Its been something of a shitty week. I spent most of Tuesday polishing off the May workload, as I'd undertaken working double days, to clear the decks ahead of the bank holiday. All would have been reasonably OK, until I managed to reposition a pot of 'Coat D'arms' black paint on the floor of the studio. Luckily, I paid good money for casino carpet, when the studio was fitted out, so it's pretty damn robust. That said, it still took me an hour to lift 99% of the stain and then clean down the carpet washer. The head went back to the mill stone and I completed my day's work, somewhat fatigued. And thus, it was in a state of said fatigue that I slipped on the studio stairs and although I managed to avoid serious injury from the fall - or so I thought - I did 'jar' my right tibial plateau, which I broke about 10 years ago whilst longboarding. Wednesday saw me awake and running around at just after 5AM and as I took the daily shower and hair washi...

Well, after a 96 hour whistle stop tour of the UK, Parcelforce finally delivered my layout from the talented Steve Hornsey. Superlatives escape me. I did have high expectations, but they were blown away. The layout is a smooth and quiet runner, the ballasting is simply divine and my sound equipped locos are running fantastically using my NCE Powercab. I was so impressed, that I paid in full for a 12 foot layout from Steve, earlier than I had planned (yes he's THAT good) and although I have a couple of months eating baked beans ahead of me, it is going to be more than worth it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiuSY7oTRkw&feature=youtu.be TTFN

Oh I was up and bout this morning and full of the joys of Spring, because my new 6foot layout by the venerable and talented Steve Hornsey was going to be delivered. I got to my desk by 7:27 and completed a full day's work in 4 hours, resulting in a cricked neck. My brother came to help his arthritic elder sibling in getting said steel railed bundle of lust fodder, up to the highest point of the Dark Tower. Then, at about 13:15, Steve emailed me to let me know that my layout (no fault of his) was in Oxford because those wonderful people at Parcel Force, had mis-sorted it and instead of arriving at the Dark Tower, it was instead spending a day sightseeing in the city of dreaming spires. I was on the phone to PF in a minute, and was told that 'because it was a 48 hour delivery' it would 'not reach you util Friday as it will still be redirected by 48 hour service'. When I pointed out that 48 and 96 hours are not one and the same the vile little reprobate at the ot...

The Ral Partha's Chaos Wars Kickstarter campaign is in it's last hours, so get out there and make those pledges and keep the flame of old school gaming alive for another 40 years! I would like to also say a big thank you to Iron Wind Metals who manufacture the Ral Partha ranges for a rather splendid gift I received today, in the shape of an enormous 'Ghost Dragon'... TTFN

Well, Sunday saw my 8 foot layout leave, with the help of a hacksaw and a bloke with a hatchback. Frankly, on reflection, it was for the best as it wasn't really 'doing it' for me. After much discussion we've also decided to stay at The Dark Tower for the foreseeable future and to extend and enlarge the courtyards and gatehouse, and erect higher walls. This means that future model railroad plans can be taken off the back burner and brought to fruition. On Wednesday, my 6 foot Canadian provincial layout arrives from Steve Hornsey. It's got manual points as it's a narrow layout. It will incorporate two industries (freight and timber' as well as have the edges of the seedier parts of town in the shadows of the highway flyover which bisects the layout . I also gave Steve a really nightmare brief or my next layout, on 12 feet by 29 inches, again set in North America, incorporating a long run, lots of branches, a yard, coast and provision for 's...

