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Cow-a-vanba, it's BRM!
It's time for the paper copy of British Railway Modelling again - electronic copies have been knocking around for several days already but on this blog we don't consider publication has taken place...
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A good jigsaw
I love a good jigsaw. There is something about bringing order to a random pile of little pieces and watching the picture come together that is very satisfying. It can be horribly addictive too. Jigsaws...
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Elham Valley Railway Museum
So I'm tootling through the Kent countryside with RMweb's Andy York and we spot a sign for a railway museum. There's no name but none of us can think of a museum in the area. A little navigational...
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Knightcote Model Boat Club open day 2014
A sunny day. The chance to spend time sailing model boats with friends. Such a pity I had to work so could only spend a couple of hours there.Never mind, there was plenty to see. Even in the morning,...
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RAF Manston History Museum
On the edge of Manston Airport in Kent, there are a pair of museums dedicated to old aircraft. One of these is the RAF Manston Museum. Housed in an old building, it's a little bit home-spun but in the...
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Hornby shop, Margate
I can't talk about model shops without mentioning the one attached to Hornby's premises in Margate. To find it, you have to go around the side of the building - to the right as you look at the front...
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Hornby Visitor Centre
I wasn't really sure what there was to be found in the Hornby visitor centre when presented with a schedule that included half an hour in there, I was looking forward to it. It helps that I'm not a...
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Melbridge Box Company video
Four years ago, I made a couple of films for Modelrailway.tv It appears that one of these, The Melbridge Box Company, is still on-line and available for free viewing. Â Update: Sorry. I didn't watch it...
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Mystery buffer bar
Mike asks: Please can you explain the use of the bar connecting the 2 front buffer pads on your Ruston shunting loco (Fri, Aug 19, 2011 blog post photo). I have Googled extensively but can't find...
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Patrick Rylands, designer
Patrick Rylands designs toys. Children of the 70s like me will remember PlayPlax squares - interlocking plastic pieces in different colours that you made abstract creations with. Simple and elegant....
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New magazines on the shelves
A trip to Smifs this week saw my pocket lightened by the cost of two new magazines. Both interesting and both Issue No.1 so valuable investments for the future. After all, they are bound to rise in...
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RH&DR Armoured train
With all the war time specials to be found in model railway magazines, it seems only appropriate that I do something on the blog. The problem is that I don't really do tanks and guns and stuff, not...
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A look in the box
The Sgt's Mess kit seems a bit of a bargain to me. The main parts of the train are cleanly cast in resin. Detail items are whitemetal, again, cleanly cast with no flash. A set of 7 nicely sculpted crew...
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Carriages on "wheels"
Starting with, what we shall call, the carriages, there are some large mould runners on the underside of all the resin parts. I trimmed these off with some flush-cut wire cutters. The resin is soft and...
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Building the loco
The armoured locomotive is made up of large resin castings. A dry-build (posh term for putting the bits together without glue so you can take them apart again) revealed that the boiler unit sat on the...
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Detailing the loco
The armoured loco looks nice but I felt, lacks the detail present on the carriages. Not to worry, I could do something about this. Starting at the front, the central smokebox handle is a nice moulding...
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Turtleback
Here's a surprise. Look back to December 2011 and you can read how a model I built of a Korean Turtle Boat sank during its first tests on the lake.At the time I spent an hour or so poking around in the...
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Rumination on APT-E
I suppose I ought to start this post by reminding readers that this blog is home to my personal thoughts and doesn't represent those of any magazine I write for or edit.Last week started with a couple...
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Carriages with guns
The RH&DR armoured train packs a punch!People who know about these things tell me the fat gun nearest the camera is a Lewis gun with the other one being a Bren. Not sure what the different or...
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How big is the armoured train?
Chris asks: I was very interested to read your latest few posts on the RHDR armoured train, partly because I have always been interested in it and partly because I have always had a hankering after...
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