Big James

I recently got bought Resident evil 2 remake. It’s honestly one the best games I’ve played in a long time. It’s atmospheric, scary and makes the game genuine suspenseful. Mr X is one of the best additions to a game in a long time. Has anybody play Resident Evil Nemesis remake? it is worth getting full price or should I wait for it to come up in a sale? Big James

I’m really missing my Pug frank during this lockdown. When I moved out I had to leave him at my parents house. Although during lockdown my parents have just got themselves a new Shih-Tzu puppy called Ronnie. I can’t wait for this lockdown to be other so I can go see him. Apparently his the most misbehaved out of all the dogs we’ve had. Big James

My own ghost story involves my parents house. For years growing up me and my sisters would report hearing footsteps in the loft shadows moving about upstairs when no one was up their. Even had teddies thrown down the stairs in the middle of family time so we know for a fact there wasn’t anyone up stairs. This went on for years off foot steps, cold spots and even the odd shadow. The weirdest thing was that the model railway in the loft used to get moved around. When I was about 18 my sisters had long since moved out and my parents was on holiday. To make sure I could hear anything downstairs I left my bedroom door open. As I was reading my book I felt a sudden drop of temperature and in the corner of my room a girl suddenly appeared and proceeded to walk through the room shut the door and heard her foot steps disappear down the stairs. To this day I can still describe her she had a white dress, with a pinafore tied up at the back, blond hair and must’ve been about 10 or 11. When my parents returned from holiday I told my mum who told me I must’ve been dreaming and told me not to worry about it, due to this I never told as anyone as I didn’t believe anyone would believe me. A few months later she was at my sisters house and the subject of ghosts come up as my sisters house was haunted to. That’s when my sister told my mum that she had seen a girl skipping down the garden a couple of times. She described the girl exactly as I had to my mum. I had never told my sister about the girl. Last year the neighbours father died and she got a medium round to talk to and see if she could speak to him. The medium then proceeded to knock on my parents door and ask to come in. My dad being a Uber skeptic only let her in because he’s good friends with the neighbour. She then went round the house identifying that there was a vortex in the corner of my old bedroom. That the spirits in the house was a girl and her brother. I moved out at the beginning of last year but my parents still tell us about hearing footsteps in empty rooms and only the other day my dad told me about hearing them conversing in my old room. Due to what’s going on in the house at the moment the only people in the house are my parents and their two dogs in the house. Thank you for taking the time to read this Big James

My get up and go has got up and gone without me. I worked in retail for 12 years I went as far as I could go without a university degree. I managed to get myself a job as a bus driver. So left my previous job and took 2 weeks holiday between leaving and starting my new job. The day before I was meant to start I got a phone call saying my induction was postponed for the foreseeable future. When I phoned up my old area manager he told me old job had been filled. And their wasn’t any jobs going in his region for me. I phone all my old contacts and nothing. So I’m now unemployed waiting to and praying for something to happen. But as day by day goes by it looks less and less likely. bug james

Just ordered on the SR BR numbered ones. I got 2 of the of BR grey versions. Big James

I really like the look of these. Although they never run in the BR(SR) in numbers. They look perfect and I wonder if there had been more built would they have been used to eliminate the various elderly 4-4-0’s scattered all over the BR(SR). That’s my logic anyway to get an early and a late crest version. big james

Well done Hornby. Any new locomotive announcements are always welcome. My wallet can breath a sigh of relief now. There’s nothing for me this year maybe the black H class it’ll go well with the black D class I’ve got on pre-order. But I know a lot of people will be happy so it’s always welcome. big james

We are also getting third thrawn trilogy of books dealing with his life in the chiss ascendency and his early dealings with the republic. My partner bought me the book count dooku:lost jedi. Dealing with his life from when he was taken by the jedi yo when he left the order. Anyone else also interested pick up master and apprentice it really expands the character of Qui-Gon Jinn and the master/apprentice relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. big james

They even explain what happens to Jar Jar in the new canon. He ends up a social outcast on naboo viewed as a traitor and calibrator. I do like the new vader graphic novels. Especially how vader starts obsessing about Luke, plus finding out Luke is his son, becoming god of the sand people and hating palpatine when he finds out his been lied to for years. But none of that is shown in the movies. Apparently next trilogy is going to be the old republic hopefully we will get the jedi-mandolorian wars or the great sith war. big james

On the plus side with Disney+ you not only get the mandalorian you also get the complete rebels and the clone wars. The clone wars is particularly good for fleshing our anakins story and gives his sudden turn to the dark side in revenge of the Sith more meaning. big james

Thank you mate. But honestly five rebels a go I picked up season 1-4 at CEX for £15. Sadly it’s gets labelled a kids show when it has some really dark themes and isn’t your simple light vs dark story. Their are good imperials and bad rebels. Plus agent kallus is honestly one of the best editions to Star Wars. big james.

