Mikkel

Great post on all fronts Chris. Thanks for the details about North facing natural window lighting etc. I see that Fungus McBogle does not condone the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The Simonds Beer advert makes him back off at considerable speed :-) Maybe he had a strict upbringing.

Thanks for the tip about the Finney number plates. Didn't know they were available seperately, that does sound like a useful approach. Must be frustrating that you can't get to a model shop. On the other hand, if they had B&Qs in the Amazon now the world would be moving a little too fast for me to follow :-) But that's easy for me to say!

Looks really good. Could I ask how you made the stonework on the embankment and the garden wall?

Brilliant :-) I wasn't aware you had been modelling since BG days! I hope the railway will be able to win back the milk traffic after the rebuild. Those paved roads sound like trouble! Seriously though, where can we buy fat stock stocks?

Thanks Ian. Let's stay in touch and we'll return to the matter in 30 years :-) Looking forward to the video!

Thanks for the update, Ian, seems to me you've made a fair amount of progress actually. Very interesting to see your methods detailed here, as I'm new to this whole track-building lark. I was wondering how long the plastic and sleepers approach has actually been around - it's recent, but what are the oldest layouts we know about that have used this approach, and are there examples of anyone having any problems with it? BTW I like the "handed" contact lens holders - maybe C+L should consider marketing them!

Very nice little review and "how to", incl. video, close-ups etc. These things take time to prepare - much appreciated, thanks!

Interesting! Great to see a new range, many thanks Devil. Maybe it's just the painting style, but they remind me a bit of the photos I've seen of Aidan Cambell's figures.

Thanks for the info Nick. I should have checked better in that thread about the tools you've used. I have also been thinking about chemcial blackening for the rails, but am not sure how the wear/shine on top of the railhead can be represented? I did, and then went to look in your past entries for clues - and got sidetracked :-) I may remember incorrectly, but wasn't Cornish broccoli mainly carried in cattle wagons?

Sure does. I personally think all the roads should have hoods for the sake of both completeness and looks - but then I'm not the one who has to do it :-) That shot between the locos looks really good.

Great news to see more progress on Camerton. Those landscape contours look just right, I think. What tools did you use to shape the Knauf foam? The track is looking good already. The rail looks as if it's been painted black grey? I am interested in this as I often feel the rusty look becomes too much of a good thing.

Hi Chris, interesting comparison to the 4mm offerings. If anyone else want to have a look, here's thhe link to Chris' entry: http://www.rmweb.co....al-2mm-figures/ I'm wondering if it's worth the effort to change that driver's arms. Normally I'd do it, but the sloping shoulders and the position of the other arm would make it a tricky job.

Interesting line-up, Chris. I didn't know Dart castings did 2mm figures. The Langley funeral set isn't too bad, as we've discussed before. I'm impressed you were able to paint the moustache in this scale! At least they all seem to have a similar height.

You clearly have a great taste in locos! Looking forward to seeing this one.

Beautiful model, Buckjumper. And some nicely delicate underframe bits there. I hope this will be the first in a long series :-) I also like your photoshoot backdrop btw!

Hi Missy, I can see what you mean, 2mm figures must be quite difficult to get well detailed. But then again, I'm longing for the detail of 7mm figures, so I suppose the grass is always greener on the other side In the longer run, surey plastic is the way forward for greater detail in model figures - also for 2 and 4mm scales. I do think wargaming has proved this. In fact, I wonder if it might be possible to find a few wargaming figures here and there suitable for model railways? Eg some 25mm wargaming figures seem to be 1:73.2 (and there appears to be some in 1:152 too), see the table here: http://en.wikipedia...._figure_(gaming) Of course, the trouble would be that most are armed and have three heads! But it appears there is a type of wargaming called Victorian Science Fiction, which might offer the occasional useable figure, eg: http://marbles.froth.../vsf_men_1.html

That story of Charles Stadden's life makes for some fascinating reading, especially the mule corp. I can understand why after all that he needed a quiet hobby! On the Dapol-connection, I hope there is some form of agreement between the Geoff Stevens range and Dapol. Is it possible that Geoff Stevens was the original maker of these figures, and therefore has some sort of supplementary right to them? Judging by that review of the Dapol figures, it seems there is some doubt about what happened when Airfix withdrew them.

Many thanks David. I had given up on finding a new programme, as it all suddenly seemed a bit costly, what with the financial crisis etc! So a free option certainly sounds interesting. I've found it and will have a look.

That would be me with arms folded, having decided to skip all the other layouts and just stick around here to learn :-) BTW, where is the sidetable serving steaming hot and strong espressos?

Yes the Stevens figures were a pleasant surprise, but as I said all the ranges seen here vary from figure to figure, so I usually discard or modify some of the poorer ones. Thanks for the link to Andy Stadden's figures, they are superb. The idea of the loose arms is great. And the Collett figure must be one of the most lifelike model railway figures I've ever seen! Rich, that's not a bad idea to use the AG loco crew for a reversing/bunker first loco! (as per this entry: http://www.rmweb.co....ker-first-1927/)

Very good :-) I'm sure that happened very rarely in reality! I was wondering if the bloke on the left is in fact reciting poetry. While the one on the right is wondering how best to shut him up!

Aha, so they are still available (but different). Thanks for that info, I hadn't realized. Just found a review of the Dapol versions here: http://www.plasticso...ew.aspx?id=1161 So presumably - being styrene- these would also be easier to modify than the whitemetal equivalents from Geoff Stevens. In fairness, the latter does include other figures in his shunter's set - as well as two fairly good horses, rope and chain and a few (very) simple sketches on shunting arrangements.

Ah yes, 7mm figures, now there's detail! I keep returning to these, in particular: http://borderminiatu...platecrew1.html. Almost enough to make me change scale... The Aidan Cambell range is one I haven't personally tried out yet in 4mm. They certainly have character!

Pete, yes I agree that the bulk is crucial. As a boy I was happy with the Hornby stick-men, but realistic they are not :-) Halfwit, very interesting! I just did a search for the Airfix figures, and it turns out that the Geoff Stevens ones (or some of them, at least) are a direct copy: http://www.airfixrai...lwayWorkmen.htm. I wonder what that is all about? Ian, I don't think there's a website, but they're available from Mainly Trains: http://www.mainlytrains.co.uk/