Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Quartely review.

Finally, I get time to sit down and review the magazines from the last quarter.

The Journal (I should stop calling it the local rag but....)

First up there is an article on building a bridge scene for the one track minds modular group. This is a good article from one of the best scenery wonks in the country and a lot of his ideas and techniques can be ported across a variety of scales. Why they hand spike rail though is a mystery to me....
Next up is in staling a sound decoder into an 88 seat railcar. again a good article, but I'm constantly amused by S scale modelers who claim that they have so little room to fit anything into their models. Poor babies (if theres any of you out there with sound decoders fitted a couple of photos and a write-up on NZ120.org would be good to see. Likewise the S scale A from cabbage).
We then lead into a G scale narrow gauge layout by Paul Napier. Some beautiful modeling but not really my cup of tea.
I get thrown a dog bone with Grant Fletcher discussing building an Ew. he gets to cheat by using SPUD type units under the floor, but his thoughts on building the tops will be read very closely.
The modern image people get thrown a chicken bone (possibly in the hopes that they might choke on it) with plans and detail photos of the CE coal wagons. I knew that they were big, but they are nearly 10' wide and over 12' tall.
The ongoing saga on Inagahua junction continues and we are up to the 1950's. some historical info here (driving a truck carrying cement from Golden bay to Inagahua, then down to Reefton for coal and back to Golden bay would be a long day today, let alone 60 years ago!)
Then we get some photos showcasing Mr Fentons modeling and design skills, the finale to the NZ120 saga (finally with the web addresses and again featuring David Weedons sublime modeling skills), and the reviews and new products section.
Oh and the waste of space that is the area group reports. This should all be on the new all singing all dancing NZMRG website, but as of this morning its still 'Website coming soon'. There are some coding issues to deal with I believe.

I was going to write the review of the Railfan, but time has run out for me and the kitchen beckons, with the lady of the house demanding fried bacon on french toast.

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