Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

1 minute ago, Erichill16 said:

But it appears to be out of stock!

Why does it have a radiator grill?

 

Never question the stylistic taste of Japanese train designers...that way lies the Nankai Rapit.......

 

https://www.nankai.co.jp/traffic/express/rapit.html

 

Being out of stock should be no impediment to the sort of fashionable young fellow about town in the market for one of these fine models 😉

[jjb1970]

9 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

But it appears to be out of stock!

Why does it have a radiator grill?

 

On a slightly more serious note, the standard JRF DF200 is much nicer than the tarted up Seven Stars loco:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0zYXli88m4&list=PL90yE_n2PqE7nYvEqZWebnNmIP2BX2Y0w

 

The standard DF200 is a favourite of mine. For those looking for something slightly cheaper than the ENDO Brass model there is a superb plastic RTR HO DF200 by Tomix.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Well it’s chuckinitdarn here, started about 5 minutes ago, pah! I will shortly be heading off to collect Ava who will be spending the day here with us, although I think there’s a possibility that we’ll be going to RHS Bridgewater for a drink and a slice this morning, what’s not to like about that? After that, there are no firm plans, the light is very poor at the moment and if it stays like this, Ava won’t be doing any sewing, so most likely it’ll be reading or watching a film, again, what’s not to like?

 

Back later. 

 

Brian

Edited December 28, 2022 by BSW01

[jjb1970]

22 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

According to Alexa that's either £8.14 (which sounds to be too good to be true) or £8,145.....and it's sold out!!  Bluddy Hell. 

 

When you enter the world of Japanese brass the old joke that if you have to ask about the price you probably can't afford it is quite true. Not for the feint hearted, but nice.

[DaveF]

 

This morning is another dull one, as usual in damp weather I ache.

 

Yesterday morning I contented myself with a walk along the promenade, it was far too dull and dismal to take photos.  There were a few surfers in the water but there weren't any real waves, they were only about 2' high.  I did see one man go into the sea in his swimming trunks, he didn't stay in the water long.

 

Back home I read a bit, had coffee and "played trains" for a while.  In the afternoon I decided it was time to get rid of some old clothes, especially sweaters and shirts which were all long past their best - charity shops wouldn't want them!  I am glad to be rid of them. 

 

Later on I found a book I "need"  in an e mail from Amazon - "Ecology and Natural History".  It is in the New Naturalist series which now has about 150 titles.  I've been collecting them for many years, some of them were "set books" when I was at University.  I think I have about 1/3 of them now.  I have no intention of trying to get a complete set - it would cost a fortune, I just buy them to read and use.

 

Then once again I watched some TV, including an old Tommy Cooper programme I found on TPTV Encore which was very funny. I also read some more.  So ended a peaceful day.

 

David

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

But it appears to be out of stock!

Why does it have a radiator grill?

Off an Alfa Romeo too. 

[jamie92208]

50 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

When you enter the world of Japanese brass the old joke that if you have to ask about the price you probably can't afford it is quite true. Not for the feint hearted, but nice.

When I mentioned American 0 Scale to a friend he repled, " Don't go there. There lies penury and divorce".

Jamie

[polybear]

[polybear]

Bear's feels the need for a sudden re-design of the stairs in Bear Towers..........

 

[PupCam]

Morning All!

 

Damp, blowy and dreary sort of sums Puppershire up today.

 

I meant to say yesterday, Mr and Mrs Puppers observed a strange sight looking out the window yesterday morning.   We spotted a Greater Spotted Woodpecker on the small trees across the road.   An event not unheard of but not that common.   Anyway, we watched it for a few minutes and then we noticed a second chasing around.       Then a third.  Then a forth, soon followed by a fifth!     Never have so many GSWs been seen by so few ..... (or something).  

 

We wondered what the collective noun for Woodpeckers was.   Once source suggested a "Gatling"; that figures!

 

 

It's almost enough to turn you into a twitcher but I think I will stick with Deltics 😀

 

"Scope Update"

 

As I mentioned yesterday the new focuser is all but done now and  I have to say I'm very pleased with the results.    Matching in with the underlying theme in WW; building it myself was so much more satisfying and educational than buying a RTR one 😀

 

 

 

TTFNQ

 

Alan

 

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by PupCam

[polybear]

Banned from Sainsbury's

Didn't like shopping there anyway.

