Category Archives: research

Motivation Monday, Take me to the River

So the motivation today was checking out yesterday’s application of the AK Interactive Atlantic Blue onto a test piece of plastic sheet. The luminosity above is caused by the light falling on the wet acrylic gel medium. It dried well … Continue reading

Posted in accurascale, ak interactive, Art, Bachmann, baseboards, blog, Cameo, Cameo layout, canada, canadian national, canadian pacific, DC, DCC, dcc sound, heljan, HO, ho scale, hobbies, Hobby, Inspiration, justdoit, Layout, layout design, LED, LED Lighting, man cave, mancave, maple river, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, Modelling, monday motivation, motivation monday, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, peco, Rapido Trains, realism, research, review, scale, scale modelling, scenery, shelf layout, shelfie, shelfie4, the river, toy train, train set, TT Gauge, Uncategorized, youtube | 2 Comments

Shelfie 4, The River

No, I haven’t gone all Springsteen, not that there’d be anything wrong with that, but the river in question is Maple River, the layout title and water feature on Shelfie 4. On this riverside shelf layout I want to try … Continue reading

Posted in ak interactive, barmouth junction, baseboards, blog, Cameo, Cameo layout, canada, canadian national, canadian pacific, DCC, dcc sound, Eighties, Exhibition, fall, finescale, HO, ho scale, hobbies, Hobby, iain rice, Ian Futers, Industrial, Inspiration, justdoit, Layout, layout design, LED Lighting, man cave, mancave, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, Modelling, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, news, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, OO9, penmaenpool, planning, railroad, railway, realism, research, review, scale, scale modelling, scenery, shelfie, shelfie4, the river, toy train, train set, TT Gauge, Uncategorized, youtube | Leave a comment

Motivation Monday, Mindheim’s Musing

I don’t need to mention the current (October 22), cost of living rises in the UK to anyone. If you’re awake you’ll be all too aware of the impact of Brexit, Ukraine etc etc on national and world economic and … Continue reading

Posted in accurascale, america, americana, Bachmann, baseboards, blog, Branch Line, British Rail, Cameo, Cameo layout, canada, DC, DCC, dcc sound, Exhibition, finescale, freelance, fremo module, gouge, Hattons, heljan, ho scale, hobbies, Hobby, Hornby, ikea, Industrial, inglenook, Inspiration, Layout, layout design, man cave, man-cave, model, Model Railroad, Model Railway, Modelling, monday motivation, motivation monday, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, OO9, peco, peco bullhead, Peco TT, railroad, railway, Rapido Trains, Ratio, realism, research, scale modelling, shelf layout, shelfie, skill, toy train, train set, TT, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Motivation Monday, Iain Rice, Influencer

This weekend the hobby lost one of its greatest influencers, Iain Rice. So why might that be a motivation? Well Iain was a prolific writer and modeller across the hobby, not only here in the UK but its fair to … Continue reading

Posted in accurascale, Bachmann, blog, British Rail, Cameo, Cameo layout, DC, DCC, Eighties, epitaph, finescale, heljan, hero, history, ho scale, hobbies, Hobby, iain rice, Inspiration, Layout, layout design, life, man cave, media, model, Model Railroad, Model Railway, Model Railway Journal, Modelling, Modelu, monday motivation, motivation monday, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, news, O Gauge, o scale, obituary, OO, peco, prototype, railroad, railway, Railway Modeller, realism, research, scale, scale modelling, scaleforum, shelfie, skill, toy train, track, track plans, TT Gauge, Uncategorized, wild swan | 3 Comments

Lost Diesels, Lost Lines (Review)

In a, ‘Does what it says on the tin’ kind of way, this book pretty much does that. This is a new Transport Treasury album that covers diesels that are withdrawn, and closed lines, so this book is very much … Continue reading

Posted in b&w, black and white, blog, book, book review, Branch Line, British Rail, Cameo, Cameo layout, Eastern Region, finescale, great britain, Great Western, history, hobbies, Hobby, Inspiration, Layout, layout design, library, life, LMS, LNER, man cave, media, Midland Region, Model Railroad, Model Railway, Modelling, n gauge, new release, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Photography, product news, prototype, railroad, railway, reading, reference, research, review, Scottish Region, Southern Region, throwback thursday, TT, TT Gauge, Uncategorized, Wales, Western Region | Leave a comment

Unashamedly product plugging!

