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Railings
My dad is building a 1:72 model boat that needs railings around the edge of the deck. Obviously we started by looking in the model railway world. First up, we have scalemodelscenery.co.uk with LX097-OO...
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Book Review: Creating Cameo Layouts by Iain Rice
Publisher: Wild SwanISBN: 978-0953-877-171A4 Softback120 pages£24.95 I've always been a bit of an Iain Rice fan. Most of his books and magazines can be found on my shelves somewhere. Generally, he does...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: Sydney Monorail
When I visited Sydney a couple of years ago, I was gutted to discover that the city had enjoyed a monorail service, but this had all finished 2 years before I arrived. All that was left was a few...
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London Model Engineering Exhibtion 2017
Time for a test-run driving in the capital. The MEE show provides a great way to do this with a fun show at the end of it. Unlike the Midlands version, London's emphasis isn't on hard core engineering,...
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R2D2
It was the DeAgostini stand that did it. We chatted to a man building a Millennium Falcon and before I know it, my father is signing away a chunk of my inheritance on an R2D2. So, in two years, we'll...
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London Toy Fair 2017
Last week, I made my annual trip to the London Toy Fair to bring back all the latest news. There were stands from Hornby, Oxford and even Bachmann under their Toyway guise.Over on the Albion Yard blog,...
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Warehouse Wednesday: Ugly West Brompton
Heading to Olympia from home means changing from the tube to the London Overground at West Brompton. Quite frankly, it's grim. The sort of place where if it isn't actually raining, it is about to...
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Rolling stock magazine roundup
This month's BRM has a bit of a technology feel. There's 3D scanning and printing and loads of other wow stuff including some incredible model building. Anyway, my contribution this time is a...
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Book Review: Tasmania Railways in Preservation by Robert Sweet
Publisher: Mainline & Maritime LtdISBN: 987-1-900340-28-1A5 Softback36 pages£6.95Tasmania is an island state of Australia 240 miles south of the main island. Covering 64,519 square kilometres, it's...
View ArticleSaturday Film Club: London's Post Office Railway
Last week we had one transport system I wish I'd seen working, the Sydney Monorail. This week it's a transport system I REALLY wish I'd seen working, the Post Office railway in London. Once upon a...
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Peckett in a shed
I've been stupidly busy this week -the highlight(?) being glazing a loco cab at 1:30 in the morning when sleep eluded me. Once job I did manage was posing my Hornby Peckett in the doorway of the...
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On the scene
Exiting the vintage shuttle bus at Stafford show on Saturday, I pass some "youths" who had got of a couple of minutes earlier.They were busy doing what da kidz do, photographing things using an iPad...
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O gauge metal men
I need a couple of 7mm scale figures for a diorama, so while at Stafford I spent a long while at the Ivertrain stand searching through the little packets of unpainted people.First I've got a "Heros of...
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Warehouse Wednesday - Under a Brummie viaduct
Here's a photo I've been looking for in my collection for a long while.Strolling around Birmingham, I spotted these modern industrial units tucked under the arches of a viaduct. To me, they look a bit...
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Time for community model shops?
I used to drive by Barford village shop and Post Office every day on my way to work at a horticultural research establishment that is nothing like the one in my novel.Every so often I'd drop in a buy...
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Painted people
Due to a tight deadline, the 7mm scale gangers were painted around a trip to the pub. Before I went, the skin received a coat of Lifecolor acrylic - base colour and then a dry-brush of lighter flesh....
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Doncaster this weekend
Last year I took two layouts to The Festival of British Railway Modelling at Doncaster. This year I'm not taking any.Instead, visitors will be treated to "Phil's Workbench" - basically me sitting...
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Stafford 2017
You know you've found your seat on the bus when some scroat has etched the word "Cake" into it.Half an hour later, after an enjoyable vintage bus ride in a Bristol VR, I was eating cake, drinking tea...
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Detail spotting - Airfix packing case
Does anyone else get a bit of pleasure recognizing details on layouts at shows? Especially when they have been used in an interesting or unusual way? Just me then. Anyway, I loved those on Canada Road....
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Time for community model shops?
I used to drive by Barford village shop and Post Office every day on my way to work at a horticultural research establishment that is nothing like the one in my novel.Every so often I'd drop in a buy...
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