MrWolf

SAAB 96 "Flying slug". Great machine.

It does seem to work though.

Neither of us use the phrase "mental block" in our house. Not out of some fashionable new age approach to psychotherapy, but because if one of us says that they have a mental block, the other will say - I know, that mental block is your head, Charlie Brown...

Although technically another Boche. I'd just like to point out, lest any of you are getting the wrong impression, I've worked all over the world and there's only two kinds of people. Those who would share their last slice of bread with you and those who would cut your throat to have yours as well.

When I was a kid I couldn't stand DMUs, so dull and boring, but compared to modern offerings, they've now got a wonderfully austere, rattly Eastern Bloc quality to them. Don't tell anyone, but I still have one of those old motorised Airfix kit railcars, it's smashed to bits, but unlike a lot of its superior modern brethren, (One of which I very nearly bought!) it still actually works. I might just have to source another body kit and revive it, just because.

Can't fault him, no prejudices, we don't like anyone... That's the trouble with the world. People. Don't believe for a minute that the other lot are saints, they're saying the same thing about you.

I don't think that it's anything quite so altruistic, it's often more to do with what they have in their pockets. Especially if it's a grown man on an electric scooter or a BMX, it's about dodging the Five-O innit bruv? It's part of the human condition that people from all walks of life seem determined to be selected as the next Archbishop of Bashington. Now that side roads are official crossing points for pedestrians and anyone turning left is obligated to stop for them (whilst hoping that the following vehicles don't rear end them) many of the cretins don't even look up from their phones and they've taken to doing it everywhere. Those people on petrol powered two wheelers fall into three categories: •Motorcyclists. •Helmetless cretins on stolen scooters, Motocross and quad bikes, a group that motorcyclists would cheerfully bash the living f*** out of if they could get away with it. •Weekend wobblers on the latest ZYX1000RRR. A group of over fortys who overtake you on their rear wheel and three inches from your right elbow to demonstrate how big and clever they are. Fortunately, they're only allowed out by their wives for a couple of hours on sunny Sundays. More than two hours at a time of their antics significantly increases the odds of their becoming yet another of those tacky roadside memorials.

Or that white zigzags don't mean reserved parking for "footballer's wives" to drop their lawn monkeys at school...

Smart move, didn't want to get their nice clean coaches trashed again like they did during Edward VII's Coronation after party...

I can make out the hands and the white helmet, that's all. The helmet won't be much use if he ends up with a car as a suppository at 60mph. Not to worry, it will still be the car driver's fault regardless and there'll be plenty of screeching on X and various cycling forums. Speaking of helmets, he is one. Maybe purple is more his colour? Paired with a pink roll neck sweater to keep warm... Be what and who you are, as the media never tires of telling us!

Very nice job on the van. I think that I have one somewhere, I definitely have a "C" or two. I suspect that I will have the same issues to improve/ fix on those. Thanks for the real world version of the instruction sheet! It might just inspire me to clear the decks if I have some wagon builds to look forward to!

Difficult to make out on my phone, is that some brain donor on one of those electric scooters?

All I have to say to you on that subject Mr Besley is: "Clack valve"...

Obviously the people with the blue boxes strapped on the back don't care about that, nor do their employers, or rather the people said cyclists sub contract to.

In eBay news, someone has just made me a special offer, lowering his buy it now price from £15 to £13. Now I have absolutely no problems with someone picking up a model at a car boot or toy fair and flipping it for a little profit on eBay, I expect most of us have done it. But it helps if you remove the handwritten price sticker from the roof that says "£8". Because he probably chipped the seller down to £6 or £7...

And mentioning your steam injector might be considered a little forward even to the most liberal of potential mates...

I suspect that you could if you are a handsome, 6'4" billionaire, otherwise it's best left until about the fourth date and definitely after the first sleepover, just in case...

And I do know that it's actually wooed!

I could well believe that someone, somewhere has been arrested for being very woo'd with trains, as others have been with goats etc...

I can understand why you might fear being lambasted by the lycranazis for having the gall to criticise them. I remember nearly flattening a work colleague who rode competitively, sponsored by a couple of local bicycle shops. He came down a side road on the inside of traffic, hopped up onto the pavement to avoid a cement truck turning left and dropped onto the main road in front of me without a glance behind. I had to swerve and jam on, as did a black cab coming the other way, otherwise we'd have met head on. When I told him what a near miss he'd had, all the arrogant twunt could do was retort loudly with "Haven't I got the right to be on the road then?!" No point trying to tell him that the only rights he'd be getting if a Bedford CF mashed him into a London taxi would be the last rites... All of our ancient bicycles (eleven at the last count.) have old school dynamo or battery lighting, some have both, except my racer which has modern LED lamps. These have steady, or two speeds of flash. I keep the front one on steady because it's eye level for anyone not driving a 4x4, I find it makes it harder to see where I'm going if it's strobing and because I don't like other bicycles with flashing lights for the same reasons. A flashing red rear is much less of a distraction and quite a good idea though. Worse are the morons with no lights, dressed in black and hooded, paying no attention to any road rules. Perhaps they don't want to be seen for some reason? In a similar vein, why do I see so many electric bikes (the size of mopeds!) with no lights on? There's no excuse for that, unless you're delivering something other than takeaways? Also, how come I can ride a motorised bicycle with no licence or a ban anywhere I please at up to 40mph, yet if I fit an old fashioned cycle motor to a bicycle I need a license, registration, tax, insurance, helmet, lights etc to do 18mph under power?

Not much has changed. When I first started driving you could buy halogen H4 bulbs that weren't legal for road use, intended for rallying only. Lots of POS beige MK2 Escorts ended up fitted with them.

Tricky when your family already has at least one full size train of their own. I think that Phil had to rely on charm...

That's a neat personal touch. If I were modelling the same era, I'd be tempted to include a two tone blue Victor 337 RUR for the same reason.

My caliper is a "Raydou" (No, I've never heard of them either...) Cost two fags and a balloon from eBay. It's accurate enough for the modelling bench. My other one was a real bit of luck. I was working for that little firm who make everything from Vauxhalls to Cadillacs and asked if I could get my personal set calibrated. They failed dismally by their standards* and I was given a brand new pair from the tool stores on the understanding that I put my old ones in the vice before they went in the bin! *I suspect that some bright spark had used them for an adjustable spanner.