angell328

They keep me company out in my shed on the long lonely nights!! Depends how many more I buy. I have a feeling my lifespan is inversely preportional to the amount of kits I have, the more I buy the more likely the Mrs is to kill me!

Occasionally Mr B?!! Your the one that started me up again! Do like this one, really looks the part, must finish my BR52 and Leopold to go with it. BarryTen, you asked where it will lead. Well its a long slippery slope, if your not carefully this happens! Lovingly known as expensive loft insulation by my Mrs! Cheers Matt

Ahhh the joys of kit bashing, if you can't find it the find something close and get the spares box out! Yes they seem to be playing silly games, I'll get right on it! Pictures fixed now!

Been an avid military modeller for many years. My first kit was a 1/72 Hawk in red arrow colours. I build 1/35 Armour, 1/32 aircraft, 1/48 Armour and aircraft, 1/72 Armour and aircraft and anything else that I come across that interests me! Military modelling has been a great help to me on railways, there is a lot to bring across, from weathering to scenics. Few pics I grabbed of whats in my cabinate at the moment, still got over 200 kits to build! Squirebev, I love the Kirov Airship, who produced that kit? cheers Matt

You jest, but the idea was floated around for a while to put the guys in tents!

Wow so moving Cosford and other training centres to Lyneham, they are going to have to push a lot of cash to make that work! To start there is no where near enough accomadation and the blocks we have are over 40 years old and in desperate need of knocking down and rebuilding! As for building to train in, well there isnt any! Sure some of the buildings there could be usalised but again, no where near enough or so old and decrepid they are almost beyond use. Lyneham had almost no money put into it in last 3 or 4 years as it was slated for closing, only repairs carried out. If they are going to make it a training base then most of the camp will have to go under a bulldozer and be reborn, and here i was thinking they had closed the place to save money! Well time will tell what will happen, i did notice that its not due to happen untill 2015, lot can change in that time! At least lyneham has a chance of being reborn, hope it does and what ever happens it wont deminish the proud history of the camp. Cheers Matt

Ref the runway at Brize it is longer and recently renewed, but there is only one! Lyneham has two which gives a lot of flex in the case of accidents. The main problem is space! Us engineers are fighting for places to hanger the aircraft and even to park them, certain areas of the pan aren't strong enough to take some of the types that come through. Even after 10 years of so called planning there are still issues that haven't been resolved. The entire situation is a cluster! We have been saying on the ground that we know its going to happen no matter what we say but could the push it back by 6 months to a year so we could move into buildings that aren't still being built! Lyneham has allways had a reputation for getting the job done and making do, but I think that they are using this against us now, they are mistaking cameradery for moral, and this can only go on for so long. Sorry for the moan but I feel that this is one of a string of huge mistakes thats happend in the last year. Harrier gone? Carriers gone? buying more typhoons? The air force seems to be stuck in the cold war mentality of more and more fast pointy things and not getting use to the fact that we are an expeditary force now with all these far flung conflicts with the need for flexabilty. No more parking a carrier of the coast with a flight deck full of harriers and helecopters. Oh well, I shall still wear my blue suit with pride but with a heavy heart. Cheers for listening to my ramblings, Matt

Amazing pics Joe, can almost hear the wonderful noise Albert makes as she rumbles across the skies. Was really miffed couldn't be there to see them leave home, but at least I have one here to play with! Have shown your pics to the boys and crews out here, they where happy to see the old girls showing off. You can always tell the K out the bunch, they leave such a lovely trail of black smoke, almost looks rocket powered!! But after 44 years of the graft they have been through think I'de be looking bit smokey. Thanks buddy, Matt

Maybe not completly inspirational but a quote that has summed up my life for a longtime now! We the willing, led by the unknown, have been doing so much with so little for so long, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing! Matt

Hi Simon, I've worked at Lyneham for lastt 11 years and myself and the crews there all know the herc by the affectionate name of Fat Albert! So it might have started with the Blue Angels, but its fairly universal now!! Matt

Wish I could have been there to watch Albert leave for the last time, currently 'doing the deid' so got my own Albert to play with at least! Echoing the above statements, can't see why appart from it was a idea that snowballed and no one ever backed down. Normal 'yes Sirs@ to those that want promotion etc etc. The real pain for us guys that have left Lyneham for Brize is the simple things, like a house!!! Yep you guessed it, when you put a quart into a pint pot it wont go. There are about 100 family short of housing at the moment with more due in over the next year. Schools is another issue, jobs, shops, banks even a bloody post office! Then you have the issues with already overcrowded dental and medical centres having double the ammount of people wanting to use them, and we all know how well the NHS is fairing at the moment. Ok ok breath!!! Sorry but after 11 years at Lyneham seeing the morale and spirt of the place get stamped out and phased out over the last 3 years has been like watching a family member dieing of a long drawn out desease. To use a much used quote from Lyneham 'end of an era, Start of an error' Good bye Lyneham Matt (Proud Lyneham Liney) Angell

Would have loved to get to Stafford, but the RAF decided that I would much rather sit in a desert for two months! Oh well plenty of time to get the layout plans finalised whilst I top up the tan, oh and occasionally fix a Herc or two if the mood takes me, and it doesn't cut into my anyrail time too much! Matt

Grahame, You certainly have captured the look of the Corrination Hall! I lived in Surbiton for 16 years and walked past it on my way to school each day. It had an interesting History before it got to the Weatherspoons owned pub it is today. I remember when one owner spent Thousands doing it up to become a Nudiests health spa! Lots of us excited kids made sure we walked very slowly past just in case a window or blind was left open!! Unfortunatly it never came to fruition. Although it became one of my favorite haunts later when Weatherspoons got hold of it! Cheers for the walk down memory lane, Matt

My rebuild of Hornbys 75 Ton crane with equipment van sat in the siding on Mr Spencers Layout Penrhos.

Thats interesting............

A beautiful little loco! I love plasticard, with a few pictures and some skill you can build anything. Seeing this Loco come together was a pleasure to watch. Well done Sir and hope you have many happy hours of driving her. Matt