I’ll give Disney their due. Now they’ve taken control they now keep a lot tighter reins in the canon. But you’ll also find that they now reference games and other media. Cal’s master in fallen order is a Lasat, a species wiped out by the galactic empire in between episode 3 & 4. They also originated in rebels with one of the major characters Zeb being one of the last Lasat’s in the galaxy. So when I see one in fallen order the Star Wars nerd in me was really happy. But before the only reference most of the time to other media was if the writer was working on another project. Unless the the character was popular with the fans like thrawn, Mara Jade, Kyle Katern or Starkiller. I do hope though they bring starkiller back into canon as he was a genuinely interesting character and a different take on the redemption arc. Instead of being a jedi fallen to the darkside being redeemed he was a character forged by the darkside who eventually comes to the light. Ruse of Skywalker though was ultimately a good film. Even if they didn’t have a clear plan from beginning to end with this trilogy. Apparently Kathleen Kennedy is on her way out though with Dave Filoni and John Faverou being lined up as replacements to take control of the franchise. big james

his also used brilliantly in rebels and even lives up to vader shaped whole left by the big bad after vader is reassigned by the emperor. His menacing, calm and feels like a viper that at any minute will strike and kill the heroes. It also shows his strategic genius. When you think the rebels have won a victory whether it’s big or small it’s all part of an even bigger plan to seed thrawns trap. I think that’s where Star was is falling down a bit. Rebels gave us the inquisitors, reimagined thrawn and turned the empire into a genuine threat. Plus also expanded jedi lore, turned Ashoka into a leader and even brought closure to the clones. But the sequel trilogy isn’t expanding the series like the mandolorian and rebels has. The sequel trilogy is decent thought but compared to what Star Wars has done on the smaller screen I find it extremely lacking. big james

That part was really cool but it broke the franchise a little bit for me. Because I was watching a new Hope yesterday and all I could think was why don’t they just strap some random atsromech in an X-wing then just hyperspace it through the Death Star. Also the whole personification of Luke Skywalker felt more like a character assassination then genuine character development. The Disney novels and comics kinda back this up to. after watching episode 7, 8 & 9 is that 8 feels like it belongs in a completely different franchise. And they even took luke back to how he used to be in 9. Big James

I miss this shop. My parents had a caravan down in Dymchurch. A promised visit to the model shop was one of the only way they could tempt to come out with them. I remember saving up all my winnings from various arcades, it normally amounted to about £200 and then going down to the shop on the last day of the 6 weeks. I bought my first merchant navy from the lovely guy behind the counter. I was sad when I went back and it had shut. Big James

After recently going to the bluebell it made me think I wonder if we might see the SECR O1 announced in the 6th. It is long lived, has numerous attractive liveries, was a mainstay of backwater Kent branches towards the end of their lives so could be justified for most BR(SR) layouts, plus they are smaller then the C class so ideal for most small home layouts and it could be turned out in the lined SECR livery that seems to sell really well. Plus it complements what’s already been produced namely the C, H & P with the D class on the horizon to. I did wonder if 65 had already been scanned. Big James

Throw my hat in the ring. Some thing Scottish to accompany the locomotive they’ve already done. Then I reckon an SR L1 or U class. I would’ve said a Q to but since the markets already got a multitude of SR 0-6-0’s already I doubt it but they might surprise us. But I’ll ask Santa for an L1 when I take my niece next week. Big James

My great partner has agreed to allow me another extension. But it’s not allowed till after Xmas due to the amount of work we both have. big James

I love Christmas. It’s always been a big deal in my family. But working in retail means that Xmas normally starts for me in mid October so it’s kind of hard to get into they spirits of things. Although right now people are starting to ask me what I want for Xmas so might just put the rails/Dapol D class on the list and hope for the best. (I doubt anyone will give me the money for it. But it’s worth a try.) Big James

Recently playing Spyro reignited trilogy as spyro 1 was one of my childhood games. I’m not going to lie gulp in spyro 2 is one of the hardest bosses in a game I’ve ever played. Even my partner was laughing at the fact I was stuck on a boss in basically a kids game when I can blast through pretty much anything in games. But it’s very rare that I play a remake that keeps the magic from childhood like this game does. Big James

Take the Hornby N15 as an example Hornby tooled up all 3 variations of it the Urie version, the Eastleigh version and the version for the central section. All 3 had subtle differences and one even had a completely different tender but Hornby ploughed on regardless. So for Hornby to do a U class with it’s different variations it’s not outside the realms of possibilities. Especially after the minefield of the lord Nelson, original merchant navy, N15 etc. big James

The U class and the manor class doesn’t surprise me. Both are go anywhere designs and the manor has a lot of components in the manufacture existing range and the U class is the only Maunsell SR design still to do that had large numbers. But the real surprise in the poll is the USATC 160. But it is a handsome design and I do hope it gets made. big James

My 2 BR grey versions arrived this morning. They look fantastic. Great job rails I think I might treat myself to a set of BR brown ones if they become available again. big James

Also no 79 minories was sold to the admiralty for use at Chatham dockyard, being renamed no 4 Chatham. Lasting till 1933 before being broken up. big james

That’s what I did mean. I wasn’t counting inherited designs. Because my personal favourite to pick to be modelled would be the L1 design. It was long lived and had multiple liveries. But it only numbered 15. The reason I singled out the U, was that it was long lived, had multiple liveries and had several notable differences between batches. They also got everywhere hence the nicknames U-boats so every SR layout has an excuse for one. big james