JerryinMadrid

Agreed, it's perhaps not state-of-the-art- but from an operating distance it looks rather good, and that massive chassis gives it enough weight to run like a dream straight from the box- quiet and smooth, really good low speed, even on my badly-laid and rather tarnished track... It'll do.

Here's another picture of Hamnavoe harbour- loco is a butchered 40-year old Liliput body on a Fleischmann 2-8-4 chassis, cattle wagons scratchbuilt on Peco chassis.

Sorry I didn't reply earlier to your kind comments- but here's the original coloured version... before I tidied up the bottom of the picture

And this is the Derbyshire house again, posed against a picture on my computer screen as a background- quite a fun way of setting models for photography. I've got a better camera now...

Here's another bit of Hamnavoe- cars aren't my work, though- nor is the washing on the line. To the left, Stromness library, in the foreground the pierhead buidings. In adherence to Murphy's law, the former has now been pebbledashed (harled, actually) and the latter have been taken down to the original stone. Railcar is a scratchbuilt body on a butchered Bachmann chassis.

mY Thank you so much, Allan! Praise from the master himself is worth more than gold... It's the black and white that does it. All the buildings are based on real ones in Stromness, Orkney, although due to a strange tectonic shift they aren't all in the same place. One might also doubt the wisdom of modelling a place 2,800 km from where one lives and having to make do with photos... Now I've worked out how to get photos into the little box on the screen, I'll post some more... Thanks again (blush, blush)- Jerry

This is from my "N" scale layout- a model of a house in Derbyshire. All scratchbuilt from card.

A view of "Hamnavoe", my perpetually imcomplete 009 layout- everything's scratchbuilt apart from the chassis, the tractor, and a few of the ship fittings.

20+ years worth of Railway Modellers free! Also assorted other British and French model railway magazines, and some Continental Modellers. They are almost all in excellent condition, 2 years are even bound. The only little snag is they're in Madrid, Spain... But if anyone in Spain wants to come and collect them, I'll be happy to part with them. Sorry, I can't deliver- they probably weigh about 130 kilos (290 lbs or 20-odd stone for pre-grouping enthusiasts). If you're interested send me a PM through RMWeb.

There are several shops in Madrid, as well as a "rastrillo" or market in the Delicias railway museum on the first Sunday of each month (except August), where there is also a shop selling some modelling materials. One of my favourite shops is Bazar Matey in Calle Santísima Trinidad (Metro station Iglesia) (www.bazarmatey.com). They have a huge selection of models and modelling materials- including British outline- with an online shop. A fun fact is that their logo consists of a drawing of a Terrier tank... The website's in Spanish, and I don't know if the staff speak English- but they are mostly quite young and probably do. There's also trenelectrico.com, which is smaller and not so easy to find, but has a very interesting and eclectic selection- including some reliveried Graham Farish wagons produced for the Spanish market. And then there's Modelos Reyna (two unconnected shops, about 100 metres apart- a long story) in the centre of town. Not such specialists, but good for materials, etc. Hope this helps. Hasta luego...

It looks as if this chap is the modelmaker for Aneste-Datank, a Spanish company. You can see their catalogue on www.anestesdatank.com. It's in Spanish, but the pictures are self-explanatory. I don't see any British judges/ magistrates/ barristers though, sadly. Not sure about internet sales, though. I'll investigate further- there may be a place in Madrid or Barcelona that does mail order. By the way, the same company does some very nice lampposts etc, all in HO or continental N, of course, but then... like the man said, there are short people everywhere.

I have an old (Poole-built) pannier whose gear collapsed the second time I ran it, about 3 weeks after the guarantee expired. Postage from Spain to get it repaired was hardly worth it, so ever since it has sat sadly outside the loco shed. What's worse, as I was trying to find out what was wrong, I managed to damage the coupling rods. Grrr. As to the ready replacement of the gears on Bachmann's 0n30 models- perhaps that's because they are (basically) for the USA market, and Americans are rather more litigious-minded than we are? Just a thought...

The Railway Museum in Delicias also has a 4-8-0 designed by the Yorkshire Engine Co, in rather sad condition. Difficult to get a decent photo, but here's one to be going on with:

Same problem here- 20+ years Railway Modellers (and various others, including some French ones) all occupying a huge amount of space. I'll give them away for free quite (indeed, very) happily, but (as my name implies) I live in Madrid. Anyone else here? I'm about 10 minutes walk from the railway museum...

I never used the B&S section- but I wanted to give away 20+ years' worth of Railway Modellers (sorry, BRM) for free... anyone in Spain want them? You'd have to collect them from Madrid...

There's a very neat 3-way crossing on the Oslo tram system where the tracks go through the middle of a fountain. You can see it on Google Earth- it's where Drammensveien, Frognerveien and Henrik Ibsens Gate meet (just West of the Hydropark). However, when Mr Google took his photos it didn't have any water in it... (The coordinates are 59º 54' 53.06" N and 10º 43' 03.75" E). (In fact, if you pan round the roundabout, water go get a picture with water). Sorry I can't post a picture- it's a JPEG which apparently isn't allowed.

Very nice photos. Wikipedia has an article on rosebay willowherb- the flowers are "magenta to pink". For the stems, how about bristles from a paintbrush? I bought a 3 inch brush for a couple of euros... nice and thin and flexible. Perhaps for the cow parsley you could use little sprigs of sea foam- it's very fragile, but I've found that soaking it for 3-4 days in a 50:50 glycerine/water solution it seems to become more flexible. I only did that a few weeks ago, though, so I don't know if it'll dry out after a while. Certainly less effort than twisted wire (which does look pretty good).

Hi- An architecture student gave me a couple of sheets of Redutex some years ago (before they were available in the UK, I think) and they are most impressive. Some are better than others, but the pre-coloured and weathered Roman tiles and some of the stonework are fantastic. I've had no problems on the adhesive front. No pictures, I'm afraid- I gave the completed castle I built to my nephew, who has lost it... The cobbles look good, too. All the ones I got were pre-coloured, but they take paint well.

Hi- In Madrid (helpful, eh?) there's a shop selling supplies for architectural modellers- including plastic figures in various scales, including 1:75 (and 1:150 for N). They are quite good quality, and there are also some vehicles etc. No doubt there are similar shops in the UK... Certainly, at least in my opinion, the Dapol figures are among the best (even though the workmen are all rather tall and look like a poster from the Russian Revolution... workers of the world unite, sort of thing). If only Preiser and Merten would produce some of their fantastic figures in 1:76... Dream on...

Hi Allan- I know where you mean, I think. Madrid has its ups and downs (ho ho), but I've been here for 25 years so it can't be so bad. No Pyruma or Colron here, alas, so it's scribed plaster, Wills sheets or Scalescenes "embossed" with a 9H pencil. But the railway museum is only 5 minutes from my house... Cheers- Jerry (P:S: You and Mr Robinson are up there with Iliffe Stokes as inspiration!)

I wonder who holds the copyright? I'm pretty sure a facsimile edition would be a success- there are a lot of far less useful books on the market. I remember that I spent hours trying to emulate his work. And those trees!! Off topic- any more modellers living in Madrid? Just asking...