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Eurofighters from Coningsby, ZJ914 and ZK378 on FR24

I would agree that they are nearer to OO scale. Which might be useful if you model 4mm US but there is rarely a need for larger than scale vehicles on a layout (smaller is less of a problem). The wheels don't look too brilliant either, are they Cararama or the same but rebranded? I recently found a box of a couple of dozen, probably brought from Poundland 20 -odd years ago. I took them to a show where my old club had a sales stand to put in the £1 odds and ends box and they were snalled up quite quickly, so someone must have found a use for them.

I've just had confirmation details from Central Alonzo's next public appearance at the NMRA(BR) 2024 winter meet in Stokenchurch, just off junction 5 of the M40: Stokenchurch Community Centre, Saturday 17th February 2024. The venue can be found at: Bartholomew Tipping Way, Stokenchurch, High Wycombe HP14 3RX. I went last year and it is an excellent venue and well worth supporting.

That is something that has changed, previously it would have shown "over 10" They also seem to have literally a ton of their own ballast, it's the days of keeping a low stock count and any assets like this not shifting isn't good for any aspect of the business. The "HO Model Power Caboose" count is down to 23, and if you brought all of the R609 in stock, you could make a helix 100 feet tall...!

Well I've had a good look through but still can't find the usual hidden tributes to a rock band, apart from the Beatles vans. The Nellie tributes are a bit odd, what ever happened to the new body that was on the most recent TV series? Or getting another Junior designer to do one that actually looked like the old Nellie? The chosen one looks to have origins as the 0-4-0 Thomas.

Conversely, me (who rarely finds anything suitable out of the box for my exhibition projects) had a couple of pre-ordered locos with them. My local shop doesn't stock that manufacturer and most of my buying/ordering is done at work at 3am when I'm *£&@#$ off and want some retail therapy, so went to Hatton's for their comprehensive listings- something the smaller or one man band box shifters seem to be less efficient at. I agree that they never really got a measure of secondhand sales, considering the time it must have taken someone to catalogue and price an item, a few minutes properly testing and repairing something could have netted better profit and reputation. Saying that, maybe they figured out we all like a fixer-upper project and you only see what they haven't sold, not what they have... The ball of twine and tub of plastic cars have finally run out...

I did sometimes question some of what they stocked- some of the secondhand HO Model Power looked like it came from a stock room 40 years ago and I once counted several thousands of pounds of Chinese HO coaches and coal hoppers ( @TEAMYAKIMA if you're interested, unsurprisingly I can't get on their site now to check...)

Nothing much in the way of an update as the layout is in storage for the winter, although I might have a show for it next month. But I have recently discovered a couple of photos that are eye openers and had to be shared. The first is claimed to be a Hershey Steeplecab, complete with "Go faster stripes". The number fits with the Hershey series and the hood rivets (or lack of) fit with one of the locos absorbed from the Havana Central, but the renumbering into the FCdeC series is a grey area and there isn't a lot of info and photos from the early 1960s as attentions in Cuba were elsewhere... The second is the eastern end of the line in Matanzas, I'd seen photos of the covered station area on the right and the yard on the left with tracks going into the building, but never clicked that they were the same place! Since I prefer to model actual locations, I'm now distracted by modelling this as it'd be good to operate with the small yard with the Church in the background and harbour/refinery branch on the extreme right next to the Yumuri river.

As long as there is someone with enough money, then anything is possible. But when you consider the number of 56s in preservation ten years ago Vs now, you have to have deep pockets and a strong will, and a lot of big bills means those ones that were initially preserved have been scrapped or sold back into the industry. Same thing will happen with most of the uselessly preserved Pacers, although more 15x units could go to preserved lines for training, like the 153s at the Great Central. My only surprise is a number of preserved lines haven't gone the same way as scrapped stock, as we seem to have reached saturation point and rely on an ageing volunteer workforce.

My finished Sakura Densya Book-nook Christmas present, I wasn't keeping exact time but probably about six hours to build over the last week, including some time after work in the mornings. There are a few steps that were missing from the instructions but overall it went together quite easily. The family puzzle has been this Wasgij of a chip shop, despite coming from a charity shop and thinking we'd lost a piece it is complete...

Hasegawa "Egg plane" 747, finished with custom home printed decals as one of the One Air fleet as a Christmas present for my Brother who has been flying with them recently.

Cuba, but during the cane zafra (harvest) so probably February or March. That is at Stafford and the layout was under the mezzanine so probably the darkest area of the hall, so I heard quite a few comments that the layout stood out as being bright*, despite only being lit by two daylight LED strips. That was great for viewing as the eyes do adapt and did create the big sky effect that I get from photos of the Cuban countryside, but looking at videos since made me realise the layout lighting was probably too bright for the ambient lighting, creating too much contrast and shadow on the sides of the darker stock, so I need to have a way of dimming the layout lighting when needed. This sounds like I'm complaining about the opposite to @TEAMYAKIMA 's experience at Manchester where the ambient light was good, but from experience it's something that you have no control over and have to tolerate to some degree in the world of exhibiting portable model railways. *And being non-british meant there was less people around it. Another difference between what is basically an enlarged micro layout that can fit on a car's back seat and something large like Beijiao is it is obviously easier with the former's size to create a framed image with a proscenium arch and off-stage wings as described by Iain Rice. My favourite layouts at the moment are ones that manage this and have several feet of depth, the large boards must be difficult to store and transport but they do look amazing.

