Morning Gang!
How's things? Oh and Happy Easter!
Flipping heck… when is it going to stop raining? We drove up to Liverpool to pick Elizabeth up for the Easter break and I think there was all of half an hour of the journey in which it actually stopped lashing it down! It’s Amazon how tiring driving in heavy rain is. Can‘t wait for a week of nice dry weather. So much stuff to get done in the garden but it’s just far too wet.
What have you been up to this week? We’ve been busy working on a variety of projects this week as well as juggling a million and one jobs. We’re still a team member short so it’s been a bit of a challenge at times down on the shop floor. And of course as it’s a double bank holiday weekend, the short weeks mean it’s even more hectic trying to get everything done.
We‘ve had lots of visitors to the showroom this week. In fact it’s probably been one of our busiest weeks, so things are looking a but bare in places. Need to crack on with a big restock next week if there’s time.
Product Development - Latest News
This week, Stu's finished off one of the dormer add-ons that he started work on many moons ago. So that’s now complete and available to order on the website.
Sam's been back working on more of his ghost signs. He’s getting rather good at them now. Hopefully he’ll have them completely finished next week and we’ll have a look at rescaling them to O, TT & N with a bit of luck.
I've no idea what I did design wise… oh yeah, I had a play with some larger scale stuff this week. Mostly in the form of a huge 1:12 scale version of one of our period shop fronts. And it is huge! But it looks awesome when it’s built. So if you’re into dolls houses and 1:12 scale, you’ll find the link in the new products section below.
And I’ve been experimenting with trying to find a solution to us not being able to print white windows. It’s been driving me nuts for a good two years now… the toner is refusing to adhere to the acetate (any acetate… we’ve tried every brand we can find) yet it adheres to all of our self adhesive sheets etc. But I think we might have found a workable solution which should at least work for several of our kits that have been out of stock for years now. I need to do a little more testing but it might just work.
I've also done a little more work on the Victorian Ale House. When we get back to work on Tuesday I should be in a position to get the first test cut of the main walls done so I can then start work properly on the wraps. And I tinkered with rescaling one of our popular stone texture sheets to 1:32 scale for anyone building a Scalextric layout or Britain's farm diorama.
In the meantime, it's over to young Sam for this weekend's videos.
Good morning! As always, I hope you've had a good week and will be making the most of the weekend - even if you are just relaxing. As Justin has already mentioned, we have a brilliant new low-relief police station. The decals I've been working on are almost complete, these will be available pristine or weathered so no matter the era you are modelling, you should be able to squeeze them in. Now it’s time for some videos.
A Driver's Eye Layout Tour
The first video this week was sent in by Keith, who sent me a message via the help desk. In this message, he explained that his layout had been in the works for 10 years and at the age of 85 he started taking some photos and recording videos. He is now uploading videos to his YouTube channel under the name Alexander Murdoch. This video is great and if I stumbled across it, I would have featured it anyway. Some of the onboard shots look so realistic and you can tell Keith put a lot of effort into this. There are some creative shots with images overlayed to make it look like real life.
Not only is the production great, but his layout is also breathtaking! Everywhere you look there is inspiration. I wanted to quickly mention the back scene because the layering he's done is something that you don't see all that often. There are a ton of details scattered about which ties the layout together. Great modelling and I appreciate that he reached out to me to send this. If you enjoy his video, please do subscribe to his channel. Then hopefully he'll share more with us about the layout and any future developments.
What Happens To Old Locomotives?
My next video is from a channel I've featured previously. A lot of you seemed to enjoy the "Bizarre Trains" episode that I included so here's another video from V12 Productions. Titled, "Train GRAVEYARD", Charlie takes us through what happens when locomotives and railcars are no longer being used. A part which I found particularly interesting was the whole concept of "slugs". These machines are typically built from old locomotives.
There's something that grabs my attention in American railroads. It pains me to say this, but they seem to interest me more than British trains! Off the top of my head (bearing in mind I'm not a rail expert), it has something to do with them having to travel a lot further as this impacts their design. Seeing the 4501 steam engine is truly mesmerising - having that firebox and shovelling coal into it.
Laying Track On Modular Layouts
Here's someone that you 100% know by now - Luke Towan. He makes some brilliant tutorials on creating dioramas, but this video covers how to lay track. Titled "How to Master Track Laying on Modular Model Layouts", this video is packed with valuable tips and techniques which you will find useful no matter how experienced you are. He uses the PECO track, which we have recently started stocking and can be found on our site. It was released in July of last year so none of the information will be outdated with a bit of luck!
