Modelling General, Scale Drawings

Geoff Kent    [Publisher:  Wild Swan  2020]    Softback    64 pages

In this book, noted artist modeller Geoff Kent takes us on a fascinating pictorial tour around the lesser known reminders of past ages that have inspired him to make his beautifully observed and executed models. The theme is one of details, buildings and other structures that still exist, and with a few exceptions everything in this book can still be seen today. These all colour images reveal the extraordinary legacy of style, design and materials that made the British Isles such a fascinating subject to travel through and observe, certainly up until the modern era of bland conformity and unimaginative money driven dullness to which so much of our built environment has fallen prey. Certain parts of the British Isles feature more than others in these photographs in this book, largely based upon where the author has lived and worked, but these sorts of details are still to be found everywhere around us and as Geoff says are worthy of attention with camera or sketchbook before they disappear.

Francois Fontana    [Publisher:  LR Presse  2024]    Magazine    80 pages

Published in an English language edition since issue 80, five years ago, this is an absolutely fabulous quarterly magazine that I have been a bit obsessed with ever since I first saw it. The title when literally translated means "free way" but is a sort of pun as "voie" means railway track, the point being that the magazine is about a free thinking approach to (narrow gauge) railway modelling. Almost "alternative" and putting the accent on both enjoyment and creativity in generally quite small spaces, all very attractively produced in colour. Each issue has a set of very good scale drawings for one of its featured subjects, in this issue they are for the beautiful level crossing halt structure at Faubourg D'Orleans, an excellent subject for a model in any scale. This issue has something of an American theme with four related features; an imaginative and incredibly well modelled On30 layout depicting the slightly whimsical railway system of Puerto Boracho (Tequila!), 3D printed galloping geese in HO9, a very neat looped HO9 logging line which has the most fantastic vertical aspect - huge visual punch in a small space, and finally a lovely On30 layout inspired by the Bachmann Spectrum range of stock. A recurring theme in "Voie Libre" are historic prototype features, this issue having two such. 6 pages on the early years of the first metre gauge line to be built in Switzerland, superb black and white photography of lovely stock, including two very "Ivor" looking locomotives built by Schneider in 1874. The second features 9 very visual pages on the Piha Tramway in New Zealand, a truly incredible and short lived forestry line that utilised two locomotives from Dubs and Bagnall. The photographs reproduced are of jaw droppingly good quality and the subjects taken fascinating images in their own right. Constructional articles always feature, in this issue contributions are; illuminating an Oxford Diecast Landrover running on a Kato N scale chassis, a steam tram in 009 based on a Keilcraft kit and a Spud chassis, scratch building a preserved French electric rail mounted crane and (unusually for Voie Libre) building a live steam model of a now Baie de Somme based locomotive running on 45mm track. The layout project in this issue is worthy of Messrs. Barnfield, Heath Robinson and Emmet - a railway on a paddle steamer, bonkers and brilliant! Two clever O scale micro layouts tail end the text, "flashes of sunshine (with) dreamlike sunny spells" great imagination and staging both. Each magazine has an editorial and good pictorial features and short reviews on new models and publications of interest, from both mainstream and artisan ranges. In all, Voie Libre is light hearted and serious at the same time, packs a great visual punch and is always inspiring and full of interest. It also quite often features British contributors and is always pleasingly "cross border" in its approach to its subjects.

Francois Fontana    [Publisher:  LR Presse  2024]    Magazine    80 pages

The second edition of this magazine that I have so far taken into stock, and as idiosyncratic and delightful as ever. The cover really draws you in, featuring a narrow gauge layout that goes under the byline of "1/32 Sinister Gherkins", the splendid creation of Michael K.B., a 1/32 scale narrow gauge line (running on 16.5mm) that runs from a gherkin canning factory to a gherkin distillery in a delightful flight of fantasy, all staged in individual boxed scenes with lots of figures(!) This edition's central "folder" with excellent 1/43 plans and lots of prototype information covers the railcars of the Economiques des Charentes, great modelling subjects, while the "building" feature covers O gauge Heywood-esque narrow gauge wagons built in wood on N scale wagon chassis. The "scenery" feature rather undersells its subject, a terrific working model of a French version of Volks' "Daddy Long Legs" at Brighton, the prototype being at St Malo. This edition's "technique" feature has Eric Fresne creating unique transfers for his wagons, while the layout plan is "My father's mine", a neat wordplay and a fascinating and humbling bit of modelling history that leads into an interesting two level layout idea. At the other end of the technological scale, but with considerable craft, seven participants create some really lovely Billard "DK Sets" in H0-9. These are for a great layout "A night in the Peloponese", also fully featured in this issue, and accompanying this is an article on the prototype, the Diakopto- Kalavyryta rack railway - of which I knew nothing until now. Alain Miglierina combines an old Jouef motor trolley mechanism with plastikard and paper to produce a Gn15 motor trailer and finally Eric Fresne demystifies DCC, using (joy of joys as I use them) the Z21 Multimaus. I'm still confused, but there is a lot of useful looking stuff here to explore(!) In addition to reviews of models and items of interest, including James Hilton's Small Layout Design Handbook, a feature records the sad passing of Andreas Schonfield, the man responsible for the joyful rejuvenation pf MinitrainS. All in all, this is another great and inspiring read from LR Presse.

