Morning Gang!
It's the end of a somewhat more normal week… well as normal as it can be… Hasn't it been a bit chilly this week? Did you get any snow? It's mostly just been frosty here with the tiniest sprinkling of snow on Thursday morning. Looking forward to it warming up over the weekend. I think Monday is supposed to be a balmy 11 degrees which will be rather lovely. Even though it's going to rain again I think.
Just the usual stuff happening this week really here at HQ to be honest. Just pushing on with a few projects… trying to clear some really old product requests out the way so we can get on properly with this years projects. And I've been busy trying to get some more processes & training documentation written up to help things run a bit smoother behind the scenes.
We've had a local painter & decorator working for us at the unit this week… we've finally got all the upstairs woodwork painted in a nice dark grey so it looks really neat and tidy and all 100% in keeping with the SMS brand. And we've had four boxes of carpet tiles delivered for the downstairs showroom area. So Tina and I will be busy in the evenings next week, and probably the weekend getting those all laid. Once we've moved all the display racking out of the area first of course. Then we'll be busy putting it all back up again! But it'll finally all look tidy and finished… at last!
Klaire's been busy pricing everything in the showroom individually too. We used to have the prices on the ends of the hooks but they're a right faff so we've switched to pricing everything individually, which is much better from a browsing & general restocking point of view.
All we need to crack on with when the carpet is down and the display racks are back in is some large display boards for the stairs and on the mezzanine to showcase more of our stuff to you guys when you visit the showroom.
Product Development - Latest News
I've been pushing on with my industrial building. It's almost ready to do the first prototype cut. There's about another days work on it to get the floor sections, remaining brickwork and doors done. Then I can run a test cut of the main carcass before dragging all the wrap templates into our graphics software and rendering them all with the right brick and mortar shades.
Stu's been rescaling a few bits into N and O gauge again for us this week so we now have some new cast iron speed signs in lower speed denominations in OO & O (N gauge to follow). The LX307 Decorative Balustrade is now available in N gauge. This is a lovely little kit for detailing large buildings such as banks, hotels, stately homes & manor houses. Full details of all these are in the new releases section further down the newsletter.
And Sam's been busy on our social media channels as well as working on a new diorama he's working on to perfect his building skills. He's also created some lovely new Ghost Signs which are now available in both self-adhesive & waterslide formats.
Amazing Underwater Resin Diorama
Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well. It has been absolutely freezing here recently but unfortunately no snow most of the country (nothing new for Cornwall). Anyway, time for my selection of videos. No Lego this time. :(
The first video I have selected is from the channel Nerdforge, who I have thought about featuring before. In this video, Martina creates a fantastic resin diorama. She takes you through all of the steps, from the sketching and planning to the final product. I love how the first few layers don't look that impressive at first but when you see them in the result they look incredible! One issue that they ran into was some bubbles around the bridge and the mermaid but honestly it adds to the scene. Definitely recommend checking out more of their videos if you enjoy this one. And while this is a fantasy diorama, there's quite a few hints and tips you can apply to your resin pours on your rivers, canals & oceans on your layouts.
A Model Railway Layout Where Cats Roam Free!
For my second pick, I've gone with a video from Franklin, the woman who covers a Diorama Restaurant where cats roam on the track. The owner (Naoki Teraoka) of the restaurant is a train enthusiast and has been in the business since the early 2000s. This restaurant also serves as a rescue shelter. He started off by taking care of a stray cat and it's family. After this he posted some photos of the cats on the train tracks and this gained media attention. From here, he started the restaurant and then in 2021 he added the rescue shelter. Frankie goes into more detail in the video. I love this whole concept, cat cafes have been around for a while so this is another step up from that. I'm sure you guys have seen some memes of cats on railways and this is most likely where the images originate.
Modelling Realistic Muddy Rivers
Taking it back to the classics, here is Luke Towan. He is someone that all of you will know at this point and I've featured his videos before but doesn't hurt to watch another one. In this video he creates a muddy, river, bridge diorama which is also functionable. In terms of scale, he went with HO and the diorama is based in Victoria Australia. I love his problem solving and the overall production of his videos, it is incredible impressive how high quality some YouTube videos/channels have become. He goes into detail, showing you every step that he takes. There's some great techniques used and watching his videos makes me want to make some models.
America's Greatest Model Railroad
Andddd finally, we have a video from distrains showing off one of the greatest model railroads in the US. DJ travels from Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania to Greeley in Colorado (1,400 miles) to visit the Colorado Model Railroad Museum. As soon as this popped up in my recommended I knew I wanted to feature it. He is a great presenter and has a lot of charisma. The people he interviews are clearly engaged and the chemistry is great. Not only that, the models are super impressive. The layout is 5,500 square ft of fully scenic and completed model railroad.
That's it for me this week. I hope you have all had a cracking week and continue to have a good weekend. If you enjoy this videos feel free to send me a message on the club about them :)
New Stuff
Right then… it's time for links to the new stuff. There's a selection of bits and bobs in a variety of scales as mentioned earlier… So here's all the links:
- DC047-OO Wills's Cigarettes Ghost Sign - Self Adhesive Transfer (Pack of 4)
These are ideal for detailing any row of terraces or industrial building. And this pack is designed for use on card & paper based buildings. - DC048-OO Wills's Cigarettes Ghost Sign - Waterslide Transfers (Pack of 4)
As above but printed onto waterslide transfer paper for use on plastic and resin buildings - LX559-OO Railway Speed Restriction Signs (5 to 25mph) Pack of 22 - OO/4mm/1:76
A pack of assorted cast iron style speed signs covering slower speed limits - ideal for micro layouts & shunting puzzles - LX519-OO Roller Shutter Doors Set 6 - OO/4mm/1:76
A set of 5 assorted roller shutter doors for scratch-building projects… some with personnel doors. - LX559-O Railway Speed Restriction Signs (5 to 25mph) Pack of 22 - O/7mm/1:43
As per the above speed signs but for O gauge modellers!
And we've had a few other bits and pieces delivered this week which will help with your general model making and scenic work:
- Mini Hot Melt Glue Gun - 20 Watt - Just £4.99
Great for securing trees, bushes & hedges into place - Glue Sticks For Mini Hot Melt Glue Gun (Pack of 100)
A bulk pack of glue sticks for the above glue gun. - Hot Melt Glue Sticks Extra Long (Pack of 24)
A smaller pack of glue sticks!
And Sam's been busy putting all the OO Gauge Peco Track on the website this week. So that's all now available to order.
Right… that's about it for this edition of the weekly news. We're off for a walk around the ruins of a Victorian amusement park new Lerryn hopefully… I'll let you know how we get on.
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 Westhaven GWR featuring Station pilot pannier 5764 shunting coaches into the Westhaven station platform. A cracking shot.
P.P.S. Missed a newsletter? You can read all of our recent newsletters online here.