He shows a couple of mistakes that he makes and how to fix them which is always great to see. In classic Luke Towan fashion, this video is high quality and straight to the point. There's a lot of information and I've learnt a lot from it as someone who hasn't laid any track. Essential tools and materials are also covered.
Fancy A Kebab? Building A Fantastic Street Scene In N Gauge
For the final video this week, we've got another channel that you will know - Chandwell. Michael is a member of our Railwaymodellers.com community and I'm a massive fan of his layout. He builds some amazing scratch builds in N gauge (you must be crazy to do that). At only 5 minutes long, this is a quick watch, but it's filled with good techniques and modelling, so there's no wasted time. If you enjoy it, make sure to check out his channel and he has many more like this one.
That's it from me this week! Let me know what you think about these videos by leaving a comment on this blog, contacting the help desk or messaging me directly on the club (my username is @sam). Also, feel free to send me a video that you think should be featured. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Oh, and Happy Easter.
New Stuff
Right then… it's time for links to the new stuff… it's all larger scale than usual but there's some good stuff if you're into modelling 1:32 & 1:12 scale stuff…
- TX299-32 Weathered Whitewashed Stone Paper Sheets (Pack of 5) 1:32 Scale
For those modelling 1:32 scale buildings for Scalextric & Britains Farms etc… this is in incredibly useful texture. Supplied as a pack of A3 sheets so there's plenty of even the largest buildings. - LX465-12 Period Shop Front Laser Cut Kit - 1:12th Scale
For those of you that are into larger scale dolls houses and dioramas, this kit gives you an easy way to create a realistic period shop front for a tea room, florist, bookshop or anything you fancy! Lots of scope for customisation! What will you build with yours? - LX503-OO Gable Dormer Roof Add-Ons (Pack of 2) - OO/4mm/1:76
Add extra interest to the roofs of the houses and shops on your layout with this easy to assemble twin pack of gable dormers. Complete with posable/opening windows & weathered roof slates.
Back In Stock
We had a delivery of 3d stuff this week too so I’m slowly getting it packed up and back on the website. When I say slowly… I mean slowly! All I managed to get packed this week was…
I’ll get some more stuff packed up next week hopefully. Sam has reshot a lot of the product images as the spec of some of the items has changed. So I need to rewrite some of the product descriptions now to match the changes.
Special Offers!
Every layout needs a tree or two… and as we've finally got the full range of Gaugemaster Leaves in stock again we thought we'd put a bit of a bundle together!
- Model Tree Making Bundle - All Scales - Just £45*
Everything you need to make amazing trees for your layout including Seafoam Trees, Leaves & Spray Glue. The new Gaugemaster Seafoam Tree boxes are great value even before the offer so you can make a whole ton of trees with this bundle!
* Other discounts do not apply with the exception of First Class Members Discount. Strictly while stocks last (Seafoam is out of stock again at Gaugemaster so get them while you can!).
Right… that's about it for this edition of the weekly news. I shall continue revamping the pub kit next week. There's a lot of work still to do on it. Today I shall mostly be helping my dad lay the new concrete floor in his garage and then tomorrow we‘ll be heading southwest again.
Have an amazing weekend folks… And of course…
Keep on shunting…
Justin, Tina, Elizabeth, Lola & The Team
P.S. This weekend's header image comes from Martin, who sent this amazing image in of his coal mining layout. I spotted one of his photos on Instagram earlier this week and thought it was brilliant. Then he emailed this in and I just can't stop looking at it! What a fantastic scene… and if you've got a keen eye, you may be able to spot a few of our kits in there. Here's what I can see:
- LX231-OO Large Cable Drums Wagon / Lorry Load - OO/4mm/1:76
- LX082-OO Small Cable Drums (Pack of 18) - OO/4mm/1:76
- LX022-OO Laser Cut 4ft Pallets (Pack of 12) OO/4mm/1:76
- AX054-OO 3D Printed Coiled Yellow Gas Pipe Wagon/Lorry Load (Pack of 3) OO/4mm/1:76 which have been painted black.
- LX110-OO Rubbish Skips (Pack of 5) OO/4mm/1:76
Can you spot anymore?
P.P.S. Missed a newsletter? You can read all of our recent newsletters online here.
Hi,
Always read and look forward to the newsletter but modelling in 7mm scale always feel a bit on the outside so to speak
Just one little point may be insignificant but when in the list above you were to include photos of the products you are listing especialy the new additions to the list it may make the product more attractive and grab your attention so that you don't just scroll on by