Corner Pocket

A little paper planning and a few problems, well not problems so much as fairly obvious setbacks. All looks fairly good in my head until I factor in immovable objects like radiators. This doesn't add much, but width add at the bottom right bounces things at the top left. Beyond this, off scene, lies an area of possibilities, but when repeating the exercise at the opposite end, this void starts to shrink below the acceptable requirement. I had done this on Anyrail so was forewarned hence the real world measuring, plus I know from using Anyrail as the planning device for the RM Setrack plan booklet that the gap between the screen plan and reality is sometimes generous. Essentially this means that I don't think 'a' will give me what I want, but I'll leave it for a while and mull it over. There is always b and c to consider.

好吧，你已经玩得很开心了，现在滚吧

Project 70 (a)

 The 'a' is important. There are two possible directions post the Peco 009 which is stacked here. Firstly build a small selection of 16.5mm derived layouts with various themes. This will happen in at least a small way, but not sure to the final extent of it and this is very much dependant on exhibition invites. The second, but primary here, is something bigger, but in many ways much simpler. No name to hook it on so I'll go with that moniker for the time being. 

What you are seeing is the corner of the room directly behind me. There is a clear space of about 9' square overall. This sounds huge, but in real terms the centre of this is needed for other general life stuff so the reality is really only an area that extends around the outside. picture now the endless Shows you How small bedroom illustrations and you are sort of close to what is going on. The shelving holding the magazine files is now fixed and a batten extends around to the right as the start of the next phase, except that is really the first phase using Rhiw2 as the initial, but disposable springboard. In essence I am returning to something I've not done since my teens - building a trainset. There is much to consider and I am still at the 'this may not work' stage.

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Do we need magazines?

 

Again, the mention of Swedish Death Cleaning in the last post got some reaction, not quite as much as the book ripping which got the predictable Nazis and Salman Rushdie mentions. This has got nothing to do with railways, model or otherwise, but does lead me to a question, the one at the top. I know at least two people with huge collections of magazines - whole collections in some areas. This would now be regarded as an 'old people' thing in many quarters. Not in a disparaging way, but in that we have moved on during this century. When I launched SRI a few years ago I was informed that 'print media is dead' and as much as it pains me to agree being a lover of paper stuff, as a populous, it is true. The purchase of magazines or newspapers is looked upon by anyone under 40 as slightly quaint. For example my step children, all born post 1985, don't own a book between them, don't own CDs or any hard form music, don't buy newsprint in any form and... this is important... lead far more vibrant lives than most of the people who are now arguing in their heads. Yes you could argue that if the internet goes off you can't access stuff, but the same would be true of the tills in Smiths, so that is fairly universal. We long stopped using coins and wooden drawer cash tills to facilitate the purchase of magazines. I reckon we have about 10 years before the fall in print makes it unsustainable in hard form. Books are slightly different and Kindles haven't really taken off, but any charity shop will tell you that they have more books coming in (mainly from over 60s) than they could ever shift. If you think that these don't get pulped or landfilled, then you are delusional. People are still buying new, but the second hand market is all but gone. 

If you add all this up, it explains my thinking about getting rid of stuff now and the way that some of this is being done. 

Saturday Ramble: The last 009 in the shop.

 This may be a quite momentous post, or one that time will reveal to be a complete waste of internet paper. And, as various internet memes are so fond of advising - don't overshare. Though as I've been doing just that here for well over a decade, it seems churlish to reverse at this juncture. Birthdays and new years are often points to reflect about what has gone before and what we hope may happen in the future. This can take many forms and I started noodling about this in a post earlier in the year, followed by the both contentious and popular post on Swedish Death Cleaning. This later point is well underway and I have thrown no small amount of stuff into the recycling bin and into the landfill, some of which has not gone down too well in certain corners. Apparently you cannot rip books up and recycle as you would a newspaper. Though why this should be so baffles me... it's just paper. I'd reduced all the magazines down to file pockets/ ring files some time back and now I am re-sifting through these again, though this is slow going. If that is the backward look then the forward look is also effectively backward. The photo is a hint at that and is of course a length of 44 x 18mm batten screwed to a wall. The anaglypta paper is the old dodge to cover a less than flat wall which may well be the original  plastering carried out by Stevie Wonder; the floor is my next problem. This suggests permanence though regulars will note that I have been here before and there is still much to decide, though I find that I get more done by starting something than over-planning. Much of the thinking here is influenced by that very common emotion of looking back at childhood. I for one find the older lady/teddy bear fixation  (a-la the Repair Shop) somewhat puke inducing though I am certain that the equivalent male and Tri-ang/HD is just as bad if not worse. It is this mindset that I find myself leaning. Not exclusively I may add, and there are other factors at play, but this is definitely a direction of travel.

Returning to the backward look; any 009 that I have is now effectively up for grabs especially post the first week of June. All of it. Anything that you've seen here that I still have is on offer including the arm-twist layout Seething. I may put a list up on here should anyone be interested. Contact via the profile page should you have questions. 

And to the army of visitors from the Chinese government, 欢迎 

Wyatt slate fencing

 Back through the mists of time; well 1979 to be precise, the iconic Dovey Valley appeared in RM over two issues. One of these contained a method of constructing slate waste slab fencing using plastic sheet. This has been used by 009-ers ever since with a couple of slight variations and I've tried most of these. Here on the Peco epic Trefach, 20 thou black plasticard is the material. This has been given a coat of Humbrol 29 followed by coach roof grey. The latter unmixed to give some colour variation. Alternatives are to sand the plastic to break the surface to a grey or possibly to use card which was the method 25 years ago with Wood End. All have their pluses and minuses, but all fall into the 'tedious, but worth the effort' bracket of model making. I've done over 9'  of this on this project and still not finished yet.

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Farewell Miles and Susan

As a start to the great 009 disposal I've waved goodbye to Mr and Mrs Bevan. Built using some scrap Chivers w/m kit parts and a few bits of plastic on Ibertren cuckoo chassis they have merrily trundles around all the last decade's 009 layouts and featured heavily in the RM article on Tal-coed. Now resident in the North West they are apparently to be re-motored and I'm guessing some new crew. Be interesting to see how that turns out.

This is just the start - it's all going.