PatB

I don't know that living vicariously through a screen is really more of a problem now than it was a few decades ago. An awful lot of people spent an awful lot of hours in front of the TV in the '70s, when there were 3 channels and most of the content was banal cr@p. And I'm sure the same pertained 20 years earlier, with even fewer channels, only access to the medium (basically, disposable income) limiting consumption. Plus ca change and all that.

Not to mention at least one Cricklewood Bentley that started out as a pair of headlamps.

Hasn't the standard advice, for decades, to newcomers to the hobby, been "join a club and see what more experienced modellers are doing"? Well, what is YouTube but a vast, multi-interest, international club? Suppose your local club (even if there is one, and joining is an option) doesn't have a track building expert and you want to learn to build track. Or your interest is learning to build etched brass kits of pre-grouping prototypes and the local group only does post-privatisation rtr. Or the only bod who knows how to do figure painting won't talk to anyone who hasn't done 20 years of being club gofer? Pre-internet/YouTube, there were any number of ways that an individual modeller could find themselves isolated from the hobby at large. Now anyone with a data connection and a mobile phone can see what thousands of others are up to. That's not to mention the potential for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Military modellers, RCers, electronics buffs, slotcar enthusiasts, plastic kit builders, dolls-house creators, photography experts, etc. all have tips, techniques and pointers that can be useful in railway modelling, and I'm sure at least some of us are able to reciprocate. That sort of potential breadth of interaction just isn't going to happen in most clubs. On the downside, as others have noted, YT is a largely unrestricted public platform, so it's going to contain an awful lot of dross. Unless your search skills are better than mine it's a fair bit of work sifting through the rubbish to find the useful stuff. However, I've found that I can generally tell within the first 30 seconds whether a given vid is going to be of any interest/use, and it doesn't take all that many goes to work out that a particular channel/poster isn't worth bothering with. What is/is not worth bothering with will vary for the individual viewer. Personally I avoid Sam's Trains as I find Sam irritating, and he doesn't cover much of interest to me personally. However, the apparent success of his channel suggests that others enjoy his work, and who am I to say they shouldn't? Stuff like running a train set in a paddling pool is more of a stunt than railway modelling (though I'm interested to find that it works), as is stuff like "Thomas vs dog racing". It might or might not be amusing, but it's fairly obviously not railway modelling, so don't watch it if you're looking for P4 perfection. It's really not hard to tell. Then there are the vids by people who are clearly very expert in their field but who are, shall we say, somewhat challenged in the areas of public speaking, teaching and video editing, which deficiencies can overshadow the genuinely useful information. No shame in that. All those things are also skills which need to be learned, and at least they're having a go. The tedious repetition, pointless digressions, andlong pauses while repositioning the camera are easily enough avoided by skipping forward a bit. All in all, YouTube is a resource, like any other. A very useful one, IMHO. But like any other resource it requires some practice, familiarity and discrimination to use effectively. Or we could go back to maybe 3 magazines a month, containing a few dozen B&W photos and 15-20 contributors. At least they took toy trains seriously.

I should, perhaps, emphasise that I have no problem with the fitment of flashing indicators. It is, indeed, sensible, if not absolutely essential. My problem is with installations done appallingly badly, and cheaply, when better methods, materials and budget are easily available and don't involve butchering panels that have survived 60-70 years intact.

And half a washing machine in bits, don't forget.

Thing is, it's only (relatively) recently* that alloys have become affordable and robust enough for daily use. Although I wasn't actually there, even I'm aware that a set of 6J steelies was about as exotic as it got on even fairly hot road cars, apart from real exotica. C1970, even stuff like T-buckets had to make do with banded steel on the back and, maybe, Rostyles on the front.

My own pet hates are, in order, cutting original steel to install the cheapest, ugliest, least appropriate indicators available, spending loads on having the interior reupholstered but only springing for vinyl that would have been rejected by the most tasteless of '70s discount sofa manufacturers, and putting bloody whitewalls on everything pre-65. Oh, and I'm not keen on chrome wire wheels either. Silver-grey (or other) paint was the go originally, and doesn't make you look like an East End wide-boy showing off his ill-gotten gains.

They'll be needing the bastard file and the big hammer on that. Funnily enough we heard nothing about it here in the west, presumably because it couldn't be blamed on renewables.

The main challenge being to find a prototype only requiring one, slightly wobbly, connecting rod and crosshead.

As I discovered, during my air cooled VW phase (I'm much better now, thanks), all advertised Beetles and buses are rotten, worn out, bodged up rubbish. Yes, even the shiny ones that have had squillion spent on them. Even ones where the right bits have had money spent on them are rubbish, because the parts all come from Brazil or Mexico and are about 60% junk, straight from the factory, with the remaining 40% ranging from "probably won't kill you first time out" to "almost OK if there's really no alternative". German parts are very nice, where available, but are expensive so nobody buys them. I'm unimpressed with the fabled knowledge base too. In years of reading VW content on the 'net, I've found maybe 2 writers who I'd judge to actually know what they're talking about, and the better of those was inconsiderate enough to die a decade ago, thus halving the pool of useful information. So, in summary, I wouldn't touch another Beetle without a verifiable and continuous history from the moment it left Wolfsburg, detailed receipts for every component ever fitted, and the credentials of everyone who's ever done more than put petrol in it. And if such are car exists, I can't afford it. [/rant]

I'm pretty sure it's not GEM, unless the LNWR had an experimental diesel design .

