PMP

The theory only side might work. As with most of us I’ve got a SABLE pile of layout plans in my head and on scraps of paper. One such project was (note past tense) New Radnor. I’d got some stock, and crucially had visited the location, engaging in the atmosphere of the station. I then did quite a bit of research and wrote it up for RM as an intro to a finescale layout. What was really interesting is that after I’d completed the research and article, I felt that I’d in effect built it and finished it. I’ve subsequently had no desire at all to revisit it as a project in any scale. If you already have a scratch that needs itching, and you already think that a theoretical solution might work, pick a subject and try it. It’ll be cheaper and less time consuming than cutting wood, and if you still want to build it after doing the research and planning, you’re in a very good place to start. If you get to that point and think ‘meh, I’ve done that now’, you’ve lost nothing but a few hours of time, which probably will have been enjoyable anyway. This is the sort of thing I have in mind https://albionyard.com/2011/12/25/new-radnor-stepping-stone-to-finescale/ And as yet, no fire has been restarted to do it. So this may help clear one set of plans and refocus on the urban landscape.

That’s not an infestation, now this, this, is an infestation. (There was at least another four extant at the time of the picture, and they’ve all been in a dark cupboard since, so no telling what they’ve been up to since)

I’ve done it on one of mine, I’ll try and dig it out

You don’t remove the floor. The cab is held by tabs and glue. The join lines are rear and sides of the footplate, and around the bonnet. There’s a bit of breaking and entering involved, very similar to the 08

Absolutely. There is another consideration that can be made. If ‘we’ want a Warley show at the NEC, perhaps it might be an option to consider paying forward something to assist an organisation putting on the show. I mention this regardless of the specific company in this instance. If a viable consortium of people came up with a similar proposal I’d have the same opinion. I think Warley NEC show was an excellent showcase for the hobby, and yes we in the past normally ‘expected’ full accommodation cost to be paid. But in this instance fuel and van hire are being covered, and part of the accommodation. I’ve been asked to take a layout, and for me that means minimum two operators, including myself. So I am asking friends if they would consider operating on either day. That means it’s only me forking out for HOTAC, and I’ll be Billy no mates Fri/Sat evenings. I’m considering exhibiting, but the relatively short lead time means local HOTAC is pretty expensive, and it’s a difficult call for me at the moment. Had there been extra lead time with reduced costs, the choice would likely be much easier. I wouldn’t want to see this style become the norm, but if this were a trial and subsequent years covered typical HOTAC, I’m wondering if it’s worth paying forward this time, so to speak to give the hobby that NEC platform again. Obviously the 8’ plank with the omnibus load of 53 operators won’t appreciate the extra costs, but there may be a new business model required for an NEC event if we really want one.

As a non trade exhibitor we can’t claim back VAT for our van hire, fuel or our evening meal and entertainment at a ‘normal show’. So if an exhibitor is prepared to pay some of their accommodation costs I don’t see what the point you’re making is.

Why? With no disrespect to people of faith, myself and many others would have no interest in visiting a cathedral or other place of worship. What would be interesting would be to see how many extra visitors attended because of making tracks. I’d guess making tracks raised visitor numbers to the cathedral by quite a margin over previous years when there was no exhibition.

‘safe places’ are brilliant. Make sure that when you store them there they are unlabelled. This is important when you find them in five years time you don’t recall what they are and discard them. Ideally the bin day before an artefact breaks and you remember you’ve got spares and where they were…

As ModelRail/Dapol are doing a new run of these, there’s a reasonable chance if you contact them, spares may be available

Worm drive isn’t an automatic problem issue as far as going downhill is concerned. The float of the worm back and forward can cause problems, and it’s not unique to these models, DJM and some Bachmann models have these issues on occasion too.

NB I’ve used all of the following with a wide range of OO/N and some O/TT120. The problem with your question, is in my experience it can awake the ‘experts’ whom have no direct knowledge/experience of products and will happily fill pages with unsubstantiated froth…. The Combi is ok, I’ve had one that failed which I returned for repair, and has subsequently failed again. Unfortunately they won’t swap it for a model W and I have no interest in retaining it as a Combi. I didn’t find it as good as their W (see below). I currently use Gaugemaster Model W for N and OO across a whole range of older (80’’s) and contemporary models with no problems at all, and would happily recommend them. I’ve used them for the past 14 years on home and exhibition layouts with no failures at all. I run them from standard 16v input transformers. These have worked with all types of motors open frame, can and coreless. https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/gaugemaster-gmc-w.html Hornby trainset controllers R965 are only fit for recycling in my experience, they give very poor control with some contemporary models, to the extent they may damage them. Some models have been uncontrollable with them. The Bachmann trainset controller is ok but not outstanding with anything (so far). If starting DCC I’d suggest a NCE powercab for ease of use in startup DCC.

Bulk package of Monty’s Models figures and a few Charles Stadden. Roughly 40 figures, some duplicates. Theses are mostly from the scenic figures selection rather than railway staff. All in excellent condition, clean castings. £30 inc uk 2nd class P&P

Simple answer, yes.

This link takes you to my old layout Shelfie1. It was designed to be a test piece and the original footprint was about the same as you’re suggesting. https://albionyard.com/2020/01/28/transformation-tuesday-shelfie-1/ The design used a flying fiddleyard, which is a single track extension off the far end of the above picture. I had two of 30cm and 60cm lengths. These allow you to run a train on and off the layout, as well as help with switching. as you can see the layout has only two sidings from the run round loop, but using a concrete loading area gives much more play value and realism. The headshunt was long enough to allow a pannier and wagon to use it or a larger locomotive like a 9F or Deltic as the layout was a test bed for review models. The other element in the design was that it was able to be used for HO models as there was nothing in it that defined it as UK. Your choice of baseboard will mean that you will need to operate points by hand, have side mounted motors or raise the trackbed to fit point motors underneath. If you choose side mounted motors you can extend the movement to have the motor’s hidden in the scenery as shown below. I’d also suggest making sure each rail has a double feed to it for redundancy as wiring them through the IKEA shelf won’t be easy.

