I believe in praise where praise is due... I just placed an order with Jeff Arnold over at 'Prairie Shadows' in Manitoba, Canada. The service and prices were frankly excellent, and if you are looking for something Canadian and a bit different, or just a really good deal, check him out. I just ordered a load of N scale suff, comprising: 3 x Intermountain F7A with DCC 1 x Intermountain F7B with DCC 1 x SD40 DC (not for long) in Expo 86 livery 3 x Rapido GMD1 with DCC and Sound 2 x Pointe St. Charles cabooses, with lighting Grand total, including express shipping a very, very reasonable £921.00 You can see what Jeff has to offer at : http://www.prairieshadows.com TTFN

Just some very quick pics of the latest Essex and QRF Miniatures, 15mm Renaissance units for one of my clients:

York MRS was as expected and indeed as usual a superb event. We attended on the middle of the three days, and having an advance ticket, were in earlier than those stood outside in a biting and some may say evil, wind. I didn't buy much, but that is not for want of traders, rather that I have a very precise shopping list of stuff which is mostly imports at the moment. I did however pick up some rather nice OO figures by Dart Castings and OO etched brass shed for a future OO9 project, and a Flying Scotsman teddy bear for the good lady wife... Oh and a copy of a sign that (as an owner of several Scotties) has been on my list for a while. The layouts on display were all rather impressive, in particular a bloody enormous U.S Fn3 gauge affair which had sound fitted to add to the awesomeness. But without a doubt the star of the show by miles was the stunning OO layout 'World's End' presented by Pete Goss, an astounding depiction of Knaresbo...

Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday Next show 26th, 27th & 28th March 2016 At the Knavesmire Stand York Racecourse YO23 1EX Open 10am until 5pm Saturday and Sunday 10am until 4.30pm on Monday Admission: Adults £9.00 Child £4.00 Family £22.00 2015 held for 2016 247 Developments   Al Models   ADM Turntables Agenoria (Mike Williams) Miniatures by Aidan Campbell Alan Gibson Bachmann Europe PLC (Display not sales) Bill Hudson Books Book Law / Santona Publications C & L Finescale Modelling Ltd. Caistor Loco   Ceynix Railway Trees   Connoisseur Models Contikits D & E Videos - Realtrack Models Dart Castings Digitrains Eileens Emporium Freestone Model Accessories   GreenScene Helmsman Model Rail John Wigston - Railway Artist. Langley Models Layouts4U London Road Models Megapoints Controllers Milnsbridge Models....

I recently had a really good conversation or two, about this and that, including figures, games, shows, attitudes to the hobby back in the dark ages and nowadays. I brought up, as I have done on this blog in the past, the notion that we all have a collective responsibility for the legacy of this hobby. One person in our group of very mixed personalities, but whom was about 7-9 years behind the majority in terms of time served in the hobby, remarked that he really didn't care, about leaving a legacy or indeed what happened to the hobby. Now, I personally believe that the older generation of gamers who 'came up' between say 1975 and 1985 were some of the most enthusiastic advocates the hobby will ever see. The lack of 'corn fed' product lines meant that they had to more often than not, use a great deal of imagination and creativity - and did. A good example is paints. I studied art as many others did, and the materials we used were often purchased from art sup...

I love shows... They are still, I don't care what you say to the contrary a great way to see models 'in the flesh', to make an informed choice and maybe even get drawn into another era or area of interest when you catch the sight of a somewhat fetchingly painted model in a glass display case. Then there are the displays of vehicles and figures, which at the end of the day is what the hobby is all about isn't it? The eye candy..? There was a show in Sheffield this weekend, that I didn't go to, because frankly I felt it held nothing for me, being smaller than I remember, with little trade to entice me. And so, I had a lie in and then went for a drive in the country, when, I should have been indulging in my passions for miniature worlds. The ticket price put me off, for a start, being too high for the size of the event. Then there were the displays, of which there were not that many. There were I have seen, a couple which would have given me the buzz which is s...

I just want to say thank you to those of you who stop by.  Yesterday this blog cleared 35,000 views, and I'm looking forward to clearing the 50,000 mark. I know it means nothing in the big picture, but I really appreciate you stopping by. TTFN M

So, last weekend, I paid £510 for 'The Citadel Giant' on the Oldhammer Forum. This was what I was offered: Thankfully I refused to pay via Paypal Friends & Family as £510 is a lot to lose. The item arrived today and the model was broken... LUCKILY Because what I was sold was a counterfeit torso made from plaster, thus: At the moment I am laughing at the surreality of it all, whilst at the same time with Paypal. There are I am sure a few people out there who will be having a good old snigger at my expense, and I don't begrudge them that small pleasure, if it brightens their life and gives them another reason to go on living. UPDATE: The seller appears to be as horrified as I, and has arranged a refund. He says (and I have no reason to doubt him) that the item was part of a bulk purchase, by his brother, some time ago. It appears that both he and I have been taken to the cleaners by a recaster.

Not so much a post as a brief update. This morning I fitted the backdrop to the layout and as you can see it does give a better feel and some perspective to the landscaping. We are looking ere from the YYorkshire end of the valley, where a gentle Spring sunshine lights the moor, looking towards Lancashire, where the clouds are gathering and casting a dark shadow across Mord... I mean Manchester. TTFN

I've been hard at work in the evenings on my model railway. I never normally work on anything creative for myself during the week, as it tends to blur the lines between work and hobbies, but the railway is very relaxing and I end up in a Zen state and 4 or 5 hours has passed. Last night Kayte had to come and yell at me to stop as it was 22:20 and I had just lost track of time. The layout is looking really promising now. It was delivered looking like this: I then built up the background so: And used plaster bandage for the rocks, thus: Then I spoke to an old gaming buddy who has taken up the railway engineers hat, and I decided that the sandstone rock faces were rubbish. So, I went out and bought  one of the Woodland Scenics moulds for making rock faces. These contain as you may already know, a number of assorted 'panels' which you combine to create a rock face. I've never used them before, so it was a ...