing online from suppliers in the United Kingdom. It's almost sounding too good to be true, and I want to make sure it isn't before I put my hand in my pocket. Thanks in advance

We've done similar withe 0n30 at a two-day show. It's really amusing, for which read mean really, to watch the confused looks on people's faces that attend both days as they doubt their own sanity or memory.

With apologies for the brutal editing of the quoted content, but I was trying to be economic of forum space whilst still retaining context, this to me beautifully illustrates the oft-confused difference between a modular layout and a sectional one. The latter only goes together one way, but breaks down into sections for transport. The former can be a different layout every time. Of course, you're not confined to having each module on it's own single board, as a module can be more than one board, but that's the point at which you start sacrificing layout variational flexibility for operational flexibility, and that's a design choice intrinsic to the purpose of the layout. This is something that I'll watch with interest.

If you need any help with translation, remember that I'm married to a Slovak, and you're geographically around the corner.

That is both correct and a cop-out. You can insure anything for which you are responsible and responsibility attaches when you have custody or control. The layouts are in the custody or control of the exhibition organisers from when they arrive on site, often extended to when they leave the owner's home, and especially when the hall is closed overnight on a multi-day exhibition. Think back to the tragic events at the Market Deeping Model Railway Exhibition in May 2019 - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/19/model-railway-lovers-devastated-vandals-lincolnshire - where the damage occurred between setting-up Friday and opening Saturday morning.

Exhibition insurance comes usually with Public Liability Insurance as standard, in fact it is the bulk of the included cover. The value of visiting layouts, for which cover is also provided, is merely a means to calculate the premium and there will be a minimum premium, to cover administration costs and discourage underinsuring. It's therefore worthwhile taking as much cover for visiting layouts as you can get within that amount. I think I worked it out to be £60,000 or thereabouts, which isn't as much as it sounds! There is a calculator on the Model Railway Insurance website. The situation is analagous to motor vehicle insurance premiums for young unmarried males, which bear no relation to the value of the car insured or indeed the skill of the driver at all. This is because risk covered isn't damage to the insured car, as this is almost negligable and easily quantifiable. The real risk is in the unknown and potentially open-ended third party costs for damage to property and injury to persons involved in any incident. It's all based on analysis of historic statistics. Similarly, exhibition insurance has potentially open-ended third party costs in claims brought for damge to property and injury to persons resulting from incidents occuring at the exhibition. Examples could be scalds from the supply and spillage of hot beverages, trips and falls caused by trailling cables, set-up and take-down damage to layouts in the chaos either end of a show and so on. Unfortunately, in today's increasing litigious society, there is no cost in making a claim against somebody, however frivilous. There is however a cost in defending and dismissing it! Regardless of who caused the incident, it happened at the exhibition, so blame immediately attaches to the organisers and their insurers until it can be deflected! Going back to the premiums, they have to be calculated based on something and that something has to be both tangible and measurable in advance. The liability risk could be based on number of visitors but how are you going to pitch that? Estimate prior and declare after, with a potential surcharge or rebate? Realistically, neither the insured nor the insurer wants that level of administration, and there's no incentive to be truthful. It's therefore safer and simpler to pick something else that is roughly proprotionate and use that. Broadly speaking, the larger the sum insured for layouts, the larger the exhibition is and the higher the number of visitors, so the higher the risk. Deliberately under-insure to save money and the payout on any claim will be proportionately reduced - Only insured half the value? We're only paying half the claim. It's flawed, but it works. I offer this explanation as a commercial insurance underwriter in a previous life. I left the industry last century when I realised that it is all just legalised racketeering, propagated by the need to pay shareholder profits and fuelled by the disgusting compensation culture that we are increasingly subscribing to - Where there's blame, there's a claim. It's ambulance chasing, and wrong. Rant over, but hopefully there's some insight there.

Totally agree, but the majority of internet patrons regard Wikipedia as a definitive source of information which, due to the method of its compliation, it can never be. I'm not accusing it of inaccuracy, only that the information contained there should be regarded as "not original source material".

Let us be mindful that: Twenty years ago, when access to the internet was limited, if you took the time and trouble to design and upload a website on a particular subject, you were assumed - frequently both justifiably and correctly - to be an authority if not an expert on that subject With the ubiquity and immediacy of the internet today, where everyone fancies themself expert, author and critic, the internet has become rather more a source of opinion than fact, much of which is either unsubstantiated or unsubstantiable. Wikipedia, which is essentially being written and editted by its own audience in near real time, should not be regarded as anything more than a moving target of current opinion. It tries to justify its accuracy with cited references and links to further reading but it is compiled and reviewed by the likes of you and me. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Fact is more likely to be found on the appropriate government or organisation website and, if you can't find it there, chances are they don't feel you need to know.

The Security Certificate for traffic encryption to and from the site has expired (381 days ago!) as @MikeTrice has already said. You can, if you wish, click on the [Advanced] button and "Continue to" the website. Making purchases with a credit card entered onto their site might be inadvisable as it's currently unencrypted, so interceptable. However, making payment via PayPal, which does not require that you actually have a PayPal account, would still be safe as you're entering your credit card details into PayPal, not Polak Scenics site. If you use their checkout, caveat emptor. I've sent a message via the contact form on the website about this. Let's see what happens.

The question that leapt into my head on reading that was "What happens [in this regard] at the end of the meeting?" Do you have your name on the underside of stock so that people know whom to return rolling stock to during the furore of breakdown, or does everyone have to roam around the room sweeping up their roaming rolling stock themselves? We have enough challenges with our 0n30 modules and there's only eight of us, plus a lot less layout!