Saturday Film Club: The weirdest cars at the NEC Classic Show 2024

I love weird cars, and many of these caught my eye at the NEC Show, but the thing that really appeals is the use of the phrase "Carlos Fandango" to describe a Rover SD1...

ELK standard compound

 

So, there I am on the stand at the NEC, and Colin arrives. I know he is interested in ancient modelling materials, so I show him my bag of Dee Ess's ballast. I'd taken it a long to joke with the guys on the Peco stand about - asking if they had any more. The answer was, "a few months ago, possibly, but we've been cleaning up the warehouse."

Anyway, he looks at it and then says, "I'll take this, and raise you these.", plonking a couple of bags of ELK STandard compound down. 

A quick search brings up an advert from 1954 for their track, which is what Colin is especially interested in, but the ballast is a good find too. 

One bag is dyed sawdust, and the other, ground up cork. 

It's probably a good job I didn't spot these for sale. I really don't need any more of this stuff!

Wishing for a coach to Dunster in BRM

 

What can't you find in NG7/O16.5? Coaches. At least kits for coaches that don't involve messing around with brass. Fortunatly, at the dawn of time, Peco produced a generic four-wheel vehicle, which is still available. Since I need coaches for my NG7 layout project, and need to know how big the holes in the backscene should be, that's what I've built. 

My four-step project this month is a simple wishing well kit. 

And, because if you give me something nice, I will ruin it, I modify some highly collectable new Hornby buildings. 

Talking of Hornby buildings, they have released a set for Dunster station, so I've taken a look at the prototype, and consider some modelling options. 

My camera has been out, this time for Withins, a 7mm narrow guage construction line. 

Finally, it's back to the NG7, which I use for a basic ballasting tutorial on BRMTV. 

British Railway Modelling magazine is available from all good newsagents, or our online store.

Swiss shunters

 A quick look at some shunters I spotted in Switzerland. 

A pretty basic shunter in front of the sheds at Jungfraujoch station. I'm assuming it is radio controlled, as there isn't anywhere for the driver to hang on! Quite modelable in an oddball sort of way.

A class Tm232 in Lucerne station. Available in HO scale.

Bob the shunter.

Back to Lucerne for a Stadler Ee 922 electric shunter, which I am sure is the inspiration for the yellow Playmobil locomotive.

A useful souvenier

 

I like to buy souveniers. Ideally, they will be ones I'll use in the future, such as my Swiss shirt. (Nothing special, but I realised our evening meals were a bit more formal than expected, so bought a check shirt, which I will wear in the future, but it will always be my Swiss shirt). 

This lieelt tin tray is from Strasbourg, and ticked the boxes of fitting in my rucksack, and having a use other than just looking pretty. 

When working on projects, instead of the components littering my workbench, they can sit in the tray, so I don't lose any of them. Hopefully. 

And I'll always remember Strasbourg when I use it. Does anyone else have similar souveniers?

Drill box

 

On the right, my old box for tiny drill bits. It's a plastic container from RS Components, which I saved from the bin in the 1990s. At the time I worked for the Ministy of Agriculture, and can't remember why it came my way. 

It's done valliant service holding my collection of small drill bits. I usually fish around with a dial caliper to find the size I need rather than keeping them in one of those boxes with the non-sliding cover and marked places for each bit. It's easy to end up with loads of those with half the bits missing. For many of the jobs I do, a "near enough" bit will be fine anyway. 

Sadly, the box has worn out. The hinge at the back, only a thinner bit of plastic, has finally given way. Red gaffer tape sort of works, but isn't firm enough to let the vestigal catch on the front do its job. 

Since I really don't want to be picking tiny bits off the workbech, I invested a whole fiver in a tin. Yes, these would have been thrown away, but I needed it now, and it's worth the money not to lose bits. Being metal, it should last - let's face it, it's probably 60 years old already!

Artisan and Reenactors Market 2024

 

What is it that makes me think a pith helmet with dodos on it would be a great addition to my wardrobe? 

That's what happens when I wander around the reenactors market. Not a hobby I have any desire to get in to, but it's a fascinating event. 

It's also a busy one. I thought I'd leave it until lunchtime on Saturday, half-time as it's a three day show, and people were still queing out of the door, with two ticket desks operating. A third was set up an hour later. 

After a quick lunch, I started to wander. This isn't my first visit to this event. It's only 10 minutes drive away, and at £4.50, entrance is cheap enough for mild curiosity. Picking up unusual Christmas presents for friends and family with an interest in history makes it worth the visit. 

The range of reenactors is much bigger than you might expect. We've all heard of the Sealed Knot, but you can be a Roman soldier, or Edwardian gentleperson, or indulge in some Steampunk. In fact, the Steampunk stuff seemed more popular this year than in the past. 

