Barry Ten

I seem to remember that some of the approach roads in from the airport are convertible to runways at short notice?

Hope Loughborough is enjoyable, Tony. It's the Wells show this weekend so we're off for our usual stay at The Swan. I hope to catch up with some mates tomorrow for a pint or two between trains, in one of the many splendid pubs near Wells Town Hall!

Wonderful account of your trip, Mikkel - much appreciated.

Sir gets everywhere! See art credit on back of LP:

Continuing with my South Wales valleys terminus project, now starting to add some smaller details, most of which still need painting in-situ.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a correct dimension anywhere on the Rovex Princess, as beloved as my two examples were.

I thought the main (daft!) reason for that was to allow for the upswing of front bogies when going from level to sloping track?

I ordered eight sheets of 4 x 2 blue XPS insulation boards from a firm called eZheat. They may have had larger sheets.

That's long gone, I think, since the subsidies for loft insulation were stopped (thanks, DC!). It's why the extruded stuff is generally harder to find than it was a decade ago.

I can't help but I needed a 5 1/2 x 13 inch sheet for my N project, so I joined a 4 foot piece to a smaller offcut using internal dowels to strengthen the joint.

Worsley Works: http://www.worsleyworks.co.uk/4mm/4mm_GWR.htm

I had a go at improving the look of the Hornby clerestories by going over the lining with a bow-pen, adding the bits that were missing, as well as extra detailing around the ends and bogies.

Stephen Williams details one of these coaches in his Wild Swan book on carriage modelling, so it's certainly capable of reaching an acceptable standard to the Pendon gang. I'm not sure if he discusses the length.

What's the medical definition for ECML envy?

I've picked up inexpensive Revell and Airfix kits from Home Bargains and The Works, as well. I spend enough money at "normal" model shops not to be too troubled by the margins on these.

I'm not surprised as it's a load of cobblers.

There's a Harvey's Bristol Cream van on ebay at the moment: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=ratio+kit+harveys&_sacat=0 Almost certainly a daft question, but were these liveries all bogus?

Apologies if this has been mentioned before, but I when I popped into Lidl this morning on my normal post-parkrun bakery stop, there was a selection of Airfix kits in the special offers aisle. They were all priced at 6.99 and included three 1/72 planes, some tanks and a jeep. They did well out of me as I picked up the three plane kits in addition to some tasty croissants. I don't normally model in 1/72 so wouldn't have given these more than a second glance at a model shop, but I'm easily persuaded when things turn up in unexpected places, such as in Lidl. A good initiative, especially as these are the beginner kits that come with paints included, so great little projects for a rainy afternoon. (The planes were a Spit, a Curtis Tomahawk and a Folland Gnat, if anyone's interested).

A few more air show pics... Fairford this time, I think 2013.

I've busted many a prop landing like that....R/C props that is.

There's a comment in one of the Apollo astronaut biogs I read (Al Worden's, I think) where he said, given the choice as a passenger, he'd always prefer to get in a single-engined aircraft than a twin-engine one. I think the reasoning was that, the pilot in the single-engined plane will have made damned sure that engine is in good condition, whereas with two, there might be an element of "to hell with it, if one fails we've always got the other" sort of thing.

i understand the need to protect items during shipping, but I don't like the trend toward lavish, bulky packaging that seems to be increasingly the norm with model railway products. As you say, probably driven by the collector market to a degree.

The nights are drawing in at King's Hintock as a prairie 6166 waits for the off with a goods train.

Found these on my PC from Farnborough, 2008 I think. Hope there is something of interest.

The whole goods shed! Although it's not obvious from the pics above, the S&D one sits roughly where the GWR cattle dock does, and the GWR goods shed occupies roughly the same position as the S&D station building. The GWR shed is much larger than the S&D one, too.