Sometimes I struggle to think of things to write, and sometimes an idea appears that is irresistible. In this case, a series of letters in the Hornby Collectors Club magazine requesting that the company consider a science fiction range inspired me to pen (OK, type) a piece covering some of their space-age models.
Obviously, the Battlespace Turbo car makes it on to the page, as well as the satellite wagon, but I couldn't resist the weirdest product from their history - 3DS.
A brave attempt to take on the computer game market, Hornby made a space-based monorail system game. Of course I have one, I remember drolling over it in the toy section of my mum's mail-order catalogues. eBay did the business and for this article, I assembled it.
It's a bit rubbish. But brilliant at the same time and I'd travel to a show with a decent size 3DS layout.
More practically, I've taken a trio of the new Skale Autos and shown how to quickly make them layout-ready and not box fresh.
1 comment:
I wonder how many railway modellers who've got their own layouts (which have had some meaningful scenic treatment) would actually opt to "weather", or even repaint, diecast vehicle models on their layouts.
Yes - I know that, if layout builders / owners are really after realism, road vehicles probably shouldn't have the "full gloss" look - we've even been told that this look might not be completely right on every single train on a typical layout - but some people will never listen.
I mean, some people are reputed to prefer their expensive models to have that nice, shiny, "mint boxed" look - and we all know what sometimes happens when you try to make old habits go the way of the dodo ... .
Of course, some people might have missed one minor point here - the moment you shake a "mint boxed" model out of its box, it ceases to be "mint boxed" - even more so, if it's left on a baseboard and exposed to light and dust for a number of months or even years.
OK - this doesn't mean that models need to be "over weathered", like some of the horrors that occasionally appear on forum sites.
It also doesn't mean that every single model vehicle, loco, or item of rolling stock needs to be "dirtied up" - I know I certainly wouldn't want that on every model I own - but I suspect there might be a distinction here between modelling and collecting.
Anyway, if models are seeing any significant use, I can't see it being too long before they start to get a bit scuffed.
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