Zero Gravitas

"Carrot" is exactly right - the other name for them (generally in the U.K.) was "Küchemann carrots" after their inventor.

Keep them held - MRJ 255 scheduled for 11 May, so I'm planning to start the not-very-serious threa thread then. However, I have been automatically notified that the 253 and 254 not-very-serious threads have been moved by a moderator to "Wheeltappers"; so I don't know if the 255 not-very-serious thread will suffer the same fate. To my mind, it makes much more sense to keep these threads in the MRJ section. But then, what do I know?

Hold your horses - the excitement is scheduled to start all over again on 11 May...

Perhaps we should have a serious thread about changing lightbulbs for those of us who like that sort of thing; and a not-very-serious thread for those of us who like to talk about the availability (or lack) of lightbulbs in, say, Ealing, for example...

Slightly off topic, but Mrs. Gravitas and I were married in Wyre Piddle church. Slightly back on topic, as well as Wyre Piddle, there is Upper Piddle, Lower Piddle; and there used to be Piddle in the Hole, which was rather disappointingly renamed Peopleton.

Well, that's the first of the obstacles we didn't consider, then... :-(

The com petetion was a subject of discussion amongst the volunteers at Pendon the other week (slightly ironically, given the the Vale Scene is about as far from a cameo as it is possible to get...). It was wondered whether there should be a shortlist of perhaps 5 cameos, all of which would be invited to Railex, and the winner chosen and announced there, perhaps with some input from a vote by the exhibition attendees. This way, there would be more of a display of the variety of cameos, rather than just one. There are probably some obstacles we didn't consider, and please feel free to ignore the suggestion, but I thought it was worth throwing into the mix.

Very nice indeed - but Mr. Franks will not be happy. You had some of his lovely buffers to fit to the wagon, and then didn't use them... Are they earmarked for another project? :-)

Interestingly, the Eccles Cake is the biggest selling food item in the tea room at Pendon. However, if you do have one, then please take a plate, as it is the crumbliest substance known to humankind.

Sorry - too late... I'm just off to admonish myself severely for not being serious enough (no sniggering at that either). Right, back to the seriousness, please. Apart from Semley, I particularly liked the features on the upgrading of RTR wagons, to the extent that I'm about to order a couple of Bachmann tank wagons... It's really inspirational stuff.

No! No! No! If you thought the OO/EM/P4 debate was bad, that's noting compared to what can happen when people stat talking about their favourite sausage...

Ten years? More like over 30... beyond help, now, I think...

Right, there has apparently been a sighting in the wild, so it's time for those of us who like this sort of thing to discuss the contents free from interference from those who like that sort of thing... P.S. I happen to like both. Although I can now feel a Venn diagram coming in...

This makes it sound like Lou Reed waiting for the man... A furtive street corner deal is about to go down. You started out on the soft magazines, you know - Railway Modeller, Model Rail, but they weren't enough for you, were they? You wanted the hard stuff, and now, here you are, desperate to get your MRJ fix... Sigh... and how do I know this is how you're thinking?...

Careful now. "Flaccid" is one of the words that should not be used in public. The others are "moist", "crevice" and "gusset". Oh darn! I've used them now. I apologise to anyone who disapproves of this sort of thing.

Hang on a minute - as someone who clearly doesn't like this sort of thing, shouldn't you be ignoring this thread?

Or in this case, 0.000001...

If that sausage is a finescale sausage, then approximately how long would the prototype sausage need to be cooked for?

Barclay and Fry were one of the 4 packaging companies that combined in 1921 to form the Allied Tin Box Makers Ltd; which a year later became Metal Box and Printing Industries. As an aside, Robert Barclay, of Barclay and Fry, developed the offset lithography process for printing on tinplate. He leased the process to Huntley, Boorne and Stevens, who were the tin manufacturers for Huntley and Pamers (as mentioned by the Stationmaster earlier in this thread). And this is absolutely splendid modelling - takes me right back to my Southwark days in 1983.

Not necessarily, but it is almost certain that you will need to alter the rise.

Well, it's scheduled publication day, so I've started this thread for those who like this sort of thing. Those of us who don't like this sort of thing can either choose to ignore; or can contribute to tell us why they don't like this sort of thing, and why we shouldn't like this sort of thing either... Interestingly, for MRJ 253, the not-very-serious thread had 222 replies and 5617 views, whilst the serious thread had 31 replies and 2604 views. I would therefore suggest that the not-very-serious thread is providing a valuable service for those who don't like this sort of thing. Let the entertainment commence!

Tediously, one of the statistics I monitor is the difference between the fuel computer figures and the real figures on a tank-by-tank basis. The worst was the Volvo V70, which was, on average 5.1 mpg too optimistic (i.e. it was recording a figure 5.1 mpg better than actual) and the best was actually a Ford Fiesta, which was -0.5 mpg too optimistic (i.e. It was recording a figure 0.5 mpg worse than actual). Generally, the trip computer is between 2 and 3 mpg too optimistic. Yours sadly, Z.G.

I'm sad enough to have records of every tank of fuel for every car I have had since March 2000... from this I can tell you the best range I had was 885.4 miles (at a calculated 59.2 mpg) in a 2010 Volvo V70 in June 2012. The best tank mileage I have had is from my current 2016 Skoda Octavia Estate at a calculated 62.5 mpg over 396.6 miles.

Oh Captain, if Engine Wood were hypothetically to become available, then I for one would be very interested...

I remember similar comments being made about the reprinted "Great Western Wagons" by Atkins, Beard and Tourett, which retailed at £55. I posted then (although I can't find it now) is that I always think of the cost of a book is related to the length of time for which it is going to be useful. An example of my own experience is my copy of Jim Russel's "Great Western Wagons Appendix" purchased in 1977 at the (then) significant cost of £3.70. I looked something up in it last weekend - 40 years later. To me that's 9.25 pence per year for a really useful resource. I still look at the original Iain Rice layout design books, more than 20 years after they were first published, and I think it's likely that I will be looking at Cameo layouts 20 years hence (assuming I'm still here). It's also worth making the point that quality short-run printing in the UK is not a cheap business, and I very much doubt that Mr. Castens is getting very rich on the back of this... (of course if he turns up to Railex in a new Aston Martin I may have to revise that opinion). I suppose I just saying that value is in the eye of the beholder, and for me £24.95 for something that is going to last 20 years seems like pretty good value.