Back from the front

I'm just back tonight from a 2 day trip to the windy wairarapa, manning the front lines at the MMW stand. The show itself was quite good. Mark was secreted round the back and so it was left to me and Michael to be the acceptable face of modeling. While I was planning to again have a timeline I forgot to record anything so will just use pictures.

Here is Dandruff industries section of the table. A full selection of locos and wagons. The track section that I was working on. The price Cb was used to frighten larger scale modelers. answers were "its a price Cb, not a shay", "It has a DCC chip", and "No, it doesn't have sound may i poke you with my red hot soldering iron instead?" also note the large tea cup and nice sammies. a big thanks to the ladies in the kitchen for refilling my cup without question for 2 days. If they had lamingtons I would have given them an A plus.

On the tarckmaking side I was able to sit down and make a tarck formation from go to whoa. this gave me a chance to experiment with some areas that I have previous not quite been happy with. I must sit down and write up the definitive 'how to do it'.

One visitor was Graham with his Df as seen on NZ120.org. comes complete with dirt and sound. Its nice to see another modeler who is willing to weather his models a bit.

Scenic textures Brian Roulston moves faster than lighting while working on a diorama that he completed during the show over 2 days. A couple of chats about 'super fine' ballast, either side of some reminiscing about the old days in Dunedin when we were younger, may well bear fruit later in the year for loco depot ash grade ballast. The fine ballast will be great for the yard and mainlines.

One of the layouts of the show for me was Grant Morrels Kerosine creek.

An overview of the layout showing some of the beautiful scenicing. Its given me a few ideas for a small bush layout for the price Cb.


The loco depot featuring a selection of famous bush locos. A price E and a MMW dubs A as well as a couple of truck based locos.

My overall impression was that of a good friendly show. It was about the right size with a good selection of layouts and traders (a couple of book shops that got some of my money).

There were also a few wide ranging discussions on various possibilities model wise ranging from the wildly impractical to the only moderately impractical. more food for thought when I finish making track.