How long ?

The model railway exhibition world is just sooooo glamorous. Guess what I spent Sunday doing ?

Varnishing barriers.

The Hornby Magazine Live show this weekend (tickets still available, put it on your calendar now) are borrowing the barriers from the Leamington & Warwick MRS. I'm not actually a member of the club any more, but my Dad is President and neither of us wanted to see anyone let down. The trouble was that the hurried woodwork we carried out in January might have produced sufficient barriers for the show, but they really need another coat of varnish. Plans had apparently been in place to sort this out as well as checking that all the legs fitted in all the sockets. Needless to say, none of this had been done.

So, along with a couple of other greatly appreciated helpers, tea and friut cake, we set too to sort out the crowd controllers. After a bit of investigation we worked out that the legs could be divided into two piles - those that would go in all barriers and those that would only go in the originals we built many years ago. The difference was tiny and due to inconsistencies in the planning of the wood when it was supplied, but it could have caused problems.

So, one set of barriers have red ends and the legs that will only fit them have red feet. Well, maroon really because we found a can of this in the clubrooms.

The newer barriers have now been painted with another coat of floor varnish and feel a lot smoother to the touch.

And how much barrier do you need for a show ? Well, Hornby Live needs 500ft. That's 200ft less than the Leamington show In January. That's quite a stretch if put end to end. Or to put it another way, around 80 barriers and 160 legs !