They'd do better, and spend less money, properly maintaining their fuel system, which is the usual culprit for spontaneous combustion of air-cooled VWs. That and bodgy electrical mods. There are two main risk areas for fuel fires in VWs. Firstly is the point where the metal fuel line passes through the tin shielding that separates the inside of the engine compartment from the outside world. The hole in the tin should have a rubber grommet to prevent the sharp edge from sawing through the fuel line. Replacing said grommet was part of a proper dealer service, but as such a thing hasn't existed for 50 years, most rotted and disappeared decades ago. Result is that the fuel line gets chewed through as it vibrates against the raw metal edge. Eventually it's holed and will dump the entire contents of the fuel tank (this point in the pipe is pretty much the lowest point in the fuel system) over no.3 exhaust header (which also happens to be the hottest one), resulting in lots of lovely petrol vapour looking for a spark. Whooof! Second failure point happens when someone "helpfully" puts an inline filter in the fuel line from fuel pump to carb. The extra weight of the filter waggling about unsupported eventually pulls the nipple out of the carb. The engine continues to run on what's in the float chamber whilst the fuel pump delivers its full capacity spraying around the engine compartment as the disconnected pipe waves in the breeze. Petrol + hot engine + sparky, unsealed distributor generally lights things off very nicely. And once the engine compartment is ablaze, if it gets really fierce, there's a good chance the magnesium alloy crankcase and gearbox housing will catch, and, at that point, there's not much to do but get the marshmallows out. On my own daily driver Beetle I caught the first before it happened and was lucky with the second that the loose fuel didn't go up.

Nice. My slightly tongue in cheek Europa comment was based on a distant memory of a JB article on said Lotus in Old Motor (so no later than early '82, when Old Motor morphed into Classic & Sports Car), in whose introduction he quite candidly admitted to favouring the Elan, and not having any great liking for the Europa. In typical JB fashion, though, having declared his partisanship, the article was, as far as I could then tell, and now recall, a very fair summation of the car. Certainly more useful than the sort of puff piece an unabashed fan may have written.

I just found out that the husband of one of MrsB's friends has quite an extensive 4 lane Scalextric layout in their shed and hasn't had much luck recruiting fellow racers. I've promised to offer some competition when I can find the time. I'm now scouring the interwebs for interesting slot racing material, and finding there are all sorts of rather nice 1/32 car kits available for not a huge amount of money. I smell a project coming on. I note that 70s and 80s Scalextric cars are in quite strong demand, though, which, I assume, is down to the usual UCDS* exacerbated by lockdowns increasing interest in indoor pursuits. *Unfulfilled Childhood Dreams Syndrome

As a middle-aged bloke with an e-bike, I will say in my defence for such foolishness that I specifically bought a legal conversion kit (I'm qualified and capable of riding a real motorcycle, so there's no motivation to break the law for the dubious pleasure of riding a Chinese moped), and ride where it's legally allowed. I confine my annoying people to posting power assisted times on Strava, which seems to upset those who take it all a bit too seriously.

I suspect that may be John Bolster himself. The 'tash and the age would be about right. I wasn't aware of his participation in trials, but he was always hugely enthusiastic about anything with an engine in it*, so it's not impossible. *Apart from Lotus Europas, apparently.

I know camera lenses can make quite a difference, but that looks to be nearer square than 8 x 4. 8 x 8?

Mind you, 7 quid for an X04 isn't too bad these days.

Not sure it was entirely legal then, either, but, looking at old photos, and comparing with contemporary C&U regs, it seems to have been common for the authorities to turn a blind eye to minor infringements.

Presumably K's. At the price, when I looked, it would be good fodder for anyone who enjoys rebuilding whitemetal kits, or who wants to learn to build one before trying anything expensive.

The truck, though, didn't last very long. According to the DVLA, it was first registered in September 1986 and last ran out of tax in April 1990, so was on the road for less than 4 years.

Happens a lot here in Oz. I blame cheaply produced custom mags printing lots of syndicated articles from the US, or simply lying that feature vehicles that clearly never go anywhere other than on a trailer are "fully road licensed".

Based on the Indian Pacific branding applied to the Hymek, I suspect it's an effort at something Australian, rather than the classic US Budd.

Not sure about that photo, but of the previous shot, the last one ran out of tax in July 2013, according to the DVLA.

I've watched a few on YouTube as well. Some of it's still very funny, but a lot is distinctly so-so, some is just dross, and there's a lot of stretching out an initially good idea far beyond the point of tedium. I do enjoy most of Gilliam's animations though.