News from your model shop - 24th April 2022
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Modellings tips and answers - Modelling N gauge wagons and 1/72 1/48 planes - Videos

Hello

Don't forget to read our latest modelling tips and unboxing videos located at the bottom of the newsletter.

We have added quite a few items in our bargains section lately. You will find not only end of line items but also used items, fully photographed and described. This is the opportunity to get this elusive item that you have always wanted. Please note we usually have only one of each of these items so when gone, they are gone. Click here to access the bargains.
This week in history

On 27th April 1939, the movie 'Union Pacific' premiered in cinemas across the US.  The famous American director Cecil B DeMille directed the film, who had previously directed the hugely successful '10 Commandments' in 1923 and 'Cleopatra' in 1934.  Union Pacific tells the story of the expansion of the Union Pacific Railroad across the United States to the West Coast.  The extensive use of rolling stock and railroad infrastructure required for the filming meant the producers had to obtain a special operating permit in order to conduct the filming.



Tool for thought

This week's tool for thought is a set of curved nose pliers by Expotools. This handy tool is ideal for the placement or retrieval of components in awkward to reach places and comes with an insulated, spring-loaded grips for ease of use.



N gauge wagons ready for action and action over the sea

There's no doubting that N gauge is becoming an increasingly popular solution to fitting more layout into a small space. You only need take a trip to a model railway show to see how effective modellers are becoming at creating spectacularly credible dioramas, but what about the rolling stock?

When it comes to rolling stock, there may not be quite the choice you get in OO, but N gauge is certainly popular enough to give modellers a real choice. This is particularly true when it comes to ready-to-run wagons.

Peco has branded their range of RTR wagons as 'Quality Line N Gauge Wagons', and there are lots to choose from covering wagons of different types and from different regions and companies. On first inspection, Peco's claim that their wagons are 'superbly detailed' is entirely justified and all wagons come with free-running wheels in pinpoint bearings and ELC couplings as standard.

Credible consists using only Peco wagons are easy to create, a good example being a Northern inspired mixed goods including a Middleton colliery seven-plank wagon, a Fyffes Banana 10 ft box van, a private operator Ronuk 10 ft tank wagon and the North Eastern Railway's 10 ft bolster wagons (pack of two), NE branded 10 ft box van and NE branded 15 ft brake van.






If you prefer your action over the seas as opposed to action from the rails of northern England, have you considered building a collection of Carrier-borne aircraft to commemorate the 'Wings of Neptune'?

Though not as well known as their terrestrial aviation contemporaries, Naval Aviation has had a significant role to play in world history since its inception during the First World War.  On Friday 19th July 1918, on a grey and dreary morning in the North Sea, seven Sopwith Camels took off from the Aircraft Carrier HMS Furious and attacked the Zeppelin sheds at Tondern in Northern Germany, ushering in a new era in Maritime and Aviation history.

Flying from a ship has always been fraught with difficulty.  Finding your way home after a long and tiring flight can be a difficult prospect for any pilot.  Trying to find a mobile airbase that can easily move a hundred miles or more from where you left it adds a whole new level of complexity, especially when considering the absence of any meaningful landmarks in the vicinity!

Navigational issues notwithstanding, the concept of carrier-borne aviation was well-founded and grew exponentially in the inter-war years.  By the start of the Second World War many of the major powers were in a position to wield this new weapon to further their own goals.  Most especially in the Pacific where the vast distances between Island groups necessitated the use of Carrier-borne power.  The Pacific arena especially gave rise to a new group of carrier-based specialists and the campaigns at Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal witnessed significant clashes between US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy pilots and made household names of the pugnacious Grumman Wildcat and the legendary Mitsubishi Zero-sen.

The tighter confines of the Atlantic led to a different kind of campaign from that waged in the Pacific.  As the major carrier-based power in that ocean, the Royal Navy was heavily engaged in defence of the all-important North-Atlantic Convoys bringing essential materials to Britain.  From the heady days of operating the first Aircraft Carrier the Royal Navy had lagged behind the inter-war advances of other countries.  

As such in the early years of WWII, it utilised a series of land-based planes hastily adapted for carrier-borne use.  Though short on range, the Sea Hurricane and Seafire provided valuable service in defence of air attacks on the convoys, often operating from small aircraft carriers converted from merchant ships.  Although obsolete by the start of WWII, the venerable Swordfish or 'Stringbag' as it was affectionately known was a superb carrier aircraft and delivered a crippling successful attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto in November 1940, which altered the balance of power in the Mediterranean overnight.

Many of these iconic aircraft from naval history have been preserved for posterity in museums and collections around the world.  As such they make fitting subjects for model-makers, especially in 1:72 scale, such as the Arma Hobby Sea Hurricane MkI and Grumman F4F Wildcat, additionally the Mitubushi A6M2b Zero and Fairey Swordfish MkI offerings from Airfix. In 1:48 scale the Special Hobby Seafires MkII and Mk XV are very fitting tributes to their namesakes.  As these aircraft are generally small these scales offer the advantage of a high level of detail and realism without monopolising space.  




Modelling tips

We keep on adding modelling tips to our website. Here are the latest ones:
You can read all the articles sorted by categories or from the most recent published one on our website.

Unboxing videos

You want to know what is inside the boxes of modelling products? We open them for you! Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified before everyone else or simply click on this selection. Please note that videos are at the bottom of each page.


You can access all the unboxing videos by visiting this page or simply click on the link called "videos" on our website.

Events and exhibitions

Find all the latest events and exhibitions for the model railway world, on the UK Model Shop Events directory. Hopefully, 2022 will give us plenty of opportunities to attend events all over the country.

Do you need to order?

Send us an email or give us a call to check availability or to reserve anything, whatever scale you model in. As usual, if we do not have in stock what you are looking for, we will order it for you and you will get it fast (usually within a week if the manufacturer has it in stock). We place weekly orders with most suppliers.

Remember, you can park for free for one hour on the High Street. So no excuse not to come and visit us!

Upstairs Downstairs is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am till 4.30pm. Obviously, our website is open 24h a day and we can post to most locations, including Europe, USA and Australia.

Upstairs Downstairs
3 Pier Street
Sandown, PO36 8JR
Isle of Wight
Tel: 01983 406 616
http://www.trainshop.co.uk or find us on Facebook

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