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Sutton Coldfield 2014
Those who know me will recall I have always experienced problems attending Sutton Coldfield exhibition. Every time we've been booked to attend, the vehicle has been poorly either on the way there or on...
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Spamtastic!
Running a blog with comments is great fun. Often the messages left by readers are useful to others and informative. Even if they are telling me I've made a mistake I'm happy to see them there. However,...
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Gambling with my models
Thanks to Andy York for this image. As you can see, I never miss the opportunity to indulge in a bit of modelling...What happened was that we were in the Ricoh Arena for a meeting about RMWeb live....
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A buffer stop for the garden railway
Our garden railway has a siding and as we all know, at the end of every siding, you should have a buffer stop of some description. Well, I think that's how it works anyway, especially on a garden...
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Solar power stop lamp
According to the instructions Pendle Valley Workshop supply with the buffer stop kit, "To bring the stop lamp to life, just add the optional inside mounting switched battery box.".That's all very good...
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Sprat & Winkle couplings in BRM
A quiet month for me in the latest issue of BRM which should be hitting your doorsteps this morning. I'm taking the opportunity to explain how I fit Sprat & Winkle couplings to rolling stock. "What...
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Nightime bufferstop
OK, so the buffer stop is now finished and installed. For the moment I've not PVA'd the gravel around it but that will happen the next time we get some sunny weather. Inside, I've tried to waterproof...
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Bantam Man
No, not a captain for my Bantam Tugboat, this is a figure from a new range retailed by Ken Clarke. Unlike most 4mm scale figures, these crew arrive as a selection of components allowing the builder to...
View ArticleA sunny day on the garden railway
Last weekend, it was nice and sunny so we ran a few trains out in the garden. While doing this, I pointed my compact camera, which still hasn't been right since I dropped it on the cobbles at...
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Bantam Man - Painted
The little Bantam man is now fully painted and looks fine. There's nothing special about the job - some Lifecolor acrylic skin tones and then the clothes picked out in various shades of Humbrol.I have...
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C15 in the RM
Quite some time ago, I built a Connoisseur Kit for a C15 4-4-2 locomotive. As a freelancers, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to see the build in print so a piece was submitted to the Railway...
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Model boat rudder
I appreciate that my blog is mostly read by railway modellers and therefore the intricacies of model boat building might be a bit of a mystery. To be honest, even the idea of steering is a bit of an...
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Croc-clip wiring
With the motor, propshaft, rudder and steering servo fitted, it's time to wire the Bantam Tug up. I like to start with a rough connecting up session to make sure everything works before I do the job...
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First sail
Traditionally, model boats first hit the water in what magazine writers like to call, "the domestic test tank", and the rest of us call the bath. You don't really want to do this sort of thing at the...
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Slim Gauge Circle 2014
The SGC meeting at Rugby is a funny event. You never quite know what you are going to see, but the chances are it will be interesting. Walking in, there was a modular layout being set up and another...
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National Vintage Communications Fair 2014
Heading over to Rugby for the Slim Gauge Circle event, I passed the Warwickshire Exhibition Centre and noticed adverts for the National Vintage Communications Fair. The car park looked busy and I've...
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K8 Telephone Kiosk shock
Writing yesterdays post about the National Vintage Communications Fair, I linked off to the Wikipedia entry for the K8 telephone box. According to the ever reliable site, there only 12 of these little...
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Maritime adventures with plasticard
I thought this would be easy. The top of the Bantam tugboat looked oh so square and simple. Industrial design where all corners are cut to produce the least complex design for ease of building. Then I...
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Who were Model Railway Enterprises?
Rooting through a box of "stuff" at an exhibition last weekend, I picked up this interesting packet. The contents are a pair of ready made switchblades for home made pointwork. Each piece is 12cm long,...
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First time on real water
Thursday morning is boat sailing time. Well, when my work allows and the sun is shining. I charged the Bantam battery up for several hours, fitted it and taped the top down to the deck. I know from the...
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