According to Ramsay's, this is one of 4950, produced in 1981. That's a big run for a small shop. I wonder if they have any left on the shelf?
I can ask, because I was pleasently surprised to discover from the shop website, they are still open!
At three hours drive away, I can't nip in for a look around, but if I can find a reason to be in the area, I definitely will! If any blog reader is familiar with the shop, please tell me how hard I need to find a good reason...
It actually looks a lot like the real car - I remember lugging a front beam for my campervan across a field many years ago, and being glad I did when the one on the van broke!
The tricky bit of the job here is working out what goes where. There aren't that many parts, but they are handed. The question is, when something is marked "left upper", does it mean left sitting in the car, or from the front?
After a bit of puzzling over the diagrams, which impressively show some very odd-shaped parts in perspective, I managed to get it all together. Logically, the curved projections on the arms should hit the round bit in the middle, but making that happen took a while, and was the point where I needed three hands to juggle the pieces!
While many people boast about using something from the local market that costs tuppence-ha'penny a gallon, I've always preferred to use "proper" modelling glues. Ideally, Zap Green, which I've always found to work really well, sticking quickly, and filling little gaps
Once you open glue, it starts to go off, and when I started a project for Garden Rail that needed superglue, I quickly discovered the bottle of Zap on the shelf had gone off. It was stringy, and the joins really weren't setting.
Now, I think I have some spare in storage, but decided that as I needed to nip out to the local shops, I'd see what The Range had in stock.
I picked up a few candidates, including, for a just over a pound each, their own brand stuff. "How bad can it be?" I reasoned.
Actually, it does the job very well. 10 second stick is promised, and that seems to be delivered.
Best of all, there is a brushable glue, handy for lots of jobs, and rarer than it should be. Even Zap don't seem to make it any more, which is a real pity.
Am I converted? Not quite, but perhaps I'm now less of a snob.
As well as the bag, I also scored a couple of the branded Hornby wagons for less than a fiver each. Not bad for Sunday morning, when the locusts had already enjoyed picking through it for a day...
While digging, I found a few packets of plastic details - tools, pallets, sacks and barrels, that are worth grabbing for pennies as they are always useful. The Gem kit cost a pound - and reminded me of the days when these were marketed as "Pound Packs"
The Kibri bufferstop is a buried type that offers a variety from the Peco version. A couple of Monty's Models figures came from Rich Wilson's charity clearout, and I'll always add these to the people pot, as they are superb models.
Finally, a little box too cheap to warrant opening. I know of the old Graham Farish buildings made up of plastic boxes, covered with stickers, but I don't think I've ever had a go. Well, now I can. I wonder if our N gaugers want a couple of houses?
Vegan cake! I tried some vegan chocolate cake - and you know what? It was OK. I still had a sausage bap for lunch later in the day though.
Aside from cakes without dead animals in them, Stamford show is one of those local events that punches above its weight each year, and so well worth a visit. The day dawned sunny, but as this was just another nice Sunday, after several others, the show wasn't clobbered numberswise as it had been last year when their doors opened on the first nice weekend of the year.
Thos that did attend found an impressive selection of layouts. I'm not going to pretend that I took photos of all of them, or that I'm bringing you all that I took (some are hidden for mag usage), but quite a few things caught my eye.
A Clyde "Puffer" seems to have found its way to Porthllechan. Nicely done, and the finicular (is that the correct term for a goods lift) worked well too.
Megsdorf is another layout from Norman Raven, whose layouts I've photographed for BRM in the past. The loco here caught my eye as it's unusual, and I'm pretty sure I have a DJH kit to build it in my stash somewhere. No, I have no idea how that happened.
St Judes bay is rather nice. We're talking to them about a fuller pagazine feature, but when that happens, I always take a few shots to remind me of the model.
Market Deeping clubs own layout, Corsham is a nicely done N gauge model, and this little corner appealed to me. I don't suppose I'm the only visitor to take a photo looking under the bridge!
If you like novelty micro layouts, and I do, then Moor Boxes, by Kevin Staden is up your street. Over a dozen boxfile based N gauge layouts, each one different from the next, showcased the builder's imagination and ingenuity. Unlike a lot of novelties, the modelling wasn't bad either. Some ideas for a future Phil project perhaps?
Events like Stamford are my answer to those who only go to the larger events, because the little ones aren't worth the effort. Not every layout was amazing, but most were pretty good, and more than worth the cost of admission. Market Deeping also make great efforts to entertain youngsters and get them to sample our hobby.
And the cakes are pretty good too.