There is a large step in the mindset between building something to exhibition standard (ie it works and looks good from 3 feet away, Vs what you see in front of you on the workbench or computer screen where I find it hard not to go to the n'th degree of detail. It would have been impossible to finish my latest exhibition layout if I didn't take a few compromises, basically because the information in quality photos was limited. For me the step change from trainset modelling to model railway was ballasting and painting the rails. I knew the colour of Airfix enamel on my GWR branchline probably wasn't right and my Dad had to prove it by taking me to the local mainline where I realised a completely different set of conditions produced different colours and weathering, such as ballast that is weathered in one direction in braking zones. I'm trying to stay away from a lot of the social media groups because standards don't seem to be what they were, it's never been quicker or easier to paint rails with a paint pen regardless of the shade of dirt & rust, but the current ethos seems to be how quickly you can build the same layout over and over again instead of enjoying the journey and learning and improving along the way.

The One Air fleet at Heathrow last week, G-UNET and G-ONEE here are kept busy on an intensive LHR-Hong Kong-Muscat (usually)-LHR circuit so it is rare* to have them in the same place at the same time. EDIT: *They are both there now, must be a Monday thing...

Ex-CN GMD-1, the A1A trucks were imported later to decrease the axle loading on the heavier end. Rapido produced a model of it in HO a few years ago:

Wired JST 8 pin connectors are available on eBay, I'd have to properly measure the one fitted but I think it is a 1.25mm spacing.

This shows the loco's wiring harness: https://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_596&products_id=5622 TBH I was a bit daunted by the wiring too because I've had to solder one of the broken wires myself and I did wonder why it had eight when it only needs six. This is the tender, if that helps (the code on the board looks really ambiguous, but you might be able to find continuity with the tender pickups and go from there) https://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_596&products_id=5630

I remember going to that one, the stand out exhibit for me was a miniature RR Merlin engine. There was also one more recently- possibly late 1990s/early 2000s when Scalextric had just introduced the drift racing sets. There was model flying outside and in, and RC car tracks. As a showcase of a number of miniature transport themed hobbies, the model railways looked dull and unexciting by comparison.

It would either be such a small amount as to not bother charging for, or potentially higher than the cost of petrol if a motorway rapid is used. Over the last few months I've personally waived 700 miles of petrol expenses for three shows because we get free EV charging at work for our other car which is also used for non-work trips locally. The only claim was for my chief operator claiming one round trip of 100 miles of supermarket diesel because another show was a society convention and other helpers kindly waived expenses because they were local or didn't want to for the third. So what happens if the price of fuel increases (or decreases) dramatically over the time since the booking form was submitted, which could have been months or years prior? I'm presuming you also have to quote the milage, MPG and fuel price. There is the potential for an organiser to say "you could have brought your petrol/diesel/electricity cheaper than what you're quoting" and individual senarios may be too diverse to put a blanket rule on.... Fundamentally tho, it's a hobby, it's not worth falling out over and if you get a reputation for being too expensive you won't get future invites...

Something else that doesn't seem to be common knowledge are the competitions run at the show, is this a first for 2023? I've seen a few results posted but would it be possible for a representative from the club to post a list of winners here?

Nice to see something has been done to tackle what has been analysed as "the Warley effect", where someone doesn't actually see an exhibit until they have got to the front of the barrier and seen what is directly in front of them. Layouts are theatre and you don't get that effect of being in front of a stage, more of a mosh pit (literally). I recently did a show that was described as being quiet, and had lots of favourable comments regarding my layouts presentation and the way the lighting made it stand out. That's because it's foreign and we have to try harder anyway, and less people around it made it possible to see the layout from a distance. I think this is also why quality advanced publicity is also important, such as good photos and a brief description of each layout on the website beforehand. It seems to be a given that there will be something for everyone with 80+ layouts but that's a dangerous assumption, once I'd seen the list I could say what the showstoppers would be but they just seem to have been ignored, and it's still the case that you aren't aware of the "must see gem" until it is reported here on Saturday evening...

So, Lion has arrived- with a few questions: What do I re-numer it as? My big book of locomotive names says it was number 57, or maybe 5027... There appears to be paint missing from the front of the chimney/smokebox flare- really not worth sending back for, but is anyone else's the same? f8...really? Not a full NEM socket, so I'll have to run it with a kadee fitted shunters truck. It's a beautiful model and runs exquisitely.

You'd have to have a pretty big home layout to trouble 2 amps, although it would help to divide it to decrease the initial current draw at start-up. The draw from sound decoders is one thing but I've found that it is a lot less for the new generation of sound chips than the old clunkers of 15 years ago. I found using the EngineDriver app at a Freemo meet really easy to use with an Android phone because you can use the volume buttons as the speed control. £400 quid tho? What the hobby needs is a £200 system without any fancy gimmicks, such as a Dynamis with a cable....

Post Athearn/Roundhouse merger 2-6-0 ( I think branded as the latter), Sound fitted (MRC?), not very nice at all really and they didn't really gain from being upgraded to more modern standards unlike some Bachmann steam locos. There is also a 2-8-0 chassis that looks better. Nice Bachmann C&NW 4-6-0 (large drivers), test fit with a cheap Bachmann Vanderbilt tender. I think the UP tender is from the 0-6-0 behind it.

Bachmann Baldwin 4-6-0 (52" driver), probably the best detailed of the locos I've had, DCC sound fitted in the tender but lacking a rear headlight. Bachmann Alco "Sound value" 2-6-0, bit more basic but still a nice model. I've actually had more luck tuning the decoder in this than the 4-6-0. Newer locos obviously tend to be better (such as the later 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 above), I did have a 2-8-0 that was less so as was their GS4 Daylight, the worst I've owned being the 0-6-0 tender loco.