Photo tent review

I've mentioned in the past that I have to take photos in odd places, and don't really want to be dragging a great big booth with me. Well, a few weeks ago, I spotted an interesting advert for something that looked like it would be perfect a few weeks ago on Facebook.

It wasn't cheap, but I could just about persuade myself the £60 was worth it.

Then I did a bit of searching and found the same photo studio tent on Amazon for under 20. Sold!

It seems there are a few versions of this device. Size matters most, the cheaper ones are 20cm wide, OK for some stuff, but as you see, not for the larger model.

Then there are different fixings to hold the thing together. Magnets sound good, but according to the reviews, are rubbish. Mine has old-fashioned massive press-studs and works a treat. OK.

The LED lights run for a long while on my pound shop mobile phone battery. I'm guessing hours, although I tend to turn them off when not in use.

The foam backgrounds supplied are good, but mark when you plonk oily wheels on them so I need to sort out replacements to save post-processing work.

Overall though, I'm very happy. It folds up small, weighs very little and is properly portable.

Recommended. 

Photo from the above shot before clean-up

Painting with sponge

I seem to be using sponge for painting things as often as use a paintbrush recently. Some might say it always looks like I've painted with a tar brush, but we'll let that go...

First job - 16mm scale van roof. In this size I want some texture. This can be achieved with a layer of tissue paper, but since the plastic roof was pretty good, I decided to apply Humbrol 66 and 67 by dabbing them on with a bit of sponge.

This worked a bit, but the paint settled quicker than I hoped, so it was out with the talcum powder. Dabbing this in to the tacky paint worked a treat. Some texture but not too much. OK, this isn't a finescale wagon, but it still looks good.

Next, I needed some ground painting on a little diorama. Splodging on a mix of emulsion paints and working while they were still wet gave me some nice graduated effects. Darker colours towards the edges and light where there might be traffic.

I don't think I could have done this with a conventional brush, and I'm not loading up and airbrush with anything from Wilco - but sponge is cheap (mine came from packing) and works really well.

Midlands Garden Rail Show 2019

Last weekend, it was large scale model at the Warwickshire Events Centre. I pointed the video camera at them and bring you the results.

Saturday Film Club: Making model trains

Here's a mystery from the Pathe archive - a 90 second film showing O gauge model railway stock being built, but who for? 

I'm assuming Bassett-Lowke, but plastic coach body sides? 

Some impressive lining with a bow pen there and fretting out those windows must have been a nightmare!

(Sorry for the delay in approving comments this weekend, I'm away from the computer so will check in by phone every so often)

Off to Ally Pally

Lordy lordy Mary Poppins, It's a right two and eight and no mistake.

Yes, it's time to head to the capital for the London Festival of Railway Modelling. I'll be floating around the hall for a couple of days.

We're planning to bag quite a bit of social media stuff, so watch the BRM Facebook and Instagram feeds and RMweb. 

If you spot me wandering around, do stop me and say hello!

London Festival of Railway Modelling website