Well, my Draco Dracorum has turned up at last. The only downside is that as all shipments into the UK are being processed through customs individually due to increased security risks (according to Parcel Force) I was hit for £55 on a £165 shipment - OUCH! My £500 army is currently awaiting their ministrations, as I write... But hey-ho, it's only money and the model is, as you can see - MASSIVE. This is everything a big dragon should be. And more! TTFN

I was just this morning, sitting in the throne room of the Dark Tower, it being sunny and I having no other business to attend to, reading one of the numerous U.S model railroad magazines which I either buy or which are gifted to me by grateful publishers for this and that act of selfless sacrifice. I noticed a rather intriguing article which looked at the thorny and oft-ignored matter of dropping dead, or if you are unlucky wasting away in a bed somewhere, with nobody who cares. But in either cheery situation, the author asked what would happen with the railway you left behind. A very good question, because a grieving widow may not know what that pile of copper, nickel, plastic and flock in the basement is actually worth, and may either simply throw it in a skip, give it away or get fleeced on eBay or by one of those traders who specialise in having no scruples about screwing their victims in the arse, and then selling the metaphorical pictures. (Don't worry, the nasty image...

N SCALE LAYOUT - £400.00 Price is for cash on collection. Paypal will incur a £25 extra fee to cover my costs. Undecorated, this cost me £1200 from The Fiddle Yard in January. 96 inches x 29 inches All points are motorised via CDU, programming track on switch board Wired for DCC. Does not include NCE controller. Can be split into two parts (and will have to be unless buyer can lower on tackle from my studio, via the end of wall window. To split, the hillside (plaster rocks over Celotex board with Modroc skin) will need to be cut with a razor saw. About 3 inches depth will need to be cut through and won't take more than a couple of minutes . Should take 5 minutes, but of course a touch up will be needed. Buyer to collect Drop me a line here: EMAIL ME

L to R: Billy Sherwood, Geoff Downes, some geezer, Jon Davison, Alan White, Steve Howe. Prog rock royalty Kayte and I saw and met 'Yes' last night. Musically brilliant as always. Jon Davison frankly, knocks the socks of f Jon Anderson in the vocal range department. Setlist was primarily the albums 'Drama' & 'Fragile' in their entirety as well as a few others. Highlights for me musically were Starship Trooper, Tempus Fugit and Owner Of A Lonely Heart. All very different stylistically. Got home at about 23:30 after meeting the band and getting pics and autographs. We finally ot to bed at about 01:30 this morning. The setlist really permitted all the talents of the individual members to show through. Steve Howe is still frighteningly good. Very little banter with the crowd, but that's because you don't go to a Yes gig to bandy words, you go there to listen, and listen hard. A very moving opening, saw a son et lumiere montage, with the late C...

A good today on the purchase front... I managed to pick up the 1987 Ral Partha 10th Anniversary 'Draco Dracorum' sculpted by Tom Meier. At 12 inches long, with a wingspan at the pinions of 7 an a half inches, this 3lb beastie was produced as part of a 5000 worldwide limited run. Sometimes, you just have to bring the big guns into the battlefield. I did well, paying $200.00 plus $65.00 shipping.

The 'haters' have forced me to drag this piece into the 21st century, only hours after   it was completed I have covered the original retro apple green wood filler with more modest coverings. But, like the vicar who sports a cassock, but loves the feel of ladies underwear, I know what's truly underneath... TTFN

Well, I got the palanquin finished and based. As you can see, I have gone for a truly old school finish on the basing with the apple green and yellow ochre drybrush over wood filler. This is right and proper, and those young bucks who sneer shall merely by doing so, show their ignorance of the one true way. :) TTFN

As a kid in the early 80s, I was wowed by the Ral Partha 'Wizard on palanquin' carried aloft by four bugbears. Over the next 35 years or so, I set out a couple of times to get one painted, but frankly I never had the drive. Well, this last week, I picked the model up for a stupendously cheap, £5.99 and decided after a truly gruelling week of painting for clients and promising to keep off the trains for once, to make a start on it, ahead of the delivery of $750 of orcs, goblins, dragons and other goodness from Ral Partha. Anyway, I have completed the palanquin and it's payload in two days, and hopefully, I'll get the 4 bugbear porters completed on Monday, it being a Bank Holiday here in the U.K. And so, without further ado, I give you P'Well The Sartorialist with his Drow concubine Kylie and pet panther Snowy riding upon the Red Star Palanquin Lii'Lefson-Prrt. For those who may be interested, the throne and mage were worked up from a white base and the pa...