News from your model shop - 30th July 2023

Hello

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

Feel free to send this newsletter to your friends, family and club members if you think they will benefit from it. They can subscribe for free.

Item of the week

Small rural villages and hamlets have often been a favourite theme for modellers to develop and integrate into a layout.  For many modellers, this is a practical move, as their choices for layout development may inevitably be driven by limitations of available space and budgetary constraints.  Nonetheless, small villages can be a hugely rewarding theme to develop into a layout.  Their small size and rural locations often make them a microcosm of everyday life with a great variety of scene elements that can be incorporated into them.  This week we will look at the options available for OO/HO gauge modellers who are looking for individual and unique touches that will help add interest to a small village scene.

The village green is for many communities at the heart of village life.  This is an open place where locals can sit and contemplate and reflect on life.  Many villages will have a memorial cross or war memorial to reflect on the life and times of generations gone by.  The 'Village Scene' Set by Wills Kits contains a memorial cross, a water trough and a simple wooden bench that will add visual impact to the heart of the village.  An alternative option is offered by Harburn Hamlet with their evocative and poignant 'War Memorial' set.   Also, close to the village green, there is likely to be a post box offering an essential lifeline to the wider world.  The 'Post Box in Brick Column' by Harburn Hamlet would blend seamlessly into this rural scenario.



The 'Clock Tower' offered by Bachmann offers an elegant yet functional element to village life and is a great example of how a simple item can help add character to the locale and provide visual interest for an observer.  The general stores is located fairly close to the centre of the village and along with the pub is likely to be at the heart of village life.  The 'General Stores' kit by Dapol will offer modellers a simple and compact addition to their layout that is still in keeping with the locale.  Also close to the heart of the village is the 'Village School'.  The option shown here is a card-based kit produced by Metcalfe and comes with toilets and a bike shed in the form of an outside building.  Like the 'General Store', this kit is compact but extremely versatile in that it could easily double as the village hall or as a library.



Historically, life in rural communities has been tied very closely to the local environment, much more so than in a large town or city.  Links to the past are commonplace and are seamlessly entwined into the local community, as exemplified by the 'Windmill' kit by Dapol.  Transport links to nearby towns and larger urban areas are important too.  In addition to the nearby station, the village bus stop offers a vital route to the local area and beyond.  The 'Country Bus Shelter & Stop' by Langley offers a simple but eye-catching option for the modeller.  A number of small businesses may be based in a village, either for historical reasons or as a result of the proximity of road and rail links.  The local scrap merchant is no exception, the 'Scrapyard' kit by Wills Kits offers a simple yet effective means to combine this small business into village life.  The added benefit is that the name of the scrap merchant in question is oddly familiar!



Another option for modellers is to add a little extra detail to the houses and gardens in the village.  This can easily be achieved by adding a variety of suitable extensions or outbuildings.  The 'Conservatory' kit by Wills Kits will allow a modeller to add an appropriately rustic addition to any house.  When it comes to garden structures there are plenty of options as well, such as the 'Play Houses' kit by Busch.  This provides the modeller with two separate playhouses, one of which can be configured as a loft house.  Further reminders of days gone by can be created by the addition of an air raid shelter in the garden.  The 'Anderson Shelter' by Harburn Hamlet is not only a reminder of village history but can also serve the added benefit of having been converted into a rather useful tool shed.



Creating a rural village or hamlet could be a very useful option for a broad range of layout configurations.  It can allow a novice modeller the ideal scenario to integrate scene elements into an overall layout configuration without getting bogged down in detail.  Likewise, for modellers who have limited space or budgets, a rural village can offer great opportunities for adding detail and interest on a layout.  As we have seen from the list of items covered, village life can offer great opportunities for the modeller to develop a historical theme for a layout and for very effective integration into the local environment.  Why not develop a rural village as a theme element in your next project?

• How far apart should telegraph poles be on N and OO/HO gauge layouts?
• How can I best cut masking tape into circles of a specific size?
• What are lamp huts and where would they typically be located?
• What is the best way to run a catenary system through a tunnel?
• What is meant by the term 'Pre-shading' and where would I typically use it?

• What is a Presflo wagon?
• How much weight should I add to my rolling stock?
• How much coverage do I get out of a 20g bag of model railway scatter?
• Are surface mounted point motors better than under the baseboard ones?
• What is a flywheel in a motor in a model railway engine?

• Wills Kits SS50 Platelayers Hut OO/HO Gauge
• Parkside Models PC563 GWR Iron Mink 'A' Van OO/HO Gauge
• Hornby 8201 Link Wire Set - OO Gauge

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