TEAMYAKIMA

Absolutely, I totally agree. Horses for courses. All I'm saying is that a layout of the size of mine would not be viable for a lone wolf modeller without RTR. BTW as I model Chinese there aren't any kits anyway but to an extent that's not the point.

Forgive me for not reading every post in this thread - I gave up on page 3 - and so my point may have been made before. I have been building my 26ft x 10ft exhibition layout in every spare moment for 7 years; my passenger trains are 16,15,13 and 12 coaches long and do (or in many cases will in the future) include fully detailed interiors. My 14 freight trains are all 15ft long. All my freight wagons are heavily weathered. All my structures are heavily modified kits - many with fully detailed interiors. I work 40+ hours a week. I have a wife and a social life. As a 'lone wolf modeller' all I can say is "Thank God for RTR"

And this morning, all three Chinese men planted on the layout..........

This morning ....... one man converted to Chinese This evening two men converted to Chinese...... And now here is my most ambitious conversion yet..... A walking European converted into a standing Chinese - sorry about the dodgy photo.

One of the problems of modelling Chinese is 99.9% of HO figures have the European body size/shape and that doesn't look very Chinese So I am experimenting with the figure in the middle. Having cut down his legs and moved his waste upwards and changed his skin colour I hope he looks a bit more Chinese Maybe the difference is easier to see when standing up side by side

Early morning action in spring of 2004 at one of the world's last REAL steam locations .....

Hello I have been tasked to sell a pack of Alan Gibson hornblocks cat # G4M60 on behalf of Twickenham & District MRC. The parts are all there except for the instructions. Can anyone send me a scan of the instructions please? BTW - if you're looking to buy this item I have listed it on ebay this morning.

I'm grateful to team member Al Turner for this ................... A lot better!

There are better photos coming later tonight - promise!

Bristol show wanted a publicity photo ........... a bit soft focus, but hopefully OK ...

Another website has reported that Fleischmann are ceasing HO models in 2019, going purely N gauge. Anyone got any news on this? Paul

Good and bad bits today. Do you remember those two exercise apparatus I spent a total of six hours on last week? Well, I dropped one of them on the floor of my shed and walked on it and so it won't be featuring on the layout! However, I have glued the other one into the outside gym. It's now nearly finished ..... And I have been working on the children's playgrounds ...... not necessarily the final version of playground #1 but nearly there...

Just to say that Twickenham MRC's new 7mm layout Addison Road will be attending. For those of you who don't know our layout Addison Road was the original name of Kensington Olympia before Olympia was built. Our layout will be operated in the style of the 1920's with both pre-grouping and early post-grouping steam in use, but also we will be running our own unique 7mm Oerlikon electric stock as used on this line. We have our own thread on RMweb in the 7mm+ forum and hope to meet many of our followers at Ally Pally. Here is a taster showing our Oerlikon stock in both LNWR and LMS liveries .................

If anyone doubts quite how anal I am allow we to remove all doubt. I am making three children's playgrounds and have sourced parts from various companies including Preiser and Noch. Preiser are very delicate but in comparison NOCH is somewhat chunky. Here is the NOCH swing as delivered .............. 90 minutes later .......................

Just found another one! BTW have I mentioned recently that we're going to be at Alexandra Palace on March 24th/25th? And have I mentioned lately that you're all invited to come and say 'hello'? If not ....... We're at Alexandra Palace on March 24th/25th - come and say 'hello'!

I'm back with a load of new photos to share with you. The newly re-positioned Willesden control panel should make operation easier ................ An LMS loco was seen at a recent running session - modern image!! The little people seem to be multipling ... The hoarding is progressing ............. The allotment is always popular ....... The toolshed has gained some tools ....

Have decided to make the keep fit area smaller to allow space for some car parking. It's not finished yet but here it is so far ..................

More madness! Having consulted my younger and fitter colleagues at work I have now modified the lifting/hanging bars...

Possibly - I have various bits to position and am considering combinations. The problem is that the Preiser items (like the swing) are very delicate with really thin components whereas the non-branded items (like the keep fit items) are really chunky - both look OK as long as they are grouped together - mixing the delicate and the chunky looks wrong.

Meanwhile on the other side of the tracks a children's playground area is developing.............

I can't believe that I'm saying this but I've spent another 30 minutes on that blessed keep fit apparatus! Before .... I've managed to lower it a fraction and also thin down the top bar ... And I've had trouble finding a place to put it on the layout, but probably on this 'drop-in' section in red....

Twickenham & District MRC is always keen to promote the hobby to a wider audience - and as a result hopefully attract new club members! As part of that ongoing outlook the club is holding a 'pop-up' exhibition right in the heart of Twickenham on April 21st. From 10am to 3.30pm, in Twickenham Library, the club will be selling the hobby to the general public who might never attend a full-blown exhibition or open day. Whilst our primary aim is to spread the word to a new audience we will also be showcasing our club to those already in the hobby - people like YOU who have found this thread and who are taking the time to read this. So, if you want to find out more about our club and/or support an attempt to reach out to potential new modellers, please come down on April 21st - you are most welcome! Twickenham Library Garfield Road Twickenham TW2 3JT Or see our website www.tdmrc.org.uk

It has been already been pointed out that The Model Railway Club already exists in central London (King's Cross) and therefore may I ask : 1. Why would anyone join this new club when a well established club with fantastic premises already exists? 2. What will this new club offer that The MRC doesn't? 3. Is there some reason that you do not wish to engage with The MRC? I have no axe to grind here, I am not a member of The MRC, I'm just curious. Paul

As I have said before, there is a lot more to building an exhibition layout than just modelling, electrics, operation etc ...... for example there is the issue of transporting the layout to the venue. The team have been discussing various ways of storing the boards in the van and I have put off addressing this problem, but with our first exhibition looming I could ignore it no longer. The idea is to store the boards on their backs, thereby taking up less floor space as the backscenes are only 17 inches deep as opposed the boards which are 36 inches wide. However, the backscenes are not strong enough to protect the low relief buildings and at the last work day I spent a lot of time repairing the buildings which had begun to break away from the baseboards. So I have built some new end protectors which are much bigger than the originals and will provide protection when the boards are positioned on their backs. In this picture only one end is fitted - eventually all boards will have one of these at each end. All the weight will be taken by these MDF end protectors and no pressure will be on the backscene or buildings.