Warley setup
Friday afternoon and a short drive through a deep puddle saw us at the Warley show. Early arrival meant we could dump our stuff on stand E34. I even managed to squeeze the car between a couple of...
View ArticleChocolate Model Train
All being well, I'm having a second day inside the tin shed that is the NEC for the Warley Model Railway Exhibition, thus, a bit busy for blogging. Instead of my ramblings today, enjoy this video of a...
View ArticleGGR Coach seats.
Most of the Groudle coach is seating. This is released from the fret with a sharp knife cutting through the nibs holding the parts in place. I had to go through both sides for a neat cut. A little...
View ArticleGGR coach body assembly
The benefits of accurate laser-cutting are apparent when assembling the body. The seats slot into the door-free side (The GGR bogie coaches have doors on on side only), this is then slotted into the...
View ArticleDry faster !
Deadlines concentrate the mind but they also expose over-confident plans. In the run up to Warley my lack of progress with a small diorama started to come back to bit me. The landform is built up using...
View ArticleYou can't have too many clamps
Most modelmakers own a few clamps. Those cheapo plastic ones sold in pound stores and every cheap tool stall at an exhibition are popular. More traditional types will prefer the Bulldog clip,...
View ArticleSealing and painting
As well as doing it's best to be the wrong shape (as mentioned yesterday), wood has another sneaky trick up its trunk. Paint it without preperation and the surface turns as hairy as a 70's film stars...
View ArticleWarley Part 1 - Saturday
Advance ticket holders being let into the show at 9.15 meant a very early start for the Parker's Guide team. 7.12 from Leamington station saw us 7.45 at Birmingham International. At this point, normal...
View ArticleWarley Part 2 - Sunday
Sunday morning started cold but with clear skies. Today was a car journey as I didn't fancy trying to bring all the stuff back on the train. Heading through Kenilworth there was a bit of a flood on one...
View ArticleLeamington & Warwick MRS on TV
If you are quick, and stand the adverts you are forced to watch, then there is some nice footage of my local model railway club to be found on the ITV player here:Leamington and Warwick Model Railway...
View ArticleWhat I made at Warley
A wise man once told me the sign of a good demonstration at any model railway show is that you get next to no modelling done. Anyone who says, "It must be great to have a couple of days modelling...
View ArticleParkside chassis - making the axleboxes move
The biggest surprise I felt when I built my first Parkside Dundas O gauge wagon kit many years ago, was that the axleboxes are designed to move in the W-irons. To be honest, I've never been sure why...
View ArticleBody Building
Building a van isn't difficult in either 3,4 or 7mm to be honest. Stick the sides around a base and that's it.Parkside generously include both instructions and an exploded diagram in with this kit. I...
View ArticleTidy corners
Despite both mine and Parksides best efforts, the LMS van corners didn't look like rolled metal. The two parts met but there was a definite line down each one.On my workbench, there is a new tube of...
View ArticleBad Boy Bauxite
Proper modellers will chose paint based on either the colour description on the side of the tin, or compare the lid to a reliable photographic source.I'm not a proper modeller. As far as I am...
View ArticleLego VW Campervan
I have to thank Matt Dawson for the contents of this post. He is clearing out his collection a bit and e-mailed me to see if I'd like to take some of it off his hands. The item in question was a Lego...
View ArticleWaterslide and Presfix are NOT the same
If I'd bothered to read the instructions Parkside kindly provided in their kit and not just looking at the pictures, I might have realised that the excellent transfers were Presfix and not...
View ArticleWeathering the van
Railway models, in my opinion (and it's MY blog so that's what counts around here) must be weathered if they are to look realistic. The prototype was clean for about 20 minutes and even then didn't...
View ArticleBook Review: Flying Scotsman by Andrew Roden
I've never really got Flying Scotsman. Yes it's a nice looking steam locomotive and if you like main line express engines, then it's as good as any other. Why then do people go gaga over it? What...
View ArticleThat's an 07 isn't it?
I took a couple of trips to London last week. Each time the train passed by the Chiltern Railways Wembly depot, I looked out of the window and thought, "Blimey, that's an 07 isn't it?"The engine in...
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