Yesterday I was at my local Sainsbury's store buying a large bag of Winalot dog food for my loyal pet and was in the checkout queue when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

What did she think I had an elephant? So, since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Winalot Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in hospital last time, but I'd lost 2 stone before I woke up in intensive care with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Winalot nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in queue was now
enthralled with my story.)

Horrified, she asked me if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me I told her no, I stepped off the kerb to sniff an Irish Setter's ar5e and a car hit me.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was
laughing so hard. I'm now banned from Sainsbury's.

Better watch what you ask retired people.

They have all the time in the world to think of daft things to say.

[BoD]

5 hours ago, Barry O said:

I seem to have collected another cold over the festive season. PAH! I am making full use of various medicines in our medicine cupboard to sort it out.

They say a cold normally lasts a week.  However, if you treat it with medication you can get rid of it in seven days.

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

As an act of selfless service of the type for which nobody knows me, I have identified Il Dottore's perfect souvenir for his forthcoming trip to Japan:

 

https://endo-shopping.com/i/EPS0091/k/+/sort/new/disp/20/c_p/1

 

I wouldn't want such a refined fellow slumming it and stooping to the level of...shudder...Kato, no, this is much better.

Your concern for the quality of my Japanese model railway souvenirs, is touching, thank you.

 

Kato will do just fine, thank you. After all, I’m not planning to model a Japanese N Gauge layout, am I? (famous last words)

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

According to Alexa that's either £8.14 (which sounds to be too good to be true) or £8,145.....and it's sold out!!  Bluddy Hell. 

Nope, it IS £8,145. Japanese gear of all kinds (electronics, models, kitchen equipment etc.) can get very pricey, very quickly. 

Incidentally, the model is of the Cruise Train Seven Stars in Kyushu (https://www.cruisetrain-sevenstars.jp/english/) where prices range from £3000-£12,000 per person. Not only is it a bit pricey, but you can’t just turn up buy a ticket and get on: you have to submit an application for a berth and, from what I’ve read, for every one berth there are numerous applications  – So even if you have the readies, there is no guarantee you’ll get a place on the train.

 

I was unable to get a berth on any of the three cruise trains run by the various JR companies, so I will have to make do with a trip on this: https://www.jreast.co.jp/saphir/en/ And I’ve booked a seat behind the driver….

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Never question the stylistic taste of Japanese train designers...that way lies the Nankai Rapit.......

 

https://www.nankai.co.jp/traffic/express/rapit.html

 

Being out of stock should be no impediment to the sort of fashionable young fellow about town in the market for one of these fine models 😉

The Japanese trained designers certainly embody the quirkiness that you often encounter in Japan. Where else but Japan would you get a high-speed train decorated and kitted out with everything to do with a cartoon character (the Hello Kitty Shinkansen https://www.jrpass.com/blog/ride-super-cute-hello-kitty-shinkansen).  A train, which I will have no regrets in not taking.

 

Actually, thinking about having trains decorated and kitted out according to much loved cartoon characters, I wonder what British trains  could be kitted out in that way and with which cartoon characters? (there are a lot to choose from: just the Beano, the Dandy and Viz alone would give you plenty of inspiration)

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

When you enter the world of Japanese brass the old joke that if you have to ask about the price you probably can't afford it is quite true. Not for the feint hearted, but nice.

Sadly, @jjb1970, although budget may not be too much of an obstacle, the clearly stated instructions from Mrs iD to “not get carried away in buying souvenirs in Japan“ definitely is. Besides, Japanese brass railway models are like tempura shrimp: you really, really just can’t stop at one…..

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Bear's feels the need for a sudden re-design of the stairs in Bear Towers..........

 

I do like that idea. I have long been a fan of the spiral staircase though have no use for one Upon the Hill of Strawberries where we are entitled to access only the ground floor. 
 

The “rapid-descent” option would be very handy for late risers, urgent answerings of the door (to avoid a “we missed you” card and a trip to the parcel depot for example) or even as a gravity-powered child-removal chute!  
 

Greetings from a most unpleasantly moist morning. Not unduly cold but breezy and with that fine dribble being air-blown into the face I was glad to be away on time from the House of Fun and home for lunch. 
 

A shame, then, that I now have to set forth once more. A box of magazines is to be collected and - ultimately - transported to its new home. The latter part of the operation not being a part of today’s agenda. 

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

We spotted a Greater Spotted Woodpecker

If you had not spotted it would it have been just a Greater Woodpecker? 