Part of my reason for visiting was research for a new novel I'm writing with Nolan. One of the character is into cosplay, and while there isn't a handy event for that hobby nearby, there is crossover with this one. You can buy metal weapons to bash each other with, but also foam-based versions, which is what our character is likely to be making. 

By the time I'd left, my rucksack contained a few presents, and also an unexpected tweed jacket for me. Well, as the editor of the UK's Premier garden railway magazine, I need to be suitably atired at all times.

Cake? Delicious Victoria sponge. With hot chocolate, as I was treating myself.

Saturday Film Club: Hand drawn CGI: Animating the Terrahawks Title Sequence

Some traditonal pre-computer animation, or how you make computer graphics by hand. Fascinating, and amazingly crude, but effective.

Off to the NEC this weekend

 

If you are looking for me this weekend, I'll be in a big shed next to the airport at Solihull, chatting to people from the World of Railways stand at the National Festival of Railway Modelling. Which we must stop calling "Warley"!

I hope to see you there - please drop in and say hello. I should have a few things to show you, and there will be loads to see. 

National Festival of Railway Modelling website.

Water filtering - continued

 

My quest for a reliable source of water for small steam engines continues. Since it turned out the very convienent Spotless Water is deionised, and therefore bad for my fittings, I have gone back to the water from our condenser tumble drier. 

The only problem with this is that it's got fluff in it. Last time I tried it, I filtered it through a piece of silk, but sometimes I could see fluff in the filtered water, and it needed to go back through again. 

So, I went to the supermarket and picked up some coffee filters. Like an idiot, I had to ask where they would be, and was told, in the aisle with the coffee. 

Things didn't improve. I saw a number 4 on the box, and took it to be the contents. It is, but it's the size. There are actually 40 filters in the box. And I bought two. 

Still, it does seem to work. I can't see any fluff getting through, so perhaps I have the solution. Let's hope so, I have plenty of filters!

Warehouse Wednesday: Lamp room

 

Thanks to Duncan Young for this photo. He says:

I visited Eden Valley Railway at Warcop and came across this simple lamp room. The weather is quite harsh in winter hence its substantial construction instead of corrugated iron huts elsewhere. 

He's not wrong. Most lamp huts are wiggly tin, but this is pretty substantial - and would be easy model with some plastic sheet. Measurements could be guessed from the door, unless you fancy a trip with a tape measure. Thanks Duncan!

Mobil Box - Lucerne

 

I nearly gave Mobil Box a miss - the shop doesn't open until 2pm, and my time in Lucerne was limited. However, in the window were some fascinating G1 UK prototype locomotives, and I couldn't resist hanging around that end of town.As it was, I found some excellent souveniers for presents, and visited the Bourbaki Panorama, which was fascinating.It's not far from the lake, so I ate lunch watching boats. 

Back at the shop, I followed the owner in once he unlocked, and has a mouch. There's a lot in there - mainly plastic models and related stuff, but some trains. Also, a work area, so the place is obviously frequented by modellers who use it as a social area. 

The shop has been operating for 20 years - pretty good for what is a city centre location, and not a small one! 

Those locos in the window belong to the proprietors father, and for the right money (I didn't ask), they might be for sale. 

The electrical models appear to be mostly Marklin, but there is one that isn't, although I couldn't identify it. 

Sadly, all were to large to fit in my rucksack, so I settled on a card kit for a German lifeboat becuase it is flat and fitted in the back pocket of the bag!

A really nice shop with a freindly owner. Well worth dropping in. Check out the Mobil-Box website. 

NEC Classic cars 2024

Add another classic car to the list of vehicles I don't fit in - and Austin 7 based racer. 

Pedants will point out that you tend to build these around the driver, and so if I built one with the pedals slightly forward, and wore much less clumsy footwear, I might be able to drive it. Whiel I was at it, the hammered aluminium seats could be adjusted to fit my backside, they were hardly comfy!

As ever, the NEC played host to five halls of classic cars. Basically a days worth of looking around, asking questions and wishing a little bit that I was a millionaire with a big garage. A little bit. I think I prefer these things in thoery than in practise. 

If I were a millionaire, I wouldn't have bought the low-mileage 1993 Ford Escort turbo that I saw go for £180,000 in the auction. It might have less than 6000 miles on the clock, assuming it wasn't clocked in Essex 20 years ago, but what do you do with it? Drive the thing around, adding miles, and you are reducing he value. Sit it in the garage to look at, and well, what's the point? Someone must disagree, as there were at least two bidders. 

