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Bristol haul
Trade was good at Bristol, lots of buy, and a few unicorns. Let's start with something I didn't buy. Yes, the famous Tri-ang TT gold-plated trains set produced for Kays catalogue. I think this is only...
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Putting a damper on it
Time for an interesting job on the Sand Scorcher - making up the dampers. Each tube is filled, to a step made in the inside, with special oil, and the piston (made up earlier) shoved in, with excess...
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Warehouse Wednesday: Stephenson Lift Bridge
An interesting freature at the Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre. This bridge was designed to get the reailway over a canal, without blocking navigation. You can read the full history...
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Lights on, in the June issue of BRM
With the Andy-shaped hole in our team very much evident, my role has changed a bit for the time being. My only practical in the June issue is a simple lighting up of a Peco station lamp kit. The job...
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Dyna-Drive
I was all mysterious about the Lima Western I bought in Monday's post. Well, here's the reason. I bought it for the guts of the model. Inside is a Dyna-Drive unit. For most people, the first they...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: The Never-Realised Story of the Class 38
I'm fascinated by locomotives that never were, and here's one that never was, in my lifetime!
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Tony's Trains at the Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre
My local(ish) model shop, Tony's Trains, is celebraiting it's 10th birthday this year. To this end, Tony organised a small exhibition at the Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre. I was...
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Stramford Show 2025
Vegan cake! I tried some vegan chocolate cake - and you know what? It was OK. I still had a sausage bap for lunch later in the day though. Aside from cakes without dead animals in them, Stamford show...
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Stamford Haul
I stuck gold at Stamford. Rooting around a box where the second-hand stall were just looking for a few pence donations, there were some plastic trees in a bag. I didn't want the trees, but the bag is...
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The Range superglue - not rubbish!
I'm a bit of a snob about superglue. While many people boast about using something from the local market that costs tuppence-ha'penny a gallon, I've always preferred to use "proper" modelling glues....
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Front suspension
Back to the Baja, and a job that really needs at least three hands - assembling the front suspension. It actually looks a lot like the real car - I remember lugging a front beam for my campervan...
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Eastbourne Models van
A new addition to my collection of modelshop commissioned railway vehicles - Eastbourne Models Hobbies & Collectors shop. According to Ramsay's, this is one of 4950, produced in 1981. That's a big...
View ArticleSaturday Fim Club: A double-sided monorail
What a shame this never came into fruition - a great ride, and potentially, an interesting model too.
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Gauge 3 Society AGM 2025
I've been a regular at the G3 AGM for a few years - with my Garden Rail hat on. This year was supposed to be something a bit different, a parade of locomotives to celebrate Rail 200. Excellent, some...
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G3 AGM haul - and a near miss
Now, I really don't need any more model trains, but the law states that when going to a show, you have to buy something. So, I bought the cheapest thing on the second-hand stall - a brass bucket. It's...
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Adventures in SBR land
One day, maybe soon, I want to get my garden railway up and running. The track has been clamped together, and the next stage is to ballast. But, we have been there before, and it took a lot of messing...
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Warehouse Wednesday: Pitt Rivers Museum
OK, this is a bit left-field, but it's my blog, and I really enjoyed visiting this place. Anyway, a museum is just a posh warehouse for old stuff. Finding myself with a rare mid-week day off, I...
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Four axles on my Volkswagen
Now, this is starting to look like a car. The front suspension is bolted to the chassis, and a great big aluminium spindle is fitted. This will hold the body to the chassis, and also holds something...
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Time to get organised
The bank holiday has prompted me to do some sorting out of stuff. If I'm honest, I've been very lax, there hasn't been the time to get stuck into organising my life, and my enthusiasm for personal...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club:
This is what YouTube should be for*. Interesting long-form videos on subjects that appeal to me. This time, the NTM digs some proper monorails out of the cabinets for a proper look. *also cat videos.
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Loco servicing in The Collector
Sometimes, the most useful writing skill is to be able to magic something up - when a deadline has hoved into view unannounced. This is why my latest contribution to The Collector, the house magazine...
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Buggy wiring
Time to wire up the Sand Scorcher. A speed control is included in the box, and I bought a battery pack at the same time. Digging in the model boat stuff, I pulled out a servo, and a receiver. Plugging...
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Keeping the dirt out
We need to keep the electronics clean and dry, not easy when the car is running off-road. Fortunately, Tamiya pack these delicate parts in a waterproof, clear plastic box on their kits. First up, the...
View ArticleIt's alive!
Of course, with the car wired up, I'm, going to give it a bit of a test. Even sitting on a box, it's a bit exciting, and of course, useful, to check things are working.
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Wheeling out the worst job on the car
On a real car, the jobs that take ages, are usually the ones you expect to be done really quickly. And so it turns out, is the case with a radio-controlled car. Putting the wheels together should be...
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