Mucky Duck

I have maybe a smidgen of sympathy for Van Persie but if he didn't hear the whistle I'm sure his shot would have been far more accurate than the wild swipe that it was. Absolutely no sympathy for 'hard done by' Arsenal though… as if the sending-off would have made any difference? There's a chasm betweeen the two teams. Arsenal, shots on target 0, Barcelona, 13 (make that 14 with the own goal ).

Tim, both locos are looking nice and well-used… the thinned edges of the Black 5's tender looking particularly effective and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the 'pretty filthy' 8F. What mods did you do to the Fairburn?

Work ethic – two words missing from my team, Man City's philosophy this afternoon, along with team spirit and belief… pathetic! Great results for West Ham and Birmingham, who posessed such things in spades today… richly deserved!

Ron, looking at all this wonderfully intricate lattice work fully assembled, I can't help being curious about how you're going to paint it with all those nooks and crannies. Have you done any trials yet?

Nice beer crate! What a mouth-watering project this is… I'm really looking forward to seeing it all come together, Ron.

North Shields Inkerman Street's terraced houses and shops Owdham

No worries, it's useful info and I'm soaking it all in!

This layout is coming along nicely Chris. Glad to see that you've muted the blue on the down cast shaft head gear – a much more fetching shade… a bit like Manchester City sky blue!

Hi Pete, thanks for asking… I've been hibernating! When it was confirmed that the correct tender for 44890 was part-welded, I was going to attempt the necessary mods but as the spring dampers are the short versions, I chickened-out, deciding it required too much faffing. So, the tender in this thread will now be designated to a Comet-modified Hornby 8F (more of that in due course). For 44890, I bought a Comet part-welded tender kit only just recently, so it looks like this thread still has some time to run… hopefully starting again in a week or so! As for your Hornby body, no doubt you'll know that Comet sells individual add-on bits, whereas I don't think that Brassmasters does, although the latter will always come in handy for spare parts. Will you be starting a thread on your work? It sounds a bit more involved than the stuff I'm doing and I'd be very interested to follow that.

I could wander round this location all day… superb as usual Michael.

Commendable restraint as well as great modelling!

Small but perfectly formed… and photographed! I think the print and slide film complements the model's era and adds to the realism.

gonzo, Arpster revealed his dad's fantastic Blackgill layout last year, now it's your turn…I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to see much, much more of Donnington! Looks naturally lit, too… brilliant!

I used Tillig turnouts combined with C&L flexi on my layout, as recommended by Number 6 on his Southerham project. Although I haven't used the track in anger yet, I certainly didn't find the turnouts to be troublesome whilst laying them… flexible, yes, but not fragile. Not a good pic of work in progress but gives you some idea of how it looked while it was being laid and ballasted.

Awe-inspiring! And CAD looks a very useful modelling tool indeed! This magnificent structure alone is worth a whole Model Railway Journal feature. Are you modelling a specific period?

Nice to explore more of the gorgeous Blackgill so thanks for the pics, Arp. Am I right in assuming that the layout is finished and that your dad is simply adding to the stock and playing trains? It certainly looks complete, in which case, are there any plans to exhibit it in the future?

I hope you're going to start a thread for this layout, it seems very promising from this shot… and those diesels look the business!

Can't help feeling that this is a temporary state of affairs and that Tevez will still scoot in the summer. There have been too many 'reasons' for his wanting to leave the club and the words of his agent, Joorabchian just haven't appeared genuine to me (isn't that the case with them all?). As Red Devil pointed out, Tevez's club history speaks for itself… a couple of seasons and he's off! I'm just intrigued to read what the final official line will be on this one! Tevez really is a great worker but there are more efficient, deadlier finishers around and I think Mancini would be wise to buy one now… Wolfburg's Edin Dzeko, for instance. Balotelli certainly cannot be relied upon at this stage of his career.

Whoah… that is seriously serious! There's nothing here that says model!

Shame this pic is so small, I like it… and I'm very interested in that mill, do you have a layout or workbench thread?

Yes, when Tevez joined Man City I looked into his 'history' – or should that be histrionics? – and assumed that the inevitable would happen sooner or later. So I can't say that I'm surprised… as one of the of City supporters of the great Bell/Summerbee/Lee generation, it's never gone swimmingly well for long since those heady days, as the red side of Manchester is only too willing to remind us at every opportunity… as if we need to be! I just want this Tevez saga to be resolved as quickly and painlessly for all parties as possible. The squad is starting to gel and I'm confident that the team will not suffer too much without him. I'm really hoping that Super sulk Mario Balotelli doesn't follow suit (and that he leaves his handbag at home on match days). Then, perhaps there's a chance that the notorious banner at Old Trafford will have to be removed before too much longer. … and now I read that Blackburn's Big Sam has been sacked!!! What's going on?

Personally, it's a hugely enjoyable part of modelling and when the end result is still cheaper than a kit (which I'd probably make a right old hash of anyway), it makes perfect economic sense too.

At least that would have guaranteed qualification… now what's the betting that England don't even make the 2018 World Cup?

Wibble, I don't know why I haven't spotted this super layout before. I can't add any useful historical information but having lived around Crouch End and Finsbury Park for a few years, your layout has a familiar feel to it. It's now on my watch list and looking forward to seeing more.

Michael, how did you do this? It looks like a combination of natural light and the shed lighting. This is a wonderful shot!