teaky

You've missed a bit. Just kidding. Don't ever take up landscape gardening. You'll never get soil to do that. 😀

No it isn't poor planning. The wing wall is still needed on that side to support the embankment beneath the wall alongside the road and stop it spreading sideways. I realise you're fighting OCD, Chris, but as others have said all you need to do is slap some brown paint over that rough plaster and plant some assorted undergrowth. Your work thus far on this layout has been excellent and it will come together again on this bit as you plant more assorted greenery.

Aladdin. Never seen it but there's a clue in the end titles. Even worse: they've made him American! 😁

Hemlock?

Nick C posted his response whilst I was typing but I'll post this anyway. If the seller sets a Reserve price it will always be above the Start Price. For example, an auction listing could start at £10 but the seller doesn't want to part with the item for less than £50 so they set a Reserve of £50. In the example you quoted above there is an effective reserve of £100 but the seller hasn't paid an additional fee for a Reserve price. You will not be able to bid 1p as the first bid has to be £100 or more. On a Buy-It-Now or auction listing where there is the option of making a Best Offer the seller can also specify a price below which offers will not be accepted. This minimum offer price is not visible to potential buyers (for obvious reasons) but saves the seller from dealing with offers that are too low and the system rejects these offers automatically. The idea of a Reserve price seems a little dated these days but still crops up. There is an extra fee for setting a Reserve price and the seller has to balance this additional cost against the higher fee for a higher start price. I suppose it might draw some people into bidding for an item with, say, a 99p start price but there is little difference between a 99p start price with a £100 Reserve and an item with a £100 start price and no Reserve other than the fact that the Reserve is not known until someone puts in a bid that is higher.

They did do D11/1 5511 'Marne' in early LNER green. Bachmann appear to have since overloaded on D11/2s, especially in BR black, and D11/1s in GCR livery. I'm hoping for a (re-)run in LNER black but Bachmann don't appear to be rushing to get around to that.

Nice idea, but the spammers would just charge any cost to a stolen credit card.

There is a swimming pool in Redditch heated by recovered heat from the crematorium.

Veering off at a wild tangent. Today's news has (heavily) featured the result of a court case between a couple of bickering women. I don't suggest we prolong the agony by discussing the case itself but it causes me to wonder how cases like this and the other recent one between a pirate and his ex obtain time in court in preference to cases aimed at resolving things that matter? Serious question. I am genuinely puzzled how the queuing system for our courts is managed. Surely, there would have been a better use of the judge's time.

I didn't see your response 8 hours ago before you edited it, Mick. I assume it was unprintable. 😄

Yes, minus one articulated pair.

A bacon butty would require brown sauce though. 🙂

Shouldn't be long now before we hear from the retailers that they have had their allocation reduced and everyone will receive one coach from the set.

Thanks for conducting the tests Jon. I wonder if a bottle of ketchup will become a feature of every modeller's toolkit? 😋

Whilst you're operating the RMweb etch cleaning proving laboratory, I don't suppose you have any vinegar to test on another part of the etch do you? I'm guessing that would be even easier to rinse off. White vinegar is my first choice for household cleaning and, as well as being environmentally friendly, it is very cheap. Depending on which kind of vinegar is to hand this may or may not help with your chip craving.

These look like cheap paints from one of the budget shops. I think you would be better off buying proper modelling acrylics for your models and use these up for scenic work either diluted further as washes or dry brushed.

Top notch bit of rescue work there Chas. The end result is excellent.

Thank you for sharing your correspondence 64F. Hornby certainly deserve some credit for answering most of the points you raised. I read Hornby's words regarding stock via their direct channel as exactly what you said at the end of the sentence quoted above. Unfortunately, they have failed to explain the key point raised in the very first post of this thread: "Of the 37 they had on order, they have been allocated just 1 (one), but they are still available to order (full price) from Hornby's website." It is bad enough to be cutting allocations so drastically but without using their own stock to partly mitigate the problem they give the impression of forcing the retailers to shoulder the burden rather making an effort to absorb as much of the financial hit themselves as they can. Whilst I have sympathy for the supply problems caused by events not under Hornby's control, I remain unconvinced though regarding Hornby's ethics. I have several pre-orders with retailers and they will stay as they are. If I do not receive these orders because allocations have been cut then I will do without rather than order direct. They probably don't give a monkey's about my opinion but there it is.

The adhesive tape I mentioned will solve your problem because you can fix lengths of it to whichever part of the LED strip needs it. Here's an example but shop around and you might find it cheaper. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154564839577?var=454643185197&hash=item23fcc84899:g:WsAAAOSwy2lhTOGm

A roll of adhesive used for attaching 'chrome' detailing strips to cars will work. It is inexpensive and available in a range of widths from eBay and elsewhere. I have used it successfully to attach weatherproof LED strips to the underside of kitchen cabinets including areas above a kettle and above a sink.

Hand held mini vacuum cleaner £30. https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/blaupunkt-cordless-hand-held-vacuum-362397 Upon opening the box I was pleasantly surprised by the quality feel of this. Obviously, I can't yet comment on its reliability, effectiveness at picking up different materials (e.g. dust, ballast, biscuit crumbs etc.) You might find one elsewhere, e.g. Comet have one for £51 that differs only in the branding. It has a small cylinder for collecting debris so any locomotive crew you inadvertantly vacuum up will be easy to retrieve. About the same size as a wine bottle once assembled. Comes in a large box laughably security sealed at the top but easily opened at the bottom, doh!

Pies have come!

Well, there have been camel trains for thousands of years.

Just waiting for the congratulatory tweet from the culture minister - 'Well done to the England team in Australia today in winning the Ashes back. Here's hoping they can go on to the world cup in the autumn. It's coming home !!' I can't take credit for this. I pinched it from a comment made by someone else on the BBC website.

It'll be a national day of mourning in New Zealand then. 😀