[polybear]

[monkeysarefun]

Just like they have with cars, The Koreans are catching up to the Japanese.

 

 

 

 

(Until pretty recently  Japanese and Korean brass was the only way to get many HO scale Australian outline locos, like the S class of Vic Rail..)

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, PupCam said:

Morning All!

 

Damp, blowy and dreary sort of sums Puppershire up today.

 

I meant to say yesterday, Mr and Mrs Puppers observed a strange sight looking out the window yesterday morning.   We spotted a Greater Spotted Woodpecker on the small trees across the road.   An event not unheard of but not that common.   Anyway, we watched it for a few minutes and then we noticed a second chasing around.       Then a third.  Then a forth, soon followed by a fifth!     Never have so many GSWs been seen by so few ..... (or something).  

 

We wondered what the collective noun for Woodpeckers was.   Once source suggested a "Gatling"; that figures!

 

 

It's almost enough to turn you into a twitcher but I think I will stick with Deltics 😀

 

"Scope Update"

 

As I mentioned yesterday the new focuser is all but done now and  I have to say I'm very pleased with the results.    Matching in with the underlying theme in WW; building it myself was so much more satisfying and educational than buying a RTR one 😀

 

 

 

TTFNQ

 

Alan

 

 

 

Dear Mr Puppets

 

We here at the MoD take get pride in encouraging home grown talent. I'm therefore pleased to able to inform you that your application to provide a High Impact Telescope Shooter has caused considerable interest. We therefore look forward to you providing us with a prototype for testing.

 

Yours obediently 

 

Brigadier Poncibidly Smyffe

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Winslow Boy

[jjb1970]

Japanese brass lost out to the Koreans in the 80's when the big US importers switched allegiance from companies like Tenshodo, Fujiyama, Katsumi and Microcast Mizuno to Ajin and Samhongsa. Now the brass segment is a micro-niche, it was always an expensive niche but up to probably about the late 80's it was part of the mainstream hobby in the US especially. Importers like PFM produced catalogues and production runs were often in 100's. Then super-detailed plastic RTR came along, matching the levels of detail of brass for significantly less. It ended up with production runs of many brass models struggling to get into double figures. Now there are a few Chinese brass producers and some very limited and very expensive production in Korea and Japan serving a tiny number of collectors who want brass regardless of how good plastic and diecast is. Tenshodo don't produce anything like the amount of brass they once did and what they make is all for the Japan market, ENDO and KTM still produce quite a lot of releases but it's expensive and made in low volumes. Some Chinese brass is superb.

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

A box of magazines is to be collected

"A box" turned out to be four boxes and I was assured that "the other half has already gone for recycling".  Meaning surplus copies for which there is no realistic chance of sale have been pulped while those for which there may be a future use are now sitting in the back of the Little Red Driving Box.

 

In the inter-connectedness of all things (as espoused by Dirk Gently of the eponymous holistic detective agency) a new project has also been initiated.  With two books already in progress I have somehow managed to spark enough interest to have a third go ahead.  This will be a re-write of a previously-published title which requires significant updating.  The earlier work was published in 1986; things have moved on a long way since then in a direction none of us then expected.  The subject?  Wheeled self-propelled carriages formed mostly into half-dozens. My role? Concept and facilitator this time aorund, not author or compiler.  Watch this space.  

[polybear]

 

[Sidecar Racer]

32 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 Change of underwear please .   😳

[New Haven Neil]

Err, afternoon, from a rock wot is wet, 10c and reet windy. And almost dark now.

 

Lots of woodys in our village, here's a grim photo of one at the bottom of our garden - it's an abandoned orchard.

 

 

Ah, brass - I have one - ONE = brass loco.  I hear the French member has some nicer, larger ones though.....that don't fit around his layout, so he can send them elsewhere. #cough#

 

 

 

 

[NGT6 1315]

43 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 Crissake! 😮 'Nuff said…

[NGT6 1315]

So, we went to Eckernförde for lunch and a walk along the waterfront…

 

 

Many empty guest berths in the marina at this time of year!

 

 

GMRS lifeboat Eckernförde and a cabin cruiser which looked decent to me!

 

 

Why is it that gulls always leave me with a mischievous impression?

 

 

I gather the naval station across the bay was quite busy when the Ukrainian war began.

 

 

 

Sweets factory with well-stocked shop!

 

 

 

And a local whisky from a delicatessen near the harbour!