Francois Fontana    [Publisher:  LR Presse  2024]    Magazine    80 pages

A great editorial from Francois starts by asking what is reality and finishes with a wonderful declaration of support of modelling of all styles and creations, recognising that each of our perceptions of "reality" may vary enormously(!) This issue has a loose thread of "operation" running through it, semi automatic operation on two A4 sized paper mill layout-ettes from Denis Willemin, building up the ingenious P'tits Kits hand operated minature wagon turntable, a delightful three part feature on braking and protection using DCC, which includes braking, dealing with the electrical complications of a triangle of tracks, and a splendidly baffling account of turnout protection. Practical modelling continues with adding a turnout to an existing layout and a very good feature on effectively modelling slate, using slate. Prototype subjects are a feature on the Lausanne - Echallens - Bercher railway with great photographs of the different eras of the line's operation and the centre "pull out" article is a super feature on the Falcon narrow gauge 4-4-0 as used on the Beira Railway, including good photographs and a lovely 1/35 scale set of drawings. Layout features are headed up by "The Blue Tram of Fort Lilo" in HO-m by a talented Belgian association of modellers, featuring geese, a barge, and nifty magnetic couplings. This issue is book ended by an imaginative tour de force in HO-9 that goes by the name of "Sweetheaven", clearly somewhere in the United States and skilfully put together by master modeller Fred Mazza, who usually models Chamonix and the PLM. There are some really good filmic references in this super layout, which otherwise has great visual "verticality" and offers a wonderful escape from reality! Aside from several good reviews and other features this issue catches up with the biennial "Passions Ferroviaiares" exhibition held within an astonishingly large permanent layout and display the "Chemins de fer Kaeserberg" in Switzerland in May. Smaller creations are featured, "The Beach", a superb but tiny scene using the lovely Decauville Steatite locomotive and toast rack coach, "Star Street", an animated 1970s French street scene with a railway in the background - just brilliant, and finally "Glaciere", a convincing and imaginative presentation of a railway moving blocks of ice, the track layout and presentation is very neat indeed. In summary, another idiosyncratic and joyful collection of material for the "narrow minded" amongst us who aren't any such thing...

Francoise Fontana    [Publisher:  LR Presse  2024]    Magazine    82 pages

Another great mixture, a full set of interesting product reviews precede a new layout building challenge, 2 foot Gauge in Colorado, HO/OO 9 on an A4 footprint - you have until August 2025 to register. From Rhaetia with love follows, a fine 1/43.5 model railway set in a study above the "Kaeserberg Railway, a multi level HO layout which is a public attraction, all deeply impressive on many levels (ho ho). There then follows an in depth exploration of the Baguley Drewry as produced by Bachmann in 009, which features a lot of information on the prototypes and the RNAD, topped off by a brilliantly imaginative layout idea using the same themes - much better than reality ever was! Constructing a Reseau Breton coach in 1/22.5 scale follows, and after fitting a decoder to the Minitrains Decauville 0-6-0 the centrefold prototype photographs and scale drawings are for some incredibly attractive 4 wheel coached from the long lost Anvin to Calais metre gauge feeder line. Parthenay and its associated lost light railway are then explored in some detail, a fascinating set up, all of which is then followed up by a well thought out layout plan that follows the theme. Fred Mazza then describes in pictures his imaginative buildings for Sweethaven, being followed by a very satisfying looking 1/35 peat wagon build. Eric Fresne then explores sculpting and engraving the "Sculptur Block" product, before the final feature, a wire drawing factory siding with a complex set of low level "triangular loop" narrow gauge feeding tracks. Ingenious and well modelled, with lots of modified and worked on locotractors from Bernard, one of the four creators.

Francois Fontana    [Publisher:  LR Presse  2025]    Magazine    80 pages

After the Voie Libre team have wished us all a happy modelling year, there follows a good section of reviews of a variety of products for sale, which underline how relatively cheap this hobby is in the UK. Included are the quirky Peco/Kato "mini modules", Tillig coaches and some great etched nettles(!) The book reviews feature three quite different titles, all quite tempting, then the text proper starts with a HO9 layout inspired by the Disney "Big Thunder Mountain" attractions - a very creative piece of work with huge visual impact and a great sense of fun - just the best! Eric Fresne next treats us to a series of practical construction articles which show how different modellers have used widely differing techniques to produce their individualistic models of buildings, very inspiring whatever your level of competence I think. Next is a tiny Locotracteur and layout built to show off a nicely built 1/48 Tamiya Citroen Traction, with an invitation for similar ideas to be submitted to the magazine - the "prize" being publication and a year's subscription. The drawings and historical photographs and research centre section is given over to the Blangy mines haulage system and its tubs and trollies. After a build up of a P'Tit kits locotracteur, we are plunged into the most fabulous piece of whimsey with Jean Pierre Schenfelle's graphic layout model built on to a "Dual" record deck; fiendishly clever and featuring rabbits and a Baobab tree - irresistible, the sort of thing that might give some P4 modellers multiple mental circuit failures I think. Fear not, we next move closer to "reality" with Jacques Boileau's "Chinon Pass", an HO9 bottle cork mining railway built for a film. Or something like that - the director was "Cecile Baidemill" and it starred Jean Wayne, amongst others... The editor next details the construction of basic scenery and a waterfall for an O scale narrow gauge layout which will feature forced perspective, which is followed up by the genesis of an imaginative lemon based HO-6.5 layout and idea, all set on the Amalfi Coast. We finally return to earth with the motorisation of trams with the BD concepts driving bogie. A real roller coaster of an issue!