If I was buying, apart from the Rancho I always mention, I quite fancy this Ford pickup.

It had some rust bubbles. Quite a few in fact, that I'd have used to try to beat the price down, but it looks fun. Probably not the most practical of vehicles, but it is cool. 

The Ford would come second to this Morris J-type van though.

Doesn't it look fantastic? 

No obvious rust, and a spanking paint job in a lovely livery. OK, the thing will be miserable to drive in modern traffic, but standing with a polishing cloth at a local classic car show would be a lot of fun. I wouldn't be carting layouts long distances though!

Anyway, you can enjoy the show a bit without thousands of steps on a hard NEC floor, by visiting my Flickr Gallery.

Despite the sore feet, I still enjoyed the show. The Sporting Bears were working well, with a procession of cars going off with their punters who had made donations, and drew a good crowd of people watching from the barriers. 

Elsewhere, there were people who just loved their cars, and the enthusiasm when chatting came across. Like a model railway show, it's great to see people doing something they love, even if we are spared the cold nights in the garage fighting rusty fixings! 

IPMS 2024

I visited the International Plastic Modelers Show at Telford on Sunday rather than Saturday this year. As ever, it was an excellent show, for me, well worth the £25 entry fee (free to IPMS members). Loads of terrific, and inspirational modelling on show, and the chance to leave your money with the trade in return for more plastic kits that will take me ages to get around to building. 

I partucally liked this diorama made up from Meng kits.I have the harbour in my stash, but have been at a loss to know how to use it. Now I have an idea!

There are loads more photos, including some interesting Airfix items, over on Flickr.

Saturday Film Club: Travels in Europe, 1967 and 1971 Part 1

Obviously, I have developed an interest in foreign railways recently, and this film covers trains in 1967 and 71. Beautifully shot, and with some useful commentary, it's a good watch. I'm fascinated to see some of the old railcars working out of Lauterbrunnen, but before they were relegated to the freight duties I've seen them on.

Dee Ess Products ballast

 

Did you really pay a quid for a bag of old scenic material? 

Of course I did. Look at that cardboard top - it's wonderful!

I've never heard of Dee Ess, or, to my knowledge, have ever seen any of their products. I'm sure I'd have remembered the flamboyant packing!

While this claims to be ballast, it's a greay scatter material. Feeling through the plastic, I'm thinking a wood based material like early Tri-ang scatters. They might even be produced by the same people. Since Dee Ess were based in Broadstairs, only three miles from the magnificant Margate works, there is a good chance they knew each other. 

I note that the sales concession for the UK was held by Peco, so we aren't talking about a firm that was unknown. I suppose I ought to ask the sales manager if they still have any left in stock!

Plastic handrail knobs

 

I've managed to fit in a little more work on the DJH loco. This time I've fitted the handrail knobs on the tank and smokebox. 

My first thought was to dig through my collection and use turned brass ones - but in the kit there were enough plastic knibs, so would they work? 

Also in the kit is some wire, but it's curled up, so I replaced it with 0.45mm straight brass stuff. I'm trying to use as much of this kit as possible, but I have limits, and trying to unbend wire is well beyond those. 

So, the knobs had to be drilled out. Not easy, as they bend. By holding the heads in needle nose pliers, I managed to do this withouth breakage, although there was some scary twisting!

The holes in the body also needed to be opened out a bit, same 0.5mm drill bit plus a twiddle with my smallest broach. Then some superglue, and the job was done. 

To me they look a bit undersized, and I'd normally use 0.7mm wire in 7mm scale, but I can live with this as that's how the kit is supposed to be built.

Swiss wooden engine shed

I couldn't not photograph this engine shed when I saw it at Interlaken Ost station. I think it belongs to the Brünig steam railway, although the lack of soot (do Swiss steam engines emit smoke?) suggests it's home to a diesel locomotive. 

I suspect a standard design, as there is a similar shed at (I think) Berne station.

Noch Hausboot (14224) build

 

My kit of choice from the Thun model shop, is the Noch Hausboot (14224), which has the benefit of being tiny - the box is 10m long, and I was able to find a tiny spot in the rucksack for the trip home. We'll gloss over the price...

Anyway, knowing I still have kits from my Australia trip a decade ago awaiting assembly, I decided to get this one out of the way ASAP. 

It's laser cut from some very stout 2mm thick laserboard. Everything is, as you would expect, cleanly cut. The minimum of tabs hold parts into the fret, making removal with a sharp knife, easy. 

Th very thin glazing is cut to size and fitted (Glue'n'glaze) before assembly of the sides and ends with Roket card glue. No allowance is made for the plastic, but it is very, very thin, so the designer assumed you won't need it, and so it seems. 

