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Getting the needle
My mum has been having a clear-out and decided that she has more knitting needles than she needs. I know this, because the excess were suddenly donated to me. Now, I shouldn't look a gift-horse in the...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: What's in a 1972 dustcart?
Thanks to my collegue, Howard Smith, for spotting this. An interesting 10 minute documentary on waste disposal with some terrific 1970s vehicles and even railway interest right at the end. I guess...
View ArticleVideo: Hattons Genesis coaches
Another new box of goodies on the workbench for me to play around with. This time it's the pre-production Hattons generic pre-grouping coaches. Sadly, there was some miscommunication and it's the...
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Shops'n'steampunk in The Collector
Two new projects of mine appear in the winter 2021 issue of the Hornby Collectors Club house magazine The Collector. It's always interesting and challenging working out what to build for a workshop...
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Building a hill for a model railway
A quick step-by-step guide showing how I made a hill on the corner of my Selly Oak project. The basis of the hill is expanded polystyrene blocks fixed together with PVA glue and then carved to shape....
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Tidy up the sides
This is one of those quick jobs that makes much more of a difference than I had expected - covering the sides of the hill with some nice, tidy plywood. In our stock of wood is some LitePly about 3mm...
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Woodyard, pylon, coach and gremlins in the March BRM
There's an awful lot of me in the March 2021 issue of BRM. The main project is Selly Oak's timber yard. Six pages of scratchbuilding, kitbashing and general modelling joy. Next, I build a 2mm scale...
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New home for a very old layout required
Tom from the Model Railway Club dropped me a line last week to say they are trying to find a new home for a very old O gauge model railway layout. You can read the full details on their website. This...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: William Towns designed cars that were ahead of their time.
William Towns was the designer responsible for, among other things, the Aston Martin Lagonda. A car so futuristic, that quite a bit of the amazing technology didn't work when new, and still terrifies...
View ArticleSupport your local shops!
It's been an odd week on various social media. Three posts on different forums had a common theme that troubles me. Example 1 - Someone asks about glue spray for scenic work. I suggest hair lacquer to...
View ArticleMini Airbrush With Compact Compressor test
I saw it advertised on Facebook. Decided it could be useful and not too expensive, but am I happy?
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Really thick undergrowth
For the embankment at Selly Oak, I wanted some really thick, scruffy undergrowth. More texture than static grass alone could offer. The sort of horrible, spiky bushes that self-set in ground no-one...
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Waste ground
In front of the station side road, there is a section of ground with no real purpose. Literally "waste ground", and since this sort of land was quite common in the 1970s, that's exactly what I've...
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Book Review: Unconsidered Trifles by Geoff Kent
Long term blog readers who remember my "Warehouse Wednesday" series of prototype photos that ran here for a few years, will know that I'm a fan of photographing interesting structures with a view to...
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TMNR Times
Friday posts here tend to be a bit collectory. Well, this isn't something I own, but I'd certainly like to change that. Between 1963 and 1966, Tri-ang produced a 10 1/4" railway system. Yes, a real...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: Exploring Hellingly Station
An interesting tour of Hellingly Station, now a private house, junction between the "Cuckoo line" and The Hellingly Hospital Railway. With my long term interest in the line, I have been to the...
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Missing Stafford
With all model railway shows cancelled for the foreseeable future, I've been pondering on which I miss the most. Which has lead me to think about what makes a good show from my personal point of view....
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Ash Models 16mm scale Lowmac
Spotted on eBay, this Lowmac (OK, that's the BR classification and not really appropriate for this, but I'll stick with it) looked like it might be useful for my railway. Buildable in 32 and 45mm...
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A container full of Garden Rail?
With the wagon, came a shipping container, and well, there was only one colour I could paint it. The model is a slot-together laser-cut MDF kit. Nothing exciting here, but the roof is very well...
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Print your own decals (transfers)
When I showed a picture of my Garden Rail Mostyn 7 van, someone asked me where I'd got some GR transfers from. I explained they were a print-your-own waterslide set but couldn't find the details. I've...
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