IN LIEU OF LAYOUTS

The inspiration for my little model dioramas has always been the gorgeous layouts that appeared in the Tri-ang-Hornby and Trix model catalogues in the sixties. I used to love poring over the catalogues and making wish lists of all the trains I wanted and suggesting to my dad what a great idea a big layout would be. Needless to say, neither really materialsed and the dream remained just that for many years to come. 

I have picked up a few bits and pieces along the way, such as some Minix cars and accessories and as mentioned earlier, some of the lovely architectural models.

 

Woodsy sent me down a rabbit hole some ten years back when he gave me a tin of german toy premiums, including some small trains, which came free with margarine and sweets and some Kinder novelties. Straight away, this rekindled my love of train sets and I set about picking up more miniture trains. The Kinder lines are about an inch long and highly detailed, with a gauge roughly about 'N', so finding suitable track to display them was quite easy. 

Almost all the models are based on either alpine or mountain railway locos, with some unusual freight shunters as well and a host of fascinating rolling stock such as transformers, chemical tanks and cherry pickers. I'd always loved the Tri-ang Battlespace military models, with tanks on low loaders and missile batteries, so I took some of the spare models and made them into military transports too.

Lone Star made a nice series of die cast trains and accessories and a car boot find of a box of railway goodies provided me with some plastic trees, telegraph poles and fences, as well as some track, so I set to making tiny tableaus with some of my favourite models.

Once more, I am sacrificing realism for a much more 'toy box' kind of look, to reflect the photos which came on the back of boxes and other packaging, showing other models in the range.

Each little diorama was entirely temporary, set up on a kitchen table with a handful of gravel and few accessories and swept up again after the shoot.

The Kinder models are made of plastic predominately, with tiny brass wheels and sit well on N gauge rails.

As they are models, its very easy to swap parts around and customise the locos to give even more variety.

The last shot shows an actual N gauge low loader with an Honest John Missile load, which gives an idea of scale.

ATTEMPT NO LANDING HERE

In a weeks time, a Falcon Heavy Rocket will lift off carrying the NASA/JPL Europa Clipper probe, headed for the jovian system and the moon most likely to be capable of supporting life. Europa has long been suspected of having a liquid ocean beneath an icy crust, as previous probes such as Voyager and Cassini-Huygens have suggested. After a six year journey, using a gravity assist from the orbits of Earth and Mars, the Clipper should reach its destination in 2030. It will then make a series of orbits, dipping in and out of the massive radiation field around Jupiter, to map the small moon. It is hoped that the long theorised liquid ocean can be confirmed and the possibility of alien life examined.

Europa was famously shown to be central to the alien intelligences behind the 2001 Monolith and featured heavily in the sequel 2010: The Year We Make Contact. In the film, a probe identifies a green motile substance on the icy surface of Europa, before an energy pulse destroys it. 

After Jupiter is converted into a new star by the intervention of monoliths, the alien intelligence transmits a chilling message to Earth: 

" All these worlds are now yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing here".

Lets hope this isn't the case this time! Europa has also featured in low budget sci-fi film from 2013, which featured Sharlto Copley of A-Team and District 9 fame. 

Although very much centred on the human drama angle, as the crew of a manned mission to explore the moon fall foul of various accidents and hazards, it is technically accurate and features some very nice effects.

Very reminicent of films like 'Life' and 'Gravity', with astronauts claustrophobic persectives, it does end with quite a satisfying denouement.

In a similar vein, the BBC two parter 'Space Odyssey - Voyage to the Planets' from 2004 tels the story of a joint ESA mission in the shape of a grand tour, taking in the inner planets, before visiting the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn (including Europa and Titan) before finally visiting Pluto.

The effects are again excellent, depicting the mile long ion driven ship 'Pegasus' and a series of specialised landers for each of the major planets. The story is a little wearisome, bouncing between pathos on the spaceship and arguments among the ground control crew on Earth, with acting leaving something to be desired in parts and not reaching beyond the soap opera level. However, the visuals are excellent, the science is accurate and the series was released on dvd and also as a large format book, full of facts and information about each planet and focussing more on the mission and less on the traumacom style of production that besets the show.

Sizzler on the Front Burner

I've just taken receipt of my latest fixer upper, a 1971 Hot Wheels Sizzler, Boss Mustang. Sizzlers were Mattel's innovative powered racing cars, kind of Redlines on steroids, with a tiny motor and rechargeable battery.

The downside with buying old Sizzlers is that the body is fixed to the chassis, so the battery isn't removeable without a little intervention, so with age comes corrosion. I have bought a similar condition car recently and managed to get it running again. Batteries are available on Amazon and other specialist suppliers, so the option to get old cars rolling again is quite positive.

The only downside is the corrosion issue. When I popped the Boss open, the inside was green as grass with chemical adhesions. I've read somewhere that cleaning with lemon juice can remove the material and it looks like the brass underneath is still intact. I've got a new battery waiting, but has anyone any tips on cleaning the contacts?
 

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

I was reminded recently of some small house models that I have, that used to be part of a layout for my old Matchbox Motorway. The layout has long since gone, but some of the building survived. I picked up a box of loose models on ebay as well a few years ago, probably made by Faller.

At OO/HO scale, they married up nicely with some tiny Kinder Egg cars I had and some tiny figures from some Micromachines sets. I always loved the continental feel to the buildings and the international styling of some of the little cars fits in well.

Just laying them out on the garden path and shooting quickly between the models makes for some fun photos.

Even better was photographing each model at 'ground level' and pairing it up with a small car and a figure. Trouble was, I only had about three different figures from a police play set, so it looks like theres a mini crime spree!

 

CANDY IS DANDY

Terranova spotted this unusual Pez variant this week, as opposed to the usual 'head' based designs, its a rather nifty little space shuttle!