Scalefour News Day!

Indeedy!
Scalefour News No. 166 lay inside my snow covered mailbox on my arrival home from work yesterday. It had been a long slow commute home. So I was in the mood for a good read and News 166 didn't disappoint.
How to convert a Jinty to P4. A good solid beginners article. To show just how easy it is to re-wheel stock to P4. Having just done my own Class 08 re-wheeling. I can testify that it really is that easy.
I also enjoyed reading about converting a Bachmann loco to Irish P4 standards. Not something I'd even thought about before. Irish broad gauge for model railways that is.
This is the Scalefour North issue so there's lots of lovely photos of the layouts to be on show there to drool over in the pull out guide section in the middle. Being 4,000 miles away from Scalefour North good quality photo's of the layouts in question are always appreciated. Super.
There was one photograph that really intrigued me. Page 29 the snow covered scene from Ian Everett's "Royston Vasey" layout. I like snow scenes. I've tried (and failed miserably) to create my own snowbound models. This looks really neat. I want to see more.
So there you are, another grand issue of the News.
If I have one criticism. It's the front cover. It looks like the typography was just thrown on there. I'd like to have seen the "Scalefour News" title at the top so it didn't obscure some of the very nice cover photo. I don't think we needed the date and issue number bar on there both horizontally and vertically. But that's just me. Actually I don't even like the title's typeface. But I'm an out of touch graphic designer who hasn't done the job for 5 years so what do I know about current trends. I'll go and do some model making....

p.s I found some more pictures of Royston Vasey on Ian Everetts blog.

Hornby Magazine

I grew up with Hornby. My first train set was a Hornby Freightmaster which I have mentioned before. Hornby is pretty much a part of every British model railway enthusiasts upbringing. Once I discovered that 00 gauge track was underscale I fell out with Hornby, like I did with all other UK model railway manufacturers.

So imagine my surprise when back in England a couple of years ago I discovered "Hornby Magazine" on the shelves. I thought I'd flick through the magazine for a laugh (old prejudices die hard you know) But no. This was a good, readable magazine. Pitched at the beginning modeller, the layout, design and writing helped breathe enthusiasm for the hobby. I could feel it in the pages. I bought the magazine. In fact every time I went back to England I bought Hornby magazine. Yes, there are articles for the beginner in there, but there are also articles that show the beginner what to aspire to. The magazine was instrumental in getting me interested in modelling the UK scene again. Last year I bit the bullet and subscribed. It didn't really sit well with the finescale ethos I was starting to re-evolve. But what the heck I was enjoying reading it. Then in this latest issue that was in my mail box today, the feature layout was "Saffron Street". P4 no less! If that was a shock to the system, then a few pages along was a huge kick in the teeth. An 8 page feature on the vale scene at Pendon. Any finescale modeller would be in rapture at this. So I can only imagine what the effect of seeing the pinnacle of the model railway hobby could be on a beginner. It would either inspire them to the heavens or put them off forever...

The most noticeable thing about the writing was that little was made about the fact that both are "finescale" layouts. You don't need to know that these aren't 00 gauge to appreciate the models. Enjoy the modelling first and then find out more.

Hornby Magazine just blew me away today. Thanks guys.

p.s. I showed my wife the pictures of Pendon last night and she was blown away by them too and said that we should go and seek Pendon out when we are next in England