Under the "hull" are a couple of skids, which don't show in the photos, but raise it up a couple of millimetres. I think this is probably prototypical, as you don't want the deck at water level. 

The only painting required is the lifebelts, everything else is precoloured. Building the model took very little time, and wasn't too fiddly, even in HO. 

I suppose that the "ropes" between the posts would look better made out of thread, or fine chain. It's the sort of modification a more advanced modeller could chose to carry out easily enough. 

A fun little kit, and at 8cm long, small enough for the souvenier section of my model display cabinet. 

Schaufelberger AG, Thun

 

Strolling around Thun, a really nice city with many pretty features, and very little in the way of tourist tat shops, I spotted a Marklin sign dangling from a department store. Looking in the window, it seemed to promise more than just a toy department, so of course, I investigated. 

There is a toy department, a great big one, on the third floor. But looking around, I could see stairs, but no escalator, to a fourth. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I had a look. 

What I found was the sort of model shop any city would be proud of. Well stocked with plastic kits, boat and flying aircraft kits, glues and materials. The only omission seems to be paint. A few spray cans, including some Humbrol, but not a rack full of colours. Odd, that's the sort of thing that encourages repeat visits. 

Scenicly, all the main European manufacturers were represented with racks, and spinny display things, stuffed full of product. I liked the look of the 3D sheets from Noch, although I have seen these before, and Carson HO scale radio control vehicles. A quick play showed them to be very controlable. Not cheap, but hey, Switzerland. 

Of course there is a cabinet full of trains. A 30% sale was on, but with what I took to be DCC locos costing over 500 Swiss Francs, those are still scary prices, although the models are sublime. 

The Marklin Start-up sets look interesting. A step above the My World range, these are still dead rail radio controlled locos, for modest prices. Conversion potential perhaps? 

My biggest problem was working out what to buy. I didn't want to spend a fortune, and the space in my rucksack was minimal, so it had to be tiny. See what I ended up with tomorrow. 

In the meantime, the Schaufelberger AG website is here.

Travelling crane in The Collector

 

Another classic kit in the Hornby Collectors Club house magazine - this time the Airfix travelling crane. 

I've updated a few areas on my model, mostly to make it easier to build, and improve the look. What I haven't done, is build a working model. This has been done, but the people I know who did it, report the model kept breaking down!

The big question is, what classic kit should I build in the next edition?

Saturday Film Club: Sponges for railway modellers

13 times a year, I have to make a video for BRM TV, something subscribers to the magazine recieve a link for with each issue (If you aren't getting it, as the Subscriptions Department, whose details are in the magazine, not me. I don't have acess to the data.). Coming up with ideas is a bit of a challenge, but I'm rather pleased with this one - which has now been given general release. 

Happy sponging!

Berner Oberland train 'fridge magnet

Obviously, from a trip that involved around 45 train trips, I had to buy a model train of some sort. Now that wasn't going to be some fancy HO scale model - if you think UK locos are expensive, try Swiss ones! Anyway, I didn't see a model of anything I'd travelled on, and wouldn't have got it in the rucksack anyway. 

What there was, was a 'fridge magnet. Or rather a set of four. The Berner Oberland set shown above, a modern WAG set, one from the Jungfru, and a steam rack loco. 

At 12fr (read: £12) each, I was only going to buy one, and so went for the train I travelled on the most, for the six-minute ride from Wilderswil to Interlaken. 

Let's be honest, even if you allow for the model showing the pointy end of the train, not the one in the photo, it's not the greatest model. At 95mm long, I have no idea what the scale is, but around N gauge I suppose. 

The real trains are fantasic. Clean, efficient and with little flaps in the doors that open to fill the gap between platform edge and carriage. There's plenty of capacity too. OK, the train splits, but each end is longer than the Leamington to Marylebone service sometimes, and that's between a big town and capital city, not secondary city and the mountains!

December Garden Rail magazine

 

Does a garden railway mean loads of expensive rolling stock? Dave Skertchly doesn't think so, which is why the idiosyncratic “Vale of Weedol Tramway” is such a delight. With an entertaining history, this little line provides pleasure to its builder, and the good people of Wales where it is set.

Over on the workbench

• We find out how the buildings for Bourton-on-the-Water model village are built and maintained
• Building a “Greendale railmotor”
• Timpdon Models small brake van
• Wodeleigh Engineering's W&L open wagon
• Spooners “Boat”
• A vintage steam railcar from Locomotion

All this, plus the latest new products for the garden railway modeller. Available from all good newsagents, or online at www.world-of-railways.co.uk

Update: I've gone a week too early on this as my calendar is wrong. Still, the digi edition IS out now.