DLT

Five days to go...!

Sounds like my school homework being "not quite finished". Actually its "not quite started"....

That's goods to hear. I seem to find just the item that I need, and then be told that "you can't get them anymore..."

Very nice Richard, and such fast progress! All the best, Dave.

They're very hard to ignore Jack!!!

I am very sad to report that Jim Calverley passed away recently. For many years Jim was Manager of The Blackburn Exhibition, making it one of the top shows in the country, and a "must visit" for modellers all over the North of England. Following retirement, he and Zena moved south to Devon, and he became a stalwart member of The Exeter 0 Gauge Group. A hugely talented modeller, Jim regularly carried off trophies, often the Best in Show. A true Gentleman, Jim was widely know and highly respected. David Taylor.

Two weeks to go, plenty of last-minute activity going on! Here is the layouts section of the Programme, or you can download the whole thing Here

How many people actually PAY to get into Chelsea? Or are they all "special guests", or have privilege tickets, or those on VIP visits?

With that kitchen area, it looks like you intend "moving in". Is there a bathroom just off scene?

lovely stuff jack, hard to believe its 4mm scale!

Very sad news, and difficult to take in. Especially when we had been in correspondence just a few days ago.

Was slightly disappointed at no MRJ when I visited Smurfs at lunchtime. BUT the big advantage was that I spent my afternoon-off actually doing some modelling, rather than reading about somebody else's!

There is a reason I make the ironwork out of black plasticard. When its all added i paint the vehicle, without worrying about where the paint goes. And then scrape/sand the grey paint off, leaving perfect black ironwork. Only then do I add the nuts from WHITE (so you can see it) plasticard, followed by a tiny blob of black paint. This method avoids the painful and annoying process of trying to paint all the ironwork black while failing to keep the paint off the grey woodwork.

Lovely work Neil, Have you tried adding the nuts from small cubes of plasticard? Saves all that drilling and fitting. I chopped bits of the end of 20thou square microstrip and applied them with tweezers or a sharp point, and Mekpak. You get pretty quick at it, and you can move them if you get them in the wrong place. All the best, Dave.

That's much the same as the procedure at Halwill Junction, when the Bude portion would arrive first. An old and now deceased friend would tell of childhood holidays to Bude. On the return he and his dad would get out at Halwill, and wave goodbye to his horrified mum as the train apparently left without them. And then greet her arrival as her carriage was propelled back in. Did it every year....

Hi Mr Melmoth, I'm bringing Bridport Town to the Bridport Show on July 29th, subject to confirmation from the Club. Cheers, Dave.

Err yes, this is where I bring the great Eric Morecombe into play: "I'm using all the RIGHT buildings, just not necessarily in the right order...."

Hi Stu, Not TOO chocolate box I hope! Its supposed to be fairly workaday. When I originally took the photos, some areas were semi-derelict, and so a lot more overgrown than when in full use. So I've tried to strike a balance. The buildings we see today could be 100 years older than the period we are modelling, and could have been new then. I once put a building in a competition and the judge marked it down saying "it couldn't possibly be that clean". I pointed out that it was meant to be brand new! All the best, Dave.

Thanks Don. Yes indeed, three small rivers meet in Bridport, the Asker, the Brit and the Simene. They have been contained by walls, and channeled into various millstreams as the town grew around (and occasionally above) them. Having a river through the middle was one of the principal aims of the layout, but it meant that when designing and building, I had to start with the river bridge and work outwards in either direction. Cheers, Dave.

Just been catching up with Chuffnell Regis, beautiful! Thanks very much.

Just to put all this in context, here are a couple of photos of the River Brit flowing through the older parts of Bridport (although some of this area is semi-derelict) It gives something of the image I'm trying to capture.

Wedmore will be on show at the ExeGOG Open Day/Exhibition, Saturday 17th June, Victory Hall Whimple, EX5 2TS Full details Here and Here As a quick update on Wedmore, I said in my earlier message that some aspects of it were "a little tired". Well it turned out that those aspects were actually VERY tired! We realised that our late friend Devonseasider hadn't actually got started on any refurbishment. So after a lot of fiddling around and not getting very far, it was decided that a complete rewire was needed. This was done done in time for us to show it at the Sidmouth Exhibition in March, an event that was hailed as a success for the layout, but of course raised a few issues and questions that are currently being attended to. Cheers, Dave.

Thanks for all the comments guys. Bridport has a local outing shortly, to The Exeter Gauge 0 Group's show (my own club) in Whimple on June 17th. Full details here: ExeGOG Show

The Exeter Gauge 0 Group is holding an Open Day/Exhibition on Saturday 17th June, at The Victory Hall, Whimple, EX5 2TS Layouts in 7mm scale, Standard and Narrow Gauge, plus N-Gauge. Range of Refreshments available, Entry £5, Cash Only Please! Whimple is a short distance off the A30 Dual Carriageway, between Exeter and Honiton. The Victory Hall is five minutes walk from Whimple station, on the Salisbury to Exeter line. Details of exhibits and downloadable Show Guide here: Layouts/Demonstrations Exeter Gauge 0 Group 2023 marks the 30th Anniversary of the Group.