Movie Monday. KESR Ford Railcars

I've probably put put a link to this up before on the old place, which doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve another look.  Aside from the intended subject matter it does give a different, and moving view of the contemporary KESR, which in some ways is more useful in model terms than stills. The thing that jumps out though is the almost Buster Keaton-esque lack of railway safety, even for the time, with the cameraman filming through the spectacle plate of a moving locomotive fifty feet in front. Thus breaking every one engine/section rule in the book. 

Saturday Ramble

 Is this railway modelling blogging still relevant? When I shut the old blog down (see post a few days ago) there was more than a little soul searching. Did I want to do this anymore? Was it worth it? It takes time and I have to keep at it to keep the interest. A few people contacted me to ask where it was. The repeated phrase was 'an entertaining read'. I'm not quite sure how to process that, but I took it as positive. After a while I decided to re-start, without the baggage and without the Russian bots. I did consider RMweb for a nano second, but although I pop in there for a snippet of information from time to time, it feels a bit feral, in common with all forums. Here I have a modicum  of control and I've tended not to get people shouting at me. So Blogger it is again. Is anyone reading, well no. As expected, the numbers are at floor level in comparison to the quite hefty hit rate of the old one: people don't know I'm here. That's actually quite alright. I'm happy for it to grow again almost organically. 

The answer to the heading question is probably yes, it is. In a magazine article I have the blue pencil hovering over me and I have to be commercially circumspect. There is a measure of this here as well, but I make that call, I don't have advertisers to please. Speaking of which it will remain ad free for the immediate future, though if you are regular please do consider the coffee buying option. Better that than pop ups for Thai-brides and garden furniture littering the page.

What to expect? More of the same really. I have done away with all the historical stuff at the top of the page, but I'll add a few links for the more recent layout builds and the current exhibition beasts. The latest build is a TT:120 for the people in Devon so little bits of that will be the flavour for a while. It's a learning curve for me  so you are getting a filter-free response here. I'm constantly on the edge of cock-up with it as I feel my way through all the new (and uber fragile) stuff.

If you are reading this, then well done for finding it, you are part of a very select band of viewers. Onward.

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Ventnor West signal box TT

 Cute ain't she?

Not as fiddley as I'd expected. I could have done the interior out with stuff, but as the viewing direction will be from the rear it seemed a little pointless. OK, I'm warming to these now. The first couple of laser-cuts that I did were a bit ick. Whether that was the kits improving slightly or me getting my head around the change of attitude is questionable. Regardless this is really nice. If it was available in 4mm (which can't be that much of a jump) I reckon it would fly off the shelves. Full build in RM at the end of the year.

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Peco TT:120 signal box

 As per usual I'm treating the instructions with a degree of contempt. Interestingly, for a building which is part greenhouse there are no mentions anywhere on the instruction sheet about glazing; though there is a copious amount of it (enough for 5+ kits) included. I went for the usual black plasticard interlocking room window and danced around the inside for the clear stuff. The main problem is the internal roof/gutter piece which drops onto the walls as the next move to this. This locks into the pegs at the top of the walls so there ain't a lot of wiggle room for the glazing top edge. Getting the basic painting done before the delicate steps assembly and the finials went on seemed like a good plan. So far, so good though. 

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TT:120 goods shed

 Falls together. No, seriously it does. There maybe a downside to that in practical terms should you, like me, have a tendency to want to bash things into something far from which they were intended, however, this is good.

This of course is the Peco LK12113 kit and this particular example is destined for the current build IoW project. it's 4" long and represents the shed at Ventnor West. I can't vouch for the size accuracy, but it certainly looks OK. There are a couple of wince things for me which are common to all the laser-cut kits in that there is an element of jigsaw visible. This one is very minimal and the only stand-out bits are the obvious tabs in the footing wall. though with some careful painting, ballast and some gentle weed growth, they'll disappear. One thing to note: the instructions state that glazing is included - it isn't; there aren't any windows...

Southampton exhibition.

 An annual pilgrimage to the coast to visit the South Hants people. Always a good do and this year the were no changes (aside from the fire evacuation of last year). It's very much a general show aimed squarely in the middle of the market, not a race to the bottom like another recent event and not a preachy pretentious finescale one either. One main hall, two smaller studio rooms and a handful of small classrooms along a corridor. While there were no real surprises, there were no over-expectations either. Stand outs were Tellindalloch (above) Skillybegs and Gara Bridge (below) all more for sheer atmosphere than anything else.

The downsides? Parking, as some creativity is required.

Show 8

Catering 9

Parking 5

Rucksacks 2

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The Mk2 blog

 Won't you pour me a Cuban Breeze Gretchen.

There's a cupboard, it's untidy and cluttered and it hasn't been sorted out properly for 17 years; stuff just keeps getting thrown in there. It's long overdue a clean up. Except, trying to sort it out would not only take time, but would involve decisions on what to keep and what not to keep. A lot of what's in there is from another period, more than one period, and thrown there in another life, one before magazines and books came on the scene. It no longer fits anymore.

The easiest way to sort this out is to not bother and just to burn the whole lot; start with a clean shirt and work out what lies ahead. Burn the lot. Burn the lot.

So that's what I did.

New shirt.