2024 Model Railway Exhibition (or a grand day out)

To distract myself from the ongoing wifi problems I took myself to this years model railway show held at the local leisure centre.

There where a lot of railway layouts, I quite like the smaller ones were the trains sort of enter 'stage left' and then disappear off right around a bit of scenery.

There seemed to be a lot more smaller scale layouts this year.

This one is of a railway repair depot , all of the exhibits have embraced modern lighting and computer technology.

I did fall into conversation with hobbyists about advancements in the hobby and was promptly baffled by science- as only any enthusiast can do.

The detail was impressive.

These two are of a iron works looking very grimy indeed.

I liked this one especially, so cute in it's own box .

There were a lot of people there and was told there had been over a thousand people on the Saturday!

The false perspective on the scenic backdrop is amazing, the houses disappear into it.

There was a good selection of traders selling hobby related products- I bought some super glue and some green flock.

Blackpool football supporters on an away day , all in all it was "a grand day out!'

Colonel Lincoln Logge - further information.

Whilst I was 'off air' I managed to get a bit more information on the character Lincoln Logge . I was lucky to be able to access the library at the University of Felpersham in Borsetshire to trawl their extensive files on the 'Great Patio War'and must thank the librarians there for their help .

Lincoln Logge seems to have appeared in several 'pulp western magazines' , mainly telling of his exploits on 'The Great Patio' and his envolvement in the subsiquent war. His adventures are sensational and I'm afraid rather far fetched and the spelling of his name fluctuates from issue to issue - in fact he himself never seemed to settle on one way of spelling it.

He had a bit of a revival in the 1930's as seen by this hardback book for children (age 4-7) as he beats off an attack by 'Army Blue' single handed , the official records on the war rarely meantion him although he did meet several personalities at this time - both Kipling and H.G. Wells mention him in their reminiscences- once met he was hard to forget.

There was meant to be an 'B movie' of his adventures but all I could find is this one still from the film - it is not even sure that the film was compleated or screened - further investigation is needed in this area . He is an interesting character but rather enigmatic at times. I hope to be able to find out more in the future. .

And we're back !!!!

From this ! -

To this !! - Well my hair and beard are greyer but I'm just as pleased .I won't bore you with the whole sad tale which I was let down by Plusnet and saved by BT . The problem was with Open Reach who do the phone lines and don't want to relink phones and would rather people used their mobiles (which a lot of people do) and the inability of Plusnet to fix anything. I was told by Plusnet I would be connected on friday (19th) , on the 19th I recieved a email from them saying it would be the 1st February before it was fixed ! , I was enraged, and phoned them, and calmly told them what I thought of their efforts - they were sorry (they always are) but told me that even if I swapped providers it would still take 10 days (!st Feb) I told them I was dissapointed by their effort and I would take my business elswhere (believe it or not I kept my cool whilst speaking to them - but was heavy with the sarcasm) . I then photed BT ,the young lady said true it would be 10 days to activate my system BUT she would send me a 'hybrid hub' as well as a new hub which would boose my 4G signal and enable use to get the internet - so within 24 hours I got my hubs and have got the internet ! HUZZA !!!..... normal service will be back soon .

Toy Soldiers in Art No. 13

This photo was sent to me by a colleague which he found on the Internet somewhere, the small boy is looking at homecast semi-flat figures whilst wearing what seems to be a British WW2 forage cap which would probably date it to the 1930s or 40s ? . Not sure of the significance of the newspaper/ magazine in the upper corner. PS still no Internet as such, the issue being with BT not the provider (so we are doomed) Hopefully things will progress this week , fingers crossed

Toy Soldiers in Art No.12

 

I came across this photo in one of the books I got for Christmas,  I remember having this book as a child , Toby Twirl was a cartoon pig who appeared in a series of books published in the 40's and 50's . I can't remember what the story was about but it involved two opposing armies of toy soldier type characters,  the red army being the goodies and the blue ones the baddies-the goodies won ! . I'm doing this on my mobile phone which is not ideal as we are awaiting BT reconnecting our Internet,  which is taking b****y ever !!!!

Grrrrr !

 So the Internet is down at the moment,  I've tried doing bloggy things with my phone, but having short stubby fingers makes it almost impossible to add photos et and  I loose things and can't find them on my phone! , normal service will hopefully be resumed soon.....

The last and first.

 

Managed to get some painting done over the Christmas period . These are the last figures of 23 the two hollowcast figures which I have repaired for my Lancer figures -.: Britains hollow-casts finally based up ! (tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com) 

These are the first figures of 24 - four Men at Arms for my Lion Rampant Wars of the Roses project -.: Oh No !, not ANOTHER project ! (tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com) They are of course Perry plastic 28mm and being mainly armoured paint up quickly . I must crack on with this project and get enough done for a game - more to follow in 2024.