Neil

If it who I think it is selling then they are well built models, and I guess that the price is a pretty fair one.

Now down to a far more reasonable £3.30, minded to think it's been a typo and he's only just realised/been told that it might be hindering bids.

Back on a model railway tack; our old friend at Cartmel is touting some rather bizarre looking O gauge carriages .... .... meanwhile elsewhere in the kingdom of e-flog modern wagons, even Irish prototypes, still seem to command rather high prices.

Cartmel again; fish, barrel.

I'm sure he is. Though it's difficult to tell from the e-bay photo (a bit small) it looks to be well made, painted and weathered. In one sense perhaps the £147 the pair of wagons are now at represents a fair price (time, skill and effort) but I'm surprised that someone is able and happy to pay what will be the best part of £300 for a pair of wagons.

Now at £107 and with six days eighteen hours left to go, for a wagon? Good news I suppose as there are at least two people who seem unaffected by the global recession.

Perhaps we do Cartmel Toys Diecast and Trains a disservice. I've started to wonder if it's one of those places like Totnes that issues its own currency and that one British pound equates to four Cartmel pounds?

I would be cautious too. In this listing, even after several readings I'm unclear if the successful bidder gets one loco, one loco plus train or all the stuff shown in the photos. This other train set listing has a photo so small, unclear and incapable of enlargement that again it's hard to be sure of the condition or completeness of the set, and goodness knows what the extra $60 worth of stuff will be. Funnily enough there are some decent photos, but like this one they look suspiciously like ones 'borrowed' from elsewhere, rather than the actual item for sale. It may well be that my suspicions are unfounded, (not much feedback but it's all positive) but I do worry that the bad photos and ambiguous descriptions may serve to confuse an unwary punter.

To answer the last bit first over the last year I've seen many of his 'AWESOME' weathering jobs, and while I grant you that there's a certain subjectiveness for stuff at the more arty end of the model railway spectrum I would struggle to describe any of his work as AWESOME. If you want a benchmark of excellence then I'd suggest you take a look in Modelling Inspirations at Pugsley's 100T tanker, or trawl through the forum for Pennine MC's 16T minerals. Now the first part. From other examples in this here thread, mis-labeling seems to be fair game. In this instance 'AWESOME' is hyperbole at best. I'm also minded to single 'AWESOME' out for special attention partly because it's rude to shout, and partly because he applies the tag to every damn thing he sells. Caravan accessories; 'AWESOME' ?

AWESOME! ....... no it's sh!te.

I wholeheartedly agree that the real railway makes the best primary reference point; even for might have beens or the wildly freelance it's better to be railway-like than model railway-like. Still enjoy looking at other peoples model railways though.

That strikes me as a bit of a large assumption to make Jim, given that John Ahern, Edward Beal, Peter Denny and John Allen aren't around to question. The 'at all' part is a particularly sweeping assertion. However principally I do wonder if we have a different view of what inspiration is or can be? I find your model of New Street inspires; it shows that it's possible to contemplate a huge project at the highest standards solo, that's inspiring, the exquisite ordinariness of some of the structures you've built for it demonstrate that character can come from the mundane as well as the spectacular and that's inspiring too. Does this mean that I'm going to create my own wishy washy copy of a masterpiece? No, my interests lie eighty odd miles away on Cardigan Bay, but your and many other layouts inspire me to do better, to see possibilities and to be creative.

Man, it just gets better and better. I'll be trying the PVA and toothbrush technique in 4mm as I've a bathroom window to glaze in a bungalow that's taking shape on the workbench.

Beg to differ, I think there's merit in pointing out the inconsistencies in the way we view transgressions.

It's potentially distressing but unless there's a fluke turn of events not life threatening to anyone except the culprit whereas all the forms of driving transgressions have taken the lives of innocents in the past.

Well, do we hang him, flog him or merely transport him to the colonies? Now it's not perhaps the cleverest thing to do, but in terms of social irresponsibility it's not up there with drink driving, breaking the speed limit, overtaking in stupid places .....

Though the underparts differ, the Dublo and Dapol wagon bodies are indeed the same thing. In the past I've cut up both to make scale length GPVs. If you're really good (I'm not) it's also possible to narrow the bodies to a scale width too. Here's a couple of my half way houses snapped on my trainset earlier this evening. .

It's actually comes complete with a transformer plug and lead as well as the control unit itself.

H&M, bombproof but crude control by modern standards (I have a fully functioning safety minor that I only use as a power supply these days that came with my first OO trainset forty six years ago), for a budget price plug and play controller I'd recommend one of the current Bachmann DC units. I've a couple of them and reckon they give as fine control as my hand-held Gaugemaster controller. From time to time it's possible to pick them up unboxed, split from trainsets for very little money.

I thought it might be useful to show the finished 009 brake van (that was in primer in my May posting) as no matter how rough or exquisite we judge a raw 3D print to be it's the finished item that really counts. I can't claim that applying the paint has been trouble free as my first attempt at applying colour remained tacky after three weeks. Stripping off with thinners and a much more robust coat of primer did the trick allowing Humbrol enamels to dry properly. Nuff words here's the van in gruesome close up.

Such a hard choice, I can't seem to stop hoovering up influences, but trying to whittle down to three has thrown the really important key moments into focus. My first would have to be Totnes by Mike Cook. I joined the Castle Railway Circle at twelve, just as Totnes was heading towards completion. Seeing the more senior members and Mike himself working on it helped me bridge the gap between trainset and model. I still use plasticard for buildings and varnish for water nearly forty years on. The second would be Ken Gibbons Sheepwash. A few have been kind enough to mention Shell Island in this thread, well Shell Island wouldn't have happened without Sheepwash. It's simplicity gave rise to the less is more philosophy that underpins Shell Island (and my later layouts) and the no nonsense approach to EM made me realise that improving my standards was within my grasp. I'm not sure that I can single out any other layout that's had such a profound effect on my own model making, though plenty have made my jaw drop. However I've got to mention Ste Coline des Champs by the late Dennis Allenden, the model making was exquisite, the concept highly original, but it's his prose that really hit the mark. Whenever I put pen to paper of my fingers on the keyboard I realise that I'm never going to be able to write in such an easy unforced style, but it still gives me something to strive for and the motivation to try an do better.

Cop a load of this over optimistically priced book. Can't be that rare, they've got two to sell. Buy it now; I think not.

Perhaps, but in this instance I thought it displayed a very healthy questioning of the status quo. It's also noteworthy in being the only time to my knowledge that the Cambrian News has scooped the national news media.