Warehouse Wednesday: Mill House, York

Opposite my hotel in York, are a couple of attractive buildings.According to Wikipedia, Mill House is a former grain mill which is now the headquarters for the police in York. There's no obvious signs of it's current use, other than a couple of Police vans parked outside at all hours. 

Next door is The Whippet Inn, which is Grade II listed and dates back to 1896. It used to be called The Yorkshire Tavern, The Other Tap and Spile and the Yorkshire Huzzars. The entrance to the back yard (and possibly stables?) is shown on the first large-scale map of the city in 1852.

Visit these buildings on Streetview.  

 

Manvers Main wagon - finished

 

Job done, and very enjoyable and satisfying it was too. The end result is a very pleasingly large model. If you get the chance, have a go at one, just for the fun of it. 

Nothing was difficult, apart from wrangling the transfers for the sides. My efforts aren't perfect, but will do for a wagon that will be part of a train trundling past. 

Only one complaint, it's too wide for the box!. I managed to squeeze the completed model in and slide the lid on, but the sides bow out a bit. That's fine for now, but one day, a stock box will be called for. That can wait until I've sorted out a suitable loco though. 

York haul

 

A big show means lots of money spent? Not this time. 

I didn't deliberately try for a cheap show, but that's just the way it turned out. The biggest item is a second-hand length of Gauge 1 track. While I have lots of 45mm gauge track, I didn't actually own a bit of proper G1. Well, I do now. The sleepers seem very mobile on the rails, so I think I'll take it apart, clean the metal, and then fix everything to a board. 

On the Dart Castings stand, I spotted a new range of model telephone boxes. Both K2 and K6 are available, nicely 3D printed, in 4 and 7mm scales. Since I don't have a K2 in the collection, I bought an O gauge model. And while I was at it, a picked up a bag of 4mm scale cats. Just because. 

I can't resist a bit of railwayana, and having admired the Azuma's at York station the evening before, I was pleased to find a promotional noughts and crosses game, presumably from the launch of the sets. 

While I was at it, a Scotrail sliding block puzzle joined the pile. Both were cheap, don't take up a lot of space, and have play value. 

Strolling around York the day before the show, I dropped in to Monk Bar model shop, and since the law demands a purchase, picked up a couple of pots of Revell Anthracite paint, and restocked the Micro Sol and Micro set bottle, both of which took a hit from the Gauge 1 wagon transfers. 

I did have to resist a pack of 1930s gangster figures, among other temptations. Something for the next visit perhaps...

York 2026

 

An early morning photoshoot saw me into York show nice and early this year. Finishing my work just as the doors opened left me with the whole day to wander around looking at layouts, perusing the trade and chatting to people. Far nicer than my normal rush around. 

I'm not going to try to bring you the whole show, there are plenty of YouTubers out there who make it their mission to do that, I'll just mention a few displays that appealed to me, and I managed to get an acceptable photo of with my 'phone. 

First up, I finally had the chance to see Maggie and Gordon Gravett's Port De Crozon, seen at the top of this post. It really is a lovely layout. The unusual high-quality modelling of an unusual subject in an unusual scale - 1:50. The thing that struck me most was the colour palette - muted but very consistent. Nothing stands out, and the colours suggest a quiet village on a sunny day. I was also pleased to see the tower that I remember watching Gordon build many, many years ago at the Chiltern Assoc. show. I'd always wondered where it would end up. 

Sticking with finescale, Old Parrock by Paul Rhodes looked like a chunk of Pendon had been lifted and brought to the show. OK, it's East Sussex, but the modelling techniques looked like the best of the Oxfordshire team, and Iain Rice. 

 

I'd love to have a go at building something like this in TT:120. Enough stock is available to make it practical, and with a scenic section only 4ft long, it would fit in the space I have available, even if the time required wouldn't. 

Larger, but to my eye, very distinctive, is Coniston, by the Morely Model Railway Group. It's a truism that you should be able to identify the location a model is set in without any trains being seen, and this is very much the case here. One look at the station, and I knew we were in the Lake District. 

Novelty always appeals to me, and the Roundhay team seemed to have decided to model the Lincolnshire Potato railways!

Roundhay is a particular favourite of mine. Regular readers will remember that my NG7 layout for BRM was based on it. 

Finally, the most eye-catching-for-Phil layout had to be Janice and Myles McGregor's Studio Tour. Imagine you were visiting a behind-the-scenes theme park based on the Harry Potter films and books, and this is the model of your day out. 

I'm a big fan of interesting ideas, but, and it's a big but, they need to be matched by the quality of the resulting model. Poor execution is a waste of good ideas. This is not the case here. All the modelling (from someone who is new to the hobby!) is really well done. I'd happily see these snow-covered houses in a mainstream publication, ignoring the Potter angle. 

We also saw Ford Anglias and boats on The Dark Lake, operating smoothly and effectively. Statues spun, and there were other working features. Potter-heads will delight in spotting the scenes, most of which passed me by in the same way as the books and films. I was alone in this, though, judging by the crowds in front of the model all day. 

As I say, there were so many quality layouts to be seen, a days entertainment was assured. I've only covered a few. 

But, what about the cake?  

One of my first stops was the restaurant, and how about a rhubarb and custard eclair? Delicious, even if Little Brian was unimpressed with the addition of yellow stuff to his favourite vegetable! 

Saturday Film Club: Jetex JETCAR - Good old fun, but dangerous?

In the good old days, you could nip down to your local model shop and buy a real rocket engine. Not your Estes sort of safe version, but one made of metal, that you assembled yourself. 

My Dad had a Jetex engine. I don't recall us firing it up, but the idea fascinated me. He always planned to put it in an aeroplane, but this car looks pretty cool. There was a boat too, but I fear it would plough into the bank if I tried it out on the KMBC lake!