Brand loyalty foamers have always been there, and always will be there. It was the same with Hornby/Wrenn/Airfix/Mainline and Lima back in the 80’s. It goes on now in plastic kit modelling, and in any ‘interest’ eg performance cars. With railways it was just done at clubs or exhibitions, and from punters in shops. Social Meejah in all its forms has just made it easier for them to have a voice. And yep, you are exaggerating the risks 🙂

Thinning out the maturing cupboard, this is an etched kit for a Caledonian Railway Class 498 0-6-0 Tank. The kit is complete and unstarted, and includes MJT etched compensation bearings. The kit will require wheels, motor and gears to complete. £40.00 including P&p UK paypal / bank transfer preferred. Delivery available subject location.

That to a large degree was our experience of them. If we had a trade order it wasn’t unknown to be sent to collect it by bus/tube/foot, as it was far quicker than waiting for a posted order. W&H on the times I went in looked like it had been turned over, which may not have helped with prompt trade and mail order despatch. Puffers unfortunately was just too far out to be able to do the trip in the lunch hour but I do remember it being a very good shop. It was a fascinating time working in the shop (MRM), particularly when I think about all the detailing parts we had. Things like turned brass chimneys in the Eames/MRM products, ABS, D&S Kemilway, Craftsman, Romford, K’s, Anchorage, Perseverance, Portescap, Precision Paints, Maygib, Gibson and Slaters ranges all held with pretty good stock. I’ve still got one or two things with our price tickets on, I wonder how many detailing bits ended up in the maturing cupboard with all the kits?..

30 years ago if you came into work with me I’d have shown you the same thing, BAe Technical Services at Hatfield. They made prototypes. If you come into my local towns, I can show you sheet metal workers who work off a sketch or free hand to make custom car components. Custom in that they replace sheet panels for normal cars being restored, replacement panels not being available. It’s a particular problem with some 80’s to noughties Japanese vehicles. A good friend works with vintage aircraft restoration companies, they too have skilled panel workers. So the skills are still there.

You’d be hard pressed to find a single source today, Andrew at 51L would be a good starting point though. That’s the nature of ‘high street’ retail currently though, earlier you mentioned the ‘knowledge bank’ an assistant would need to advise and sell a complete kit. Back in the early 80’s in London there was us, Puffers and W&H all with similar skillset. Today that’s not required, the market isn’t there, but if you know your way round DCC and chip fitting, that’s where the smart retailer is giving their customers extra value over the counter.

I was there 81 to 85, primarily running the mail order side of the shop. Bert was one of part timers then and rotated between the front of house and the trade and mail order sections. For such a small premises it had quite a few staff, (9 when I started), but did a good amount of unseen business. We had wholesale accounts for Hornby and Lima and sent quite large amounts mail and trade orders of all types of products. The run up to Christmas was always very busy, and around IMREX too. I used to refer to the Jamieson products as crude, basic is just as good a synonym in my opinion. As we often gave advice on kit building and choosing appropriate starters and tools etc, the Jamieson kits didn’t really feature. Compared to the Craftsman kits like the 1F and C12 of the 80’s era I think it’s reasonable to consider the Jamieson kits as crude compared to other contemporary products and never recommended them as starters for builders. However you could reasonably confidently send a customer on their way with a K’s, Wills, Craftsman and some DJH kits in the knowledge that with some application, a newbie would get a running model at the end of it.

And your point is? Anyone whom has worked on a shop floor and seen the additional work requirements to make compound curve panels fit, understands just how excellent the Finney components are. Clearly from the amount of variety we see in model products (not just railway) getting shapes right isn’t as easy as you seem to think it is.

Yes but those are from industrial sheet metal presses, forming individual sections using several tons of pressure. Mr Finney produced tooling to make accurate compound curve resin castings of formidable quality, far better than pretty much every other manufacturer that I can think of from JLTRT of the same era and Modelu more recently. He also designed the etchings to accurately join to those castings giving consistency across the whole model. Now your ship, locomotive and aircraft builder are getting multiple pre-formed components to nail together with varying degrees of accuracy, BAe and Shorts showing an interesting interpretation of ‘accuracy’ across some heavier than air flying machines. Mr Finney however managed to miniaturise a large piece of machinery, capturing the aesthetics and critically the profile and cross sections of the prototype. And he did it in two scales from flat drawings and Mk1 eyeball. Quite an achievement in my humble opinion.

Whilst not impossible I think it’s improbable. When Eames closed we at MRM (Kings Cross) had a large amount of their stock transferred including Jamieson kits, RTR, books and kits and components. They (Jamieson), hung around for quite a while as by that time they were considered pretty crude, and needed quite a skill set to put them together.

https://wordpress.com/create-blog/ I find WP the most user friendly blogging platform and templates. You can allow comments on a blog and link it to all the other mainstream social media platforms. WP has free blogs, the downside being that advertising appears within your pages/posts but they’re not over intrusive.

#oldschool Handheld digital image with 70-200 2.8 and iso set around 800asa, speed probably around 1/20th and it was chuffing cold and freezing. But this was still pushing the envelope in the early noughties to get a useable night, action image. Most of this evening’s pictures didn’t work out. On album covers this stylised F86 caught my eye today in vinyl! True geeks will see the genesis of the B737 from this, including the all flying tail.