Ross34

But perhaps a bit easy to miss in a 97 page thread...

I suspect the radio control market is bigger in the UK than you'd imagine. With regard to Railmatch - tough market - the paint choices for modellers is now pretty big with some quality products available - Vallejo / Revell / Tamiya / Precision etc.. But thanks for heads up on the discount.

Just to give this thread a little bump... Picked up this Trainorama 44 - 4461 on ebay recently at a reasonable price. Shown on my slowly coming together SAR layout - so it's out place already but I couldn't resist the model in that livery. Any other UK based Aussie modellers about?

Photography isn't art .. couldn't disagree with more on that score. Camera, pencil, paint brush etc etc... they're just tools to create an image, are they not? And throughout history artists of all media have been manipulating the final image be it paint or pixels. Colin Gifford images are extensively dodged and burned. The skill to compose a good photograph is the same in as any other visual art ... photography; "painting with light" ... in fact photography would be a pretty dull pastime if the only images produced were "record shots" We would then be robbed of stuff like this....(especially considering this guy first picked up a camera in 2009) http://www.aaronyeomanphotography.co.uk/robin-and-taliesin-coombes-photography/ However, when it comes to the latest "fad" of adding smoke to model railway pictures I'm with you all the way - its just so naff it makes me cringe. Which isn't to say I don't like creative model railway photography but this looks like what it is - a white smudge.

I can understand the frustrations - I buy in the opposite direction - Australian HO to the UK. For instance the Trainorama 830 (something I would like, as I model the SAR) is $315 AU or £164 - that's before postage (and import tax, which in the UK is the closest you will ever get to being charged for somebody doing absolutely nothing) So that comes to roughly - give or take - £200 - a lot of pocket money for 1 model. I have a choice of course so I pick what I want carefully. Another difference is the like of Austrains or Auscision only sell in small limited runs - If I want a Bachmann loco a lot of the time I can afford to let it sit on a shop shelf till the price drops - supply and demand I guess. I have ordered from the US in the past - it's surprising how much Australian HO ends up there...much cheaper. But if you guys have a 930 or 700 going spare .....

Ex Reynella, South Australia now in the UK but I get back when I can...which isn't anywhere near often enough. Modelling the SAR ... living in northern England... it's a bit of a challenge!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-AUSTRALIAN-R307-NEW-SOUTH-WALES-RAILWAY-RED-CLASS-31-DIESEL-/261834535052?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cf68df08c LOL!! Speechless... ...a fool and his money...

From a well known retailer in Sheffield.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUSTRAINS-HO-3609-HAWKESBURY-C36-ROUNDTOP-LOCO/201154291545?_trksid=p2054897.c100204.m3164&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140407115239%26meid%3Dd40de315d6b54fa1ab78344c4c47e997%26pid%3D100204%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D30%26sd%3D131275388433 A bit of a one off I'll grant you but this loco is available from Australia (from Austrains) at £202. Minus P+P but this wont be £90. Actually this loco has been for sale for a while and quite honestly, as its what I model, is something I would like.. but not at that price. OK its probably rare in the UK which may have influenced pricing but conversely the UK market is equally small, so perhaps a more realistic price may resulted in a sale well before now?

My favourite by a country mile (that I saw "in the flesh" ) was Alan Wrights Cheviotdale. Closely followed by Castle Rackrent - the name of the builder escapes me but a fabulous 7mm Irish affair. More recently - Runswick Bay - great layout. One I didn't see for real but would have loved to.. Geoff Williams Aylesbury in EM. And I must mention Allied Marine which I think was actually a bit of a game changer. Even more up to date, and maybe beyond the OPs timescales, but a layout that has been around for while (although I saw it for the first time at last years Warrington show ) was / is The Bergeller Bahn- in HOm by John Laister - brilliant, worth the entrance fee alone.

Some really good work there chaps. I've been experimenting with some "rust" transfers I got from the US recently. Obviously meant for the American HO market but I think they may be some potential for UK 4mm or 7mm stock. http://www.weatheringsolutions.com/ I've only tried it on a HO grain car as yet.. Usual disclaimer : No connection with manufacturer.

Has anybody come across this piece of kit before? The Flockbox. http://www.warpainter.net/Flockboxpages/Flockbox.html It's actually quite a good tool. I've tried it once or twice and it will make really good "tufts" and small random bit of grass all day long. I suspect it's not really designed for covering great swathes but considering what I paid for it I'm more than pleased. I bought it primarily after seeing the work of Pelle Soeberg whose Mojave Desert scenery is a real inspiration. http://www.soeeborg.dk/photogalleryeng.html Apologies for the rubbish photos but hopefully you get the idea. And I should say I have no connection with the manufacturer other than a happy customer.