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RAILWAY MODELLING BLOG:- 00 and N scale, scenery and rolling stock .

03 Sept 10.  John Hanson School, Andover (SP10 3PB) is the venue for a show hosted by Andover Railway Club. A number of layouts will be on display as listed below. Open to the public on Sat 4th and Sunday 5th. A number of traders will also be present, sadly not me. I do hope to pop in for an hour or so with my camera and bring you a few pictures in the future. The school is not far off the A303 so not a difficult journey if deciding to travel from afar. 

7 August 2010.   Some real world inspiration to start with as I came across this lovely station at HEXHAM.   As well as having a double line passing through a very pretty station which itself is rare these days, it had an inspiring  signal box, a few sidings and well weathered industrial structures as well as a great foot bridge.    I shall post a few more pictures of this station over the month of August to hopefully encourage some modellers to replicate parts of it.

Ratio, Wills, Faller and Knightwing all make injection moulded kits for the railway modeller.    SMC has a variety in stock and can always order specific items.   Being cheap, small in size and simple to add detail too or convert lends them well to younger modellers.  Seen here a local Amesbury boy has made up Ratio kits as standalone models. The Bike shop has a bulb to light the interior which has ‘Modelscene’ bikes lined up as well as under the corrugated lean to from ‘Wills’ sheet.

6 JULY 2010.   Vistors to the shop will have noticed alongside the traditional British outline railway models in 00 there has been an appearance of German H0 railways, both sets and individual engines in steam outline as well as electric. Sets are also available in our on line shop with individual items being added in the future. Some visitors have enquired why the new direction?      Firstly British outline 00 will stay the formost line in the shop with N gauge not far behind, but to reflect the interest of so many ex- forces who live in the area, many who served and have returned from Germany I though it might be appropriate.    For anyone who has never read "Continental Modeller" it is worth a look. The models and scenery are beautiful, with so much of Europe to chose from. While it is hard to beat a Northern Industrial back drop for a British steam branch line, the majesty of the Alps as a back drop to colourful Electrics passing over steep gourges and bridges certainly has an appeal.     The final reason is variety. There are so many types and at extreamly good value for those starting out in the hobby or wanting a change. This is true in N gauge too, with the KATO tram system another new idea that compliments existing layouts or can be a layout in itself.

Important News.  Dapol will continue to be stocked in Salisbury Model Centre but there will not be any latest releases stocked until 2011. If you have your eye on a Dapol new release in the short term then please enquire else where to not be disappointed.

 14 JUNE 10. I managed to retake the picture of this weathered Hornby Loco'. 'Scenic Rust' has given the plastic some surface texture and enamal and acrylic paints used to add streaks, fades and rust colouration.

07 June 10. I see it's been over a month since I last updated the Rail Blog. I hope to be able to add to these pages fortnightly but reality always gets in the way. I had hoped to share with you some pictures of a weathering project now on display inside the shop. Using an old Hornby loco I have tried to show the different effects obtainable from various products. None have required an Airbrush either so I hope visitors will find it enlightening. For some reason the pictures will not transfer from the camera, I will endevour to get a picture in the next week or two.  Attending Model shows as well as having to return to my Unit ( 2 Rifles) has severly dented my available time, and i'm sure shop vistors will have enjoyed meeting my wife who covers for me. She is on a steep learning curve as before I bought the shop she didn't know the difference between N and 00. I'm sure you'll agree her winning smile makes up for any lack of rail buff knowledge. While that explains the delay in getting new items listed on the web I can tell you we have now in shop the latest Bachmann 00 "samskip" container wagons. In N Gauge we have taken delivery of "Merchant Navy" Clan class locomotives. Don't forget you can ring the shop if the items is not yet displayed on the site.

 
05 May 10.  I've had a number of rolling stock items in from Hornby which has coincided with a better layout to the shelves. Visitors will have noted an increase in building materials and kits available for the railway modeller too. Wills building sheets have many uses and the best news is they have recently dropped in price. Card kits from Metcalfe now have a prominent dispaly along with "Roket Card Glue" and in time these kits will appear on the shop web site too.

 24 Apr 10.   Orders to Bachmann for the re-run of Presflo Wagons and Nuclear containers were due about now but still have yet to be delivered, a shame for so many people waiting. In a newer direction though 83 Line is now coming into the shop and will appear on the site soon. This is PECO manufactured rail that is modelled on US (HO) railroad systems. One positive has been the increase in Modern outline vehicles with large HGV's and now Construction vehicles available. Scale varies between 00 and HO but the construction vehicles are so large that the smaller scale is not too apparent.

23 March 2010,   All the way from Australia I have been sent a description and some pictures of a wonderful British outline layout. Mr M Sibley ( no relation!) has done a great job of modelling the lattice frame signal box mimicing the real one at Clapham junction. It certainly reminds me of my youth travelling on the corporate blue Network South East. Great ballasting too.

 (pic) S Chaney-King (model) M Sibley