Yup it’s a product plug! Due for imminent release, a new layout design book from James Hilton and published by Wild Swan! I’ve been fortunate enough to have a content preview and if you follow James’ work, this blog, Geoff … Continue reading

Posted in america, americana, baseboards, blogger, book, book review, Branch Line, British Rail, Cameo, Cameo layout, canada, DC, DCC, Eighties, Exhibition, finescale, freelance, HO, ho scale, Hobby, iain rice, Ian Futers, Inspiration, Layout, layout design, library, media, model, Model Railroad, Model Railway, Modelling, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, new release, news, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, OO9, planning, product news, prototype, railroad, railway, reading, research, scale modelling, Toy trains, track plans, TT Gauge, Uncategorized, wild swan | 10 Comments

HO Indiana Shortline Wordless Wednesday

No words as such from me, but this overview from Instagram by Tim Nicholson of his Indiana based HO scale layout, is really worth spending time watching. So so much to learn from it.

Posted in america, americana, australia, Bachmann, Cameo, Cameo layout, DC, DCC, dcc sound, finescale, HO, hobbies, Hobby, Hornby, indiana, Inspiration, instagram, Kalmbach, Layout, man cave, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, Modelling, n gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, peco, pennsylvania, prototype, railroad, railway, realism, research, scale, scale modelling, social media, toy train, trees, usa, wordless wednesday | Leave a comment

Transformation Tuesday Bachmann 4575

Today is probably one of the final sections of modifying this Bachmann 4575xx. Dug out by a friend from his scrap pile the footsteps were broken and it had the original Bachmann chimney, and no chassis. It’s one of the … Continue reading

Posted in 45xx, Bachmann, Branch Line, British Rail, Cameo layout, Conversion, DC, DCC, dcc sound, EM, finescale, Forest of Dean, Great Western, gwr, Hattons, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hobby, Hornby, Layout, man cave, mancave, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, Modelling, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, peco, railroad, railway, Railway Modeller, research, scale, scale modelling, shelfie, toy train, train set, transformation tuesday, tuesday transformation, Ultrascale, Uncategorized, Western Region | Leave a comment

2022 First One In

Last year on First one in I wrote about Geoff Taylor’s Barmouth layout and his very clever use of ‘space’ to achieve a multi location layout. In December (21), I had the privilege of helping out with Simon George’s Heaton … Continue reading

Posted in accurascale, baseboards, Branch Line, British Rail, Cameo, Cameo layout, Chris Nevard, dapol, DC, DCC, dcc sound, Eastern Region, Exhibition, finescale, Forest of Dean, fremo, Hattons, Heaton Lodge, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hobby, Hornby, Inspiration, justdoit, Layout, LED, LED Lighting, man cave, mancave, model, model photography, model rail, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, Modelu, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, new year, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, peco, railroad, railway, realism, research, scale, scale modelling, shelfie, shelfie2, toy train, Toy trains, track, trainset, tree, trees, Uncategorized, Welsh Marches, Western Region, woodland, woodland scenics | Leave a comment

Throwback Thursday We Will Remember

Posted in 3d, 3d printing, blog, blogger, blogging, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour, finescale, flanders, hero, history, hobbies, Hobby, Inspiration, life, menin gate, model, model photography, modeling, Modelling, Modelu, n gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Photography, remember, remembrance, research, scale, scale modelling, the great war, throwback thursday, thursday throwback, world war one, world war two | 3 Comments